blonde poker forum

Hi all,

Thought this would be an intriguing way to keep my post rate high and continue to feel like a valued with in the Blonde Poker community, and I feel the next couple of years could potentially be the most important in my career/life, so will hopefully make for interesting reading.

Background to the Blog

In short, this is 100% the industry that I wish to be working within in the foreseeable future. I am currently in my 3rd and final year of studying a Marketing degree at Newcastle University, aged 22 due to a gap year and a placement. As much as I dream of someday becoming a professional poker player, I think I'm too much of a nit to see this as a realistic job for myself, due to variance quite possibly having the strength to crush my inner self, hence why I would love to continue working within the poker Industry.

In years 1 & 2 at university, my work rate was very poor. I always found a way to do just about enough to get by, the course never really interested me and this lead to having to resit a fair few exams, leading to this final year becoming a very tough one.

The placement I had completely changed me as a person. I felt like I was finally passionate about Marketing because it was linked to something that I loved, Poker. Having played since the age of 17 I had always loved the game, with it more or less funding my gap year back when online poker seemed to be a lot easier to be a consistent winner at. I had always idolised Dusk Till Dawn, from the moment I had heard of it. Many describing it as the mecca of poker within the UK, I was always intrigued to play there. I very occasionally made the 1.5 hour trip, and although I got no results the place somehow made me feel like a poker professional having only played in a pub or online previously.

Getting the placement at Dusk Till Dawn was entirely by chance, I previously had a placement lined up in a haulage company that I had very little interest in, however this fell through late on. With just a week to organise a placement unless I wanted to be back to uni, I contacted Dusk Till Dawn, knowing if there was anywhere I could possibly work, it would be there. I approached DTD asking if they could possibly consider hiring me as a placement student, I showed them blogs I had written in the past on poker and real desire to work there through saying I was more than willing to work for just expenses, as this was something I really wanted to do. Having had an interview with Nick Whiten I was very fortunate in the fact they were willing to take a chance on me, and I hope all at DTD now look on it in hindsight as a good move.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at DTD, blogging, sending out press releases etc. and regard this as the best decision I have ever made. It's definitely the area I want to be working in, in the future giving me a clear scope on where and what I would like to approach regarding work.

The story as of now

At the moment, in regards to poker I'm trying to play as often as I can. Saying that it seems to be once a week max due to uni work restricting me, as this obviously takes priority.

Having gotten good links at Dusk Till Dawn, I've managed to secure live backing for certain tournaments. I feel very blessed in regards to past results, variance has recently (past year and a half, in before bok) took a liking to me. I've seemed to have made my bigger wins exactly when I've needed money, at times of need the poker gods have come through for me. I honestly feel like I run incredible just when I need to.


Apologies I've babbled so much, could have split it into 3 posts or so but thought I would get the basics down! Hopefully this gets the interest of the odd person!

In! Good look Jonathan!

I'm looking forward to reading this diary looks like a refreshing diary!

Very best of luck and I shall be subscribing!

Although curious why you want to work in poker industry after studying marketing? It would be a very much waste of a degree and nothing really much out there in poker world career wise.

I feel like there is a gap within the Live UK Poker Industry in regards to Marketing. Not sure where that gap is, but there are plenty of brands who I feel execute their marketing strategies poorly.

I enjoyed everything about my year at Dusk Till Dawn, and I honestly believed if I went into a different Industry it would forever be on my mind. I'm yet to come across anything in regards to a career that could possibly interest me as much as the poker industry does.

So many people out there in the world have a degree, with marketing degrees becoming increasingly common. I'm sure in the future a marketing degree will almost become a necessity for anyone hoping to get a marketing position at casinos

In on page 1

Oh and glad the poker gods didn't look too kindly on you back in June 2012  ;)

I think they could have done, you never know ;)

Gl with your degree and crushing poker part time. Will be following!

Good luck mate. Marketing was my chosen subject for all the good it did me.

ty for the best wishes. Thought I ought to start off with a bio of myself, as stolen from the Blonde Poker profile section:

What is your BlondePoker username?          
jgill_DTD

Which area do you live in?
Telford. At Uni in Newcastle, parents have a place (boat rather) down in torquay

What is your marital status?
Single

Do you have any children and/or pets?                      
neither. Used to have a cat called suzie. I'm more of a cat person

When did you start playing poker?
age 17 (5 years ago)

Where can you be found playing live?
NCL Aspers/NCL Genting/Walsall G/DTD

What is your favourite online site?
Tilt maybe? Tilt or Stars

What is your handle there?
Gil3000

What is the harshest beat you have inflicted on an opponent?
No-one remembers the good beats. must have one outered a couple of people along the way I'm sure

Who are your poker heroes?
Cody & Fish (Rasta obv). Oh and maybe Andy Bradhsaw. Always brings a smile to my face

Who is your best friend in poker?
Sigh. I wouldn't even know, maybe Mike Aston Smith?

What are your greatest accomplishments in poker?
Chopping the £150 DS with Rich Blacklock

What is your most embarrassing moment in poker?
Turning over AA pre thinking opponent was all in when he had chunks behind him. Jamming the flop, he folds KK face up

Which Blondepoker thread did you enjoy the most?
Goulder's or John Black diaries are always feel good pieces I find. Live tournament updates are always gold obv

The thing I love most about BlondePoker is?
The Community/friendly vibes

My biggest pet hate in poker is?
People who use outdated poker terminology (e.g. I back-raised him)

What are your main interests outside poker?
Wakeboarding, Snow skiing

Tell us something about yourself none of us would know
As a child I used to get hyped for the world cup by drawing the groups, then rolling the dice to see the scores. I would then re-enact every single game as it happened in my back garden by punting the ball against the wall as if it was a cross, then slotting the bal into the empty net

What is your favourite pie filling?
rhubarb

Who is your favourite singer?
Alex Turner

What is your favourite song?
so difficult to choose. For now I'd go for Primal Scream - Country Girl

Who is your ideal man or woman?
I wouldn't even know to be honest. Anyone who I find attractive I typically think "bet she's a total bitch though" as if I've gained a moral victory

What is your favourite holiday destination?
Anywhere with snow in the Winter

If I could change one thing about myself I would?
Take peoples opinions with a pinch of salt a bit more often. I tend to be pretty naive

Thought I ought to draw up Poker Aims/objectives for the year, as it seems to be the done thing:

[ ] 2x Herbiemob flags

[ ] grind online more/when I get a roll stop reducing myself to the micros by being such a nit, withdrawing all the time

[ ] Find a Long Term job within the Industry

Thought 2 flags was a little generous towards myself, could maybe step it up to 3 but would like to think I've achieved something by the end of the year. I have no idea how much poker I will be playing this year due to Uni as well as my general location. I'm not sure entirely how much this blog will be about me playing poker, but will surely be about the industry for the most part.

Tournies I've got lined up:

• Newcastle GPS ME
[?] Student Poker Tour

I'm really excited about the Newcastle GPS leg, 5 days after I have to submit a chunk of work in to uni, as well as being 5 days after my girlfriend gets to England for the first time in her life. Feel like morale will be at an incredibly high point, can only lead to positive things.

Also considering playing the Student Poker Tour high roller event, at £100. Means I can legitimately say I've played a high roller tournament, even though its a fairly low buyin.

IN BEFORE

Hopefully you surpass the "greatest achievement in poker" mention  ;)

U have any degen stories.?..

In and good luck pursuing your career dreams.  I am talking to someone right now about pursuing a line of work in the poker industry myself - just for advice initially, but it's all about contacts.

PS - I used to do something similar with the football.  I had a steep ramp going up to a carpark round the back of a guest house my parents used to own.  I used to kick the ball up the ramp and then try and slot into the goal (a small gate) when it came back down.

I don't think I do to be honest, I'm such a life nit.

Once I binked about £3k online. I booked flights leaving to a music festival in Spain the day after, and within 1 and a half weeks I was back to where I started.

This is fairly standard though no? Don't think I win enough ££ that can be passed off as disposable income to be a degen

haha thanks for the full read. This was certainly one of the highlights of my summer for about 6 years on the trot. I just had two big stones lying against the wall to signal where the goal was.

Yeah, definitely all about the contacts. I recently had a lecture regarding socialising affectively at industry events and such, really opened my eyes. Wish it was given to me halfway through my placement though. I feel like starting at the best cardroom in the UK can't harm my chances of being put in touch with some of the bigger names out there within the poker industry.

I study business too.

But there is not really a gap for marketing within poker, perhaps gaps in the casino industry, yes, but not within poker. Poker within casino's is really small & where it isn't (DTD) they already have people who do your job within a different title. I am not sure there are any gaps within poker for marketing really, feel as if everything is done within itself.

Ah, understandable.

I feel like even though it makes up a small proportion of revenue for casinos, I believe many casinos are missing prime marketing opportunities in regards to poker. On many occasions I'm thinking "why aren't they doing this, why aren't they doing that" which is why I suppose I want to get into the industry, I want to make a difference

I think you could make a difference for sure, but it won't be solely for Poker.

The only way you could do something like that is become a CRM, which is a big ask, considering you need management skills and basic knowledge of gambling/poker to get that job.

Are you definitely just looking towards poker?

At the moment I would say so yeah, obviously CRM is a huge ask, but wouldn't necessarily rule it out.

Definitely want to go down the casino route at the least.

How the fuck did I miss page 1 of this? Glglglgl <3

]
tyty Nicky Flan <3

almost listed you as my best friend in poker... no homo

I don't really have a specific 'group' of players that I hang around with/chat strategy with etc, which is a little annoying since obv I'm always interested in different spots, what I did right/wrong etc.

Suppose I talk to Liam and Tommy Bingham on the reg, but only really at tournaments


Anyway other news....

Going to Genting this evening for the £50 £3k GTD later. Played it once before and really enjoyed, made no money but got to know some of the Newcastle poker community, which is always nice.

It's the thought that counts bro <3

ffs this!

so many new blogs....
jeeeez!

best of luck mate, obviously we're going to make you make it!  Just don't overtake me too quickly please, and bring lube when you do.

In for the ride, gl

Won't be playing much live myself but you should come down to Teesside if you have a car, next £150f/o maybe.

When do you graduate?

Didn't know anything about this 150, may have to research it.

I finish end of may, graduate August maybe? Not quite sure, around this time though

First tourney of the blog - misclicks
First tourney of the blog then was tonight's £50 £3k GTD at Genting, Newcastle. Pretty pissed off with myself in this tournament.

8k starting, got a strong early start by getting big hands, as well as dem aces vs KK. AK found a fold, pretty tilting but we win nonetheless.

I lost bits and bobs here, raising to call off vs certain stacks, then bigger stacks just stated getting it in vs me.

Bust hand. Playing 10k at 300/600/50, clicking it got through often enough for me to opt to open to 1250 with  Jh 2h. Sb finds a call.
Flop -  Qh 7s 6h
He checks, I check behind. In the ideal world my plan is to bet/raise turns.
Turn - Qs
He bets what I think is to 2,050. I feel like I get him to fold draws/6's/7's enough to warrant a jam, as well as being able to find a win if we do get called off.
He snaps, shows  Ks Js
Confused I then realised I got the 25 chips mixed up with the 5k's. He had in fact hammered the pot for 7k rather than 2,025, obv zero FE, King high holds gg.

In general play was fairly decent, although at times felt like I may have been playing a little too laggy.

Lessons for next live tourney:

• gain a solid understanding of chip denominations;
• Play tighter with <20 bigs

I think the best play is to just cbet flop. So much more awkward checking back and trying to bluff later. I think u have less fold equity doing some weird turn raise, villain more likely to think ur fos. I think u can happily cbet flop and shove a decent amount of turns when called.

Ha - can only help!

Yeah, think I butchered it on the flop with the check, obv doesn't end this way if I bet there, or shouldn't at least

Hey,

Could maybe help out here, why don't you get in touch with me, pat.leonard.ps and I can maybe pull a couple strings.

Ah nice, JB mentioned I ought to get in touch with you

Is that on skype?

si

Next week for the G Monthly £100?
Better venue, better structure, better valets, just better all round really

Saturday, 2pm start, 20k stack (22k) if you reg before start.
GUKPT Structure on a 30 min clock.

this tuesday (first tuesday of the month) £55 £5000 GTD at Genting. Usually gets around 120 runners. 8pm. Little bit of a crapshoot towards the end, but still a good prizepool for £50 quid

just incase you didnt know about this game

GL with the diary!!

Thanks! Didn't have a clue, will see if I can play it!

These both at Teeside? Both a bit of a nightmare for me to get to to be honest

Starting from the bottom

I believe in my past, at some stage I've beaten almost all variants of poker sng's/mtt's (all variants, definitely not all limits).

However, I've always seeming struggled with cash games. I never really got into them for the first 2 years of my 'playing career' so to say, and now I've been avoiding them at all costs. I think it's been a mixture of running and playing bad.

Finally, I've decided to take a bigger look at them. For the next 2 weeks I hope to play at least 2 hours a day, starting at the bottom, 2NL. Had an hour and a half session this morning 6 tabling, managed to go +7BI's across an hour and a half/1,600 hands (Understandably small sample size, but at least it's a decent start).

Will have a few more sessions like this throughout the day I think, report to come at the end! Also hope to bink that cheeky $11 1k seats GTD to the milly, cause how can you not play this.

*Edit - I can never seem to get PT working on my computer. PostgreSQL error or something like this, it kills me inside as i feel like I'm being held back. Any advice on alternate software to HEM/PT that I could get working in regards to EV Graphs and such would be appreciated.

First legit cash session

As stated previously, I want to work myself up from the bottom.
I understand many of you ill say it's not worth it, but this is more of a challenge than doing it for the money. I feel lik eonce I've got a decent amount of hands behind me, I can justify being anywhere other than the bottom.

Results
Hands: 3,750
BI's +/-: +9 BI's

Not sure how much I should expect over this sample, but I think +9 is neither great progress nor terrible.

Favourite Hand:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/2299727_E8594825D0
Played a £3 student rebuy on Stars, just about as soft as it sounds, think I will play these on the reg.
He can't really ever have an Ace here, feel like I should get folds from 10's. He claimed he had King high and would snap me with any pair at all, which is doubtful tbh.
However could be a spew due to diamond draw, but could be ahead of these?

Spew of the day?!?!:
http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/2310240_F6DAE4A460
Not quite sure what I should be doing here.
Once I iso and get flatted feel like its a great spot for him to shove his marginals, not sure whether I should just fold here?

Current Location

Thought I would add in a bit more information regarding my current location in Newcastle.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_flE8xAxihOg/TPRdsCJwFfI/AAAAAAAAInM/g9TTMQJ-heE/s1600/%2527Howay%2Bman%252C%2Bit%2527s%2Bnot%2Bcold%2521%2527%2BAs%2BBritain%2Bshivers%252C%2BNewcastle%2Bgirls%2Bprove%2Bthey%2527re%2Bnot%2Bfrightened%2Bof%2Ba%2Bbit%2Bof%2Bsnow%2B%2B3.jpg)

I live on the Bigg Market. When I tell this to people they are typically like oh near it? But no. I literally live in a high story flat at uni with 6 housemates, with a grandstand view of all the naughtiness at weekends (and in fairness during the week, loudest hours are between midnight and 3am).

University Life

Currently studying at the Newcastle Uni Business School:

(http://resources.centralindex.com/n/newcastle_university_business_school/a26958ce-f09d-4a79-bbc4-f7ed6bb11893.jpg)

Situated right next door to St. James park, which I find pretty cool.
I'm currently only in at lectures 3 days a week, but slowly but surely getting essays done.
On top of this I'm having to do a dissertation regarding live poker and brand loyalty (spammed around Blonde so I'm sure you've seen details somewhere).
If you haven't filled in a questionnaire, please do so :D
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16muZpTzzCOX20Pt63-PtHZVzLigTDq4KYXSgdfSu04Q/viewform

Todays Poker
Actually recorded part of the cash session early, not played much since.
Ran pretty deep in a donkament, just for A4<QQ when we get it in on a AK94 (no flush draw)

Also played the Blonde bash which was really enjoyable. Ended up leveling myself to the eventual/inevitable winner Tighty (he 4bet me so I thought it was a good time to stick it in his eye with A9), but 6th was decent enough for points and a mincash.

*edit - also had some decent feedback regarding a career in the industry in the future. Nothing that is certain (as expected with graduation a good number of months away) but definitely a positive note, even if this blog goes unnoticed by others from now gaining these contacts from the initial entries has definitely made it worthwhile.

No cash today I don't think, but I'm allowing myself that since I will be playing the £55 £5k GTD at Genting (thanks for the HU buzz, you are doing it right)

Main guidelines to stick to:

• play tighter with <20 bigs, stop thinking oh it looks like I have no FE so I must always look strong here - it doesn't (always) work like this
• cbet occasionally more instead of typically checking almost all flops the continuing the turn when in a HU/3 way pot (when necessary obv, dependant on board)

I've also been considering playing the Grand Prix, or at least getting a satty into it.
Plays down to 10% of the field for a 3x cash. However it is 95% likely that I wont be able to make the live Day 2. Is it worth playing just for the £150 payday?
Opinions welcome please, obv getting to a final 10% is a fairly big ask. Atm I'm thinking yes to playing it, but only because of the Hendomob flag incentive ;)

absolutely going to be a -EV investment if the most you can cash for is £150.

You'll need to make the final 10% over 38% of the time to break even (assuming £8 reg fee on the £50).

If you're playing it like a satellite then you could probably stretch to 25 or 30% but never going to get to get higher than that.

There is a chance you ladder a bit while you're chips are blinding out if you make it with a huge stack. But seriously why are you considering it?!

Yeah thought this when thinking through it.

Was mainly a consideration as to whether to have £25 worth of satellite shots. Saying that, it's not like if I bink a satty im GTD a seat in Day 2 or anything...

 Still a chance I may make it to Nottingham for it... but very slim

Frustration

Last night played the £55 £5k GTD at Genting which 98 players turned up for.

got a great start early doors, 9k starting stacks. I open to 150 UTG (25/50) with  Aspades Kd, 2 flat. The small blind then makes it 350.
I didn't really wanna go 4 to a flop, considered a 4bet but I just have to fold when it gets 5 bet, or have the classic win a small pot/lost a biggish pot.
I opt to flat, don't bother inflating the pot, as expected both call behind me.
Flop -  Ks  4d 5d
sb bets 400. Again relatively small so I make it 1,100.
MP calls quick, LP folds, small blind calls.
Turn -  7c
A definite brick, I bet 2.2k. Somehow get called by both again, both looking pretty pained.
River -  Jc
sb checks, I opt for the check since I felt like this may just keep bluffs in MP's range. MP jams for 5k.
sb taaaaaaaaaaaank folds. Even though setting it up I'm not a huge fan of this spot, feel the only hand that beats me is KJ. I call, he has K10, 19k just like that.

From there it was pain city, despite this being level 1.
Had a fairly aggro image, in 2 spots had flop and turn bets called down by AK high where i had flopped top pair, binkage on the riv, both times went check check.
Then had this from A7 as he flopped nothing OOP, turned a gutshot, rivered an Ace. This took me all the way back down to 11k.

Raises seemingly stopped getting through or people found hands/flops, learnt to step back a bit as I dipped to 7k.
Grinded up a little before for a final time being called down by AK across flop/turn, rivering the Ace, check check again, nfh.
Was in a lot of frustration, but thankfully am able to calm myself enough to continue to play optimal poker.

Doubled with  Th Ts vs  Ad Ks to get out of the rut.
Was then all but dead and gone as we found chips flying  in as standard with  Qh 9h vs  Aspades 9s on a  9c 5h 3h flop, bricks out.
5 bigs and we were dead as we get it in from the bb with  6h 8h up against  9s 9d, we flop nothing and turn nothing to be eliminated in about 46/98.

Aims for next tournament:

• Step down the aggresion slightly;
• Stay away from Twitter a little more

I don't think posting on the reg on twitter cost me anything, but should I continue the amount of tweets/hr I feel like it could do at some point in the future.
I obviously don't want this to affect me, it's one of the key reasons as to why I don't wear headphones at the table, to ensure spots or discussions that could help me aren't missed.

On the work grind

Hey, apologies I haven't been able to report much on poker recently.

University work has took a strong priority at the moment, with an on going group consultancy project for a wine company. As well as this I have an analytical cluster analysis essay in for 7 days time.

The real life work front however has sped up. There seems to be possible prospects on the horizon for when I leave University, which is great process.

On top of this I've been speaking to pleno, and may have an on going project I can work on as of when I have some spare time, again would be a very nice project to add to my personal CV and with it hopefully completed by the end of my degree, should set me up perfectly as I search for work within the 'real world' so to speak.

Steady progress

My life has mainly consisted fo rushing to get essays done in time for a hand in date on Friday, including topics about stats, my placement and the consultancy project previously mentioned.

I'm really enjoying the reflection on my placement at Dusk Till Dawn. It makes me realise how fortunate I was to be in a position that I really enjoyed, at a place that I absolutely love for an entire year, getting to know a tonne of faces in the industry. Without it, I wouldn't be writing this diary (for better or for worse, you decide).

I always wonder about the poker/real life content of a diary on here. I suppose it will take shape over time, but there's very little to report on the poker front with all the work going on, so it's left me leaving a bit bare.

However, pretty hyped as tomorrow I will be going to the Newcastle vs. Anzhi game at St. James. Should have my essays completed by then, so it's a perfect excuse to relax before the girlfriend makes her way over here from Poland. Also means I will see one of the all time greats in action (I think?), Sammy Eto'o who currently plays for the Russian outfit.

FML - only just realised your are called JGill and not Jill.  Thank God I didn't start flirting.  That pic of you is small on my PC and could have been a chick with a short hair-cut.  Honest.

ahaha, it's cool. Now and then I get told I look like a lesbian with short hair, I get it all the time :p

Brags itt

That thinly veiled?

It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post due to the uni hand-ins, followed by my gf who arrived on Friday.

Really nice to have some time to chill out. Sadly the dissertation has to remain inn the forefront of my mind, where the thought of cluster analysis is killing me at the moment.

Playing Day 1a of the Newcastle GPS (tomorrow), really excited for this opportunity. Morale is high, I feel like I've been away from the tables long enough to avoid judgement being cloudy, and at the same time it hasn't been too long since I last played. I really enjoy having a break, even if it is just a week before playing. Really makes me feel like it matters a lot for me to be able to focus 100%, as supposed to playing so much that I eventually feel that I'm just splashing about a little - something that I definitely need to avoid.

I'm sure I will be seeing plenty of recognisable faces on the toon, feel more than welcome to come and say hi.

Further confirmation obv.

GL in Newcastle

Baggin' em up

Played Newcastle GPS yesterday, and was very happy overall with how it went. An unusually small field (65) due to obvious travelling distances for players. Throughout the tournament had plenty of notables including mondatoo, Ben Jones, Jamie Dale, Ross Boatman and others.

A few semi interesting hands, but nothing incredible. Very happy with how disciplined I remained throughout the day, nothing needed to be forced and picked up the odd small spot to keep my stack ticking over. However later on I had Umar Khan (DTD reg) on my table. I know how aggro he is and typically over values some hands, and bets them all. It resorted in me calling him down 3x, won 2, the other time he had dem aces. Since he had the table covered for the majority of the tournament, I tried to play small ball vs him in general.

Hand #1

Background: I'd played fairly tight for the 4 hours or so I had been on mondatoo's table, as had he, we weren't getting into silly spots.
Stacks: I had about 100k, he had me covered (just).
Blinds: 500/1000/100
Hand: He opens UTG to 2k, I'm UTG+1 with AK, make it 4.6k. Folds all the way round, he clicks it back to about 10k (I think).
I feel we are deep enough to peel, but there are never any flops that I love, it's the 1st time he's 4 bet. He knows I shouldn't be 3betting light, so I find a fold.

Hand #2
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=60659.0
Marginal spot I think, could have gone either way.

As it got later the table got tougher, and I was happy to see the end of the day as it shouldn't be this tough come Day 2.

Thankfully I bagged up 110k (7/25/65) for the day, could have been a cheeky 38k more should I not chop AK vs AQ following a 3bet jam and I find a fold. Blinds 800/1600/200 on Saturday.

going to have a long couple of chilled days today and tomorrow.

I hadn't been at the table for that long, at that point it was still your table  :P

Wpwp, see you Saturday.

A22?

 ;adamm;

Gllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

When I say this, I feel like if such a flop happens then I'm probs winning the absolute minimum or being put to a tough decision for a chop or for him to have AA, in which case I'm like lol 1 outer

I'm never really comfortably winning chunks in this hand

gl today pal,  Qh Qd nice play on live stream.

Day 3 wiiiiiiii

Loving life, chipleader on 1.46mil going into Day 3, 15 left, £38k up top.

Too much to write but yeah, so sick I've ran this deep already, hyped for tomorrow

get in there, best of luck pal

This is aimed at Tighty mainly

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Goodluck_Jonathan_World_Economic_Forum_2013.jpg/220px-Goodluck_Jonathan_World_Economic_Forum_2013.jpg)

As you can tell, I've been waiting for you to run deep in something :)

Wiiii, sick work fella!

Day 3 chip leader came 7th last time, do better ffs!!!

GLGLGL.

I would like you and Boba 1-2 please in any order, cheers.

Really want to hear about your big hand with CT Law, guy is insane. Gl gl bud

Good Luck today fella

Sadly didn't even have one, he distributed to most of the table, lost about 60 bigs when he called off with 2c 5c on a 9c 6c 9s flop, AA held.
I was pretty much picking off some f the shorter stacks

GL today mate!! What time does the live stream start?????

play starts at 1pm, so will begin at 1:30pm with the 30 min delay. Saying that there may be some build up

Good  Luck  Jon

Best of luck today!

Great run.  Must feel good to go so deep.

grats buddy.

Great result JG!!

;mexicanwave;

Well played man. Great result and really pleasing to see.

wiiiiiiii...

tyty for all love <3

Obviously gutting to come 6th, since ft's like this don't happen every month unless you are Goulder or Deadman :D

Pretty annoying though, made a real schoolboy error on the ft opening with the ol 96os without realising wadey was so short. He didn't shove, but my play is inexcusable in that spot.
As well as that the bet with 55 on the riv like never gets through, so obv annoyed at this too.

Anyone who watched would notice that I really got nothing going on the FT. Got owned bvb when i 3bet 73os and he 4bets with 72, aswell as a sb vs button 3bet with  Ahrt Th, the bb found a hand, with the ft summed up by jamming  Aspades 9s called by AQ, gg.

Great weekend of poker, only really feel like it went wrong on the FT which is where you will always need things to work.

This time I need to ensure I spend money wisely, it's a good chunk of money which I sometimes underestimate due to having worked in Dusk Till Dawn, the casino with the biggest GTE's and 1st place payouts where a £30k+ bink starts to seem like the norm.

Decided to start blogging again. I'm such a part time individual but hoping to keep it up this time, at least until I find a job.

So many new things and opportunities have come way, as well as unbelievable run good.

Believe it or not I wanted to post in this before I found some decent wins to brag about, don't think there is ever a good time to get back into blogging without it looking like a self centered post, so will try to avoid that as much as possible.

The Job Hunt

I managed to graduate with a 2:2 from Marketing in July. Was really quite frustrated I didn't make a 2:1, but overall it was my 2nd year that let me down.

Working at DTD seemed to completely turn my mindset around, from being a really lazy student with little interest in the repeated topics shown by the same lecturers month by month, to realising that I could actually turn it into a job opportunity I love.

However by my final year it was too late for this. My dissertation just fell short of a 2:1 which I'm pretty frustrated with as I felt it was worth more, and being based on poker where there is little to no data available in the public domain it all felt very subjective, hence a middle of the road mark. I could be a little bias.

Since then I attempted to find work (and still do) with a poker environment, and even with the experience it feels like there is next to no work available. That's lead to me tearing my hair out that almost all graduate roles require a 2:1, regardless of experience. Although I've applied to probs 70 jobs within marketing (small sample size) I'm yet to come close to getting one, despite feeling like some are under me.

Obviously all these time delays lead to more free time for me, leading to more free time to poker which is perfect whilst on the right side of variance.

The Flag Hunt and the Online Playground

Don't think many of you know, but in the Summer I decided to join Team Blue Blood. At the time I was relatively unsure of whether it was the right move, but am honestly so glad I have done so.

All members seem to have a real desire to learn, with an open mind. I feel some of the online sickos within the team don't get the recognition they deserve. I've had huge amounts of help from Pat Brooks with the online side of things, which obviously help the live side of things. I've luckboxed a number of tourneys since both online and live, as well as binking the BB league meaning I get to play a £1k Grosvenor event, huge news as it will only be the 2nd £1k event I've ever played (1st was in UKIPT Galway, unreal experience).

Thought I would keep this going from now on regarding both online and live play, as well as whats happening with the job hunt.

Rollercoaster Tycoon
Don't think I've ever really wanted to play poker professionally due to being really quite afraid of the variance, and the fact I can't win at cash to save my life. As weird as it sounds I feel like I've been backed into the corner of having to have a real go at it, which if I was offered 4/5 years ago I would have snapped your arm off at the opportunity.

I'm not playing high online ($8 -$25 MTT's), but feel like reaaaally heavy swings will inevitably happen as I have sold my soul to PokerStars. Last month I had my best ever month as well as result online I've ever had (binked the Big $11) but find it difficult to find the line between profitability and luckboxing. I have friends who play similar stakes to me and would definitely rate their games above mine, and their downswings are ridic, at times going months without finding a winning day. I'm really unsure on the stability of grinding it on a day to day basis, and just how mentally tough you need to be (any advice?).

The life long dream, as I imagine it is with the majority of poker players is to end up winning the world and along the way finding a way to become an ambassador for a poker orientated company or brand. Either that or find work in a poker environment, one of the only areas I think I've ever shown any real enthusiasm to work in, or at least have the self belief to think it's an area in which I can succeed with flying colours. For the moment they remain pipedreams...

(http://cdn1.dfgfile.com/a/dfg/imgs/prod/screens/rollercoaster_tycoon2_3_l.jpg)

YES gilly :) Welcome back to the blog :)

tyty :) got a lot of reading to do to catch up with the other blogs.

Decided I'm going to play tomorrow in the Big Game, had a pretty poor online session tonight and I've been tilting an absolute chunk over Plusnet's customer service that was somehow incredible a year ago, but now horrific as it's gone up in size.

I'm always lurking mate, enjoyed your recent upswings - long may it continue.

Keep it up Gilly .........please stay away from me :(

Thanks Pleno, means alot :)

Presume you are playing today Ceri? Will see you later, don't go sticking it in my eye in dead pots please!

Sighhh busted the Big Game early. Had some rough table draws with the likes of Mitch, Jamie Rutherford, tomsom, Bingham and others.

It also doesn't help when you 3bet jam the button and the big blind finds KK ;)

Means I'm able to grind for the night, but going just as badly. Sunday Funday gonna win it alll!

btw determined not to turn this into a day by day update of the online side of things. Will probs start posting more hands and things since I don't think I'm ever 100% sure about lines I take

you said hard table draw right? ;) :D

Hey mate,

Just new to the forum, just checked out the 1st page of your blog, i'll check the rest out later.

How's it going did you manage to get a job sorted?

Hey man, thanks for the read.

Nope, hence the unemployment at the moment. Still actively looking for work but have been getting a little demoralised regarding finding the perfect job in the poker industry, it was always going to be much tougher than I originally thought.

Been grinding the past few days online and have been losing a fair bit on stars. Feel like I'm playing really well at the moment, which I suppose is the most important thing.

In other news, managed to (somehow) bink the Blue Blood League! On the last game of the night I needed to win and have about 4 other players to not finish any higher than 5th. Sure enough I run good, eliminate the right people and take it all. Literally over the moon to win after finding 2nd place in the previous league. This means I win a £1k GUKPT Seat, will only be my 2nd ever £1k event. Really want to get playing more live Grosvenor tournaments as I haven't had much of a run at them.

This will start with the 25/25 series in Bolton in 2 weeks or so. Heard a lot of good things about the event, this being my first one as well as the first time playing in Bolton (not sure if that's a positive or negative).

Keep looking bud.

Did you ever think about trying to find a job in a poker context, not necessarily marketing, that could lead onto something bigger, if you wanted to pursue a career in the poker industry.

I know someone else said there wouldn't be much scope for marketing within poker, i guess it is quite a niche market.

Getting a job within poker would atleast be a start.

Have you tried approaching some of the big poker sites? Or using contacts you have, i guess your well known if you play a lot live.

Good luck with it anyway, and playing too!

When I initially graduated (probs about 5 months ago) I tried to message as many people as I could who might have the right links for me, wasn't able to find anything.

Think it's worth having another look for jobs as hadn't realised how quickly time had passed since graduating, may be a little more out there for me. Tbh when I play live if I'm at a table for a long time someone may start making convo, ask if I'm still looking, the may know something for me and am able to job hunt that way as well.

Approached big sites but alot of them seem to need the potential employee to work from overseas (Guernsey, Isle of Man, those sort of places) so I guess I'm a little stuck in regards to that.

The Big $11... Could we do it again?

Was grinding online as I have been the majority of days, Took a considerable downswing based on the fact that I'm only really playing buyins of <$25.

Put a decent dent in it however in the $21 KO, finishing 4th for about 8 hundo, which was good but a little annoying (as standard). However there was one last tourney left in me...

The Big $11. Was pretty unfortunate to have a sicko to my immediate left but was firing through the rankings. At about 2am I was 4/42 then suddenly my wifi drops. I've been having a few problems with Plusnet recently as previously stated, but this time it was worse. There was no way of me being able to restart it and logging in, although spent a good 20 minutes sat out trying various different methods. At this point I was really tilted, I don't have an iPhone (sigh) so had to wake my parents up to ask to borrow theirs so I could download Stars, grind on there until I found out an alternative.

(http://www.btfon.com/images/illus_07.png)

God bless BT Wifi hotspots. for £6 I managed to log on for 24 hours (let me never complain about the prices of such services again). I had lost about 15% of my stack but it's fine as I manage to get there with AQ>KK, and get back to where I was as well as adding the occasional hand like this...

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/6011870_CEA8490007 (http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/6011870_CEA8490007)

Probs should have folded the turn but yolo, can stick it in his eye on ideal river cards such as this where we have to have it 100% of the time due to the lack of fold equity.

10 left and I was abso cruising. Had a really nitty table that allowed me to run them over. Sure enough that stops where I lose AA<44 in a 3bet pot on 942 and we get it in.

This puts me down to about 15 bigs but manage to grind it back up to 30 and with 8 left, life looked good, or at least it did until AA<T9 on a TT9 board where the man has 20 bigs and we are just never escaping ever. This followed by an 8big jam with KJ<AK, leaving me with 1bb, leaving me busto in 8th for $1k. Realllly frustrating to run so bad on final table but can't really complain based on recent results. At least it gets me out of the monthly hole.

Shout out to JKay and Chrissy Verns for the rail. All started where JKay asks how I close the Big $11 with no idea that I was running deep in anything, just happened to be cruising in that exact tourney!

pleasure, my binking rate from the rail is becoming something else. thats like 33k this year now ;) dont think i was up to watch you whaling around, certain cricket match down under that had my attention! sick run though, ahhh dem aces eh?!

who finals the big11 twice in 2 months?! You animal.

Grind it real gooood

Really enjoyed grinding the past 2 months. Not sure why but never really been in this mind frame where I'm itching to play every single day of the week. Don't think I'd have that motivation if I wasn't able to run through my spots with someone, discussing lines and such.

Managed to finish 22nd in the Micromills $5.50 6max tonight for $240. Pretty annoying as it always is, but no biggy. Picked out a couple of pots where I played pretty poorly, always frustrating to know you may have found a deeper run if you played just that little bit better, especially in such a soft field.

Missing it tomorrow as I finally have a social event to attend to outside of poker (long time coming) but will no doubt be whooping and cheering come sunday afternoon, then crying in a cold shower by sunday evening.

You're the absolute best.

(http://replygif.net/i/413.gif)

Standard Sundays

I swear Sundays always follow the same routine. There are four specific stages that every single Sunday must follow:

Stage 1 - The Hype

The day always starts so nicely. You are busy regging for a long day, and see all of the extra tournaments available. Surely one of them will result in a deep run. I have high morale, big dreams and most of all a determination to turn it into a winning day.

Stage 2 - The Run Bad

It starts off OK. "well we lost that one, plenty more to come. Oh another cooler, no biggy, lets gogogogo. Oh he has Aces again, marv...". Yesterday I seemed to be getting coolered everywhere. KK<AA 5 times in total, as well as the odd QQ<KK and AK<KK. Reaaaaally frustrating to run bad on the day that every man and his dog is having a punt at the Sunday tournaments on Stars. I know there are weak spots everywhere but can't seem to find them.

Stage 3 - The Dream

I've ran bad in absolutely everything with morale at an all time low, and frankly look forward to getting Sunday out the way and busting the 3 remaining tables left on my monitor. There's one, yep there's another. But then there is always one tournament where we have a hope, something could happen. Sunday has done this to me far too many times. But this time it's going to happen. 200 left of the Sunday Storm, chunks up top. Maybe we can get there and convert. People still 3x'ing pre UTG then have to call off with A5os when a shorty rejams. This is an absolute dream, we can make this. Oh... wait... Nope. Out in 133rd. Hopes and dreams have been crushed, just like last Sunday, the one before that and the one before that, just when we thought we could crack this Sunday malarkey. But it's a deep run, time to check how much profit we've made on the day...

Stage 4 - The Rubs

As you check your pokerstars account balance you have completely forgot about how many tournaments you registered before. The schedule in your mind seems to have merged with your midweek schedule, which is at about half the price of buy-ins. This makes you realise why you have made a $5 loss on the day. Another losing Sunday. There's always next week...

Running good in all aspects!

Wanted to post earlier, but I couldn't really post without mentioning a potential job that I was looking at during the team incase the role got hijacked or I managed to bok myself.

I've managed to secure a one month trial within a poker based company! Reaaaaally hyped for this. It has been agreed that if I meet my first months goals then it could be extended to a two month trial, which in turn could be extended to a full time job if I am able to tick the right boxes. Don't really want to be exposing too much right now, but my work will focus on boosting social media attention for the company, a role I really enjoyed whilst I was working for Dusk Till Dawn. I expect to start this by the end of the week, possibly Monday, at which point I will post further details.

Bolton 25/25

As mentioned previously, played Bolton 25/25. I both played and ran pretty bad, trying to stick it in a lot of players eyes with little to no success as I discovered I was going to keep getting stationed. I did however make antes, oioiiii! Was a really fun tournament and it was clear there were plenty of satellite winners who wouldn't usually punt £220 into a poker tournament, lots of excitement and I will surely be playing more of these as Grosvenor expand it into the Midlands.

The Sunday Grind - I made a profit!

I didn't fancy playing on Sunday, especially after a poor performance on Saturday where I potentially felt like I had been playing far too much having grinded probably 13/14 days. However being home with nothing else to do as the girlfriend slept, I couldn't help but flick it in. The hand below sums up why I feel this way:

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/6194495_6666ACA37F

I managed run pretty incred early on, think I probably won about 13/15 flips across various tournaments. Made multiple cashes only to bust in the last 100 in a few tournaments, looking like a break even day unless I could make haste in the $5 2r1a. Managed to cruise to the final table finding hands in beautiful spots due to the final 2 tables being full of sickos, 3/4 betting a tonne of spots. Eventually it played down to 4, where we agreed to look at the figures. I don't usually make deals but pretty much every open was being 3bet with players rotating turns to do so, based on lifetime profit I was 3/4 with all being profitable. Eventually made a deal for $1.8k a piece, meaning a $2k profit on the day! Loooovely end to the week.

Confirmed Job!

I can now confirm the trial job for those intrigued...

(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QPdK0fv3SBc/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/aOs7pCLlVU4/s120-c/photo.jpg)

I will be working for Poker Player Magazine on a one/two month trial, improving their current social media and boosting follows/likes. This includes the use of prize giveaways and such as I hope to create discussion on these pages. If there is decent progress after the first month I will be extended to a two month trial, if I am still able to impress at the end of this period there may potentially be a full time job available for me.

Really hyped as this is a definite foot in the door with a company that I'm a big fan of, so fingers crossed I impress and eventually find a secure job.

congrats n ting

OIOIOI. Good luck Gilli hope it goes well for you!

I mean anyone that can win the BIG 11 surely can get some run good in a job right?

I don't know about this.  I heard OP once fell into a barrel of tits and came up sucking his thumb.

 ;oopsy;

good mag, defo own a subscription!

Grats!!

oioiioioioi

ty for all the well wishes <3

Expected to complete 15 hours of work per week, so might even have a little space to grind here and there which also works out nicely.

Day 2 and Job Brags

Just 2 days into the job, and already I am really enjoying it. The peers I work with are extremely supporting and take on board everything I say in regards to potential changes to be made. Really hope to impress at the end of 1/2 months, but taking each day as it comes.

On the poker front, still playing a bit online. Ran pretty bad bricking the world after finding a decent Sunday, lost some crucial pots deep in tourneys, but plenty more of those to hit me I'm sure. I'm too used to running pure. Whilst on the topic of running pure, I flicked it in for Day 1 of the Big Game tonight. Managed to find 109,500 (t9,500 profit) saving £440 in the process. Really interesting dynamic with deep stacks playing it as a satellite, short stacks trying to find the double towards the end of play, despite it being so far away from any monetary return.

Look forward to being back at the Mecca on Sunday having not played there for a few weeks.

well played last night Mr. Gilly!!! See you on Sunday!!!

Ah you made it too Ganesh? See you there!

Haha good to have you on board :)

And thanks, had a few others confused as to why I was inviting them

Yes, strangely first time ever made Day 2 playing online :) just 40 bigs more than you bagged ( very thin I know!!!)

wowww, absolute boss in this thread!

Haha can roughly remember the hand. Think it happens a little too often to be honest. As mentioned previously, I run too pure!

Big Game Binkage?

Sunday saw Day 2 of the Big Game arrive. I was pretty hyped and had promised myself not to attempt to run over the table, play fewer pots.

Thankfully it was something I stuck by, or at least for the majority of the tournament. I (presume I) was chipleader with about 35 remaining, with 30 paid. 3 losing flips later as well as a failed 3 barrel bluff where the guy rivers two pair I busted in 25th, a little annoying but gotta win those flips. Think it actually may be my first ever mincash, hope to stay away from them. Really enjoyed the weekend, socialised with a lot of players and don't think I endured a single awkward break as I usually do

Had considered playing the Genting Grand Final but instead punted on an Xbox One. I'm not really much of a gamer but I'm a huge Windows fan, so I couldn't resist. felt like sacrificing one tournament would be OK for something I would use for years to come, even though it will probably result in me sacrificing a lot more days than just a 3 day MTT.

Stop it... And buy a Mac... Once you go Mac you'll never go back..

Are you a windows 8 fan?

Yeah big time. Only let down is the lack of apps (probably a big area for it to be a let down, but find the interface very smooth)

Also I had a really interesting conversation with James Atkin regarding his recent Tournament Leaderboard challenge on Stars.

He raised the issue that there are so many mid/high stake regs grinding tournaments like the big $2.20 due to them wanting to pick up on TLB's. Surely this is bad for the PokerStars economy since it will generally mean new recreational players lose money quicker due to a shark tank effect in tourneys as low as $2, putting them off the game in the long term. If the current TLB point scoring system is detrimental to the experience of new/recreational players, then surely this is bad for poker, and should perhaps offer more points to higher buyin MTT's, which on contrast may persuade some regs to take the occasional punt a little higher up to try and battle for points.

In the Beginning...

Had an interesting chat with Rexas last night/early this morning, regarding how we got into playing poker.

I think I was one of the 'last generation' so to speak where I learnt poker in a pub as supposed to online. I was in a snooker hall and invited to play poker for £3. I explained I hadn't played but was interested due to those incred PKR adverts on TV (where graphics looked better than any current console). I was 17 at the time so snapped up the opportunity, I got shown the basics whilst playing and picked the game up from there.

This resulted in me going about 2/3 times a week, playing £3 sng's including a pub poker league at the time. There were a few drunken regs who pretty much never made any money. As silly as this sounds I thought they must have been minted to lose £20 or so a week playing poker in a pub. I suppose I was a bit of a bumhunter way before I had even heard of the term, as I was genuinely gutted when they didn't turn up for a drink and poker session. I very occasionally took a shot at the £5 sng's which consisted of the same players but more chips, but I understood I wasn't necessarily going to cash every time, again having some sort of understanding of variance before understanding the word in regards to poker.

I always found it quite funny that if you were to bluff the landlord or his wife they would be really quite angry with you, say it's not in the nature of the game and all that. There were a number of people who were new and came into the game and did so, to the eventual point where the landlord banned them from playing poker and suggested they were only allowed in the snooker area. Funnily enough there was plenty of rudeness to the vast majority of customers (which I was safe of as my mother was a close friend of the landlords wife), and came no shock to me that the place eventually got sold due to lack of business.

I actually met the landlords wife a couple of months ago in the G in Walsall as they are still local, and she absolutely adores poker. She mentioned she saw me on the GPS Final Table where I finished 7th, basically told me I played atrociously and that my game had changed for the bad because I bluffed on occasion to occasion. Pretty funny, but reminded me of my roots, although she basically said any success I have is entirely down to her (which I guess is partly true, but I imagine I would have played sooner or later as I couldn't resist those sexual PKR adverts).

Oh this should be good......


Massive sigh!


Surely you wont let me down again....


(http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwqhpDPdq1rlseiyo1_500.gif)

Oi! You keep that slander away from James Atkin. Matt Harris however....

New schedule, new start!

Yesterday I started a new online schedule. Previously registration ran 4pm-9pm, however the way the tournaments fell it meant the last tournament ($5 2r1a) was usually a one or two table job. Despite this being great value I could never be bothered with 1 tabling up until 4am so usually just didn't bother playing it.

However the new schedule is 5pm-10pm, with 4 tournaments starting between 9:30pm-10:15pm. This gives me much better morale, and actually managed to find 3rd place in that specific $5 2r1a that I usually wouldn't bother with for a cheeky $1.2k.

(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lha0j24dVu1qzcxrxo1_500.gif)

Reallllly enjoying play at the moment. I find online play so intriguing, I'm grinding a fair few hours away simply studying the game, watching videos and listening to podcasts on new trends within the game. One key area I want to work on is snapping out of my b/c game. Find it really hard to get in the groove when I'm not playing optimally and I'm getting smashed up by the deck, hard to try and battle through this, although I keep telling myself how things are good, got tournaments coming up, we run great in flips etc etc.

Is anyone better than you?! <3

Downswing still (very occasionally) happen though!

Last night ran the worst. Despite playing 15 tournaments I managed to find KK<99 pre a total of FIVE times over the period of the night, As well as getting one outered twice for 50bb pots when in the money.

Hopefully I've moaned it in enough to find some sort of win tonight.

Just did a search for "moan it in" gifs. Unsurprisingly none of them were suitable for a public forum.

Post anyway, fuck the po-lice.

Had a long painful grind last night. Over the course of 15 tournaments I played (including two 5 cubed and 2 standard rebuys) I only managed to get above a 10k stack in one of those.

Thankfully it was the nicest tournament I could have wished to have a deep run in. The $11r 40k GTD. With Verndog on the rail I seemed to be winning all flips, finding a lot of nice spots to accumulate chips and momentum.

19 left, dealt AA. Player before me in MP opens, table has been reaaaally aggy, so from 22 bigs decided to peel. Unfortunately as did 3 other players behind me, going to a:
5c 6h 7s flop.

Checks to the OR who bets 4/5bb. Feels really quite spewy but felt then only play I could realistically make was a jam. Folds all the way round to the OR which is great news, calls with  8d 8h and inevitably finds the turn to let me bubble the final 2 tables in a 55bb pot for $150 or so.

Sounds like I'm whinging about it, but actually not really fussed (despite the bad beat story). Feel like I'm going deep enough regularly enough to find more wins in the closet (ego) and am starting to pick up on some of the leaks most regs have in their game, which is a really promising development. Still studying plenty, and more importantly enjoying every aspect of poker. Feel like I'm finally able to knuckle down and put the hours in to get better and better, a desire that I've previously lacked.

On the job front it is still going nicely, on target to hit the first months goal so hopefully that can be continued.

What's your HUD setup?

I use PT4.

Key stats I have shown are:

vpip / PR / 3bet / call3bet (BBs)
3bet vs late open / check-raise flop / cbet / late open % / #Hands

Always consider playing around with this setup, but if required I can obviously open up detailed stats on each player.

I'd say I use late open % the most to decide on 3bet spots, don't use check-raise flop much at all so may swap that with something else

Glad to see you've dedicated you're second ever post on Blonde to this diary ;) greatly appreciated

No problem haha, do you ever play cash online or live?

Never played cash seriously either online or live. Feel it is a little late for me to start from scratch learning a completely new entity, and would definitely want to avoid parts of my cash game leaking into my MTT game (although imagine it could help in a couple of aspects).

Just doesn't give me a real thrill, the same with sng's.

The main area it would help is post flop skills because most players are at least 100BB deep the whole time, but if that isn't a problem for you, which i doubt it is, then theres no need to switch. I mostly play cash on stars because i find it frustrating to go deep in an online MTT and still only cash for a few dollars more than the buy-in, ive only had one deep run that was actually worth while and that was one i used a satellite for.

Think the only real way to combat this frustration in MTTs is by putting a load of volume in, which is much easier said than done.

I think I need to start playing elsewhere as at the moment I stick to Stars only, fields are so huge it enhances the factor of variance. Think I've been lucky enough to be above variance for too long, this will no doubt catch up with me. In pretty much all MTT's only top 5 finishes+ have an impact on my bankroll, which is painful if you run bad on a few FT's in a row.

TBH post flop is probably the area I need to work on the most, although spending plenty of time focussing on it. I think a lot of the other low stake regs have the same weakness, with a wide cold 4bet almost being common practice in MTTs simply because it's a lot easier to run the figures on these spots, seeing if profitable or not since all players play preflop every hand. This is compared to players playing probably about 10% of flops (unsure on this figure). This means when using a HUD you have a much bigger sample for preflop poker as supposed to post flop.
 
edit: Apologies if the above is a little rambly

Stars tournaments with buy ins over $50 are not as bad because they usually get 2500 players at most, i know this is still a large field but compared to other low or micro stakes tournaments the variance will have a slightly smaller impact. Another thing that annoys me slightly is in online MTTs is people getting all in early on for more than 100BB with hands like AJ and AT etc. but i suppose players like to gamble in huge field tournaments.

I dont know if you have seen it but Stars are hiring in the social media department, not sure if you have found a job in that area yet but it could be good to look at. Also, what VIP status are you, or are you not that bothered about it?

players getting AJ/AT in for 100 bigs is why we play! Spots like this help us make deep runs in tourneys.

Thanks for letting me know re: Stars SM, will definitely take a look (although am very happy with how it's going with PokerPlayer currently).

I actually dont play MTT's above the $22/$10r level. I'm Silver but would have to put soooo much more time in to even get close to Gold, it's a huge jumps when playing MTTs as supposed to cash, so not too fussed about it.

What was your experience of the Bigg Market ?

And Newcastle ?

GL with the grind, keep crushing.

What tournaments do you play on sundays? any of the majors?

The Bigg Market was very, err, interesting. Think I saw more strange happenings living there than I have for the rest of my life.

As mentioned before I lived in a flat that was fairly high up, overlooking the main square of the Bigg Market. Sounded a bit dodgy and I was skeptical as to how many times I would be robbed during my time, but was actually relatively safe, and very fun. Almost every Friday & Saturday were fight nights, I'd be lying in bed, hear some noise, pop my head up to the window and see people fighting. It would usually be 3+ guys on one guy, very rarely were there 1 on 1 fights which is pretty disgusting. Quite often it was group vs group. I have 3 favoured fights that I saw in my time:

1. Couple vs couple
Both blokes were with a woman, and the blokes started fighting one another. Soon enough the women started fighting one another. The two blokes stopped as they noticed what was going on, decided not to fight but to shout on and support their woman as hair was being pulled, legs were being kicked etc.

2. Fight on the floor
At prime time (about 2a.m.) two blokes were fighting fiercely, and it eventually got took to the floor. Whilst fighting on the floor I noticed two women watching, a slim girl accompanied by a slightly larger girl. The slim girl decided to launch a tray of chips into the middle of the two men on the floor as they grappled. Her bigger friend shouted "HOWAY THERE'S TWO PUUUUNDS OF CHIPS THERE MUN!" and proceeded to retrieve the tray of chips out the middle of the fight.

3. Halloween Fight Night
All fights were great fights on halloween. My favourite was Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar taking on captain jack sparrow and Ironman. Due to the lack of props jack sparrow and Ironman lost, with team Star Wars beating the crap out of them with their lightsabers, including one hit where jack sparrow ended up being hit over the front of a car.

Newcastle is definitely my favourite place in England. It all feels so homely and is so easy to navigate around, a place I will always love. It seems to tick all the boxes, honestly have no idea how to improve the place, other than the weather.

Unfortunately not, I just tend to play a longer schedule with similar tournaments due to all prize pools being bigger on a weekend.

On Saturday I play the $22 Six Max and the $27 Eliminator, both reaaaally good tournaments.

Unfortunately not, I just tend to play a longer schedule with similar tournaments due to all prize pools being bigger on a weekend.

On Saturday I play the $22 Six Max and the $27 Eliminator, both reaaaally good tournaments.
[/quote]

Ive played the eliminator before but only mincashed in it. Do you ever have problems with your pokertracker where it doesn't record some tournament cashes, Its done it for me a few times. How do you normally play Ace king at the start of a tournament, would you normally 3/4 bet or play it cautiously?

Ive played the eliminator before but only mincashed in it. Do you ever have problems with your pokertracker where it doesn't record some tournament cashes, Its done it for me a few times. How do you normally play Ace king at the start of a tournament, would you normally 3/4 bet or play it cautiously?
[/quote]

Suppose the AK question depends on opponent, always gets 3bet as people are opening worse hands 100bb's deep but are never 4betting that light. I don't like getting it in for 80bb's+ in a tournament where we should have an edge, if I can rule out the opponent jamming AQ- (if he's jammed) then it's typically folded.

As for PT - never had any problems with it, despite it being a nightmare on my old desktop and laptop where I could barely get it to run.

Ok, probably just my computer then, i don't really play too many tournaments at them moment, so its not that much of a problem.  If i have someone tagged as a weak player i am more likely to get it in for more than 50BB or so, but if its someone i have played a lot with before or not at all then i generally fold to a four bet. I dont like flat calling a four bet because sometimes i think it is difficult to know where you stand with some players. I was just wondering because i think too many people like to gamble with hands like jacks and ace king too early in tournaments.

Play better pleaseeee

Last night was a really frustrating grind, think I made about 10 mistakes total. Doesn't sound too much in the space of about 10 hours, but I should know/play better and think rather than occasionally clicking buttons and thinking it's standard.

These weren't necesarrily hands that cost me my tournament life, but definitely cost me a lot of value. Ended up finding 90th in the $10re to make up a little change as well as a top 100 finish in the $3rebuy (verndog supporting on the rail as ever. He definitely supplies runbad).

On it tonight before having Sunday off. It will be my first day off in about a week and a half/two weeks, perhaps I'm a little frazzled and need the time off to refresh. Think it's very hard to get the balance right when you are able to grind every night.

Blonde Love

My initial live bink came purely through being staked on Blonde. I managed to sell action after doing live reporting for a while through this website, and finally had a weekend to play. I think /am pretty certain all those that staked me backed me purely because of their good, kind nature having seen me helped Blonde, they wanted to help me.

Link to thread - http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=58010.0

I absolutely luckboxed an ICM chop HU with Blonde hero Eso Kral (Rich Blacklock). As I was finished I had Amjad saying to me "what are you doing selling on Blonde? I'd have put you in for a 50% return".
Obviously this made me pretty sigh as I received 35%, not 50% myself as well as having to put money towards it.

A little later after playing a few tournaments for Amjad (no success), I had Frankie approach me regarding backing. I really wanted Frankie to also back me as had always felt he was a very trustworthy guy and had always helped me whenever he could (in my first ever live report he probably did about 50% of the work for me whilst playing, with TD Ryan doing the other 25%). They decide to put up 50% of the buyin each, taking 25% each. I remember Frankie's exact words at the time, "I'm happy to help you play, but I definitely don't want to lose a friend in Amjad over this"

The Backed Binking

Thankfully in my time whilst being backed by Frankie and Amjad I was able to pick up a few decent scores, making money for the three of us. However whilst Amjad only really wanted me to play within the walls of Dusk Till Dawn, this is not what I wanted as I hoped to play elsewhere, especially being based in Newcastle at the time. Frankie was my main point of contact, and was never able to get through to Amjad due to him suffering from illness.

Frankie was always very honest, but I had to miss out on the occasional tournament due to not getting any response from Amjad in time. I remember a specific episode where the GUKPT Main was in Walsall, just a 20 minute drive from my home in Telford. I was very keen to play this event and all the sides to go alongside it, so I wrote out the schedule weeks in advance, showed Amjad and Frankie, both said at the time thy were happy to go ahead with it. However as we got closer to the time neither of us could get in touch with Amjad, with Frankie needing money from him as he transferred me all the money.

As it got closer to the GUKPT still no news from Amjad, with Frankie wanting to hear him confirm it through talking to him personally before shipping me the money. It came across like Amjad was trying to freeroll Frankie a bit as he always struggled to get money back from Amjad. This resulted in me going to DTD instead pretty disappointed I had missed out on the GUKPT being backed by some friends, the £100 Deepstack which I actually went on to win for £12.5k, which resulted in Amjad a month later saying "why didn't you come to me about it?" when I had tried repeatedly.

Eventually the staking had to come to an end because Frankie was understandably getting very annoyed, feeling like he was being freerolled for every single tournament, so we closed it and I started selling at 1.2 for various live events.

The sad thing is it resulted in Frankie and Amjad losing friendship. I feel very guilty that Frankie's earlier statement about not wanting to lose friends was broken, all because of arguments over me. I am so thankful to Frankie (as was Liam in his blog) who helped me to play as much as I do, as results lead to where I am. He went way out of his way to help me, including handing round CV's of mine round people he knew in the Poker industry. The man has a heart of gold and deserves a lot of praise.

I had respect for frankie anyway, he always seemed to have a pure heart, and i was obviously in contact with you as this was developing but (rightly so) i didn't know all the details...

Upon reading this, the man is an absolute legend and i pretty much wont hear a bad word against him now...this is just...yeah....wow

Didn't really want to post this until I had the full go ahead from the man himself. I think amongst some in regards to his falling out with Amjad a lot of people think Frankie is the bad guy and disrespectful, the man obviously doesn't deserve that reputation in his poker home.

Cheers mate . Appreciate this so much :-)

Where does everyone get these staking deals from? I'm such a pigeon... ;)

Seriously tho, got loads of love for Frankie. Guys a total hero, has said some of the funniest things I've ever heard, is definitely a better player than he's given credit for, and is generally a real nice guy.

 :goodpost: ;iagree;

more importantly he is a Liverpool fan, where are we in the league again Frankie?

Clearly right he doesn't deserve it. You'd have never got a bad word from me Frankie and after this ill back your corner to the hills! Don't deserve that rep at all...

change thread title to Frankie appreciation thread imo.

<3 Frankie tho

The wall of pictures of famous people in DTD should be changed into a DTD wall of fame for those heroic regs.

Obvious inclusions are Frankie, Rasta, Tighty, Ian Gascoigne, Trickett etc etc. Simon Deadman to be added late 2014 after making an incred run at the WSOP ME

Sunday Funday!

Even though I was going to give myself a day off yesterday, I was feeling really up for a session so got on board.

Think I cashed 7/16 tournaments which is pretty ridiculous in itself. However in pretty much all of them an bad in the key spots you need to win. A prime example being in the $13.50 KO, with 27 left I had A7<K10 pre, A10<A9 pre then got 7 bigs in with AK, guy misclicks with 82os and finds it.

However made the final table of the reg infested $16.50 360 cap MTT, which is a confidence booster in itself. Verndog on the rail which is getting super standard (think he's some sort of fanboy). We decided if I made 3rd having had 10 bigs at the time with 8 left then I would be able to confirm he delivers run good. Obviously he bubbles, despite some incredible laddering tekkers where I was 8/8, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4 at different stages before losing KJ<A8 to find 14 bigs. The CV rungood is still unconfirmed.

$375 profit on the day which is decent, nice to have some winning Sundays.

#DemGroupies

jesus, you make me sound like such a loser. i clearly deliver run good, 7bbs to ladder from 9th to 4th? Think its disgusting you question my superior rail bird skillages.
Hmmm i totally disagree ice shade, im mch more of  cheerleader, i got the legs for it. however, for the FT in true style i did get the white tuxedo out of the cupboard and wore it, shame not to commemorate the occasion! ;)

I'll make sure to buy you some pom-pom's in that case, as you say, gotta be a stylish cheerleader!

my uni dress up box is full of fantastic things, think i might have a pair. it is important to look good when deep in tournys ;)

You know how Beiber has his Beliebers and Miley Cyrus has her Smilers?

Was trying to come up with a witty use of my name to call Chris. Don't think the name Gill or Jon is versatile enough however, or I'm just a little slow :(

sigh, bellenderers?

oh. I hope you just don't get it, but fear I'm wrong :(

could be David Attenborough?

I like "the gillypedes"

 rotflmfao ;whale;

Confirmed Frankie is a legend. That is all.

Only person in the world to always great me as "bubble" I actually quite like the nickname! Always makes an effort to chat and is such a nice guy!

coincidence that its your blonde name? or is he having a dig at your physical appearance? ;)

Frankiiiiiiiieeeeeee

It's official, Vern is now a gillypede

Whats your setup like? Do you use a laptop or desktop?

Just use a laptop, 8 tabling is the most I ever do and it's definitely copable. Think if I start grinding 10+ on a regular basis I will just plug in a second monitor/hook it up to my television

unconfimed, i am not a gillypede. think id rather be a Tyrannosaurus Rexas

Not posted/played for a while because I've been grinding the back end off my Xbox One (let me know if you have one, will get you added as I have very few friends on there).

Played yesterday and the  before, turned a small loss for both sessions. Managed to lose 3 20/80s for pots of 100k+, pretty frustrating as it could have ended up as a larrrrge profit.

Really quite interested (in a non-sadistic way) in seeing how my mentality changes when I start to run terrible over a long period of time (two months+) as it is obviously inevitable in the world of MTT's where I play 15 a day max.

Back on it tonight. Had farrrrr too many days off and reading all the blogs has really got me hyped for it.

Too many people around you to end up going on life tilt, you'd be fine

2013 Review

Thought I would create some cliffs on my past year, which has mostly been pretty amazing, although some lessons learnt for next year.

Don't be so Naive

This year a number of people I know, what I thought relatively, have gone to prison for various different reasons. People that I always thought would have been trustworthy and 100% dependable (including a guy who has been sent to prison for fraud, grimming a number of people for a total of £70k+).

I feel when it comes to questionable situations I am always a little too quick to defend the person, big fan of the whole innocent until proven guilty. I always feel there must be a reason behind everything everyone does, so I'm always trying to find decent reasons as to why so. I'm pretty naive and pretty much always believe what people tell me (ask Bingham, he levels me at least twice every single time we meet). I think towards the end of this year I've started trying to take both sides of all stories, as supposed to instantly taking sides.

I ran the absolute best

It's no secret that I'm on an absolute heater, and certainly don't believe I warrant every single final table I've made. At the start of the year I set a target of 5 hendon flags (major events, not Super 50's and such) and managed to find 7, which I'm pretty hyped about. To think where my game was as recent as March, it is no where near where it is right now after plenty of work online studying the game, understanding the mathematics of it a lot more and such (although do believe I had an edge in these events, obviously not to the extent I expect to make FT's a lot of times).

I need to continue to study a lot, stay ahead of the game, but at the same time I need to continue to realise that Live play is SO different to online play.

Be more organised - if possible

I would like to state a loaaad of goals for 2014 both live and online, but honestly have no idea what is and what isn't realistic. I have no idea how much I will be able to play this year based on whether or not work opportunities open up for me, and whether they are full or part time roles. Think I may start setting goals on a monthly basis, as supposed to yearly. Would definitely like to continue play a fair bit, but unsure about playing live quite as much due to a lot of added costs, although prizepools are obviously bigger and tournaments tend to be softer.

Social life is deece!

In regards to my social/love life, the year couldn't have really run smoother. I'm currently living under my parents roof with my girlfriend whilst we both look for work that involves a stable source of income, so we can eventually move out. Don't think I can ever completely depend on poker unless I have enough money to cover living costs for a year, as I understand how brutal downswings can be. I'm a bit of a life nit, but think it is safer that way.

Also its ridic how understanding the girlfriend about my online play, and that it is a job as supposed to a hobby. She has to deal with me playing poker 5pm-3am pretty much every single day, listen to me mutter away complaining about "how the guy should never be flipping in that spot", "course he has A10 on the button when he's opened 100% from LP", "of course he jams the river and misses out on all his value, does he want to play any more face up?" etc. etc. etc. She also knows never to give me sympathy, or to laugh at my situations. It's just work, and anyone who plays a great deal of volume knows how ridiculously annoying it is to hear "aw babe, that's so unlucky, I'm sorry". She mostly ignores me during this time, which I'm happy about.

Gl in 2014 Sean, my goal was to flushyouout, achieved and only the 2nd time I have ever beat you in a hand  9s 7s v Qh  Qd

[ ] Sean ;)

wrong blog old boy?i mean, its hard to confuse them... sean is twice as bangable as gilly ;)

this

Oioiii

Gl with 2014 mate hope the heater lasts foreverrrrr. <3

thanks, likewise <3

Verndog rungood?

Had a rough couple of days grinding, in the past couple of weeks I'm on a $1k downswing or so (max buyin = $22). Ran reaaaaaaaaally terrible last night, up until the two $5 cubed mtt's. Always seem to find a deep run in these tournaments as they are deepstacked, so better suited to my game. Sure enough I got itm into both of them, where Chrissy Verns joined me on the rail.

Seemed to be cruising and in the first one went into the FT with a huge chiplead just after I found AA where one guy decides to 3bet jam A9, then the bb gets it in with JJ. Ship shiiiiiip! Despite being in great shape for the FT, ran absolutely dog. Had  Ad Qd <  Kc Kh button vs Cutoff where I 3bet to get it in, then he min 4bet me. He was a good player, I was calling a jam so thought wasn't going to let him level me with his bet sizing. After that hit I took  Ad Ks <  Ahrt Js for a 40bb pot pre leaving me cripled, Got Q10 in on the button just for sb to find KK, gg in 6th for $566.

In the other was down to the last 13 where I was short, a 3 barrel didn't work for me. Blind vs blind got Q3 in, bb had AJ and we flop 2 pair ;) was back in it, and crawled to the FT. Eventually finished 7th for $610 with A10<33, finally losing all the flips when I made the FT.

Thankfully this results in ~$1k profit for the night (getting me out the 2 week hole), little annoying not to run deeper but as Chris will confirm, up until those points I won all my flips, obviously down to him being on the rail 100%.

what can i say... im honoured. felt it was all i could do, seeing you havent won since ive not been railing, 1k downswing and a lot of FB bitching later i return a hey presto. need to start charging tax for this ;)

Do you ever get tilted after playing a long session? What would you normally do to prevent or deal with tilt?

Can get frustrated during a session, but it pretty much never leaks into my play or 'tilts' me. I tend to just moan it in tbf.

Can only get so annoyed at the end since it's usually about 1am-4am when I finish. I just sleep it off and I'm good to go the following day.

if you had railed this man as much as i have, youll know its impossible for him to tilt, as he never suffers bad beats. a flip for him is 22>AA. ;)
he runs nearly as good as rexas

The workfront

My first month trial period has come to an end at PokerPlayer. I have really enjoyed the time there, everyone has been super friendly and have been keen to listen to any suggestions I have.

Thankfully they are looking to expand, and hoping to keep me on. I've been told there are numerous things that I could do, but wan't to discuss with one another within the company the best way they are able to utilise me. Thankfully they are looking to increase my hours, 15 hours a week has been really slim and barely felt like work, so look forward to putting more hours in.

That means I now have a 2 week window before they have a meeting re: myself, so plenty of grind time whilst I play the waiting game.

I quite like it 'ere.

I quite like you being here too <3 ;)

Onlinen Grinden

Since my last post I have been grinding pretty much every single night. I realise at the end of every night, win or lose (unless I've had a +$2k day or something outrageous) I feel relatively deflated. Pretty much always need a couple of games of Fifa to wind down, regardless of the time so I am able to nod off to sleep.

I have however managed to bink two Royal Flushes in the past 5 days or so:

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6780508_32739BC176

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6826878_EFC53C60C3

I was a little frustrated to have a $1k profit day, snap followed by only managing to mincash one tournament out of 40, meaning $500 was instantly lost. Had a sick night last night where I seemed to run deep in everything without getting a finish above 50th, Including 3 flips in separate tournaments (including the Big $22) for a chiplead.

Sadly not playing the GPS, trying to save money as much as possible and without a FT backer I'd have to stump up a considerable amount of money myself, something I can't realistically do whilst trying to save up for moving out of my parents crib. That said I have a fair few tokens to play live GUKPT events so should be on the circuit shortly

i wonder why youve not been winning last few night..... anything to do with a lack of something?

I had a decent night in fairness last night, with you miles away from the rail ;)

Oh and shout out to you (to boost your ego) on your recent deep run in big $11 as well as shipping GPS seats like they are going out of fashion. HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT

Also 2 royals whilst you've been away. Easy game without anyone railing ;)

Would be cool to see some sharkscope material round here  ;popcorn;

I know what its like to have a big session and snap do half of it back the following day, did exactly the same thing Sunday / Monday.  Shame I'm out of the MTT game, would have been decent to tangle somewhere along the line.

ship the seats? :O made day 2 with a bowl too, well a cauldron more like ;)

Not sure how far back you meant, but this is from when I started grinding regularly, early October.

Only a 700 sample size though, must be minuscule in your world!

(http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p51/jon_gill/Sharkscope.png)

Bonus Garph for Tomsom.

Understandably BB won over hands isn't most useful tool in MTT's, but have adjusted this for pots where we have 40BB's+. This is since the start of 1st November, literally running a little less than 1BB/100hands, bang on EV which is a beautiful bonus.

Hands won without showdown, from what I understand, is always a downwards slope. Any pointers anyone to improve this? Guess I'd have to change my entire game approach to do so.

(http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p51/jon_gill/PT4.png)

Yeh I've already played 780 tournaments this year.  Would worry about EV too much, I actually made an EV graph for how I ran today in 180 mans with a stack 15bb or less because I couldn't understand why I couldn't get any tables open / was losing money so fast.  I found the answer:

(http://s28.postimg.org/aj6f8ob8t/BB_Won_over_Hands_Played_for_Poker_Stars_tomsom.png)

This Tomsom guy, 300 game stretch without printing and litters the forum with moans, hushhhh fool.

Just spreading his runbad across all of the diaries. At least he's moaned it in, in time for the weekend

There's been a lot of bros moaning it in recently, I'm defo having a slice of this pie.  I can't really remember the last time I said no to pie actually, mmmmm......   pie.

ahhh, would never have guessed ;) call

Pushing all my Sunday run good towards Verndog.

Don't care if I brick the entire world tomorrow, as long as Chris gets the world without feeling the need to get overly egotistical

ha mate your too kind, would love it alot! if i bink,ill refund your sunday grind for you. and dont u dare go adding the million and the sunday warmup into the schedule! ;)

Chris should be getting overly egotistical if he does bink the world on Sunday, it's all about stacking bro's and slapping hoes these days.  FML I should not be allowed to drink anymore!!!!

haha lets hope tomson5847362101191837374. 80k would be about .5% if gillys net worth right?

I heard that Gills net worth was the only thing stopping the UK economy from collapsing completely!  I also heard that if Gill were to drop his wallet he would change the orbit of the planet.

shame he couldnt pay for a haircut with it ;)

Time for a £2k schedule then, locked up!

in b4 verndog diary

(saving this quote to be used as my first post when he inevitably sets one up)

for some reason i have to revise tomorrow (which i wont) but thanks!

Wind up sessions

Got  a little frustrated at the game last night having found two deep runs, just for it to amount to very little (150th in Big $11, 20th in $3re after being 1/25 - sighhhhhhhhh)

Saying that I've been breaking even over the past few sessions, just need a bit of run good to close it all out.

Meanwhile I've managed to recruit good ol' verndog for Blue Blood Poker. Think he absolutely has the right attitude to get further in the game, always willing to listen to advice on hands/lines, and would like to see him do so. Feel like Blue Blood are definitely getting stronger heading in the right direction.

What is blue blood?

A group of poker players, about 50 of us or so.

I'm currently on the committee, when finding new members we think mentality and attitude to learn and adapt to the game is absolutely key. At the same time all members are pretty chilled out and friendly, and most of all enjoy the game, whether it's playing live or online.

Run worse Vern  ;D

So its more of a community of players rather than a staking group?

Yeah exactly that. Which leads me onto my next post topic...

The Staking Debacle

I've been staked online recently by BB, which I'm very grateful for. However being backed by friends so to speak leaves me very limited as to how I am able to move up in stakes. I currently have a friend who gets coached regularly and is member of training websites, I basically act as a sponge trying to absorb his knowledge to better my game. It's pretty great he does this for me as I get a lot more out of it than he does, however it basically means I'm one level lower than where I'd like to be as i receive certain trends one stage too late.

This has lead me into applying for staking for online play through sites. Problem is I'm not sure how much work I will be expected to do for PokerPlayer when they get back to me, but don't imagine it will be absolute chunks, not at this stage at least. Really want to get further within the online game, although ideally would play a lot more live, but it's a lot more difficult finding a live backer as supposed to an online backer. Saying that when I need to sell %ages for live ones I'm able to do so, which is simple enough and quite nice to fall back on.

Who own blue blood ? Are they good ? Is Pete W the guy that teach poker in BB ?  #WAL

No one owns BB, the members run it. Some decent players within the team, all players looking to learn and improve.

Pete W is no longer in the team, nor did I ever get any lessons from him whilst he was in the team ;)

Pete W left BB or got sack ? What about Graham P , Pete mentor? Is he still there ? What about that guy that came out from prison / pervert ? Is he still with BB?

None of the above are in BB

Who's incharge of BB now ? Anyone famous in poker ?

I'm a pretty big deal, no?

Interested in joining Frankie? ;)

im no genius, but i detect some sarcasm frankie ;)

What sort of staking deal are you looking for, Have you tried sites lil 2+2? Also, What sort of process do you have to go through in order to get into a group like BB?

Can apply, Sylvia Hewitt looks through applications then talks to the applicant personally to see if they are right for the team.

Based on what's out there, ideally looking for 50/50. Thankfully tomsom is an absolute diamond and got me to pm a guy looking for low/mid stake regs. Seemed a really nice atmosphere and group they have with a sick coach, hopefully they enjoy my HH's then we are good to goooo. Need to make sure it's relatively flexible (which seems like it is), since I imagine some works I will have more work than others.

Not tried 2+2 simply because I don't post there. Feel it's a little cheeky to rock up to such a big site being like "sup guys, I've arrived, not posted once but ship me the backing deal".

I suppose thats true, maybe its worth a shot as a last resort. Is the application just based on poker results? None of my friends from school played poker at all so since i left the only people i have close to me that have any basic knowledge on poker are my brother and my dad. I haven't played as much live as i hoped because we recently got a puppy which I've to take a lot of responsibility for. I know it helps talking to other players about hands and plays etc. which is why I've tried to become more involved on this forum, but sometimes its difficult to make significant progress entirely on your own. Maybe its worth a chat on PM or something to go into more detail?

Agree entirely with what you are getting at. It's so important to have the right peers. Always worth asking for help/posting hands whenever you can. I find the majority of the time if you are open to criticism and are open minded about lines you took, then people are more than happy to give a helping hand as it's not a waste of effort/time invested.

Think I may go to 2p2 as last resort. The application is based on the willing to learn and the fact I have a decent reference here and there from people. I think the learn part is most important, sites would definitely take a losing player with an open minded approach over a marginally winning player with a closed mind. A lot of it is down to potential based on attitude and having the right mentality to succeed and take it seriously. It does help that I know a fair few UK based full time/part time players so I'm an actual person, as supposed to being an anonymous guy who could grim.

What's the deal in joining ? Get sponsorship by BB to play tourney or u have to gain it ?

Not necessarily sponsorship. They have leagues where there is "added value" from Grosvenor like GUKPT main event seats and tokens. Then there is possibility for BB to put up like 25% of your buy in to an event depending on how much you have contributed to BB funds in the past.

The main idea is to be a live team of players that then represent Grosvenor at Grosvenor events. The staking will not be given for anyone but Grosvenor events. Also a group of players to help with strategy railing etc etc. Individual players also do sometimes back individuals as part of the group but this is different to BB putting up funds and works in a similar way to how blonde staking threads would happen

weeeeeeeeeee

worked didn't it ;)

After tomsom announced yesterday morning "I will get you an online backer by this lunchtime, he was infact just one day away from his prediction.

Yet to confirm as I want to hear from PokerPlayer to understand just how much I have to work as I don't want to waste either parties time, but I now have something waiting if I want to take it.  SHIIIIIIIIP

It was my own bad, I forgot that everyone else in the poker community doesn't get out of bed till 2-3pm.  Except MC, but he's some kind of weird poker cyborg from the future.

Everyone else has had a go at moaning it in, I thought I would give it a spin, and tbf it's done a smashing job!!!  Maybe I should be moaning a lot more.....

Noticed Callum Morgan going in on your hand history post. No doubt he will win the world soon

Quite amusingly, I got a snap chat from him tonight of what looked like him shipping a 3r.  Must work.

Blonde member in moan it in shocker

;)

At the 25/25 Series in Birmingham this weekend. Having two bullets (one tonight, one tomorrow if required) so hopefully will find a bag with my name on.

Blessing in Disguise

As mentioned previously went to the 25/25 series in Birmingham, decided to opt for a bullet Friday night and Saturday afternoon if required, as my mate lives within walking distance of the casino.

Standard was unreal. Probs the softest/toughest tournament I've played for over £100 (delete where appropriate) based on the following hands:

A player cramming 5 high on a 8-9-10-J board for about 100 bigs;
8/10 hands in a row someone was all in, with the shortest stack on my table being no smaller than 50 bigs;
Average pot was around 40 bigs;
Not one single walk all tournament;
Majority of hands went 4-6 to a flop, even in the later levels of the day.

This meant I stuck to playing the top 5% of hands. However on Day 1a I couldnt win, 3bet for chunks with  Ahrt Aspades, called in 2 spots, flop comes all clubs, get it in and I'm effectively dead as villain has  Jc Tc. This was 20 minutes from the end of 1a.
I don't usually get annoyed but had I made Day 2 on this flight I would have enjoyed a full Saturday off with the girlfriend which I was looking forward to, instead I'd have to wake up in the morning and walk straight into the Grosvenor. Really frustrating, meaning I was back for 1b.

However 1b went even worse. A guy betting the absolute world on all flops (including one where he check raised/bet/bet showing bottom pair like it was the winner when called) finds KK vs me when I have AQ on a Queen high board, marv. Managed to remain chilled, was in a really good place in my mind, eventually busted by jamming KJ vs 88, couldn't find it to get back to 12k. GG in level 4.

However this meant I had the majority of the day and Sunday to spend with the girlfriend. Decided whilst watching TV this evening to push the online backing deal, just signed a contract with Tomsom giving a reference for me and I'm good to play tomorrow if I wish. Expected to play 30 hours a week average which is definitely a capable figure, will be grinding on 888 poker, ipoker, party poker, FT and PS. Really excited to get stuck in, mentored by Stars MTT crusher tedSTRETCH who I'm really looking forward to working under. Should hopefully still have some time to play some live comps also to keep it healthy.

Slaving

Since I started Sunday, already I've been absolutely grafting the left click button off my laptop. Currently my schedule is as follows:

11am - Wake Up, have breakfast
12pm - Shower
1pm - Spend a little time with girlfriend, do whatever I need to do in town
4pm - Start grinding
1am - Finish Grinding/Start reviewing
3am - Sleep

A pretty sad overview, although this is obviously only for the meantime waiting to hear back from PokerPlayer. I review with a friend outside the stable for 2 hours every night. I will always remember a comment (unable to remember who, ironically) saying the following:

"Don't ever think that Poker owes you something. It's put you in so many incredible situations, it's difficult to ever expect sustainability from a game of cards that has given us all so much"

I realise all I can do is put myself in as many situations as possible for poker to potentially payout. Some of my biggest winning online sessions have come from me initially saying I don't fancy playing, then deciding I need to take every opportunity available to me if this is going to be taken seriously.

I'm currently getting used to play across 888, Party, Tilt and Stars. I really didn't think 888 and Party would differ THAT much in gameplay, but it's pretty incredible how much the regs and recs differ to those on Stars. Tonight I lost 3 huge stacks with misclicks on 888, where if I'm typing on Skype or whatever, it pops up without me realising and I hit enter then I minraise. This included a min 4bet with 29os, as well as a min 5bet with A7os. Really sigh as these two cost me 4BI's minimum, thrown in with a night of losing almost all flips I got really frustrated. Thankfully my mate is strong enough to talk me into doing a review which really clears and focuses my mind, something I 100% benefit from every time I do it each and every evening. Definitely recommended, even if it's just flicking through, posting the rare hand for discussion.

Enough of the run bad, 10th in the Triceratops on Tilt and 54th in the Double Deuce, along with about 3 FT's and things definitely have a positive slant. Really excited for hand reviewal on Thursday just to hear a new viewpoint on things, at the moment me and my mate are at similar stages with our game (he's a little ahead of me) but I know all the spots he takes now and why, and they are pretty much the same ones I take.

888 is so soft compared to other sites, but the prize pools are much smaller for the buy-in. The only problem with stars is that there will always be a lot of regs at every stake compared to other sites, along with a load more players. What do you look at when reviewing?

I go through the hand histories of any deep runs I had, analyse spots. I like to say to myself what I'd ideally like to see myself do before seeing my raise sizing/whether I fold/3bet etc (since I tend to have forgotten individual hands by the end of the session). I like to write things down, for ideas as to what to work on in the next session. It's quite strange that the way I played on Sunday is different to the way I will play today, in specific spots.

I see. What would you say is you favourite type of tournament to play? I.e. Six max, deepstack, knockout, turbo etc.

All I play is full ring to be honest, tend to be non turbos,deepstacks.

4max however is my favourite. Really good way to improve your aggresive areas of play since it involves plenty of 3betting, lots of pot control spots post flop. Definitely a thinking man's game

Will  you be playing the same stakes with a backer or will you be moving up slightly?

Same stakes. If I find a line of results then should be able to move up, which I'm obviously hoping for

Shiiiiiiiiip!
(http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p51/jon_gill/thefiver.png)

Ran the absolute worst tonight, hence why I'm not still grinding at 11pm. However as standard managed to find all the hands in one MTT. Literally the only comp I cashed out of about 25 today, but lovely to finish early in profit

thin

sigh meant to modify not quote. Double post just in case anyone missed it ;)

WP WP, saw the final few hands. Will you be playing any of the TCOOP events?

Maybe a couple of the smaller ones. Trying to transfer away from Stars a bit more as the huge fields enduce such heavy variance, I would like to grind out consistent profit on smaller sites.

That being said some of these events are pretty huge, so worth taking a swing at.

have you had any big scores on other websites since you started?

Well? Have you gilly? HAVE YOU???

Alright pipe down Matt ;)

Got 2 final tables, nothing huge. Had to leave Party Poker cause it crashes my laptop twice per session, so moved that over to iPoker. Shame because PP were probs my favourite tournaments, paid about 20% of the field which obv has an impact on top prizes, but think it's much more rec-friendly with the structure and encourages more recreational players to play as obviously they enjoy cashing, it's a positive feeling even if a mincash and encourages them to play more.

Here was me seeing updates on the diary thinking "something new might have happened in the world of gill....no, sorry, my mistake, he's just fucking crushing again."

Note to self. Never question the ability to run like pure god. Ever.

Last night finished 2nd in the Crocodile ($8 turbo, $2k GTD) on Tilt. Decided to chop, managed to barter to get a little bit more than ICM ($480), another nice little bankroll boost.

The hand history review was really good and fills me with confidence. I've been told if I fine tune some 3betting spots, in a couple of spots where I am flatting, then they believe they should be able to move me up fairly quickly. Having 4 winning sessions out of my first 5 definitely helps build their belief in me, but they've been railing me a fair bit and they are really good in giving me some space whilst I'm playing, then when I've finished sessions ask about specific spots.

Really pleased this is working out so far for you Gill.  gettttttttt

Thanks buddy. Just gotta hope it continues, only 5 sessions in, reaaaally early days.

Abso tilting that I keep clicking quote instead of Modify, sighhhhh

You can't really ask for more, seems this team are really good at providing you with everything you need. Yeah sure the session wins help but as you say they'd see potential even if you was losing. Railing you is an experience in itself

You know I'm always about for a live Skype sweat!

You know I'll snap it up every chance I get xD

What ipoker skin do you play on? And what are the player pools like compared to other smaller sites?

Yet to start grinding in iPoker after having some troubles with my Boyle Poker account. Would ideally grind on DTD skin but the rakeback I'm able to get at Boyle (if it eventually fixes itself out) is higher than anywhere else, obv it's all about profit margins. Yet to see the comp schedule but I always create a spreadsheet of all the key comps I can play, so should be doing this in the next two days or so.

How much did you lose?

+/- $0

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxC9EiDbRhE.

 Ahrt

looool. Love it when people start telling me it's exactly like roulette or Blackjack, like they are qualified to teach me what actually happens in poker.

The house always wins.  Always.

Nut line: uncle, you really are a fucking fish aren't you?

how do you know the dealers dont fix the deck though?

They do, just in my favour.

Pretty sigh night tonight.

Managed to find one win and one final table (6th), and overall it meant a profitable night of a grand total of $0.10.

Admittedly they were the two smallest bowls on my schedule (Early Double and the Standard Double on Tilt) but it's pretty annoying to see blue lights a couple of times for it to amount to nothing, especially throughout I was thinking I had a solid profit of a night.

Got a new HUD profile I'm testing out which is fun after my coach forwarded it on to me, lots of hovering over figures at the moment until I begin to understand where all the numbers are. Already feel parts of the coaching have paid off, picking out more 3bet spots where I'd usually flat as well as the right 3bet spots vs an open and a flat. Leads to some tricky spots which I need to get used to.

Explains a lot

Just a quick one, can you tell us if you use the standard 2 color deck of cards or the 4 tone deck? And does this vary from site to site?

loooool. 4 tone deck ftw! Saves me leveling myself when I'm tired.

Playing the Incred £300 today, oioiiiii! Wouldn't have originally played but being a 1 day comp worth getting involved

Do you use any of the preset bet sizing buttons, and if so, what sizes do you use?

Further, do you find that you vary your sizings depending on your mood or the tournament buy in?

Do you pursue any recreational activities whilst grinding? Also, what brand of deodorant do you use, and does this vary on the amount of final tables you made the day before?

Will you please stop trying to clone me

In don't think that answers any of your fan mail. The blog police would not be happy.

Do you dress up nicely for final tables online and do you feel like doing so enhances performance? 

1a) Bet sizing: 40 and 60%, as well as all in. I like clicking these buttons
1b) Varies a little from the lowest tournament of my range vs the highest tournament of my range. Player specific.

2)Watching TV in the background is definitely a recreational activity of mine

3) Adidas deodrant is all I have, thus I can't change based on the previous day.

4) 80% of online FT's I'm in boxers. I'd say the other 20% I'm naked. That way I am able to be at one with poker, in my most natural way, the way in which God created me to be.

I hope you are happy now Rexas

seems to be alot of questions relating to your online game.
Some live questions...
1) Are you a hoody man? T shirt? Hat? i know from my sources you have a vast array of badges and endorsements you need to promote, where is the most comfortable place to wear them?
2) Chip shuffling. Do you shuffle? If so, what is the most comfortable number of chips you like to shuffle, without needing to concentrate too much on a large stack, and while not feeling inadequate that there are too few in your hand?

1) Hoody and T shirt ftw. I used to love hats, until I realised they didn't suit me so I left them out of my closet. Only played 2 events with a patch on so far, I enjoy the chest placement, arm feels a bit too much like I'm trying to be a PokerStars pro or something.

2) Every day I'm shufflin'. 8 is comfy, 10 if I'm feeling ambitious without needing all the concentration. If it's an early start I begin with 4 chips, then grind as I move up through the levels. Everyone had to start somewhere you know, never feel embarrassed to shuffle 4 chips.

Are you playing the 500 this week?

Sadly not. Saying that, instead I am playing a team event at Genting Stoke on behalf of Blue Blood, looking forward to meeting up with some of the gang and playing

See you there

Weekend Bants

Thought I would finally get round for doing a write up for the past weekend, where I headed to DTD for the incred (3)hundo. Actually busted relatively early (3bet cram AK, button calls with QJos wiiiiiii) but reaaaally enjoyed the social side. I'm usually bored standing around on breaks, twiddling my thumbs but was busy chatting to Reh, Tomsom, Rexas and Verndog. Enjoyable bunch, as ghey as it sounds. Wish I lived closer to Notts so I could chill/grind on a regular basis with some of them.

This meant an early night Sat, ready for a Sunday grind. I'm literally yet to have a day off since I started 11 days ago, can't remember exact runs but think it was 5th in the $11 5k gtd on tilt for a $300 profit on the day. Followed that up with a session yesterday and today, today being a much more enjoyable day (despite losing CL pots to 3 outers 3 times in seperate comps)  finding 2nd in a bowl $5.50 mtt for $700.

Had a pretty ridic start to the new backing deal, finding a $2k profit in the space of 9 sessions. Still looking forward to my first real online downswing (in a weird way) just out of curiosity as to how I will handle it. Also really looking forward to a green light of moving up. Understand it is way too early for that yet, since they've reviewed only about 6 of my hand histories but I'm glad I have the opportunity to improve week by week.

Great updates as always GJill. How do you stay alert whilst grinding? FOod of choice? HYdration of choice? I find the chinese and coke/ summer fruits cordial makes for ideal grinding.

Overkill.

Think in general hats and poker don't go well, as we found out with chris and the GPS they just don't click.

oh and congrats on the poker in general :) just to get in the action do you play games consoles outside poker? If so what's your favorite game? what's your favorite moment in poker?

ha thanks :)

Never really been much of a gamer but recently (christmas) bought an Xbox One. Literally only have Forza and Fifa, more of a sports fan than a shoot em/beat em up fan (although eagerly waiting for GTA to be released on there).

Unsure on my favourite moment in poker. Don't think I really have one tbh. Saying that I absolutely love this moment from the 2013 WSOP where he looks abso crushed as the river is dealt. Bit evil/bitter but we've all been there, sums up poker ideally. No relation to me btw ;)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu4DvKXufdg

Not really bothered about the xbox one yet as none of my mates have got it so dont see the point, but MBN anyway ;)
and i watched this the other day and just lolled at the guys face he's so confident then boom Q love it!

zzzz hero is deep in big 22 hope he wins so he can get the beers in on saturday!

Wouldn't be surprised if he shipped it, standard run good for him

7th for 1.8k. sighhhhh

Unlucky, still a good run and nice score though.

Just recieved a nice present in the form of an ipoker MTT, managed to ship a €5re for €1,020. Solid night

Well done and all but if you keep winning i may just start crying, you never lose.

WP WP, how many runners?

loool bowler. Not even sure tbh, Paid top 63 so Imagine it was 500-600

Trending Thursdays

Had a review on Thursday as standard, went down really nicely. Reviewed the painful Big $22 which was surprisingly painless. Played pretty well in general with the exception of a couple of spots where I was sat out, but its still early for me in regards to being comfy grinding all the software. It's interesting just how interesting they are, for example, bb is 17k, someones opened to 34k. I've made it 81k and he tells me he makes it much smaller than that, its too far off, ask for his amount and he says "probably 79,200". Seems a minute difference from a 1milly stack but its those little differences that seperate the top regs from the best regs.

They then introduced me to a specific spot that as described "I have to have in my game". Won't go completely into it, but because it's so difficult to balance (i.e. you do it 90% of times with weak hands, 10% with strong value hands) then as soon people latch on to it, which they probably will within the next week or two, the trend will completely die out. It's mad to think online trends in the game can literally be super profitable one week, -EV the next.

I felt like I deserved a night off having reviewed, spending time on my HUD and stuff like that.

Friday Night Heat

Tonight has been pretty unreal. Decided to reduce my schedule due to needing to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to hit the lights and glitz of Stoke. Loaded up probs 10-15 comps, after doing my balls on 888 the past couple of weeks I found all the run good.

Managed to ship the $24 5k GTD for $1.7k where I had the majority of the chips 6 handed. Then finished 3rd in a $22 4k GTD for $500 where I somehow found a ladder from 5th to 4th to 3rd, with people deciding to do their brains when deep.

May not be able to grind Sunday if something decent happens in Stoke so hopefully keeps the backers happy. Worked out I am +$7,000 on the bankroll over 11 sessions, they've agreed to move me up marginally to a couple of specials on 888 as well as an additional $26 MTT on tilt.

Who are you reviewing your hands with? Do you play the same set of tournaments each session? And what poker steroids are you on to keep winning like this?

guy called tedstretch on stars and his financial partner who is also a sicko:

http://www.sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/FullTilt/players/tedSTRETCH

Errrr play mostly a same set of tourneys, avoid turbos and there are some key mtt's with all the value. The bigger the guarantee the better, I pretty much play the biggest guarantees for my buyin range for each piece of software (i.e. I wouldnt play a $22 12k on stars, but would play a $22 4k on 888 as its their top end guarantee. Too many regs in the 12k as well as fields being too large to do battle with variance profitably consistently).

Ha I don't even drink Red Bull or anything like that. Have a full meat and two veg every day halfway through the grind, finding eating spots is much tougher than finding hand spots.

What site do you think is the softest and which one do you prefer the most? (Not including stars). Also, on 888 you said you're going to start playing some of the specials, are these the ones that have weather related names like the monsoon etc?

Tough to say, think it's too early to determine. They are all pretty soft apart from Stars, with FT being the next toughest. recs galore on ipoker, 888 and party if the software decides to work for you. Hadn't realised just how tough Stars is, I'm at a stage where in any huge field its typical for me to recognise 3 of the players at my table.

Thought I'd come troll the diary for a second, say something along the lines of 'LOL you haven't even cashed a comp for over $1k in the last 24 hours' but you have ffs man I'm happy for you and all but leave some for the rest of us to win yeah?! #genuinefanboy

watch out Gilly, if bowlerization is anything to guy by, youll be looking like tomsom45 before long ;) :D

Some kind of witchcraft going on here I swear....

your posts are never funny.

Dem bresticles tho

This goes for you too (so many levels)

Keep digging....

 Aspades
Gilly, can I borrow a shovel?

where's all this hate coming from?

I can only wish to look like the huggable bear from Toy Story 3

Right, thought I would start with the APAT team event on Saturday.

It went pretty dreadful for me. Didn't even play OOL, just found the 2nd best hand in about every pot. The team as a whole had a run at finding a win but couldn't quite make it late on, congrats to Black Belt for shipping the lot. Team spirit was really high. The more time I spend with BB members the more enjoyable I find being part of the team.

On the topic of BB, there are some incred things in the pipeline. With the current committee members there's definitely going to be a positive shake up, the way we look at poker hoping to get some sponsors on board and really push the team in the right direction, as we have been at the crossroads for far too long.

Grinded online the past three days, lost $100 total which isn't so bad. Found out today I've been playing ridic bad pre ante, and I need to make a serious change. Loved being able to find this leak that I had previously been unaware of as it gives me something big to work on and shows I can continue to improve my game, so this has reaaaally excited me. Definitely something to be incorporated into my live game also.

What are the pre ante leaks you talk about? Do they vary from software to software? Or fatigue dependant? Im assuming youd be the first to admit that ante up tournaments would be your weakest game then?

;ifm;

Ante up is my strongest game, they have antes

In no fewer than 5000 words, please describe and compare the pros and cons of ante up tournaments vs regular tournaments (with antes coming into play at t100).  Make sure you remember to evaluate these vs what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses and provide some kind of data analysis to reinforce your conclusion.

They're fun and I only make money when I get into the ante levels, so something has to be going right.

Nailed it

(http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/the-wolf-of-wall-street-margot-robbie-leonardo-dicaprio.jpg)

Should liven the place up, too much money, not enough play!!!!

Will start posting more pictures. Looks a bit dead without the occasional gif

(http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070414081256/uncyclopedia/images/f/ff/Ballin.gif)

Rehman says hi

haha this is genius!

loooool

(http://tvrecappersanonymous.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/waves.gif)

Rehman itt

New setup!

After needing one for a looong time, over the weekend I managed to sort out a new setup. I had spoken to my backer and he was in absolute shock that I currently used just a laptop and its touchpad, with the likelihood of Carpal tunnel syndrome increasing day by day. My room looked like it belonged to a 12 year old with everything stored in makeshift crap I created throughout my design technology lessons, so finally thought it was about time I took a trip to Ikea.

Absolutely love the being in ikea, or at least I do until I get it all home, and realise there's a reason as to why it fits in my car. Bought all the stuff Saturday afternoon, it probably took me about 15 hours total to put all the stuff together, tied in with moving pretty much everything from my room to the skip it's been a long long weekend. Finally Monday night I completed it, although I expect to move out in the next 6 months or so it's good to have all the stuff to transfer to a new pad.

It now looks like this, the next thing that needs re-doing is the cringeworthy wallpaper and colour scheme. However I definitely don't feel like moving anything for years:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgMxJQCIIAErokX.jpg:large)

Thought I would leave some unashamed plugging of my mates website, www.pokerpie.net. All done by Leon Iacono (GP finalist back in the day) there's a lot of light hearted funny material, and it's very early days. Might even contribute to a post or two myself in the future.

In the near future I will probably swap the laptop for another monitor, and just leave the laptop as a processor, almost like a desktop computer. The monitor is nabbed from my parents office, so alternatively I may just upgrade it to a bigger screen (currently 22 inch)

The fact you grind as you do, with the profits you make....on a laptop?!?!?! Mother of god the moment you get an actual grinders setup im scared how much the volume is gonna shoot up. Not to mention gameplay through just feeling more comfortable!

I'm sure there's a euphemism, or at the very least a "that's what she said", moment in here somewhere, but I just can't find it....

Got me thinking now as well....fuck.

Well, there's one from me.

The full set up!

Having previously bought a desk and what not from ikea, as well as adding a monitor, I've bought chunks of things to help with my grinding. I find it hard to believe the heater I was on and the results I got the way I was previously set up, so I'm now officially able to be labelled as "all the gear, no idea".

Invested in an ergonomic mousemat, a wired mouse a beautiful chair as well as investing in StackAndTile software. If you have not heard of SAT, I can confirm it is an absolute god send when trying to grind across 3+ poker websites. It's like an advanced version of table ninja in regards to bringing table to front when action is required, but it has a specific stack for all tables when no action is required or you are not in a hand, you can bring specific tables to the front whenever you require them as well as setting up x amount of slots, so you are able to see action across all tables if needed.

Re: poker play, start of the week managed to chop a comp for $900 on Party, the payouts there are mad paying 20% of field, then top place typically recieving 20% of the guarantee, meaning 1st place is pretty weak. In the last 2 sessions have spun into $500 makeup after snap withdrawing all profits, time to work and handle any potential downswing hat could happen from here like a boss.

New poker setup hey? where have I read that before... Pics plz.

All fish get new setup eventually! The pros grind on their dining room table

Just realised you have already supplied pics. That chair is ridic tho.

baha that was pre chair alright!

this is the bad boy in question:

(http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-images.staples-eu.com/App_Themes/ck-CK_iVAT/images/product/uk_415893_1_xnl.jpg)

Was slowly heading into a $1k hole of makeup, then I decided to ship the €10re €10k GTE on iPoker for $2.8k or so. Wiiiiiiiiiiiii

(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4hkv5lssx1r5j928o1_500.gif)

lol wp sir.

The motivation game

I feel like what motivates me will change from month to month, whether it's to be the best at game you love, or a goal which on the face of it doesn't really count for much.

Currently it's the latter, As I am pushing for my first accolade on the PocketFives website, which is the target of $100k cashes total. I'm currently $23k away from it, and really want to push and push to get there, the more sessions I put in, the closer it will get to being in my grasps.

Meanwhile huge congrats to bobafett who managed to hit the $1 mil mark on his PocketFives page. A massive achievement for any grinder, I hope to emulate that someday.

First World problems...

Currently have a massive first world problem in regards to moving up levels.

Before my backers move people up, they want to see how they are able to cope with their downswings, seeing if they cower or get their teeth stuck in. I've been blessed with the fact I am yet to drop below an MU figure of 1k which is pretty outrageous and defs down to variance, rounded off with a deece win for $1.3k this evening in a €5rebuy. This means whilst I'm winning I am unable to really move up due to their limited information about my emotions and any mood swings I may have.

This being said, I have been moved up to more €10rebuys on ipoker (one of which I shipped a few days ago) as well as some $33 comps on 888, along with the $50 12.5k gtd FO on Party Poker due to their ridic payout structures. Really trying to stay away from my beloved FT  and PS atm as it is noticeable just how much tougher these sites are compared to all the rest I play, especially with it feeling like everyone on Stars is a reg, which should hopefully prove to be a steadier income as supposed to sharp lines across graphs.

Playing sky bro? Ukpc

Nahh, dont have the pennies and don't fancy selling to keep 30% of myself or whatevs.

Highly considering the 6max on Friday though. 50/50 about it. Congrats on getting through btw

Swings go up and down

Continuing to grind as much as possible online, by the sounds of it there will be work for me to do at Poker Player from the start of March. Actually really enjoying the game and considering playing as a poker pro for a longer period of time. I honestly can't think of a way that the situation with my backers could improve, they spend a lot of time nurturing me giving me advice in every way possible.

Had a pretty dreadful Saturday and Sunday, losing all the 70/30s to dive into a 1k hole. Thought this was finally my time to dig in and graft, come out the other side smelling of roses and green paper. I was wrong as last night I found 4 Final Tables. Two 7th places, a 2nd and a 1st means I'm back to having a profit pile which is nice but at the same time a little disappointing I am still yet to show my backers what I'm made of. Nevertheless deece results, puts me $20k away from finding that 100k achievement on Pocket Fives.

Fixed your title.

As for the rest, plz.

I can't get through 100 games + in a day, it's pretty big for me alright!

Good news though, might be coming to Cov.

wiiiiiiiiiiii. Stopping? Should be getting pissed in a casino for the first time since 2011!

Moaning about winning and not being able to get into a hole?! That's not first world problems - it's Arab money problems!

Right, I decided to take another swing at this.

The aim of this revival is to show myself coming out the other side of the heavy downswing I am currently in and hopefully becoming one of the top MTT regs in the game.

I currently play at an ABI of $21, but I am on a stinky 400BI downswing (as low as 500BI at one stage). I understand at some point whilst grinding full time (12 hours a day, 5/6 days a week) this would become inevitable, especially if not playing perfect poker, something I am far away from. HOWEVER, I have some of the best players/coaches in the game reaching out to me, who I review with on the reg so see no reason as to why I can't 'make it' so to speak. I'm not currently playing live as I think that is almost the easy way out, I want to graft away online and feel like I earnt it. I also believe this process will give me much thicker skin.

I put in a lot of volume as mentioned, and would say I come pretty close to the burnt out line. However since I want to make it in poker I don't want to look back on this opportunity and regret I didn't put enough effort in or work hard enough to get to where I want to, when I have been given all the tools and resources to be able to make a name for myself.

Poker/Blog Goals:
>Get out of the Downswing by the end of October;
>Review at least twice a week;
>Hit the top 1k of players on P5's by christmas;
>Post some fun hands itt along with a couple here and there in PHA;
>Have 3 things to improve in my game each week and ensure I do exactly that.

I currently have very sporadic part time work since any work with Poker Player fell through due to there being nothing left for me to do for the company. I will be looking for something to be getting on with whilst putting in as much online volume as possible to run alongside this. Poker will be the primary concern, with any part time job being secondary in regards to hours spent.

The goat returns.

Standard diary revival run good :)

<3 oioiii!

Managed to ship the $8 1r1a 10k GTE on PS for a little over $3k. Pretty huge and has given me top morale, think it's the happiest I've been playing poker since I managed to ship the deuce back in June.

Well done

thanks, honored that you used up your 1st post on my blog too <3

Thanks . Reg today and meant to post on the staking thread that have 14/15 pages disputes ! Guy moaning about player that called with AQ against his KK . So annoying . By the way , keep on with your blog . Good read

Don't mind posting itt that in backing/coaching jon.

He's a top lad and has a very good work ethic as well as being a smart guy he will do very well.

Looking forward to big things!

thanks, wasn't going to mention it until I defo knew you were OK with it being public knowledge, ty for the kind words obv.

& @TheNuts I wanted to say more on that but figured he wasn't asking for a line check, which I guess is a bit ool to give him one since it's his backing thread and I don't have a penny invested. Would like to see it get moved across to PHA though

and you had your main man Verndog say it for you :D

Decided it's about time I dropped an update, verndog hasn't trolled enough in the past week or so, so I may as well give him something to satisfy his needs.

In regards to poker goals things are going nicely re:work ethic which is definitely the most important factor when focusing on long term success. Currently reviewing twice a week playing 5/if not 6 days a week, ~12 hour sessions each day and not feeling like it's getting on top of me so in that respect I'm enjoying the routine.

Feel like I'm changing my game drastically in regards to a lot of spots and currently really having to force myself away from auto piloting and considering lines out of the norm. If you would have told me 3 months back I would be rocking the classic stop n go in certain spots I'd have laughed it off and bet good money on that not occurring. I feel like my mind is starting to open up much wider in various spots and things like that help along with focusing on players ranges/perceived ranges much more. I still have 3 key areas to work on each week, I feel with this my game in about 2 months time will be way more developed than where it is at currently.

Since the last post I've moved up slightly (into the top 1,500) on PocketFives, not as far up as I would have liked but obv results are results and cant expect too much consistency in MTT's. Did however ship the Big €30 on .fr, one of my favourite tournaments on the daily schedule that I've been final 2 tabling chunks but yet to find it so a nice morale boost.

In regards to work I'm still hoping to find that dream part time gig which can give me a little more financial stability. This week I've written 3 strategy articles on behalf of 888 aimed at beginners/intermediates so hopefully they take a shining to that along with my punctuality and this becomes a more regular gig as supposed to writing something biweekly then chasing them up for more work.

Fun hand of the week:
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/10627464_7C6D973CF5
Peel pre is towards the bottom end but with this being on the bubble where he's probs applying pressure more so I should have enough equity enough of the time. Obv the nut run out, went on to finish 7th for ~$700.

From a generic Degree to a generic Diary post.

(http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/weird_relationship.jpg)

Can you please respond to allegations that this is you.

PokerStars Hand #121373252820: Tournament #965613946, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level X (100/200) - 2014/09/11 12:23:04 WET [2014/09/11 7:23:04 ET]
Table '965613946 55' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Gil3000 (2235 in chips)
Seat 2: TaniaM411 (3891 in chips)
Seat 3: papilonios (9240 in chips)
Seat 4: xHikaru (1583 in chips)
Seat 5: immy555 (3807 in chips)
Seat 6: ss8311 (6290 in chips)
Seat 7: h-g.fassbend (15475 in chips)
Seat 8: Kamerton41 (3656 in chips)
Seat 9: tomsom87 (4549 in chips)
Gil3000: posts the ante 25
TaniaM411: posts the ante 25
papilonios: posts the ante 25
xHikaru: posts the ante 25
immy555: posts the ante 25
ss8311: posts the ante 25
h-g.fassbend: posts the ante 25
Kamerton41: posts the ante 25
tomsom87: posts the ante 25
immy555: posts small blind 100
ss8311: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tomsom87 [4s 4h]
h-g.fassbend: folds
Kamerton41: folds
tomsom87: raises 200 to 400
Gil3000: raises 1810 to 2210 and is all-in
TaniaM411: folds
papilonios: folds
xHikaru: folds
immy555: folds
ss8311: folds
tomsom87: calls 1810
*** FLOP *** [5s 7d 6c]
*** TURN *** [5s 7d 6c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [5s 7d 6c 6s] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
tomsom87: shows [4s 4h] (a straight, Four to Eight)
Gil3000: shows [Ah Tc] (a pair of Sixes)
tomsom87 collected 4945 from pot
Gil3000 finished the tournament in 2347th place

Ul gilly, losing to tomsom must be seriously hard work.

rofl theprawnidentity   rotflmfao

I'm doing some content writing for 888.  Started off writing beginner/intermediate strategy and now mainly doing web content.

Work is sporadic.  May get 10-20 articles one month, then nothing for two.  Haven't payed me this month.

I'd like to think of it as character building, although makes me reconsider what I do on a daily basis.

@VBlue interesting, I also wasn't paid during that month after having been paid constantly previous months. Now they are leaving me hanging on upcoming articles, may be getting grimmed since payment is now 2 months late.

Heaaaaat

After a 6 month/600 BI downswing I managed to claw myself out of the hole and turn a profit at the weekend finding 2nd in the .fr €50 WarmUp and winning a 8r 12.5k on stars the following day. In hindsight as well as running ridic bad I think I added to things by auto piloting, I don't think it's a huge coincidence my last downswing came snap after winning the Double Deuce on FT. I feel I felt financially secure for a while, let that seep into play by becoming a little clicky and giving games about 90% attention when grinding, before I knew it I needed the money but was a long way from being in a position to get some.
I have made a number of poor financial decisions in the past after having won decent amounts, this being the worst one as 1/2 months of auto piloting a little more than usual ended up in a 6 month knock on effect, something I will focus on this time round and ensure won't occur again. There should be no full sense of security in online MTTs as spending a month or two without working a chunk on your game can easily turn you from a winning reg into a fishreg, despite continuing to do the same things which may have been successful in the past.

gg .fr :(

Sunday sees my final ever grind on .fr/Winamax which is really frustrating as the two combined made up about 20-40% of my volume on a daily basis. This means I'm scurrying about trying to find new sites to grind, and despite ipoker being pretty unfriendly with the software I use it looks like I will have to add that back in with an additional site or two, certainly not thrilled. However game selection is pretty key so there should be a good amount of v profitable games in comparison to Stars about, potentially a blessing in disguise.

Got paid a month late.  My content editor is always very helpful.  The finance department are poor though.  They sent my copy invoice back saying it was actually due to be paid November, despite being submitted correctly and on time prior to end of September for 30 day net payment terms. No apology or admittance of their error.  Hope my bank charges don't get levied and I transferred some other money into my account in time.  I'll be very pissed at 888 otherwise.

 Kd Qc

Started up a blog again, this time on twoplustwo. After crashing and failing numerous times with blogs I'm going to ensure I update after each session I play, will do a pads and post the same here as I do there.

Cliffs to date:

> Late 2013: really average reg (probably) running above EV;

> Early 2014: embarked on my first (serious) backing deal for Low stake MTT's in a great stable;

> Summer 2014: Mid 500 BI downswing* moved to new stable primarily ran by Patrick Leonard (pads1161);

> October 2014: Came out the other side and gradually moved up to midstakes in time for the end of 2014.

*Note graph doesn't show true downswing as new stable had to purchase all vpp's earnt across sites.

Whilst most regs probably claim stuff like this, I legit believe I'm one of the hardest workers in the game. For pretty much all year I've grinded 6 days a week, if not at the very least 5 days a week with regular reviews (Sharkscope suggest I've played 321 days this year to date). I've had rollercoaster highs and lows, which I feel have improved my attitude towards the game.

The aim is to be in highstakes at some point next year, it's hard to put a date on it because downswings happen but if I can get there by the end of the Summer I will be really happy.

During downswings the one thing that kept me really motivated were the Pocketfives rankings. Whilst I know it obviously doesn't measure true ability and profit/loss it does show who some of the toughest grinders are, something I aspire to be in the future. I am currently ranked #802 there, looking to improve on that as time goes by. I haven't got a set $x of profit I aim for as downswing and upswings are obv pretty heavy in MTT's so it's very difficult to work towards a specific pie in the sky figure.

As mentioned previously I will post moans and wins at the end of every session. Leans are always encouraged.

Story of the year:

(http://i.imgur.com/FIhVOe3.png)

LEANNNNNNNN

Had a really rough couple of days, got to the doctors due to foot pain and have been told I have gout. Really struggle to walk and gives me shooting pains on the reg, meaning I had to skip yesterday despite double vision looking incred as I would have played at about 20% focus.

Having got given stronger painkillers today however I'm probs going to chance a session.

Played sessions both yesterday and on the 22nd. Huge brick on the 22nd no runs to report.

Yesterday pre session did a review with thebigdog09 and ambler. thebigdog09 has very similar ideas to me since he as good as brought me up from being a fish reg to a solid reg, so I have his way of thinking installed in my brain so to speak. Ambler has a pretty different style to the two of us, so was really good to get an outside point of view on lines and general strat when deep.

Managed to FT bubble the $55 super stack on tilt, myth of a comp but plays really nice. Then got to the FT of the $55 10k on party with thebigdog09, both got mowed down by some aggy bro who found queens vs him, and found the ol 56o vs my aces where he 3bets huge pre, we peel and he eyeballs the 1043r flop, seeya. 6th for $600 along with some other decent mincashes made it a fairly deece night.

Taking time off over the xmas period before I get grinding again on the 27th, hopefully feeling refreshed. Managed to move up to 651st on Pocketfives which is a nice christmas bonus, thanks to the luckbox win in the Hot $16.50 a week ago. heaaaaaaat

After a really awful Saturday I geared up for a Sunday, hope for a change in fortunes.

Early doors seemed to be getting to the stage where a flip guarantees either getting ITM with a solid stack or bubbling, unfortunately it was 4/4 for the latter in a couple of ipoker mtt's, the Sunday Warmup and the Big $75, all pretty close to the top of my buyin range.

However managed to find a cash in the B109 and grind through the field. F2T's were absurdly tough, couple of regs + giraf and robtinnion of pocarr. Missed a 5b jam spot vs tinnion which is annoying, then busted with a lean where I felt like i could fold out most pair and Jx combos:

http://weaktight.com/7265216

This meant I finished 14th for about $1.8k. However during this I had abso chunks in the Sky Poker ME. they had their series on so flicked in the £100 £40k (much love for Ambler alerting me to it mid session). Everything went smoothly bar one awful lean 4 handed, had the CL from <18 players and didnt give it up once.

The payouts were outrageous, 1st getting £10k, 2nd getting £5.8k with rly small jumps below. However I won't be complaining having found the win, equating to a $18k payout.

Rly sick end of the year finally meaning I'm in lifetime profit of over $100k, almost $80k of that coming this year alone. Tomorrow will be my last grind of the year before having new years off (Mondays are probs my favourite day)

Well done on the year Jon and glgl with 2015!!

"Jonathan Gill

Just shipped the Sky Poker UKOPS ME for a little over £10k, oioiiiii"

well done JG

Grats mate

Jgill in goat shocker

Firstly congratulations on the win and your recent form. As a cash player looking to become better at mtts, ive read the reasons for your triple barrel but would you always do this without any equity on the turn. From my perspective i would only barrel an A/Q/K/10 OTT. Then follow that up with a river bet. Was this villian specific or just good aggression play in mtts?

Also any chance of sharing the missed 5b jam spot vs tinnion?


Keep up the good work and more updates in 2015 please :)

Also, your health has become a point of concern. Do you have aaids?

the spot vs tinnion was i 3bet KQo, he cold 4's from the bb, OR folds. Tinnion playing chunks, think I had about 40bb. He loves a bit of a windmill vs me and it's really hard for him to have a calling hand vs me, he knows im aggy and we have alot of history where he has tried to stick it to me, + chatbox being full of his Pocarr mates who all know I'm a solid reg so could have been trying to show off or whatev.

the AQo spot is pretty rare I take this, think he may call AJ otr but we block 1 combo (expect him to fold out AJo). Usually do take the spots where I have equity but on pretty dry board, deep vs a guy who knows this could potentially be life changing money for him he's going to be on the nittier side, just an unfortunate turn for us to run into. this was more situation specific as supposed to villain/aggro specific, would probs shut down in a $22 mtt or similar as don't expect half as many folds.

ty for all the well wishes <3

The Year in Review

I feel like 2014 was a pretty special year for me, especially the tail end where I managed to heat up setting me up ideally for 2015. I feel like in this time I learnt about myself, alongside with my determination to grind through the dark patches and kept the passion for the game, something I was only able to recognise how I would deal with it when it came about.

I managed to play 328 days out of a possible 358 (Took a week long holiday in Spain during the year period), bringing me on to my first goal of the year:

Goals

Play 300 days minimum in 2015

Whilst I've proven to myself I can play more than this amount, I feel it is a solid point to aim for as the past year was lacking some balance during the times I had very little money and drove myself to grind every day to try and see the other side of the slope.
I currently live with my girlfriend who is very understanding and completely understands the life and budget swings of poker, I don't think I spend enough time with her, doing what makes her happy. We have a very strong relationship and can only be glad of all the support she's shown throughout the year, hopefully this year can become more balanced whilst still putting in the graft at the tables.

Break the top #300 on PocketFives

Whilst it's not a measurement of ability, it is a measurement of hard work. The rankings are something I religiously check every Wednesday, and feel the top #300 is a realistic target for the year.

Continue to focus on game selection

I feel this is something I do relatively well at the moment, and with stars changes effecting games (e.g. all rebuys being raked, rake on bounty MTT's rising) it's something that needs great focus. Unfortunately I will have to sack off rebuys as the rake increase doesn't make them too sustainable, and will continue to try and avoid turbo MTT's where I can as I understand they are very difficult to sustain a regular decent ROI in due to increased variance and thinner edges.

Force my way into high stakes

Kind of hard to list this straight after a goal based on game selection, as obviously the higher the buy-in the tougher the field will be (most of the time). I want to become more focussed and improve my game so I can continue to move up stakes and have a solid enough ROI in higher games to make them worthwhile playing.

Review more!

Standard goal for all poker players I believe, although much more difficult to put into practice. Thankfully in thebigdog09 I have someone who is always pushing me for a review a few times a week, he's better at this than me and I have to step my drive up so we are both motivating one another, as supposed to it mainly being him motivating me. That along with being backed by pads, in a stable with a bunch of hard working regs sets me up perfectly as I feel I have everything at my disposal with no reason as to why I can't 'move up the ladder'.

I see many regs this time of year saying they are going to get better at it after a poor year and usually suggest that their volume has been poor too. I don't believe in becoming a withered reg so to speak, when I hit a point in time where I go a few days or more thinking meh, can't be bothered with the grind today then it's probably time to find a new line of work.

Too many people see poker as an easy alternative to work, when realistically if implement properly it's a really tough alternative to work. I don't know of many people who work 10 hours a day at least 5 times a week, as well as having to go home to do more work to make sure they are prepared for the following day, that thrown in with no guarantee of money makes for a tough life.

To a happy 2014, and hopefully an even happier 2015!

(http://i.imgur.com/tR7Qi74.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/ksh84gk.png)

Sick ROI!

Good luck with the New Year, sure you will continue to rock it.

Managed to hit all the semis today, 13th in the action hour, 11th in a 5 cubed, 16th in the 26 10k on tilt as well as final 200 in the Big $22, making for a frustrating day where I seemed to lose CL pots with considerable equity all over the place.

However very happy with the day on the whole, Reviewed for a couple of hours with 4 other guys which helped me clear my mind a bunch and be aware of certain spots, then when 1 tabling the action hour tonight spent about 2 hours improving my notes going through my database which feels like a really healthy activity.

Also pretty happy that stars/tilt are yet to implement this new rake on rebuys they were meant to hit us UK guys with, hopefully we swerve that one as it seemed pretty outrageous anyway. Potentially reviewing for a couple of hours tomorrow, providing my friend isnt still feeling rough as tits.

Great updates as always pal, but I will take issue with the highlighted section. What on earth have you been fondling?

(http://www.digital-anarchy.com/imagehosting/33824fda91e32b10f.jpg)

 ;ashamed; ;gobsmacked; ;boltpp;

Do me a favour, David.

Look at that picture closely.

Memorise it.

Then close your eyes & concentrate hard.

Remind you of anyone?

 



 

(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff61/teamsicko/sicko%202/DSCF29332.jpg)


(http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp358/TeamAWOP/shizzle/DSCF4663.jpg)

(http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3YLpfK5ywaE/hqdefault.jpg)

Wow, apparently the iCloud hacks have hit us all, no one is safe.

It's a common phrase one of my mates use. You shouldn't discriminate against various tit types Matthew, that would be titist

Sunday funday.....

really focussed yesterday, for first four hours or so was listening to motivation videos and stuff. Had deece stacks early managing to get QQ to put chunks in pre in spots where I had AA, then it all went a bit sour. Seemed to have AA in most spots where I busted, was more frustration at run outs than frustration at myself.

However I pulled a mad lean with AJ in a 3 bet pot on QQ10-A-3, where I bet, check turn, cram over a donk on riv over thinking the hand, expecting Qx to fold that wasn't a boat, potentially 1010 and KJ. However he took my arm off with AK. What's most annoying is that it was in the Sunday Million and was jamming with 20k fairly early on, got too ambitious coming down with a spell of fancy play syndrome.

(http://media.giphy.com/media/129BtnUUD6Lrzi/giphy.gif)

Did however find a slightly more than mincash result in the $215 megadeep on 888 and the $100 50k on Party Poker.

OTG today before taking tomorrow off, although will still be looking to review midday.

Mate, any deep runs recently?

surely not? if hed won something he would have done a diary update by now...