Defs like the idea of recording a small online session, people are here to help (myself included) and I'm sure that's why you have a blog here, for solid advice.

Think the problem is to succeed considerably live, you need to be playing a considerable amount online because of the volume required to iron down variance, and will definitely improve your game (although entirely different to live play, there will be mathematically sound plays you can make live due to realization through a certain amount of volume).

could get enough money together for a single night, then just record over the top of it...seems fair

I had read this last night, but thought that given how much you had put into this it needed some serious attention...I'm honestly at a loss for words on this, largely because of how blunt yet accurate it is. Was deffo a gamble as i can see some other people having took something like this rather negatively. That's not me, and ive read this a good few times just to get a grasp of the numbers. Im going to take each bit seperatley as this might actually clarify everything in one go

There just simply isn't people playing 25 pound tournaments and breaking through to the big scene and the big titles.

Very aware of this, hense the previous discussions about moving away from those comps and moving to the bigger ones, sustainability has always been a factor and im very aware it's just not doable at that level

Everybody who has told you not to play GPS is wrong. The only chance you have of actually getting a bankroll together is by just taking ridiculous shots,and getting lucky followed by losing 5k+ and realizing you're not good t poker. That sounds so harsh and I'm sorry but I mean it in a nice way.

This is the exact logic that i failed to explain properly...disagree with the last bit however as, ironically enough, a win would have seen me shove five figures online for a proper crack at it!

I know it's the boring answer and I know you've said you don't enjoy it but you simply need to grind online and put hours in

Yes i hate this answer, i wont lie had you said this two years ago i'd likely be doing something else...but i love this game too much to back away, and after talking to a bunch of people (and thinking hard last night) it does indeed seem everyone is moving online...if it has to be done then i will do it.

It seems you're in a situation where people like you and would be happy to stake you so I'm sure they would move this online and you will likely be a winner at small stakes tournaments.

We have tried it before, the idea appealed to them alot more. But i want to make very clear right now that nobody will ever be able to make me ditch live for a soley online game...i know longjevity comes from online but everything else comes from live, so it will always be a part even if only a smaller one. your next paragraph agrees with this so at least it can be seen that live is sticking around.

I really would never post to a recreational guy who wants to just have fun and enjoy poker but you have your goals as winning triple crowns,0 and huge major titles but its going to be literally impossible to do it this way unless you literally decide to keep all of your action in a tour event and end up blinking.

The recreational days are over. I want this as a future profession. It's as simple as that. And i hate it but i agree with what youve put...i wont give up these live events as i say, but they wont be what gets us to the top....sigh

Your goal for the year is to make 20,000 pounds but I don't see you writing your goals smart such as I'm going to make 20,000 pounds by doing xyz with this roi and this amount of volume.

This goal is based upon my previous year, and i did have the xyz/roi that you are talking about but never wrote it down, i wanted that post to be concise, but with regards to the figures youve put down are fairly scary...300 tournaments in the year is not what i want...not by a long shot.

----------

For the record you don't look like a twat, i work well from statistics, but i would never be able to work that kind of stuff out, having it in front of me like that helped to no end...and i thank you for it. It does bloody suck given the changes that need to be made, but i think i can hack three/four sessions a week given my current timetable....ugh, i fucking hate this, but i agree with all of it...and im not at the stage to hate it and throw it away...i want this too much.

----------

Reaaally agree with Pleno here, mainly because of the way hes wrote it down.

You know as well as anyone Peter that actually playing and putting hours in is the best way to improve your game and better yourself.

Online can be really quite monotonous for the most part and a tough mental challenge, but you know this was never going to be an easy task and would take hour upon hour each week to get to where you want. IMO taking the online route, being dedicated to put in a silly amount of hours shows much more passion (something you definitely aren't lacking) than hoping to find one big win in a single live poker punt.

I might even suggest trying to find a relatively cheap but really good online coach, someone who grinds a lot to try and see how they do the fundamentals perfectly. It might feel like a bit of a punt money wise to splash £100 on 5 hours or whatever, but if the guy has the right references and such I don't see how you could ever regret it. You are a clever guy who can take a lot on board.

So many different routes, all with their merits though. Tough decision for you...

You and me have spoken at length regarding this, it was you who actually gave me my first syndicate idea...no it's not going to be an easy task but that said when we did the first run through it didn't bother me all that much...i don't think i can pull off only having 30% because the last one barely sold, it took one guy going insane to pull it off...ive got the dedication to play stupid hours but that one big live punt is still on my radar, lord knows it's half of my life goals!

Cheap yet really good coach...those two don't mix, poker players are smart enough to just price high when they know they are good...you say i can take alot on board i just hope it's enough really.

--------------------

Basically the decision ive made is to give online a large portion of my time, basically any event i was going to play that wasnt part of a tour/festival will now have its money syphoned to online...i will still be playing all the big comps i had my heart set on, i won't let those go. But they are bonuses to an online schedule basically

I hate you all, but love you all the same <3

Hold on, i'll clarify my stance, that last post wasn't brilliant at it.

Putting yourself out there gives you a better chance at anything than those who purely let results speak for themselves.

Bear in mind a white 20 something tourament player that shipped one event has almost no chance of getting a sponsorship deal. I mean look at Alex, Deadman or Rastafish. These guys have gotten a ton of exposure and no deals are coming their way (afaik).

What do you do when you study for the 2 hours? That sounds like a lot but maybe it isn't if your just watching videos or listening to podcasts.

Nah totally understand that, I make no bones about the fact they'd deserve it more than me. However, and this may be cause for being flamed but personal opinion here...One thing that sites/companies look for is someone who is engaging, media friendly and someone who can warm to the cameras...now im not saying the aforementioned names do not have those qualities, some of them do in abundance...but there is a big difference between being sponsorship materials, and TRYING to be sponsorship material.

My argument would be that in poker as with anything else. You've got to be a lot better to be gifted professional contracts, but if you jump up and down trying to get noticed, sure you polarize people, but you become more noticeable, and it only takes one to have that punt.

Ok, some honesty.

I think I've seen you at dtd twice. And each time, I've thought, what a knob.

I've read this diary a few times over, and I'd like to apologise. I may have got you wrong

Been really interesting so far, and the way you answered all the questions has been good. Only my opinion of course.

Really interested to know more about your family, if you want to discuss them, that is. No prob if you don't, or can't.

Anyway, looking forward to reading more. Really enjoying it, and will say hello next time our paths cross.

Ps. Do you like nandos?

Pps. Fuck the careful ones, take a shot son. You never know what could happen

Haha, this blog was built with an insight into the person i really am. No need to appologise lord knows you are not the first to get that impression and will never be the last. My personality takes warming to

I pride myself on being articulate in the way i speak, sure when im being relaxed in person it may come across differently but when replying to people in this setting or in more in depth conversations then i always make sure to be as proper as i can.

More than happy to discuss my family, me, heck anything people can come up with, it's an open forum and with regards to the past 99% of my life is open to those who ask...there's next to nothing i cant/wont speak about unless sworn to secrecy really.

Yeah would be good to put a face to a name next time

ps. Yes, not massively so but i will never be the person to say no to one
pps. Hahaha, im still undecided

I don't understand why people put such emphasis on one comp. I mean I completely understand if your playing for fun and want to play in your local when a big series comes to town, or if you want to punt the Main/EPT etc but if your hoping to turn this into a proper career then bankroll management is of the utmost importance. Investing heavily both emotionally and financially is rarely the way to succeed in poker and making sure you put yourself in the best situation to play the best poker you can is the key. The sats at DTD are unbelievable value and should not be ignored at any cost. They give away absolute heaps in equity and there isn't really an excuse not to play them. Honestly transitioning to a full time poker player is next to impossible soley playing live comps. The bankroll required and variance involved means that expenses eat into a lot of profits even for £440 comps, never mind anything smaller. Obviously you have a good shot of making something happen with DTD being down the road and make sure you use that to help you on your way. Live comps simply don't have a very good hourly for the most part, but as long as they are beatable (not having prohibitively high rake or a terrible structure) then you need to be playing. You need to think long term, and putting the £440 into an online bankroll on one or several sites would make much more sense then one gargantuan punt at a tournament that really isn't any more special than a random deepstack. The best way for you to transition to higher stakes would be to continue grinding the comps you do now, keep working hard off the table and take selective shots in sats to help you play bigger events. How much studying do you do? In November 2012 I started playing O8 comps and since then I've probably done 1-2000 equities in different situations. I can all but guarantee that I ran the most hands through propokertools last year for o8. I also played many "bowl" comps, with small prizepools. I worked hard to make sure I had the tools I needed and the experience to adjust well in taking down bigger comps. Just get rid of bowl out of your vocabulary apart from when describing a stack that is a pittance and you'll be much better off. Ridiculously tilting phrase.

With regards to your preparation, it is all very personal. I know I tend to do better coming into comps more relaxed, when I build tournaments up in my head I tend to do much worse.   I also know I tend to struggle in the first few hours after waking up, so making sure I'm up and active instead of rofling out of bed is key.

Cliffs: Stop dreaming, start grinding.

Fair and very sensible, i think personally i keep overhyping the media coverage and potential exposure that big events bring...with regards to the studying i put probably 2 hours a day in, which i personally don't feel is enough and is something im trying to address...as for the waking up thing totally agree, i plan at least four hours ahead of a tournament as a rule and one of my "rituals" is to walk from home to dusk...it's 2.5 miles and always clears my head before a comp. I've turned down every lift and bus bar two in the four years ive gone.

might not ever be an issue

Ooooooo touche good sir, touche

[then closer to the time i usually (no homo) get myself a massage or spa session...failing that an evening meditating usually does the trick.]

As a slight alternative if you want to do it this much, perhaps put some aside for sats (e.g. £100). Then if you don't make it through sell the £100 worth of action?

SHouldn't be a huge chunk out of winnings but the sats listed are pretty great and worth a go imo.

I'd rather just get through without needing to distract myself from preparations, sounds retarded yes but that's done me favours before

Interested to know what sort of preparations you're talking about here?

Also wouldn't turn my nose up at any tournament, my start in the game came from grinding the "bowls" in my local casino after learning in the pub tournies.

Agree, think people are too worried now a days to move down in stakes to save face (not specifying you btw, just meant in general). Bread and butter games are needed to succeed long term

Its nothing drastic in terms of preperations...i go over videos for tournament strategy and a few podcasts, along with talking to the odd person about live hands ive noted down...then closer to the time i usually (no homo) get myself a massage or spa session...failing that an evening meditating usually does the trick...i want a clear and calm mind going into tournaments

It'd be less of a move down in stakes...more of staying where i am aha. I just know the comps are fundamentally different and as such i want to play more in tournaments that lend themselves to that kind of upper strategy...playing against fucknuts doesnt help in deepstacks...well, not as much anyway.

   or some retail therapy with the girls for some day 2 clothes?

You don't even want to imagine what my day 3 clothes look like...

As a slight alternative if you want to do it this much, perhaps put some aside for sats (e.g. £100). Then if you don't make it through sell the £100 worth of action?

SHouldn't be a huge chunk out of winnings but the sats listed are pretty great and worth a go imo.

I'd rather just get through without needing to distract myself from preparations, sounds retarded yes but that's done me favours before

Interested to know what sort of preparations you're talking about here?

Also wouldn't turn my nose up at any tournament, my start in the game came from grinding the "bowls" in my local casino after learning in the pub tournies.

Agree, think people are too worried now a days to move down in stakes to save face (not specifying you btw, just meant in general). Bread and butter games are needed to succeed long term

Its nothing drastic in terms of preperations...i go over videos for tournament strategy and a few podcasts, along with talking to the odd person about live hands ive noted down...then closer to the time i usually (no homo) get myself a massage or spa session...failing that an evening meditating usually does the trick...i want a clear and calm mind going into tournaments

It'd be less of a move down in stakes...more of staying where i am aha. I just know the comps are fundamentally different and as such i want to play more in tournaments that lend themselves to that kind of upper strategy...playing against fucknuts doesnt help in deepstacks...well, not as much anyway.

As a slight alternative if you want to do it this much, perhaps put some aside for sats (e.g. £100). Then if you don't make it through sell the £100 worth of action?

SHouldn't be a huge chunk out of winnings but the sats listed are pretty great and worth a go imo.

I'd rather just get through without needing to distract myself from preparations, sounds retarded yes but that's done me favours before

you think youd be better off putting the £440 into 2 bullets of the side event and the £100 tourny they have? just a thought, the side is a great tourny, adiman67583966 won it at star city last year, and hell vouch for it being a great structure and in no way a crapshoot.

Found 4th in one of these before, it is a lovely lovely tourney, although you may turn your nose up a little bit at it having being spoilt by DTD deepstack events.

All i turn my nose up at is the £25 comps....especially as they are back to being reloads...i mean what is this...
I'd sell for an entire package, but that all kinds of would never sell out, i was struggling for the 440 before i even considered doing it myself

i feel i am going to join the list of supporters of Gilly and Rexas, not because they are gorgeous, but because they talk sense.
for a start shrugging of the sats at dtd next week seem ludicrous, as they are giving 20 seats every night, well i guess if you dont, ill be doing my best to be there!
think that if you dont have the money or its such a large percent of current worth, your standard of play might be affected to? scared money maybe?
you think youd be better off putting the £440 into 2 bullets of the side event and the £100 tourny they have? just a thought, the side is a great tourny, adiman67583966 won it at star city last year, and hell vouch for it being a great structure and in no way a crapshoot.
lastly, and matt will back me up here, i went through a couple of month period where i went totally off the 'bowl' comp and crapshoot tournys, and wouldnt play them. soon hit me towards xmas that a) they are great fun, can try out some funky things, plus b) can be a great little bankroll booster, if you can run as good as rexas and win one.
wish you all the best if you play it! am sure i will see you next week, maybe even banging your head on the toilet door next to rexas, youd make a lovely, if not ugly couple

All fair points and im gonna sit down and work this out properly...except for the gorgeous bit...that made me sick

I know as well as anyone what variance can be like in live tournament poker, I'm not in great shape at the moment as a result of an awful lot of near misses. Putting this sort of emotion into one single tournament will ultimately lead you to not play your best, and live every hand to the extent where you will find it ridiculously hard to get over hands you lose, and hands you win (which is definitely just as dangerous).

Those 25's are definitely beatable too, its just that the variance (again with that word) is very high, and can be very damaging to your confidence when you go on a bad run through them. Rehman (I'm not sure if you know him) has a particularly good record in these, and abso crushed them for a good year a while back. You'll find it very tough to move out of these tournaments into the bigger ones because they are so, completely different. "Spreading the variance" is exactly what bankroll management is about, and this is definitely up there with the most important, and most overlooked, skills in poker.

I'm not trying to shoot you down at all, and if you do decide to go for this shot then good luck to you, for sure. However, I wouldn't want to see you waste this opportunity and not only damage yourself financially, but damage your own love for the game and your own emotional state.

Nah i know, to be honest (as this blog has shown) im very impulsive and i need to thank you guys for not letting me get ahead of myself...i used to crush the 25's back in 2009/2010, but then i moved to bigger events, my mindset and playstyle changed...and now i struggle to re-adapt...BRM was and is something that "for the most part" im good with...i just went nuts over this one...i'll be there, just maybe not with the full 440 in my own back pocket...

[surely it's more sensible to continue to use your frankly incredible group of backers, but keep more of yourself.]

surely it's more sensible to continue to use your frankly incredible group of backers, but keep more of yourself.

This is key IMO.  If I had been backing you for the smaller comps then I'd at least like the option of taking a piece in this bigger comp.  It's just good business.

Having a core group of people that you can rely on to take action is something very important.

That line there hits home quite hard...i play for them and its almost like shutting them out Yeah, point well made guys. I'll just take chunks for myself

Pete, I gotta say I agree with gilly on this one. You sell 100% of all the events you play, but if you've now got some money behind you, surely it's more sensible to continue to use your frankly incredible group of backers, but keep more of yourself. This way, instead of taking one big shot, you take a bunch of smaller ones, thereby reducing the bankroll variance and giving yourself more opportunities to make money. I also think it will cripple you if you put so much in to one event, which can be a very tough one, and fall short.

You've spoken before in this blog about how much shot taking has cost you, and how important it is to learn from past mistakes, and this seems like a great time to do that.

I haven't got money behind me per-say...it's more the fact that I won't have any money behind me at all past this...That and the fact the backers are (rightly so) getting tired of the near misses, sure £7k was nice in June...but 2 cashes since then is pure dog.
Problem is for me to spread variance properly would be to enter the bowls...and i've started this year with the intention of NEVER doing that again...fucking hate those comps...pure filthy crap-shoots.

I just don't know...it's beginning to look as if i may be down to my own money anyway. At which point I need to balance pressure and reward...without putting myself through rickjaw-billcock telling me that 85o is the nuts...just...ugh.

I'm gonna sit down and think some more I think...