thinking positive

I haven't played tonight but I have been thinking about what has happened this month. looking back i believe its important to take the positives out of any month, regardless on whether your having the best month of your career or the worst. For this month I have seen more improvement in game for sure which is giving me more confidence even if I have a bad day....honestly. I am playing at higher level(the 16's) which is exciting for me knowing its possible owin same amount of money in one day than I could in one week at a boring office job. I am also happy....now at running deep in a live mtt which brings my live winnings to +$2k over last 4-5 live tournies which is always a nice bonus on top of online grinding.lol

I think i am going to set some goals for December and make sure I stick to them. To often i get side tracked or start making excuses for not hitting them and then they lose all meaning. Maybe a nice reward for myself is in order if i hit them but i have yet to decide what. Last month I was disappointed in my volume even though I felt like a played a lot. This might be because I was playing more sets than before and getting yourself set mentally 3-4 times a day to grind a set is worse than doing to 2 3 hour sessions in one day...in my opinion. So even though i'm not going nuts and playing +3k games amonth, I think 2k is good amount to target.

Final table @ Nottingham

I have been meaning to add a new blog since the weekend but I been a having a lazy week...again. I played the £100 Nottingham on Sunday with my brother and I managed to get to the final table. The was field was almost a sell out with 271 runners. It played pretty soft with the exception of about 10 good players. Even though I finished 9Th I took down £500/$850, I went on to the final table 2ND in chips and had real good chance of taking down the £8k/$14k. I felt really sick the way I went out and when i was handed the £500 it really could of been £10 at the time, it really couldn't mean less.(now I feel more content with it). The way I went out, i pushed from the cut off with A9 against the three short stacks they all folded and then the dealer saids call..... I'm like wtf!!! the big stack has limped under the gun and was hiding his cards under his hands and big sleeves!!! i was expecting to see a massive hand but it was 10's!.he risked 2/3 of his stack on that call. It held and he went on to win the £8k. I had been awake 18hrs and focused for the best part of 15hrs after a big detour drive to pick my bro up from north London. So maybe if i was more focused i may of been able to see that trick. I checked thehendonmob.com which is like sharkscope for live players and the guy had $1million in tournaments and a wsop bracelet! Maybe that was dirty a trick he picked up in vegas.lol.

Online has been going well lately in $16/18 man so i can't really complain about things to much atm,

16/18's, playing Nottingham and others.

Since the start of November I have been grinding the 16/18's which I feel now this is the least I can play since the improvements in my game. I have been really surpised how weak the 16/18's are at the moment. I have played at 27,38's and 16's before this month but i don't really remember. I have admit I have only played 600 games this month which really isn't a lot considering we are at the end of the second week of november. I know I am avoiding some of the good regs due to the hours that i am playing but still i am aware of only 5-6 good regs. I am not saying I am one the best at 16's, i just expected a lot more good regs. I am playing a lot of my games atm at 7-11am UK time for the reasons being that this is softest time grinding and if i decide i want to put in a big volume one day i still have the afternoon or evening to play.

I have decided this month that i am going to start playing live poker more often again. Before i started grinding online this year i really considered myself more as a live player due to the fact i had more successful results to my name. There is tourney in Nottingham next weekend £100(about $140) where the winner takes about £6-7k. i also live about 15 min drive from a card room which has a tourney every night and they play really soft. I managed to win the £60 85 runners in August and took down £1300 which about $2k... i think. When it comes to live poker i really have a big choice of places to play. obv Nottingham which is about 2 1/2 hurs drive.(they have £300 tourney first w/e of every month. winner takes £28k.(+$40k about) that has ept winners and wsop bracelet winners in it... so you are looking for a challenge!!!. Living close to London there obv the Vic(home ept london) plus 5 other casino/cardrooms of the top of my head. With some many live tourneys i can really cherry pick. I understand since playing poker for a living i must use all my resources available to me and if that means playing live then so be it... it will be fun!

End of the month

Well October wasn't a good month regarding results overall and i am glad its over on that side of things. There has been a lot positives to take from the month though. I've been getting staked from the 9th oct and getting alot more coaching. This has brought my game on a long way in a short period time. My confidence is back on a high where it was about 2 months ago plus I now know that i can beat the 6/18's without playing well everyday now.

From the start of next month i am moving up to the $16/18's which I am excited about for two reasons. 1. I will be able to make alot more money now obv. 2.i am a step closer to achieving my goal on 18 man's.(to be grinding the 27's and 38's).
I think I am more confident about where I am at the moment in my poker career because I have improved so much over the 3-4 weeks. Previously I had coaching on 45's and was grinding the them pretty well for a couple months but I think I started to create leaks in my game and then started to doubt my decision making. Looking back at it now I now believe I have resolved the leaks and I shouldn't of doubt myself. I was just running bad at times.

My motivation is back as well which I believe is helping my game improve a lot more now than maybe back in September. I am a strong believer that a positive mental attitude will bring more success to any one's career or life. Since I have been getting staked this has helped me actually sit down a play, where before I was getting lazy and doubting myself. The other day I watched a Will Smith inspirational clip on Vertek's blog. It was awesome and I recommend that you haven't watched it, you must. Its really helped me and I will def watch it again soon.

One of my best friends has been written off sick from work for weeks and I doubt if he is going back. He wants to be a poker pro and grind online. The first month has had its highs and lows. He won a $3 rebuy for $6.4k and picked up a few some cashes. On tournament winnings for the month he sitting on $4.6k. Unfortunately he has a soft spot for playing medium stake HU's cash games where he is a losing player atm. It would be cool for him to become a poker pro but atm he breaking the rules to build his career on solid foundations. He plays very low volume, miles outside his bankroll so if he loses it's not even worth thinking about. I think if he was able to have good bankroll management, stop playing sng's, high stake cash and insisting on playing Russian roulette with his bankroll, I believe he has the talent and game to be a very successful MTT poker pro.

Away from the tables

I haven't played as much as I should have the last couple of days. I have been trying to sell my Mum's car she left me last year, which has been a right pain to sell. It's a nice car but for some reason I can't sell it. On wednesday night I played football(soccer)and for the first week in ages I had an average game. Being a goalkeeper if you have a bad game everyone will always tell you. Luckily the team we played weren't great and the rest of my team had a good game. last night I meet up with some friends for drinks and watched SAW 6. Watching it last night I couldn't help feeling "same shit different day". I think it will be the last Saw I watch as it just getting stupid now.

I did manage to play for 3 hours before I went out yesterday. I played about 60 $6/18 mans and made about $300 profit. yeah I ran pretty hot.lol.

I don't think I will play today either. I'm pretty much where I want to be regarding games played this month. There's football on tv I want to watch and then I'm going round a mates later on. If there is time then I may watch the NFL game at Wembley but I doubt I will.

keeping focused on the long term goal

At the moment I am grinding the 6/18's and taking some time off from the 12/45's. I am currently being staked and coached at the 18's which I mentioned in my last post. To be perfectly honest the 6/18's are the most exciting to play and the financial rewards aren't amazing either. I understand though to become any good at playing these I must start from the bottom and build my way up. My main goal at the 18 mans is to grinding the 27/38s. Every time I sit down and play a session I think about where I want to go and what I want to achieve. This really helps me with motivation on days that I am not really feeling it but I know have get in my volume.
Taking 10 minutes out before you play and thinking about short/long term goals, timescales etc. can really change an outlook on a days play.

When it comes to 18 man I am really excited about the future and how my game is improving. I think my game is improving quickly thanks to a very good coach who is always willing to discuss situations and HH's. If anyone was asking for a quick sum up on the 18's I would prob say "work in progress". I did play at the start of the year some 27/38s and ran like god. I think after 150 games I was $1.7k profit, which i know is a small sample of games but even so it some positive experience to use when I get back there.

I must admit I am missing playing the 12/45s at the moment, even though it has only been two weeks.lol. I miss playing the good and bad regs which is sounds a little because if you speak to anyone about an ideal table is full of fish.I find if I am playing a reg their usually a little more predictable and their not going to try any crazy plays as their prob multi tabling unlike the fish at the table.OK there are good regs might call me lighter but there are a lot of regs(nits) at $6,12 that struggle to adapt to other regs pushing ranges and call off to tight. plus if I get to knock out reg/rival then its always a nice feeling.lol. I have had a quiet a few exciting $250-$700 days at the 6/12 45's which have yet to happens at 18's....watch this space lol.

The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows.

This is my first attempt at doing anything like blogging so bare with me on this.

To get you up speed I am 24 year old "poker pro" from Surrey, England. I am living/chasing the dream depending on what you call a poker pro. I Currently play low stake 45 man and 18 man tourneys on Pokerstars. I have recieved coaching from two well known online poker players which have made some amazing changes to my game.

previously I have worked as an Estate agent in Guildford,Surrey. I worked there for 2 and half years where I didn't realize until the end of job that it was actually taking over my life.
In June 08 while in holiday in Spain my Mum Died. It was the worse thing ever in my life and I hit a new low. Shortly after this I decided I wasn't happy with my quality of life and quit my job for poker. I have been playing poker ever since and living with a lot more positive outlook on life.

Today I want to make sure I get in my volume on the 18 mans. Since I have been staked at the 18 mans I have found my discipline at getting in the volume has improved, which has always been my weakness. Hopefully after a reasonable day yesterday my bad run has come to a end. I've got up early today so I should be able to get in my required amount of tourneys and still have time in afternoon to look for a new laptop and get few others things done.

I think for my first entry that will do!