So in the past 12 days or so I have purchased the following desk, leather chair, super now monitor, desktop along with seriously good speaker system, mouse, keyboard and a printer/scanner, I have also gotten new phone line upstairs so I have easy access to broadband. I have spent just over 2k but I think it's well worth it. Pic of it is below (minus printer/scanner which hasn't arrived yet)
This week has been a struggle putting it all together. It took me 2 days to build the chair and table and encountered all the usual problems when you have to assemble items such as this but with a bit of help I got there in the end. It also took me good 2 days to transfer everything across. To download all the stuff I need, to re acquire all the licenses for all the proprietary software I own etc but I have pretty much completed everything that needed to be done. There is a point to all this though, I am not just gratuitously spending money just because I can. 1 of the big reasons I think I struggled grinding out hands is because of my previously terrible set-up. I struggled to fit a lot of tables on screen. It is hard to be comfortable when sitting on my bed so I found it hard to get long sessions in. So simply put I have no more excuses any more. It's up to me to be able to put the hands in. I think 30k a month should be a minimum requirement.
On the poker front, I haven't been playing all that much due the above but I have been playing a bit and I have been doing well. I have decided to start mixing in 2-4 along with my standard 1-2. I feel it's time I start moving up but to begin with I think it's better to mix it in and get used to it and gradually go from playing or 2 tables to playing 5 or 6. So far it's been going well. I have played 5000 hands at both levels and up around $1900 total. I am pretty pleased with how it's gone and think I played decently and handled the tables. So far, there hasn't been anything particularly difficult. Tables have been nitty although there was 1 crazy table when a hand didn't go by without a 3bet and fair few 4 bets. Overall though with good game selection I expect to be reasonable winner at those stakes on ipoker. From Monday on though I want to get 15k hands in before July ends. If I run well then a 5 figure month is on the cards but I will see how it goes.
In other news, Tour De France started last Saturday. I have been following it but not to same extent I have done previously, the drug scandals have really hit the event hard. The ironic thing about the whole cycling doping scandal is the reason you hear so much about it is because their testing procedures are so stringent. If you put those in place in other sports especially the 4 major North American sports I bet there would be an scandal of epic proportions that would be up there with what has happened in cycling. On to a wholly better note last Sunday seen 1 of the greatest sporting duels I have ever watched when Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. It was just an incredible match; 5 sets long, longest mens final in history and John McEnroe called it the best tennis match he has ever seen and seeing as his match with Bjorg in 1980 is often quoted as the best, that is good enough to me. I don't think any other sport has 2 people or teams as good as those 2 and I felt privileged to just watch it all. So yeah, I enjoyed it.
The WSOP main event is on going and as I type this Hawk Eye from boards is chip leader! while cardshark is still in the running. It would be fantastic if either of them got to the final table in November so good luck them but for most people they have completed their trip to Vegas and after mulling over it so long I am glad I didn't go. I have been reading a fair few blogs and 1 of the common themes is the grind of vegas and how much it takes out of you emotionally and bankroll wise. Everyday there are multiple 4 figure buyin tournaments been held at various casinos along with big money cash games and I can see how it is so easy to take a big loss. Giving the state of my bankroll and how much money I would have probably spent; going on a bad run could have put me in a bad way; to the point where the 2k I spent on my new system is small change. I feel that next year I will be in a much better position financially to go to Vegas such that even if things go for the worst my bankroll will not take a huge hit percentage wise.
Speaking of blogs I have been reading Valor's blog in particular with interest. Something that pleasantly surprised me (although he will not be happy with) is the mistakes he is making. He seems to make a lot of the mistakes I do, this oddly makes me feel better about myself as if Valor does it then me doing it is less of a problem and not something only confined to me(if that makes sense?) So while it's constantly trying to improve yourself is obviously vital; making some of those errors will not necessarily stop me moving up and beating higher levels. I also seen him advertise his coaching services, what he is offering sounds exactly like what I need so I am going to try and aim for to win a certain amount which I can put towards getting him to do some coaching for me. This hopefully give me more motivation to play hands
