Getting back into it

Finally on Friday the desktop got sorted. They claimed it was to do with the ram banks or something. When I got it home, still didn't work but when I tried different lead it did. The lead that didn't work was an foreign 2 prong plug which needed an adaptor. Everything that I had tried with that adaptor since has not worked. I am sort of worried if I tried "irish" lead with new psu when I bought it that it may have worked perfectly even before I brought it in for repair. Irrespective of that, it's fixed and I have everything up to date and backed up now.

I am now faced with familiar problem of trying to re-acquire a good routine. I played a bit on Sunday morning and also played yesterday evening. Both times I finished up and settled back into it pretty much straight away. I am really trying to work on beating up on regs. I have been doing a lot of reading up into certain training series and feel it has helped me have a better mindset and feel for what is needed. This will help when I try out at 400nl again and have to play against more regs on a regular basis and is ultimately the only way you can really crush a level. As I move up it's something I shall be faced with more and more.

In other news, looks like I am heading out to Vegas around February. I was chatting to a non poker friend and the idea just came up and we were like why not. Prices for flights and hotel are pretty cheap, get 6 days in good place on strip for 1k or even less if you want to. I was there last there but was rather broke so couldn't enjoy it that much. This time it shall be different. We will be mainly doing touristy stuff like going to shows, visiting the Grand Canyon etc although clearly Poker will play a part. The ideal trip would be poker winning over there pays for everything so I can free-roll everything else.

Mindset

The computer is still broke. Nobody wanted to come out to fix it rather oddly. So I had to bring it out for repair. This is where not being able to drive becomes an issue. Thankfully my uncle who is a taxi drive gave me a lift up on Saturday. The repair place is called Computer Doctors, they give me a free evaluation and tell me what is wrong, what needs to be done to fix it and how much it will cost. Unfortunately they told me they would have results on Wednesday. I was hoping for a much quicker evaluation like on Monday but what can I do.

This has meant the added problem of my posting on boards. I am on 4,999 posts and was in the process of writing a 5,000th theory type post. Of course it's saved on the hard drive and I didn't back it up so not much I can do about it. I am not sure whether to hold out or not as I have found myself clicking reply a number of times before thinking ah can't post. It's a tad stupid waiting I suppose but it would be good if I could get it out.

I was rather lazy last week when the computer blew. I should really take the time to read up on theory, watch lots of training videos but haven't really done that although in the last few days I have been doing more. This brings up a larger point about my mindset and my approach to poker. I was watching a Seabeast video (LeggoPoker instructor) He sounded pretty depressed and was saying how boring NLH seemed to him and how Omaha is much more interesting and the way forward. His main reason as he feels like he has stopped learning and become stagnant. He feels he wants continually try to solve the game which in turn would mean constant improvement.

This is something I haven't done. I have read up a lot on poker theory. I post hands and try to extract knowledge out of as many different sources as I can but I have never really tried to figure it out for myself. The closest I come is to do EV calculations, but I tend to do them occasionally. It's not something I work on everyday. I feel this is a big flaw and a fundamentally lazy mindset. I am not proactive enough and if I really want to make something out of this it's something I feel I have to change.

As for how I change it, I am not sure. I am pretty good at spotting these type of flaws. I am just very bad at rectifying them. The most likely scenario is nothing changes or I slightly improve but nowhere near as much as I currently want/hope or need. To my advantage, I imagine it's something a lot of people go through. I suspect a lot of what separates your average 200/400nl grinder like me to your high stakes winners is their drive and willingness to learn hence they "discover" things before they become popular and a 2+2 mantra. This is what keeps them ahead of the game.

I have been thinking a bit about 2009 and what I want out of the year and I think I have a good idea of my goals and roughly what I require. I feel if I want to move forward examining and changing my mindset will a vital part of it. Ultimately for all the talk about how hard the games are, there are still people winning, someone has to win no matter the stakes. I want that to be me. It depends on how much I want it.

Bang and my routine is gone

So first up grad went as expected. The ceremony itself was pretty long and drawn out and was just a matter of counting down to its end. I had overestimated how much the robes would cover so didn't even contemplate dressing up or wearing a shirt or tie like everyone seemed to which makes me the only person who wore a Mister T jumper on the day. The dean of DCU decided to use his speech to go on a tirade about how we must vote Yes to Lisbon II, it was rather bizarre. He barely gave a mention to the actual graduation part; talk about being on your soapbox.

Afterwords went for a small meal to celebrate and suitably everyone was far impressed with the parchment then I was. The Grad Ball turned out pretty well. The meal was fairly nice but I was already fairly full anyway so didn't eat much of it. The desert was some Belgian Gateaux and was absolutely glorious. It was almost worth the tickets alone just to eat it. If I ever learn to cook, I want to learn how to make stuff like that, it may not be healthy but screw that it would be well worth the time and effort involved.

On the poker front, trying to figure out where to go next with the Leprechaun bonus ending. I think I am likely going to try Everest Poker out, I have been hearing many good things about it. The downsides are lack of rakeback and datamining but if it's as fishy as I hear, that will more then make up for it.

Unfortunately all of this is currently a mute point as on Wednesday I found my computer to be off when it should have been turned on. So I turned it and nothing happened. I tried a different plug and when I attempted to insert a wire into the back, there was a rather loud bang and lots of sparks flying. This is of course not good. I figured the PSU(power source unit) was blown and went and bought a new one. I installed it but nothing, still dead so it looks my machine is up shit creek. I am getting someone out for repair but either way it's going to cost me some money and I may end up getting a new machine if needs be. It is lucky I started November with such a nice upswing, offsets any costs pretty well.

This is really annoying as the title says it breaks my routine. This is the biggest issue I have continually had for well over a year. I play a certain amount of hands and then take way too long a break. I could play on my laptop but I really don't want to as I gotten so used to better setup and it seems such a step backwards. Whatever is the cause I intend to get it sorted ASAP, if I need new machine I will buy it straight away, no messing about. Hopefully I can get 20k hands in for November. I would have wanted me before it but what can you do.

The leprechaun sorry

So I finished up the bonus at Leprechaun, good time to review my stats from the site.
They make for some interesting reading..
First off, my overall graph



yes, I made $125.79 for my 40k hands which I roughly estimate to work out as $1.30 an hour. That makes what I earned working at Universal Studios seem high paid!
But the breakdown by stakes rather tells it's own story
Here is my graph at 200nl.




and here is my graph at 400nl




It's fair to say my shot at 400nl didn't go well. What is pretty funny is when I went to review everything on HM, no matter what statistic it was if I did at 200nl I was in profit, at 400nl I was in the red. Even when I cbet at 400nl I was down!

So what went wrong. First off I played 400nl when I returned at the of September so a bit rusty which probably caused me to make mistakes and make spewy plays. My showdown stats are horrific. I was at least 10% down on what you would want that to be. I also think I ran pretty bad, lots of coolers and such like, combine together and you get that graph. I mean ultimately it's 16 buyins which while is a significant chunk of change. It's by no means unheard of for it to happen so I am not too down about it. I still think from playing there that I can hold my own and be a winning player, a comfortable one at that.

At 200nl, things kept improving as I moved along. I really felt like I was improved in late October and November. My November stats suggest this as I am up huge so far



Now I am running a hot a bit but it does reflect my increased confidence and my general edge that I believe I have at 200nl. I still I also have an edge at 400nl so will definitely be try to move up again this month. My aim is to for it to be my main level by the end of 08.

I am on a mini break now for a few days. Graduation is on Monday and the grad ball is on Tuesday in The Burlington, both of which I shall be attending. It's going to be a strange few days. Something 1 of the army guys told me was when my dad found out I had got the degree. He went in the next day to work and kept going on about it and was pretty proud by all accounts. I have already said how I don't feel a sense of achievement about it but the day is bigger then me and what I think.

Complete!

Get in!

October

Bit late with this but I have been a bit behind for the while.
I describe October as an reasonable month poker wise. In terms of win rate, it was actually pretty poor but at least I had a win rate. After September where I was down pretty huge I decided to move down to 200nl for a few weeks and try to regain my game and my confidence. I felt like I did that and I improved as the month went on. I was reading up a lot, watching videos and such like and really felt much more confident in myself and I think it's starting to show. I was also pleased with the amount of hands I got in, 23k hands in 3 weeks. By far the best aspect of October was for the first time I felt like I could consistently put the hands in day after day and not get tired or bored and actually quite enjoy it. It's definitely something I can build on and I am hoping it leads to really strong run for the rest of the year.

So far November has been really good. I am up more after 6k hands then I was for October. I have also started playing some hands at 400nl, I feel I am ready to move up, I never really felt outclassed at the level, it was just a mix of getting it in bad in stupid situations and being in a lot of coolers. I feel good about playing it again and by the end of the year I want it as my main level. Also I am currently at 93,500 points so very close to the end of the IO bonus. I maybe done Friday and will be definitely have it complete by Saturday before Graduation on Monday, just like I hoped.

Let the good times keep rolling!

IPO and leprechauns

I meant to write about this last time but it slipped my mind. The international poker open was in it's 2nd year and once again it broke it's own record for most participants in a live tournament outside the USA. I was doing he floor for the tournament last year and it in term of organisation there was an huge improvement over last year. I'd say 90% of the floor staff did the Irish open this year, dealers in general were much better trained bar 1 or 2 exceptions and in general they clearly learned a lot from their mistakes so credit goes to Stephen, Jeff and Boyles for really putting the event on the map.

I have to say I am really impressed with Boyles and with what they have been doing since the poker room got new management in. If I wasn't such a rb whore I would probably give them a go as their customer service is pretty outstanding but big companies who get their numbers from huge marketing are never going to offer the best deals, it will be the smaller rooms whose only way to attract people is to offer better deals. I suppose if their was a wave of sites going down like what happened in the banking industry then I would go with them as you would know your money is safe. I am always wary of that possibility and tbh putting your money in most sites is a gamble as there is no real way of getting your money back. Costa Rica, Antuiga etc don't tend to enforce the law that forcefully.

Anyway I digressed. This year I played the IPO. I ended up coming around 160th give or take 1 or 2 places. I got to the 2nd and final day on Sunday but lasted 10 minutes. The killer hand was very first hand of the day with blinds at 2500/5000 when guy raises to 15k (the fact he didn't push maybe should have sent alarm bells in my head) I found AQs on the button and shoved, he had Aces and that was it. I still had 9k but lasted 4 more hands. Overall looking back I don't think I played too bad, no major mistakes but I think I played too tight. I still have this weird issue of being aggressive live, I tend to find it harder mainly as they call so much but there was definitely spots where late on Friday I could have shoved my stack in and picked up the blinds. It's definitely something I need to work on for when I start playing bigger live tournament.

On that point, for the last few weeks I have been playing on leprechaun poker. They have been advertising on boards the last while and specifically an pretty incredible deal where if you play and make 100k VIP points you get to choose a ticket to any live event of your choice in 2009. The thread is here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055360443

Now on the face of it, it's a hell of an offer but I had problems with it, mainly it's almost too good an offer. From the figures I have worked out, it seemed that at best they were going to be break even on the deal and more likely going to lose money on each person who gets it. This is on the assumption that everyone chooses to play the Irish Open and doing anything else would be absolutely crazy, biggest buyin, most prestigious tournament and the best value tournament with all the Paddy power sats and live satellites held around the country, the standard is questionable to say the least.

After mulling it over, chatting with others I decided it was worth the risk of going with it. As of now I have 81,158 VIP points so I am 4/5ths of the way there. I aim to have it complete by my graduation on the 10th of this month. In terms of acquiring the points it has been pretty simple and that bit was never in doubt although I have gone through it even quicker then I anticipated. It's still a risk though. I am not 100% certain they will pay out on it although I think there is very good chance they will judging by how they have been replying. I think they hope to make back money by getting people to try to go for the deal but ultimately failing to reach the magic number and also for people who qualify hope at least 1 of them goes deep and gets their logo on tv.

Either way it should mean I will be playing the Irish Open in 2009 which will be great. I always has 09 as the year I would start to play big live tournaments. If I do play it then I shall be aiming to get some more live experience beforehand in the weekly donkaments in the Jackpot, Fitz etc to try to make myself feel as comfortable as possible and then hopefully take down the big score in April!