When things fall apart!

For my birthday my Aunt bought me a book, pictured below. 

Maybe she'd been keeping an eye on pocket fives, or maybe she's friends with one of the cashier's at DTD who've been worried about my lack of visits to the cash desk lately. 

Either way, despite it being rather an unusual gift, she's bang on the money - it's been a bad time lately. Problems both personal and professional have made it a tough time. 

I try and keep my head down when going through a bad patch because that's generally the best way through it. Nobody likes reading about it, and it doesn't really help much at all to vent and moan - and you always regret it later and when you look at the bigger picture (and you look silly when you moan in a ridiculously lucky bink the week later!). Also the variance police are always about to tell you that you haven't actually been running bad, you ran well in x tournament or in x cash game, they run worse etc - it's just not very helpful all round.

So what does the book say? What do you do when things fall apart? 

Well, I haven't read it yet. But my answer would be "Put them back together again!". Do whatever you can, or whatever you need to, to get back to winning ways.

Here's a few things that work for me-

• Having a HH review /coaching /sweat session with someone you respect and who understands you. Done quite a lot of that this year already. In fact a lot of the material of this blog is advice given to me by others! 
• Dropping down stakes, playing smaller field tournaments - more manageable and softer fields make it easier to win, and although 1st prize might not be what you're used to playing for, it's still a very nice feeling to actually win something, and very good for the confidence.
• Taking a break or choosing a different form of the game to play for a while. I switch regularly between tournaments and cash, live and online and generally find the low variance of say a £1/1 game where I feel really confident at any table is really good for confidence and just winning a few hundred quid in a fun live game feels really nice after knocking it in online. 
• I watched the PCA live stream for many hours this week and found listening to Ike Haxton talk extensively about hands and his constant reference to GTO play was really interesting and inspiring. And it's also nice to watch sickos battle it out and seeing all their hole cards and see that they're not doing anything massively out of the ordinary or different to what you would do.

What doesn't work

• Cursing, shouting, slamming the mouse down, telling your friends bad beat stories, whining, moaning and just generally feeling sorry for yourself! 

Since a coaching session on Monday, changing my schedule a bit, watching the PCA stream and doing some personal work on my game (and improvements on the personal front) - I've booked 3 winning MTT sessions in a row! Might be a personal record streak for online tournaments!

Now I'm not one for incorrectly linking correlation with causality and being results orientated - but the some of the results have come from tournaments I've never played before - a lower buyin or a site I don't usually play on. And although I could have easily lost every day this week and not done anything wrong - I feel like the things I've adjusted and the work I've done has definitely helped my confidence and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Playing with confidence and running well - a powerful combination - just ask Simon Deadman!

Another little thing I did today which I don't normally do - cook Vegetables! Now I'm not saying that they made me run well, but they might be the key ingredient...

In short, don't get mad at the things you can't change, look at the things you can. Good luck at the tables! 

Run better everyone!

Birthday shenanigans!

Funnily enough since my last blog post, there have actually been some amazing games at DTD! I've been a bit busy with other things so only played two sessions, but I understand from Thursday - Sunday of last week there was at least one incredibly deep and juicy 1/2 game every day, with 3k 4k stacks around and some huge swings.

I enjoy these games, because the banter is always great, the adrenaline rush very high, and the metagame wars between regs always very deep and complex - it's all very high octane. However it doesn't allow me to play my game, I would usually rather be table captain and be the one raising and 3betting rather than taking the passive options, but in these games it seems like the correct way to play, even though it feels a bit weak.

I've taken a bit of a back seat in the dick swinging wars and just spectated really as Mitch and Fred go at it every hand, every night. I've been the guy that's sat there waiting to find Aces and get caught up in the crossfire and luckbox a cheeky double up! I hate that guy!

It's not been intentional, I've just had aces two or three times and everytime I have either someone has gone nuts (Fred) or had a hand too and gone with it (Mitch). In the last session I actually doubled up three times but ended up winning about £100!

In between these sessions has been my birthday, a couple of nights out and Sunday bloody Sunday.

On my actual birthday I went down to London to see some family. My cousin Amy had a baby last year who is so awesome I love him!

I got back to Nottingham for the evening and had a very messy night out with Fred and Tom and loads of Fred's mates from Derby which was good. I unwisely mixed beer with wine with vodka with jaeger which proved to be a disaster combo for the hangover that followed. I don't usually get hangovers but this one was pretty horrific and it was on a sunday so had to man up and play a proper session with it too :(.

Last night I organised a meal for the birthdays of Sean, myself and Mitch - it was quite short notice but we got 10 people out to Iberico World Tapas in Nottingham, which is absolutely amazing, definitely my favourite restaurant in Nottingham now. The last time I went was when we celebrated PJ winning a live tournament. So it's been fucking ages! I had forgotten how good it was.

Yes that's Fred with the beard at the back. 

The banter at said meal was first class, a really really good time was had. The bill was £400 and 7 of us bought out for £40 (I know, everyone's too under it to degen flip for this like we used to!) leaving Fred, Stato and Linton to flip - first card out pays nothing, then it's a heads up flip, winner gets the £280 buyout money, and loser pays the entire £400! Against the run of form, Fred lost and Stato won!

I've played two online sessions in 2014 so far, both have been disastrous, not cashing a single tournament on Sunday (ouch) and cashing almost nothing in the other one. So the makeup is ever rising, but some good chances to get out with the GPS this weekend and a big trip to Deauville in a couple of weeks for the FPS and EPT. Hope to start the year off with a bang! 

Good luck everyone this weekend, it's going to be a sick tournament :)

Cash Is King

2014 is going to be a year of change. Not because of bullshit new years resolutions, because actually enforced changed. My life as a poker player has lead a pretty familiar pattern over the past three years. This year however I won't be living in Nottingham, and I may not be in the UK for much of it.

The main reason I'm leaving Nottingham is because of the cash games - which have been my bread and butter for the past 3 years. I'll write a bit about what has happened in this blog.

Ecosystem

Nottingham is not a good place for a natural ecosystem of cash games to exist. This is mainly down to its poor location geographically and population. Cities like London and Paris have a natural ecosystem already inbuilt - huge population, huge tourist scene. DTD opening has artificially boosted the poker scene in Nottingham for the past few years and given the nature of tournaments (recs winning them all the time!) and particularly DTDs focus on tournaments, this will last for tournaments for many many more years than it will for cash games.

No limit - No chance

No limit hold'em cash games are brutal for the recreational player. In my opinion the most brutal form of the game. In omaha, you're always at least 40%! In tournaments anyone can win a few flips! In No limit cash games, especially the deepstacked, high octane games that Nottingham has produced over the years, to be frank, the recs don't stand a chance.

And in an already artificially created habitat, that just isn't going to last unless things are done to make it last (ie incentives, bonuses for players or regs working together (v different to colluding) to make the games more friendly and appealing).

DTD have realised this decline and have introduced several schemes to protect the games in the long term. For example, capping the games, one straddle max, even creating a weekly VIP game where professionals are banned!

Whilst this last measure is pretty extreme, I think generally the ideas are good and their heart is in the right place and maybe they'll be a recovery over the next few years. Right now though, there's rarely a game worth playing.

League of Regs

A few years back somebody coined the hilarious phrase "championship regs" to label those regs that didn't play the 1/2 or 2/5 games but were there every night playing 1/1 and occasionally 1/2.

DTD is such a sick club that it has attracted so many young guys to make it their home and grind there everyday. So in the cash game ecosystem, for every recreational playing driving from X to play, there's 3 young guys in the car right behind them.

These championship and league one regs win the money in the 1/1 games, preventing the recs from ever moving up to 1/2, and then instead of moving up themselves (which would be the natural order of things as they get wealtheir and more skilled), they are staying where they are and sooner or later that player pool will be drained too. I can't really blame them though. The 1/2 and 2/5 games aren't worth playing anymore even for us. It's 4/5 regs who all can play, all competing for 1 or 2 recreational players' stacks. The rake ain't cheap either.

So there's little or no fresh blood of recs or regs in the 1/2 player pool, so the 1/2 players are forced to either go elsewhere (London, more trips abroad etc) or often, move down to 1/1 in search of action. This was fine for a bit, since the 1/1 regs sat deep and weren't as experienced or skilled, but then they stopped giving us action. Quitting games whenever a "premiership reg" sat down. They have this illusion that whenever they fold to us we've bluffed them, and whenever they pay us off they've made a bad call etc. They think they're getting owned every hand when they're not, and they think that a game that was very profitable for them has suddenly turned into a massively -EV game when 1 or 2 better players sit down.

Two years ago whenever this happened I was quite flattered and happy that somebody thought I was a good player, but now it's seriously annoying. Again, I can't justify being annoyed at them. They're just game selecting sensibly. Yes they won't ever improve or move up if they never play better players or take shots in bigger games, but I can't force them to want to do that.

When recs and regs don't want to play with you, and the club doesn't really want you there - there's something wrong! Time to move on.

Thankfully I'm blessed with no real ties to anywhere and just about enough money so that I can move anywhere in the world. It's going to be an exciting year.

2013 review!

This montage video sums up the year pretty nicely! Hope you stick it out for the full 5 minutes, I worked hard on this!



Poker wise 2013 has not been very good. 2011 and 2012 were both great years but I felt that in both I had ran very well overall. It set the bar pretty high for 2013 and although replicating either year would've been great, I wasn't expecting to necessarily. Still, 2013 has fallen slightly below what I expected to "earn" in the year.

Facts figures and graphs!

Profit graph for the year. Should've retired in May!

Had a record 5 Losing Months this year which is terrible! Considering I play live a lot, and tournaments a lot I guess it's not that uncommon.

35 hours/week average. Very happy with that volume to be honest, slightly up on previous years, I've definitely worked hard played hard again this year.

Trips abroad and shots

Poker trips to Deauville, San Remo, Marbella, Vegas, Galway, Barcelona, Riga and Prague have been all losing trips except for Vegas which was breakeven after expenses.

Whilst playing on my own money I have taken shots in one 10k wsop main, two 5k EPTs, one 2k, three or four 1500s, numerous 1ks and failed to cash in any.

Whilst all being sensible and good value shots, and I've always sold an appropriate amount of action, and obviously it's like 15 tournaments, it's not really an unusual streak -they're still classed as shots, and to return 0 from over 30k of buyins has been a hit to finances and morale. 2012 was the same tbh, though I mincashed an EPT and WPT Prague, I bricked all other high buyin stuff last year too. Really want to prove myself at that highest level next year. Not that a result in one would prove anything but you know what I mean...(for the variance police out there)

All online festivals SCOOP, WCOOP and both Winaseries have been losing seri too which all add up pretty quickly.

I've ran well in plenty of other areas. Live cash I've continued to do well in until recently. Despite action drying up and other things hampering my ability to make money there, that's been my bread butter again this year. I've had three low 5 figure scores in low/med buyin live tournaments and broken my online duct by winning the Winamax main for my biggest winning day of the year. I've had all my own action for all but one of tournaments too which has helped.

Winning the big game in November. Was still a losing month!

So it's not been a terrible year, but significantly down on my first two years. I've made it though without going bust and still got some left over for 2014, that's the main thing! Also I like to compare how I've done to what I "could" have done had I stayed at Uni and got a job in the city and unless I ran golden in the jobs market, I think I've out performed alter ego Alex this year! :)

Outside of Poker

My life outside of poker in 2013 has been dominated by one person.

Breakfast in Barcelona

Victoria lives in Latvia and every month this year we've met up to spend 4/5 days together. It has been absolutely amazing. A complete break from all things poker, and I've loved every single trip. We've met numerous times in Riga and Tallinn, but also ventured to Krakow, Vilnius, San Remo, Monte Carlo, Stockholm, Barcelona and Prague. My time with her has without a doubt been the best thing about 2013.

Other than that I've continued with the piano, learning the vast majority a piece I always wanted to learn - Chopin's G minor Ballade. As well as working out how to play every song Capital FM have on their extremely limited drive time playlist!

-Sport and Exercise have taken a back seat this year(for a change) and I have gotten a little bit FAT over the past few months! Shocking. I really need to get that in check and when I get to Macau I'll get on it big time. I WILL!

-Made good progress with cooking this year in that I actually do it now so that's good.

-Strengthened family relationships and built some new friendships.

Overall, I guess I've got to say it's been a good year. 7.5/10.

I ordered a whiskey and this is what they bring?!

Next blog will be about my aims for 2014!

Happy new year guys!

What's your name?

Festive greetings to you all. I hope everybody has as good a Christmas as I did.

My brothers and Mum at Church on Christmas Morning

Earlier this month I was in Prague for the annual winter poker festival and I arrived on a early morning flight from Riga very tired and not really relishing the prospect of diving straight into a 12pm start for the Eureka main event. If I'm short of sleep I find it really hard to stay focussed and even awake on day 1s. Pre-antes is always much less interesting and you're supposed to play tight blah blah blah so you just end up folding a lot and there's no adrenaline rush of being close to the money or the final table or anything to keep you going so I find it pretty hard. I always try and get at least 8 hours sleep before I play a live tournament.

I had something to eat, drink, some proplus tablets (they do a great job in keeping my eyes open!). I arrived at my table and there were 7 unknown guys at my table and no-one was saying a word. I was really hoping to get a table with someone I knew so I had someone to talk to all day! This is going to be a struggle...

I'm usually pretty sociable at the table. In the UK and certainly at DTD you'll never see me with headphones on, hoodie up etc. I'm always trying to have a laugh at the table, I think it's really important for so many reasons, the main one being - it just IS more fun than sitting in silence!

In foreign countries it's a bit more difficult because of the language and cultural barriers but still I'll never shy away from a bit of table banter, but I'm not usually the one to start it if at a table of unknown Russians or Czechs!

45 minutes in, PKR pro Sofia Lövgren sat down and still nobody said a word. Then she asked the most simple question in the world to her neighbour.

"What's your name?"

And from that one question the entire day was improved. She and the guy chatted for a bit, limited English on his part wasn't really an issue, they found things in common despite being from different countries and different ages groups. Then I found something to latch onto and join in and before you knew it, everyone was talking to each other. There was some country banter about scandi's, greeks etc, and not only was it so much more enjoyable, it was massively useful too - learning where someone's from, their poker background etc. is really helpful when playing pots with them. I learned that one player was a satellite qualifier and he said this was by far his biggest ever tournament. He was a lovely guy and he showed us pictures of his two young children and the whole table was sorry to see his cruel bust out with the nut full house vs quads. Even the guy with the quads!

It was rather sad that the 8 adult males couldn't spark this conversation by themselves and it was down to Sofia to get the ball rolling, and also how easy it was once the ice was broken. Everyone was sociable and friendly really, but at the start it would appear that everybody was rude and sullen.

So I guess the aim of this blog is to encourage everybody else to do the same. It's absolutely fair enough if you prefer sitting in silence, being 100% focussed on the job in hand and get irritated by small talk etc. I'm not trying to criticise those people.

But if' you're like me and you DO prefer having a good laugh at the table and like meeting new people - then next time you're at a table where nobody is talking, ask the guy next to you his name. Ask where he's from. There's no downside and there's plenty of upsides. You can still be focussed and concentrating. It actually helps me focus because it stops me drifting off, day dreaming, going on facebook/twitter etc. And if you're at a table with me and I'm being moody and unfriendly, then talk to me and snap me out of it!

Yes, those are my pants

Plans for the rest of the year include the DTD £500 Christmas deepstack tomorrow. A Sunday grind online. A trip to Oxford to visit the Grandparents and then it's NYE. Next blog will probably be wrapping up 2013.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!