CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. Starting BR £500. Current: £540

hhyftrftdr

If you think you're playing well and running well, then you wanna be hammering the MTT's whilst confidence is high. Your average £10/11 MTT is full of value, it might be double your usual buy in but the quality of opponents certainly doesn't double!

The 9.30 £3k BH might be worth working into your schedule. Reasonable tourney, some good sums up top, and a field that is patchy at best usually. 

CraigSG1

Hi hhy,

I think I'm playing well but not actually running well. I know the standard isnt that much better as I go up so hopefully there is a nice bink around the corner. I would like to play the 9:30BH but it starts a bit late for me. Maybe on a w/e I can give it a go if im feling awake enough!

Day 60

Played two MTTS, not getting much at all in the £2BH and busting after 45 mins. In the £5BH I got off to a good start and built a stack only to lose over half of it to a player who had called every raise pre (Mr X) and when I had QQ I raised big and got 4 callers! Mr X min bet out and I raised a low safe flop only for him to jam allin. My notes and his style told me he would jam any pair so I called only for him to have AA! I then lost my remainder to another calling station when me AK TPTK lost to his bluff allin only for him to hit runner runner trips and send me packing. Meh!

Cash wise I played two sessions, just playing TAG and finishing up both times. £9+ and £16+

I am still trying to find my style and method at nl10 as its much more aggressive than 4nl where I had a nice winning stragegy that doesnt translate at 10nl. Im adapting though so hopefully I will feel comfortable and play exclusively at this level for a while.

A nice new high ballance and above £600 again so feeling good.

BR £607.33    PP 645

CraigSG1

Day 61

I had a bonus session this morning with me being off work today as I had to go to hospital in the afternoon. I have had something wrong with me for a few months and had to have a very uncomfortable procedure to check on my treatment. Good news, things have improved very well and I can now stop worrying. 

So, my bonus session went very well. I played for an hour and came away £37+. Mainly thanks to getting AA back to back and getting stacks in each time and more importantly holding! I played ok, suffered a few nasty hits early but managed to recover and then made my profit on the MC table.

I played another couple of cash sessions in the evening, winning £18+ and £7+. I think I played very well and managed to get my hands to hold in big and medium pots too. Ive started to define a style at 10nl and it paid off today. Wether it does long run we will have to see but I do have more than one style depending on my opponents.

So, my best cash day in this challange with profits on almost every table throughout the day and a grand total of £62+ for the day.

MTT wise though, things went the other way. I bust early in both early tournys. I couldnt do much in either. I had to call with QQ aipf when after i made in 60 the guy quickly jammed. I called and was up against AA! Then in the £5 I lost a big pot when my dominating A lost and then lost two others with PP against higher PP's.

I then played one of my favourites, the £5BH HU. I won the first fairly easily and then I was up against a much tougher opponent. Tougher because he was so aggressive and would often just open jam 75BB stacks or over bet from no where. But, after ten minutes of assessing his style I gained back my stack and then went ahead and a few times tried to maneuver him into his crazy moves. I finally got him 3rd time of trying and got him allin on the turn with Q8 2nd pair 8 with me A8. But as usual lately he hit the Q on the river. I was then left with 10BB and had 77 next hand. I shoved and got quickly called by J10 which then hit trips and turned a full house. I was pretty gutted as I had worked so hard to get him where I wanted only to be denied.

I really do think I can win a few MTT's in quick succession as a lot of the time my exit hands I am getting in ahead (sometimes by a lot) or getting plain coolered. Anyway, that dissapointment was offset by my good cash day.

Im really pleased with my progress so far and cant believe how far I've come and how quick. I have 3 and half months untill May so my first target is within sight now.

BR £658.09   PP 720

CraigSG1

Day 62

Tried my hand at 3 MTT's and wish I had not bothered. I ran awful and went out in early in each. Couldn't hit hands or dodge the maniac plays and lost every race, 60/40 etc. That didnt leave me in the best of moods and after about an hour and half of playing cash I just called it a night. It was a profitable session of almost £10 up so at least my cash game is going well at the moment.

Just checked and thats 14/15 winning sessions lately so thats a nice little bonus to leave and have a little break with. 

BR £653.81    PP 749

CraigSG1

Day 63

Well, the break didn't come and I ended up playing. And for a long time I wish I had not bothered. I played two MTT's and despite lasting over an hour in each I was very card and situation dead and busted the £2BH with AJ v A8 aipf to a rivered 8 and busted the £5 after having just below an average stack I lost 3 pots in a row to one player who hit two flushes and then a turned an A to wipe me out in 3 hands. 

Cash wise I played 3 hours and for the first hour I was again card dead. I then lost with QQ,JJ,KK and then AA in the next hour. The first three I was beat on the river each time after betting big but couldnt fade draws and in one instant running two pair. My AA loss was for a full stack on the MC table against a flopped full house. I was about £20+ down coming to the end and although disappointed I felt ok as I had had a lot of winning sessions.

But I finally got the run/luck I had missed all night when on the last rounds on each table I hit a set and got paid fully. I played my sets aggressively on the flop and got the money allin and managed to fade any redraw.

So, from wishing I had not bothered to glad I did in the space of a few minutes is a very nice way to go to bed. I won £20+ in the end and again have a new high balance. 

Im glad things are going well in cash and surprisingly cash is the main reason my BR has shot up lately. My strength of MTT's are on a bit of a downer at the moment but I know its only variance the same way my current constant cash success is a good bit of variance. 

BR £666.13    PP 824

CraigSG1

Day 65

Well, I guess it was bound to happen at some point and today was the day. Feeling a bit rubbish at the moment. I'll start with cash as that was my biggest loss today. I played a couple of hours this morning and finished +£2.50 down which was actually quite good as I was more down at one point thanks to some pretty sucky run. 

Thinking that that would not continue I played another 2 1/2h tonight only to lose £44+. Running terribly doesnt come close. One £40 pot I lost on the river when with JJ on a low flop against a serial bluffer we got allin on the turn only to lose to a rivered A. I would flop trips and lose to runner runner flush and three occasions and not to mention one four way allin pot with me allin on the turn with an up and down straight draw and 2nd nut flush draw with a pair to boot. The flush came on the river only to see I came 2nd to the nut flush! Someone else had another flush and the fourth had just top pair. 

So a pretty sucky night.

MTT wise I played one this morning only to bubble (allin with K10s I flopped top pair only to lose to running flush cards), coming 14/93. The other two I played this evening went bad also. I lost early again in a £5BH and then the HU's I lost first round. I was easily the better player and could have won twice only to end up chopping the pot twice when ahead allin. I eventually lost when stacks where shallow and I had to go with K high only to lose to an A.

Its gutting to lose such a big chunk and its time like this when you dont want your diary to be public. I even toyed with the idea of jumping into a £50 HU (and that lasted a while!) but thankfully Ive learnt my lessons and discipline and just logged out.

I was really hoping to cross the £700 barrier this weekend but I'll have to wait untill next weekend I guess! Hopefully this is just a blip and I can run it back up and beyond. I keep trying to remind myself how well I've done so far to take the edge off but for now I feel pretty....well, not good!

BR £622.77    PP 974

hhyftrftdr

Not wanting to sound harsh or anything, but there was always gonna be a day when the poker gods wouldn't smile on you. Sessions when nothing goes right, can't get value from flopped sets, get outdrawn, people getting there etc etc. Just the nature of the beast.

This is exactly why, unless we have/use aggressive BRM, that we play within our means. You can take a rough day like today, lose a fair wedge of money but still have a very healthy roll for the levels you play. To make you feel better, just look at the bigger picture. Today will sting, but you wanted to spin a modest sum of money into a grand and you're already past the £600 mark. How many players would've gone busto or just tread water for weeks on end?

Take the rough with the smooth and chin up buddy

CraigSG1

Thanks hhy...,

Your not sounding harsh and I know I should feel better than I do but I cant help but feel a little down. You sort of get on a roll and although you dont expect to win every night your dissapointed when you dont! I've played solidly now for longer than I have in along while (ill just look...), 10 days straight which is rare for me so I will try and take a couple of days off and recharge. 

Well, thats what i'll try. Sometimes I just cant resist, especially now I have a challange and a goal to aim for.

Day 66

Another up and down and then up day. I played a cash session this morning of an hour and a half and took over £9.50+ profit. I then returned in the afternoon for almost 3 hours. I got off to a decent start, starting off the right side of AA v KK and being up on all tables. 

Then it all went wrong again. ironically starting when I ran KK into AA! From their every time I got it in good I lost (eg QQ v AK and JJ v KQ both to rivers) and topped it all off with losing a £40 pot with AA to a a guy who raised every button and 60-70% of hands. He called a big 3 bet on the button and got there with 85. What can you do? I finished £26+ down.

I was going to give it up untill I though, what the hell. I have a good HU's game so I went to play a £21 HU. I played my game and actually won quite easily. That took me to a small days profit and as ive stated above I intend to have at least one day off if not two. Wether that happens I dont know. I know I could do with a recharge and a reset and hopefully that will clear my head a little and I can move on and up with my challange.

BR £625.82     PP 1064

CraigSG1

Day 67

No play

Day 68

Another bad day at the office. PLayed cash for an hour and for most of it was doing ok, but then bad run hit me again. I lost a £30+ pot with QQ v KK on a short handed table I was about to leave. I also took a couple of hits, losing a big pot when I had to fold the turn with KK on a bad board with two opponents. One had a straight, the other a straight flush. That meant a night that was going to show a little profit ened almost £20 down.

Day 69

With confidence low I played two MTT's. I last over an hour in one not having many hands or spots. The table was very, very loose so bluffing was pointless a lot of the time. I did manage a double up and then I lost a pot that would have gave me a good stack when I got called down two streets on a low board when I held JJ. We got it allin on the turn with my opponent drawing to just a gutshot and one over card as he had KJo. He hit his gutshot on the river. In the other MTT I ran bad also, again getting light call downs that hit good river cards. When lowish I squeezed allin with A10s only to be snapped by a limpers QJo. He went on to hit a full house.

I'm on a downswing MTT wise and cant get anything going my way. I left both with no bounties. I did manage to finish one £300FR for £2.29. Ive been playing these every night but getting very frustrating beats in them. One a few nights ago with only five minutes left I lost a top 10 stack to the chip leader when my AA lost to his J8s aipf.

Cash wise I played for about three hours in two sessions and did manage to take a little profit of almost £7. Again, if it wasnt for a couple of big losses when again variance and the river got me (one QQ v AK aipf, another set to runner runner flush.I could add more but thats boring). What saved me was having AA v KK twice which is about the only fortune and coolering I have done this past week.

BR £607.57     PP 1153

This is my second really bad patch and I am trying to put it to a side and continue playing my game. It realy sucks when things go like this and you get the 'why do I bother' feeling. I dont think I've played bad but I know I havent played as good as I can, sometimes letting frustration bubble up a bit. I will say, though, that I felt some improvement in my temperment as I felt I made some good laydowns and didnt make as many bad calls I sometimes would have. The kind of calls you make just to show someone what you had and how unlucky you have been. 

Ive been trying to add a bit more aggression into my game and I think tonight it worked more than it didnt. Yes, I know I lost some value at times but thats all part of the learning process and being consistent. You cant bet big when you have nothing and small when you have a strong hand as its too exploitable. But, saying all that, I know the extra aggression helped me get paid on a few more hands.

I really hope I can get out of this down turn soon and start my BR going up hill again. 

CraigSG1

Day 70

No Play

Day 71

Well, the bad patch continues. I'm trying not to turn this into a moan. So, all I wll say is that I donked myself out my first MTT (£2BH) and I have no complaints. Made a bad read and paid the price. In my 2nd (5BH) I got off to a good start doubling early but missing out on head prize by half a BB! I then suffered some bad run, getting a lot of chips in ahead only to lose on the river and I eventually lost squeezing over 5 limpers with 88 and got called by A6o who hit the A on river. 

Cash wise I played 3 hours and finished £34 down. I'll keep this short but I hardly hit anything and when I did only got folds. I lost numerous pots to just bad preflop calls (eg J7s v AA. He flopped flush and I had over pair with nut flush draw and allin on the flop as he played every hand). There was many others. Basically, I didnt play bad I dont think. I was controlled aggressive it just happened that my value bets got folds and bluffs got called. I bet exactly the same when I had it to any bluffs it was just the way it went. 

BR £574.10    PP 1273

In summary i'm trying to stay positive but it is hard when after a long run of good I'm now on a long run of bad. I'm pleased I never really tilted at all dispite the hits I kept taking. I dont remember any big hand holding actually for any sort of big pot. AA, KK and QQ (on a number of occasions) getting beat by very weak holdings. Its times like this I just want to quit and withdraw what I have which is what happens a lot. I get a good bankroll, have a bad few nights so withdraw everything back to £100. 

I'm determined to complete this, though, dispite the big setback so far. I can always keep hoping that tomorrow will be a good day...

mrsduck

You can do it Craig! You're doing so so well so far

CraigSG1

Thanks Mrsduck! All contributions are welcome, appreciated and not to mention encouraged!

Day 72

...and finally, thank whatever God there is or isn't, I had a good day!

Lets start with MTT's. I again busted early on my two early MTT's. This time it wasnt my fault, just bad run. I'm currently in my biggest every down swing in MTT's. I cant remember ever busting out so soon so many times and not reaching much more than an hour in so many. I guess it happens its just really frustrating, especially as a big score can go a long way to reaching my target.

My biggest score of the night was in one of my favourites. A £5BH HU tourny. I came 2/28 for a £25 profit. I was so close to coming first but I made a bad call when I had my opponent 5/1 down in chips with just a draw. He had a weak top pair and I had 11 outs and even if I had got there it was still a poor call. I could have just folded and found a better spot to force the win. From there he coolered my twice in two hands to take it. Still, its nice to get a good cash boost.

I also managed to last the course in one £300FR for £3.56. Its always nice to win free money. I forgot to add that yesterday I lasted in both the £300 FR's, one for £6 and the other for £2+ so all together a nice £12 BR boost for pretty much nothing. Cannot argue with that at all.

Cash wise, I played four sessions and finished up in them all for a change. Admittedly session 2 and 3 where for a +£0.01 and +£0.53 but I'm taking it! The other two went much better at +£10.83 and +£8.46. Ive mainly stayed at 4nl to try and gain some confidence again and I want a buffer above £600 before I move up fully again.

In summary a nice little confidence boost and if I can get a few more + days then I will feel much better and feel like I'm on the right track again. Only tomorrow will tell I guess. 

Donttelmum

n1 Craig, keep it up!

CraigSG1

Thanks DTM!

Day 73

Tomorrow, again, was a good day. Thats two in a row now and i'm beginning to hope my downswing is over. For now.

The only problem at the moment is MTT's. Again. Just running awful! I played the PS4 freeroll and was donked out in the first few hands after flopping the nuts, a set of Jacks on a flushing board. The FD shoved over my c-bet and obviously I called. And obviously I was outdrew straight away and didnt improve. A £2BH saw me last an hour, take one head but again get busted when a loose limper called with KJo against my A9s aipf. I just cant win ahead in allins. The two £300FR's didnt last long, losing races in each.

Thankfully, cash was the success of the day. Three sessions totalling about 4h30 saw me finish up in each. £6.89, £6.68 and £5.68. Mainly at 4nl with the odd 10nl thrown in. I played well and ran decent in a few spots although I could easily have had double my win rate if not for running into flopped quads three times and quads again on another occasion. Each time I couldn't really get away. I also had a fair few river suck outs of people calling extremely light only to hit river two pairs or trips. I only managed one suck out myself but that was a pretty standard affair. My flopped set went behind to a turned straight (a gutshot) and all money went in only for the board to pair. 

So, after a nightmare cash session on Friday I have now had 7 straight winning sessions which has done a lot to give me a lift. I just wish I could run well in MTT's again. At least my BR is now going in the right direction again and I'm hoping to soon reach my last high ballance and go beyound.

BR £632.12     PP 1451

CraigSG1

Day 74

A quick cash session of over an hour saw me scrape a £1.80 profit. Things started well until a bad middle patch saw me lose 2 buyins both to strange flop calls that hit two outers to stack me when I had very strong hands. I did manage to claw it back though, thanks to a maniac on a 10nl table as I just picked off his bluffs. Again, I could have had a better result but I guess from the beats I took to make something is a victory and it keeps up my newly gained momentum.

Another winning session over, hopefully tomorrow that will continue and I can make another dent into my target.

BR £632.12    PP 1451

robert369

wish i had your patience, great read btw

rob

devonfish5

Nice work Craig..

Keep it going,  well played.

I'd swap my b/r for yours right now!!!  lols

run good today..
dev

CraigSG1

Thanks Rob and Dev!

Day 75

I'm sat here trying to think of how to explain my night and I have to say its been another 'might of been' night. I'll start with cash. I pretty much ran awful at 4nl. Firstly getting coolered early when with KK a maniac who was shoving every hand indeed did do. I gleefully called only to have someelse call. With AA. Just to make it worse the other guy had K8o so there went an out. I had a number of awful beats including a set against a flush amongst others. I did, though, run OK at 10nl managing to win about £14 from two tables to take a £5.20 profit from a two hour session.

I lasted midway through the £2BH, taking one HP, but couldn't really get going and lost my one big pot to go out when my dominating AQ lost to A3 aipf. Things did go much better in the £5 for the first time in a long while. I took 3 HP (eventually, I had 4 other oppertunities but couldn't hold when ahead each time) and finished 8/173 for a £16.82 profit. It was a strange tournament as I never really went above or below 20- 40BBs. I played well with what I had though and never got frustrated, just let what happened, happen.

(I also played the Main Event on the side as my GF on her account. She was registered but couldn't get back in time so I played. I was going to play myself but thought it wasnt correct to do so. I was doing really well for a long time, a top 20-40 stack for most of the tourny. That was until my AK lost a 3 way aipf pot against A10 and J9o. I then got KK in the BB and called a 4 bet shove from the SB who had A8o. An A on the turn left me really low and I eventually went out. Very gutting, either pot was worth a top 10 stack and if I had won both I would have been 2/3rd.)

One night I WILL run well. I hope. Still, its nice to string some winning nights together again. I think thats three in a row now and I'm getting closer to my last highest ballance. £700 will be a sweet barrier to break after my last bump in the road. 

Slowly, slowly does it.

BR £654.39      PP 1503

CraigSG1

Day 76

Sounding a bit like a broken record but again things could have been a lot better today. I played two, two hour cash sessions today. The first I suffered my first -£ session for a while, finishing almost £5 down but in the second I left with an almost £15 profit.

Again, things went terribly at 4nl where I could not win any sort of big pot and I ran into AA 5 times. Four of those I had KK! Again. I went through a similiar patch last year when (and this is no exageration, I counted!) I ran KK into AA 13 times out of having KK 15 times. And has luck would have it, the only time I got AA v KK was on the FT bubble of a £5BH. I was 2/7 and was against 1/7. Suffice to say he hit the K. I hope I'm not having a repeat of this again as that was a hard time to get over.

My luck ran well at 10nl, though, and I took a few small pots through the day. Thankfully on my last orbit I got AA and 4x as I knew I had 2 calling stations. I got two calls. The flop came AKx two diamons. I bet out and got raised. I resisted the urge to three bet and just called hoping to see a blank or to house up. The turn was a blank so I lead quite weak and got a big raise. I shoved the little left and got called by J10dd so as always there was a sweat. Thankfully the gutshot and flush missed (for once) and I doubled up. 

So, things are creeping up again and my confidence is growing. I'm hoping for this to continue and a good weekend could see me pass £700. Its starting to feel like a big hurdle to cross and I'm trying real hard just to put this out of my mind when I play and not worry about it. I am doing it for the most part but I do think of it from time to time, especially when I'm up in a session. Its a good learning curve that I intend to ride upwards!

BR £664.19     PP 1548

Thinking about what Robert369 said about wishing he had my patience. Its just a matter of setting yourself small goals on the way to a bigger target. I never thought of my £1000 goal from the start, I just thought about reaching £200. Then £250. Then £300. All the way to where I am now. You just have to concentrate on what you do best and then go on step by step and hopefully, eventually, towards your goal.

CraigSG1

Day 77

Long cash session tonight (about four hours with about a half hour break in middle), mainly at 10nl. Yet again 4nl seemed unbeatable for me! Either running into AA or my AA, KK and QQ could not hold. My biggest pot of the night was a £40 pot on a MC table against a maniac playing any two and happy to go all in either pre or on flop. He actually had a hand shown on Sky when he big 3 bet pre 34o against AK. He flopped bottom pair and AK hit his Aor K (cant remember) and check shoved and got a snap call! Sadly for the AK guy the 4 came on the river. My success was QQ v KQ allin pre. Normally when you have a big 4 bet against you with QQ your not happy but against him I was very happy. Even more so when I held. After that things went quiet. Winning small and losing small. 

I was tempted to 'book the win' during a breeak I had as I was up almost £20 on the night but I stuck at it. I did dip down a bit which makes you question yourself but I learnt from mistakes and stuck at it.

All in all finished £12+ up but I found myself making a few mistakes. Tilt chasing and calling during frustrating periods but overall not as bad as I can get. This month has been the most cash I have ever played and certainly during this diary I have never played so much. The only problem is I think its effecting my MTT game as i've noticed a down turn in MTT's while cash goes ok. Need to figure that out!

So, as mentioned my MTT's didnt go well. I lasted a while in £2BH with one head but couldn't win a 60/40 allin with a 20BB stack. The £5BH was a mix of a frustrating beat leading me to take too many chances and I eventually lost a race to bust.

Another small step in the right direction I suppose.

BR £669.48    PP 1643

CraigSG1

Day 78

A losing night but technically a winning one? Overall my BR is down 75p but I did make 96PP's which equates to 96p which means I am 21p up! Yeah! LOL. We have to (somehow) look for any and all silver linings!

So, I again didnt have any run in my MTT's (apart from the £300FR in which I lasted an hour and took £4.31 which was decent. I busted the other one when my set of jacks was no good against a set of queens!). The £2 was unusually manic. My table was just full of allins and overbets. I couldn't find any sort of hand to compete and dispite lasting over an hour went out midway I couldn;t find any spots or hold with any holdings. The £5 I again lasted over an hour, not getting much at all and apart from one small pot which gave me a HP I was card dead. I went out when my Aces up ran into a set of kings and then against the same player 2 hands later my short stack was again up against another KK. 

I did, though, hit this rather nice hand. Just a bit too nice to get anything out of it;

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
marsh07	Small blind		20.00	20.00	1900.00
digbylady	Big blind		40.00	60.00	1645.00
	Your hole cards	10c Ac
punkasmuck	Fold
alanna701	Call		40.00	100.00	2960.00
CraigSG1	Raise		120.00	220.00	3740.00
dazza1308	Fold
marsh07	Fold
digbylady	Fold
alanna701	Call		80.00	300.00	2880.00
Flop
		Qc Kc Jc
alanna701	Check
CraigSG1	Check
Turn
		3d
alanna701	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		40.00	340.00	3700.00
alanna701	Call		40.00	380.00	2840.00
River
		10h
alanna701	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		190.00	570.00	3510.00
alanna701	Call		190.00	760.00	2650.00
CraigSG1	Show	10c Ac
alanna701	Muck	9c 9d
CraigSG1	Win	Royal Flush	760.00		4270.00

Cash wise, I played two sessions tataling almost 3 hours. All at 10nl. I didn't run partically well and nothing really happened. I did lose a bit against one maniac on god mode. His J10s allin 3 bet got ther against my QQ, he then did the same to someone elses AA with J10o and then cold called my 3 bet with 83 off, I had JJ, and he called down big bets bottom pair 3 only to river the 8. Sigh. Being about £20 down I took a little risk and short stacked a 50p/50p action table. I was playing allin or fold and got to £20 before I 3 bet shoved with 88 and won a race (my first and only race win of the night! I was 0/7 before that.) versus AK and decided to call it a night a few orbits later happy to be back to about even.

One real aspect of cash that I find difficult to master is the concept of calling to keep in bluffs. As in, when raising is only really going to get called by a better hand or a hand with very good equity against us. Balancing protecting/getting value from your hand versus letting an aggressive opponent bluff into you has been a difficult learning curve for me. For example we have 99 in a 3 bet pot against a LAG opponent. A decent flop with only one overcard comes. We check and get bet at. Do we raise/call/fold? The best course of action is to call for the reasons stated above but we also make it difficult if another over card hits. Etc, etc. So many variations on a theme! Thats why its such a hard game to master I guess!

So, the end of another month and if I dont play another hand for a week, thanks to my PP payment I would have a new high ballance! But, of corse, where not going to do that!

The way the night went, i'll take a 75p loss (or 21p gain!) and hope that things go better this weekend.

BR £668.73   PP 1737

The new leaderboard challange is interesting. I'll have a go to start with as the last promotion has seen a lot of regulars gain priority and so not be elegiable for this one. I know of a lot of players that are garenteed a good place but I think I could have a chance of sneaking somewhere near the bottom. I'll see how the first week goes and if I think I can gain a place for some cash I will give it a proper go. We'll see, I've only once gone over 2000 PP's and that was with two weeks of happy hour promotions!

PS Anyone help me with posting hands? I try and comp/paste (i have a mac) but it never pastes correctly. I have to paste it into notes first and then on to here but then we lose suits! Very frustrating.

CraigSG1

Day 79

Yes!! So happy to break another barrier. This one was the hardest to get to so far and feels that much better for getting there! 

I pretty much played cash all day. Two one hour sessions this morning and a four hour one (95% at 10nl thrtough the day) this evening. I enjoyed a decent morning taking over £27 in profit. It went well apart from one big dip about half way through when my top set was no good three way at a MC table for a £70. I lost to a flopped flush. There was a lot of maniac gambling so I stayed on and was duly rewarded in a few spots when first my AA held against J8o (allin on flop after he had called my big 3 bet, he then jammed with a gutshot) and against same player picked off two bluffs for decent pots. So from £20 down I left with over £10 up on that table. 

The evening session was a very frustrating one. I played for hours and only managed £6+ but I take that as a huge victory as I lost count (last count was EIGHT) of the times my premium pairs where beat by rag aces all off them allin pre. Each time I thought surely not again. I never won one all day. My tilting has definatley got better as I just plodded on and even through long periods of missing flops and getting called 3 and four way AND not to mention sharing so many allin pots (once with AA v AA) with the same straigh, two pair and TPTKers. Very frustrating. 

I did play one £2BH and was going well in that (had 3 HP's) when I lost my stack with the nut flush against top two when he rivered his FH (allin on turn). Just not running well!

Im very, very pleased with how today went and to reach my £700 goal. Hopefully I can gain a buffer on this level and kick on again. I also gained the most PP ive ever gained in one day, thanks to me playing pretty much only cash and the Happy Days promotion. I cant wait to see how this transfers to the new promotions league table.

BR £703.18    PP 216

CraigSG1

Day 80

A day of just cash today. I played two sessions, one for three hours and the other for almost four with a few five min breaks. It was a roller coaster day. Again my premium pairs did not fair well and made even more frustrating by watching other premium pairs win big pots and not one lose! Mine falling to draws and turned trips and rivered aces.

I played ok for most parts but in others I let a few accumulated beats get to me and made a few soft calls. For the number of hours I played I think I did fairly well as i'm not used to long cash grinds. So many times i was card dead on all four tables for long periods and during a few I ran my only decent holdings into better ones. But I'm learning to stick with it and a few times I was able to be on the other end.

Overall I added over £12 to my BR which I will, again, take as, again, a few holds would have meant a significant BR boost. I'm going to concentrate on cash for at least the next few days and so long as it goes ok I will be aiming to concentrate on cash for the next two weeks depending on how I do on the leader board. If it looks like I dont have a chance I will step back and add more MTT's but if I think I have a chance I will go for it. Looking forward to seeing how I fare at the moment on Monday when the first leader board is available.

BR £715.81    PP 462

Good to have a successful weekend again and so far I'm settling into nl10. Each level has its own nuances and I'm still developing a method that works longterm but I'm getting there. 

GaryQQQ

Excellent progress, well played. Roll on £800.

CraigSG1

Thanks Gary, lets hope so.

Day 81

Played almost a couple of hours and ran pretty horribly. Yet again my premium pairs did not win a hand and I had to run into AA, KK and QQ and lose all. My big hands never got paid and a few times I had to fold big hands such as flopped 2 pair and TPTK and flopped straight that turned into the bottom end. 

Surpisingly though I only lost just over half a buyin of £6.63 so even though I lost I thought it was more. Hopefully one day soon I can run as good as a few people I play against.

BR £709.08    PP 508

**EDIT**

After a winning performance at snooker I returned home and was in the mood for some late night poker. I got off to a unlucky start, yet again having to fold decent holdings to bad run outs. But, towards the end I finally had a premium pair hold. Although I had to hit a FH to do so! A light call from 104s to my button raise with KK saw a KQJ flop. I bet out and got called anf had an A turn. I c/c a bet and saw a wondeful Q river. I reraised allin and got a decent double. I finished up on two and down on two but took a nice £11 profit to turn around my day back into the positive.

BR £720.07     PP 544

After finally seeing the new leader board I was dissapointed how far down I was. I'll be lucky to keep a £25 spot so for now I'll keep playing and as long as I'm doing ok i'll keep at it but I'm not chasing points for the sake of it, especially just for £25. See how it goes by Friday.

CraigSG1

Day 82

Today I had three short sessions totaling two hours and I managed to make almost £14. Mainly played to try and boost my points on days I dont usually play but I'm not holding much hope now of being able to finish high enough in the league table. 

I'll see how I fare after weekend. At least my BR is still going in the right direction.

BR £733.89    PP 613

CraigSG1

Day 83

Pretty sick cash session today. Feeling a bit gutted. My PP payment went in to take my BR to £750 which was nice.

In my first of a four hour session I ran amazing...ly bad! I was almost £50 down after getting my money in ahead against shovers with a draw (each one a FD) and getting there. This happened five times. No getting away as I had the nuts twice, top two twice and a set the last. I managed to claw it back over the next couple of hours despite again suffering bad hits. Then in my last half hour I dipped again when I got stacked with AQ on a AJxQx board in a B v B spot against a guy raising every hand. He 3 bet me and I called and then he practically jammed on the flop. He then hit his 3 outer. I then lost again against another draw and called it quits. To make matters worse I had been suffering lag and the lobby dissapearing all night but never enough to time me out. That was until last hand I had AA and got three bet by a guy happy to always raise and get it in. I then timed out! At the same time I had a good hand going on another table and lost that also. So not only did I lose my £6+ on those tables but also the chance of any winnings.

BR £724.98    PP 779

devonfish5

Hi Craig,
             Don't let 1 bad day get you down too much mate, we all get them.
you are still doing great mate, so think about that and not the negatives of 1 bad session.
I look at it month by month rather than day by day, even though I write my diary up every day, as you do too, pretty much.
looks as though you got really really unlucky today, rather than bad play from you, so at least that's something.
another way of trying to look at is this, you want these players calling you with their flush draws gut shots, etc as they will pay you off time after time, in the long run. if they never won a hand playing this way, they would soon stop playing wouldn't they.
tomorrow's another day, get a win behind you, and you'll soon feel better.
good luck,
dev

CraigSG1

Day 84 and 85

This is the lowest i've ever felt playing poker. To coincide with some awful run bad I also had some personal issues to deal with.

I had to have one of my cats put to sleep and that has left me devastated. I tried to play to keep my mind off it by playing but ive just ran so bad. I lost two huge pots, both with flopped flushes (one 2nd nuts to flooped nuts) for huge pots (at my level £40+) and been hit by chasers getting there and mix that all up with some bad river calls when assuming someone cant be that bad to call all the way with bad holdings. 

As a result my BR has took a big hit and I have no confidence and to add to that my feelings.

Im not sure where this leaves me at the moment. I'm certainly done with cash for now. I'll probably play a few MTT's and if I bust i'll leave it. 

Right now I'm feeling rubbish but I will try and keep this going even through the bad times. I want to hit my goal but that target looks far away at the monent.

BR £653.78     PP 927

jimb0d1

Sorry to hear about your cat Craig. Take a few days off the cash tables and come back to it when you are ready. You are much closer to the 1k than I sm in my similar challenge