The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £984 (£1.36k banked)

CraigSG1

Well, Im really pleased that worked so easy. Thanks Shakin, you have solved a problem Ive had for months and months!

So, I've chipped up Ok so far but a new guy has come to the table and I have no reads. He makes a strong UTG raise which I have to take as strength but I dont think I can fold or raise 1010 so just call. He then quickly bets full pot on a dry flop. I am not happy at all and dont think he is bluffing and I think for ages before folding.

I fold because I cant see 88- a/ raising that much pre and then quickly potting it and b/ I dont think he would do this with overs.

If I call i'm OOP so cant pot control, will face so many tough decisions on so many cards and I'm not sure where I am. I think i'm beat here by JJ/QQ/KK.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
CraigSG1	Small blind		30.00	30.00	3050.00
henners10	Big blind		60.00	90.00	1940.00
	Your hole cards	10 10
bishspur	Raise		240.00	330.00	2333.75
icnoships	Fold
Ukjoe	Fold
raymon1969	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		210.00	540.00	2840.00
henners10	Fold
Flop
		3 9 4
CraigSG1	Check
bishspur	Bet		540.00	1080.00	1793.75
CraigSG1	Fold
bishspur	Muck
bishspur	Win		540.00		2333.75
bishspur	Return		540.00	0.00	2873.75

waller02

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1391:

Well, Im really pleased that worked so easy. Thanks Shakin, you have solved a problem Ive had for months and months! So, I've chipped up Ok so far but a new guy has come to the table and I have no reads. He makes a strong UTG raise which I have to take as strength but I dont think I can fold or raise 1010 so just call. He then quickly bets full pot on a dry flop. I am not happy at all and dont think he is bluffing and I think for ages before folding. I fold because I cant see 88- a/ raising that much pre and then quickly potting it and b/ I dont think he would do this with overs. If I call i'm OOP so cant pot control, will face so many tough decisions on so many cards and I'm not sure where I am. I think i'm beat here by JJ/QQ/KK. Player Action Cards Amount Pot Balance CraigSG1 Small blind   30.00 30.00 3050.00 henners10 Big blind   60.00 90.00 1940.00   Your hole cards 10 10       bishspur Raise   240.00 330.00 2333.75 icnoships Fold         Ukjoe Fold         raymon1969 Fold         CraigSG1 Call   210.00 540.00 2840.00 henners10 Fold         Flop     3 9 4       CraigSG1 Check         bishspur Bet   540.00 1080.00 1793.75 CraigSG1 Fold         bishspur Muck         bishspur Win   540.00   2333.75 bishspur Return   540.00 0.00 2873.75
Posted by CraigSG1

I'm not sure a hand as strong as JJ/QQ/KK would bet full pot on that flop.....maybe JJ dunno. Spots like these often get me in trouble as I think it looks like he really doesn't want the call. I just think you are ahead a lot here, being OOP makes it tough but I don't see the point in calling with 10's just to fold to one bet on that flop.

Enjoyng your diary btw and I'm would be interested to hear other's thoughts on that hand because for me it is a common and tough (for me anyway) spot

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1391:

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1391 : I'm not sure a hand as strong as JJ/QQ/KK would bet full pot on that flop.....maybe JJ dunno. Spots like these often get me in trouble as I think it looks like he really doesn't want the call. I just think you are ahead a lot here, being OOP makes it tough but I don't see the point in calling with 10's just to fold to one bet on that flop. Enjoyng your diary btw and I'm would be interested to hear other's thoughts on that hand because for me it is a common and tough (for me anyway) spot
Posted by waller02

Hi. Thanks for your input. And I'm glad you do, I can make it more interesting now with some hands. 

My thoughts are that a line I see so often with PP's is big raise followed by a pot bet when they have an overpair. So I don't beat any of them. I was thinking ahead and didn't feel I can play a big allin pot with that action and be ahead enough.  

hhyftrftdr

I'd just fold pre if you're not gonna peel one on that type of flop, especially vs an unknown.

shakinaces

It's these sort of stack sizes where I start to tie myself in knots with these sort of hands.

Calling seems the best option on the flop, but at the same time how wide is villains UTG 4x open range?  Best case scenario they are c-betting AK/AQ/AJ/KQ but then do we continue if an overcard comes on the turn and they bet again?  At that point we've done 25% of our stack and it seems a bit spewy?  Even if another low card comes, are we happy to put villain on exclusively two overcards and be prepared to play for stacks?

I don't know, I don't really like calling these (although caveat that people who are good at tournis may say it's standard!)

If we're going to fold then agree with H that fold pre seems sensible. Tight with 50BB, but vs a solid UTG range TT isn't the greatest of hands. Perhaps I'm being unduly influenced by 'one hand at a time'!

A 3b fold strat pre flop may narrow down his range, plus avoid being in a position where the BB may squeeze (we can't call an all in by the BB here?).

CraigSG1

I maybe could have 3 bet folded knowing that AK is the only hand I would probably be ahead of. I'm still not sure on it. I was going to call a c-bet but when he made it full pot I felt he took away a lot of my options and I just felt TT is not ahead enough times in this situation.

On to todays play and I'm not happy with my MTT game today. Yet again I got off to a great start in the ME sat, chipped up great and was running the table and then the blinds caught up and chip stacks varied a lot. I made a mistake I think (min raised Q10s from cutoff knowing BB was low and has pushed all in a lot recently. I felt I had decent equity against him if he did but probably failed to ralise that if I lost I would lose a lot of my 'comfort zone' play. I was up against A2 and bricked). I then ran 55 into 1010 and then lost AQ v Q10 to bust shortly after.

The less said about the £5 BH the better. Played two hands against my better judgement and paid for it. Why do we do this? Play a hand we should no better not to and make mistakes and our inner voice is just shouting "what you doing, man???!! FOLD!!" 

Took five then started a cash session. It was one of those dull ones where not much happens. Didnt run that great, including AJ v A5 against a nutter SB v BB on a A57 flop and then another guy who loves to open every hand. I have AJ on a AxxJ board. He, of course, has AA. Did manage to make a come back late on with some good bluffs and value bets and then a decent pot with a FH against turned trips.

So a minus for MTTs but another + cash session. I think that must be something like 15 winning sessions out of 20. Definatley improving I just have to be careful on the losing sessions to not go chasing. Which I have managed to do lately. Take a break and leaving it for a bit does work a treat.

CraigSG1

A bit of a carbon copy of a day today from yesterday. Ran a bit further in the ME sat with junk but couldn't last another 10 places. The others where a rubbish effort. Not sure if its a lack or 'run' or just not 'feeling it' regards MTTs at the moment. Not sure if its my bigger BR not making me focus as much or a lack of effort. Probably a mix of all that. I need to rectify that.

Cash went OK, another two small winning sessions.

Aussie09 did me a favour in his PLAYER CARD thread and I was delighted to see I did bette than I thought last year even though I didnt play many of the higher garentee tournys. Here it is below.

		CraigSG1				31 Dec
				no	rank	rate
		1st		1	846	2%
		2nd
		3rd
		final table		1	3,518	2%
		cash		7	2,393	13%
		bubble
		quarter 1		11	3,210	21%
		quarter 4		17		32%
		heads		65	2,041	1.2
		played		53	2,888
		points		26	2,673	0.5
		buy-in		£303	5,814	£6
		return		£403	3,910	£8
		+ / -		£100		£2
		ROI %		33%

summary:  CraigSG1 has played 53 of the 3240 tournaments in 2014 that have a guarantee of £500 or more.  CraigSG1 has won 1 games (2%), made 1 final tables (2%), has cashed in 7 games (13%) and has bubbled 0 times.  CraigSG1 has 11 top quarter finishes (21%), 17 bottom quarter finishes (32%) and has taken 65 heads which is a rate of 1.23 per game.    

rank:  from a total of 38383 unique players, this ranks CraigSG1 as 846 for wins and 2673 for points.  CraigSG1 is ranked at 3518 for final tables, 2393 for cashes, 3210 for making the top quarter and ranked 2041 for heads taken.    

money:  with buy-ins of £303 and returns of £403 this gives a profit of £100 which is a return on investment (ROI) of 33%.

I intend to improve that drastically this year.

GaryQQQ

I'd recommend raising or folding the pocket TT on the SB. Flatting for close to 10% of the effective stack OOP purely to set-mine is unwise. You also need to consider the BB is yet to act and might take advantage of a great squeeze/shove opportunity.

Awkward spot, folding a hand as strong as TT to single action feels dirty, but it's probably better than a call here if your plan is to fold it as an over-pair to the flop. Good luck.

CraigSG1

Hi Gary, thanks. I wasnt purely set mining but the action forced me to make a decision earlier than I wanted so I chose the safer option. I think I may 3 bet this spot from now on (player dependant) to give me more information as to his range.

Argh. Today was another copy of the previous two. Not sure what it is but cant get up for MTT's at the moment. Played the £3 BH this morning, lasted an hour with not much and left with one head. Did well to last that long. The £5 BH was yet another quick affair. Played on a table of limp callers and all my decent hands missed/got outdrawn and I ended up out early. Just the way it goes, on another day they will hit the other card and be in trouble instead of there 3 outs.

Cash on the other hand went OK. I played OK, not as good as in the week but still had two winning sessions to further increase my run and BR. Could have been £30 better for just one pot this morning. Allin on turn with the nuts only to lose to both the flush draws on the river. Nut FD v medium FD v's my set. Lost to a few other draws on the river and failed to hit a lot of mine. I think I hit two or three all day. My main money came from winning a lot of medium pots catching bluffs and weaker hands.

Away from my bad MTT form this week, the positive has been my cash game and from the frustration of a break even week last week its great to add a +£120 one this time round. All from cash. As i've said before if I can get both running at the same time I'm in for a great week! 

As I'm aiming for a PP target this month I think next month I may try and play mainly MTT's. As many as I can and maybe give myself a target. Ill think on it.

Away from poker I've had a great lazy Sunday. Got into Elementary over christmas and its rapidly become one of my favouraite TV programs. Watched four of them and off to watch one in a moment. I also was lucky enough to watch (those who are into cricket) AB de Villiers phonominal innings versus the West Indies today. Simply awesome. Oh, and my home town rugby team, Hull KR, won there first pre season friendly versus the cross town rivals Hull FC. Doesnt matter now but at least it keeps them at bay until we meet them in the league proper.

CraigSG1

Just a quick hour session today, and im exstatic (ok, maybe a bit over the top but still) to find I finished £5 up dispite the bad start I took through no fault of my own. In fact I did well to lose the minumum in most hands. Lost AA twice on flushy boards, KK to rivered trips, folded a set on a 4 flush/straight board and trips with Q8 when the button limped A8. 

The very pleasing thing was because it wasnt my play and even though this all happened in the space of about ten minutes I did not once get flustered/tilted and just concentrated on playing my style. A lot of manic play so just concentrated on getting value with my medium hands and bluff catching the right spots. 

CraigSG1

Had a right mare at cash past couple of days, just running insanely bad. Wont go on but two hands have to be mentioned. Both £40 pots when I had AA and lost to a rivered flush and a rivered two pair with everything in on the turn against two players that would never fold anything. Had many, many more. Its brought back bad memories of late last year when I just got coolered and outdrawn constantly. Just horrible.

But, there is a ray of light. Just finsihed 4th in the £5BH for about £60+. Went out A10 v A2s to a rivered flush. There was one guy in particular that had 12 heads when I left (worth £45+) who ran insanely well for the two hours I was playing on his tables. He went up and down and bust people on the river drawing thin maybe five times (two 2 outers, one 1 outer in there) and others where with the worst hand apart from one. 

I did well to get as far as I did with very little and numerous hits. Got lucky once after bubble burst with J3s v A2o SB v BB. My only outdraw of the tournament, suffered plenty myself. Anyway, my first final table of 2015 and I may just play more MTTs and go away from cash for a bit.

EDIT

Did play a ME sat and bust that as well as  a £5 HU BH. Was very unlucky in that too. Ran very deep in one FR but bust with AK v AQ for a chip lead pot. Flop was AAx sigh.

CraigSG1

Well that session ended unexpectedly and in spectacular fashion. More on that in a moment.

Where to begin? At the start I would imagine. Played a ME sat and managed to qualify by the skin of my teeth. I flop quads at the beginning and got a nice pot and then from there went card dead. Managed to steal my way into the seat even though the last two players to go took an age!! So long! Was convinced I was going to bust and I had half a BB after they had just gone through and then that bolt from the blue, the congratulations box popped up to award my seat!

Sadly that was all I got from the ME as I had a nightmare table of fish (no, wait until I finish my sentance) that kept getting there (see!). Then ran QQ v KK. Got back up but then ran into same problem again and then lost 66 v Q10s (that snapped 60% of his stack in a heart beat) and the river got me yet again.

Played the £5 BH but that was a bust too. Getting in way ahead only to lose on a few occasions. The worst being JJ v Q10o v QJo worth two heads and a top 10 stack only to lose to the flopped 2 outer Q. The final nail AK v Q10o on a AKJ flop! Q10 guy same as QJ who snapped me off. So sigh.

And another bad tale was the first of the UKPC FR's, I got all the way to 10th with 6 paid. Busting yet again on the river with a PP to an overcard. A race. Another one.

Played a little cash here and there through the night and did ok. I was in the process of closing my tables down when the below hand happened:

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
d	Small blind		£0.10	£0.10	£42.03
badtoad	Big blind		£0.20	£0.30	£41.65
natok11	Sit out
	Your hole cards	A 5
Jac35	Fold
cox09671	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.40	£0.70	£51.45
d	Call		£0.30	£1.00	£41.73
badtoad	Fold
Flop
		7 5 5
d	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.40	£1.40	£51.05
d	Call		£0.40	£1.80	£41.33
Turn
		10
d	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.00	£2.80	£50.05
d	Call		£1.00	£3.80	£40.33
River
		A
d	All-in		£40.33	£44.13	£0.00
CraigSG1	Call		£40.33	£84.46	£9.72
d	Show	Q 2
CraigSG1	Show	A 5
CraigSG1	Win	Full House, 5s and Aces	£82.66		£92.38

Suffice to say I was on the river thinking how can I squeeze a little value when he did everything for me. Been a long while since I had a gift like this. Made my day thanks very much and banished the nightmare of the last two days.

On a side note I'm really surprised at the standard of the ME's. As bad, not including the regs at that level, as the £2 BH's I used to play. Cant wait until I actually run properly against them. Obviously the test will come when I get deeper and the better players are there.

CraigSG1

Saturday started with a little cash in which I finished even and a £3 BH in which I somehow made 10th despite having absoloutley no hands and always being around the bottom of players left. I did have one hand late on which would have gave me a huge head prize and a big chip boost but I lost yet another race A10 v 66. Flopped well but a turned 6 did it for me. I left with £4 and no heads. I busted in usual fashion, a lost race.

The evening saw me brick a ME sat late on with two successive races. Both PP's v overs. The £5 BH was commically bad also, I had AK v 22 on a AKxx2 board, the guy check jamming turn only to catch the river. Deep in one FR but no luck.

Cash was an up and down affair. I would lose a couple of BI's then grind back up and lose another and gain one etc etc. Finished a little up to end the day with a BR of exactly the same as I started. COnsidering everything I was happy with that.

Today I got in an hour of cash this morning for a +£14 session and followed that up with a two hour one this afternoon for a +£22 session. I am more that pleased with that as I got into a couple of bad spots. Set over set and losing a few to very loose calls. I did manage to over flush someone and have JJ v AA hit a set on the flop when AA just called my pre flop raise.

Think I have scraped a +£55 week somehow which is awesome considering where I was earlier in the week. I'm about 800PP off my 3000 target so not sure if i'll make it. Stuck between just playing when I want to and the prospect of being only a couple hundred short with the difference being worth £17 or so. Decisions!!! 

spinky6108

Hi Craig Just play when you want Craig i had the same thing happen to me last month i carried on playing when i didnt want to then lost much more than £17.

Great results with your poker so far. Just to let you know i read your diary everyday just in case you think your just writting it to yourself.

G L at the tables.

CraigSG1

Hi Spinky - thanks very much, all contrubutions are much appreciated and I always take time to reply to everyone (doesnt take long! ). I think I am going to just play when I want but I will try and play a few lunch times but if I dont feel it I will stand. A little like tonight, could easily have fit an hour or so in after my MTT's but I've had a great day so will take that and have an early night. More on that in a moment. 

Just want to say thanks for reading and I try and make it interesting with as little bad beat moans as possible and thanks to an earlier poster pointing this out I have tried have more positive thoughts and reflections to keep me up instead of focusing on the bust outs and almosts.

Right, onto todays play which has been a great day BR wise for me and indeed for my play. I had a little lunch time cash session, intended to play an hour but I started to feel like I was slipping into auto pilot so stood with +£6. I left work early with back trouble (only about 45 mins early but more on that at the end) but I had another little session which was another great boost with a +£22 addition to the BR. I will add that one BI came from AA v KK which I have had plenty of the other way so thought I would document one time it went for me. Cant be biased!

Decided on an MTT only night in preparation for next months challenge. The busts, the two FR's despite getting good starts but lost AA v KK for a huge huge pot to a flopped K. Glad this reverse happened here and not a cash table/BI event. I will add that in the 20+ occasions I had KK v AA I never once won and even lost one of my very few AA v KK hands. 

Other busts included my first try at the £300 rebuy for a long, long while. Only used one bullet as nothing happened to generate big pots and kept winning small ones. My bust out came right before the addon period and I didnt fancy spending another £6 so quickly to gain a below average stack. 

Next bust was the £5 BH, again very little came my way and I eventually bust 1h15mins in when I lost a race. Just could not for the life of me win a bounty in this or my next BH although this one went better...

...I played the £100 speed £5BH for the first time and managed to come 2nd for £24. No heads! Had three great oppertunites for some juicy bounties but couldn't hold with the leading hands. I dont know how I came 2nd as I had very, very few hands. I got a decnt tripple up when down to 1300 chips after being very patient when I was allowed a free flop in the BB with Q2o. A 228 flop saw three of us get it in after bets and raises. I was sure one had a 2 but with a Q kicker I beat a lot of 2's so couldnt fold. A turn Q gave me the FH and it was needed as the other with a 2 had A2! Played very, very well with very, very little and made FT. The eventual winner had a huge chip lead going into it and he proceeded to take everyone out. When we got heads up he had a 8-1 chip lead! I managed to get two double ups but a pot for equal stacks went against me when my A lost to his K. Another almost for me but the signs are good.

Onto my other success of the night, I won a seat into the ME by coming first. Played real well and cruised into the seat. I dont think I'll ever do it easier. Opted to take the money though as something about my other two BH MTT's gave me a bad vibe. I may be being silly but if its going to effect my play then I would be silly to carry on. May transfer it to the Thursday BH ME. See how I run.

All in all a great day. I have finished Moormans book and I have to say its been enlightening with so many different thought processes to add to my own and I employed some of those tonight to some success. Its helped me bit a bit more aggressive but in the right spots. It helped me cruise into the sat seat. I wont get carried away though, I'll just try a few at a time and see how they employ in my game.

Just a side note, not sure if I've mention this before but I have back problems every day and sometimes it flares up to be even more painful. It all started in 2001 when I was 23 after I had an accident at work and fell from a scaffold 20 feet onto my back. Very lucky to be able to walk as I broke one of my lumber bones which is just below the ribs. It has unfortunatley got progressivelly worse over the years. Only in very small incriments but after 14 years its adding up! I still have full mobility for now so things are still ok. Just the pain that gets me and the fact I cant run hard or for very long means I cant play my favourite sports. One reason I'm well into poker! 

Hence why I wasnt at snooker tonight like normal. Not sure how many years I have left playing, still a while I hope.

CraigSG1

Played well tonight but not much for it. Played a little cash early on whil waiting for MTT's to start and made about £5+ 

Played the rebuy but busted after an hour after losing a few flips, same with the FR's. In ahead, out behind! Lasted over an hour an a half with five heads in the £5BH but petered out after losing a flip and then a few 60/40's and then ran 66s into 10s to finish me off.

Played the ME and lasted almost an hour and a half with very little happening. As blinds increased I found a few spots but eventually lost AK v 77 v 55 for a top 20 stack. I really dont run well in flips! Played a couple of all in sats to no avail.

I'm starting to find a few new spots in MTT's to make chips/be more aggressive thanks to reading Moormans book. Hope it can convert a win for me so the book has more than paid for itself! 

GELDY

Hi Craig

vwp with your Bankroll improvement. 

Just a couple of comments. 

1. Why are you wasting time and energy on freerolls? 

2. Only one bullet at a rebuy? It should be a mandatory 3 bullet buyin for any serious player. entry plus immediate rebuy plus addon. and sometimes it goes wrong so budget for at least 4 bullets. 

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1542:

Hi Craig vwp with your Bankroll improvement.  Just a couple of comments.  1. Why are you wasting time and energy on freerolls?  2. Only one bullet at a rebuy? It should be a mandatory 3 bullet buyin for any serious player. entry plus immediate rebuy plus addon. and sometimes it goes wrong so budget for at least 4 bullets. 
Posted by GELDY

Hi Geldy. Thanks for your comments. 

Firstly the FR's are UKPC ones so if I can get into quarter for free and a chance at the semi then that's good. As for rebuys I see your point and last night I did have a rebuy but I have a good track record of building up a stack from playing tight agg at the beginning as players are eager to gamble and I will always rebuy early. Late on with say five mins or so before add on period I call it a day instead of playing catch up. It may not be optimal but it suits me. 

shakinaces

I am the biggest BR nit on Sky... but the current UKPC freerolls seem like great value to have running alongside your normal games.  Play a very simple game and pay the table very minimal attention for a shot at picking up £48 in about 90 minutes... that adds about 3% to a BR of about £1.5k with zero risk!

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1542:

I am the biggest BR nit on Sky... but the current UKPC freerolls seem like great value to have running alongside your normal games.  Play a very simple game and pay the table very minimal attention for a shot at picking up £48 in about 90 minutes... that adds about 3% to a BR of about £1.5k with zero risk!
Posted by shakinaces

I agree and that's pretty much what I do, abc with a few risks for a big stack. As for biggest BR nit? I'm up there surely!

mrsduck

Nitty Noras, both of you!

LARSON7

lol NittyNoras,

Got 2 love the UKPC freerolls.

Craig and Shakin see you in them 2 night!

CraigSG1

Thanks you lot!! No-one that knows me would be surprised how nitty I am with my BR as it mirrors how I am with my own cash!! 

As usual with a deep MTT run you have that initial feeling of dissapointment like I have now as ive just busted the 6:45 £5BH in twelth place to a bit of a cooler as stack and table dynamics had it. My AQs no good against AKo on a turn A. Did take about 8 heads so left with almost £30 for my efforts. I played very well throughout and have no complaints.

I managed to carry my good play through the night which is very satisfying as I manged to bink a UKPC seat in the FR but took the money as its a school night so a nice +£48. Played very good throughout, and also nice to get AA twice late on and get full value both times. Very pleased that very late on with 8 left I didnt panic when I took a beat to fall to 8th because blinds are so huge I just put the pressure on with any hand and got back to 2nd which in the end was good. Funny after just been talking about these FR's I get a bink after a while of bricks. These FR's have easily added over £250 to my BR during this particular diary so I will continue to play them.

Played a tiny amount of cash to get the points I needed after taking yesterday off. Finished about even I think.

A great night!

On a side note I am no longer going for my 3000 target and trying to get as little PP's as possible! Why? Well, the new Febuary promo which challanges you to better your last months tally to get into FR's. I was intending to have an MTT challenge but that has gone on back burner for a time when I have no chance in a promo. Like this months. With all four w/e's having double points in Febuary I am going to attempt to gain 5000 for the first, and probably, only time. So if I keep my PP tally below 2500 then I can gain all three FR's. Its about 2280 or so at the mo so with little cash I can do it.

CraigSG1

Had a bit of a breather with poker over past night and today. All to do with keeping my PP tally low and knowing I will be grinding hard next month.

Played a couple of tournies to no avail. Standard stuff of nothing happening. Same today, just got beat by the worst hand a lot. QQ v 95 and JJ v 22 etc. Bit gutted to miss the FR cash by 2 places tonight, lost a pot that would have sown up my cash:

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
CraigSG1	Small blind		3000.00	3000.00	40535.00
huggy101	Big blind		6000.00	9000.00	17105.00
	Your hole cards	A K
lookatme29	All-in		44140.00	53140.00	0.00
fathenry	Fold
CraigSG1	All-in		40535.00	93675.00	0.00
huggy101	Fold
lookatme29	Unmatched bet		605.00	93070.00	605.00
CraigSG1	Show	A K
lookatme29	Show	4 A
Flop
		Q 6 J
Turn
		A
River
		Q
lookatme29	Win	Flush to the Ace	93070.00		93675.00

Gruesome but the way it usually goes for me. Important pots pass me by.

Played a little cash inbeteween, finished a little up dispite this morning running terrible at 4nl. QQ v KK, JJ v KK, 1010 v AQ to running straight and so on.

Time to reflect on this month. Its been a very good one and I'm very happy with it. Tallyed up my progress so far and my three complete months have seen  +£464, +£368 and +£498 total so very pleasing figures. Especially this month with having a bad three days so im very happy with my progress. I have this diary to thank for helping me keep my thoughts clear and be able to review my progress and see the good I can do instead of focusing on the negatives of Poker. And a big thanks to everyone that has helped contribute.

I have a big, big month in front of me. I hope to hit 5000 PP's which is huge for me and to achieve that I have to be disciplined at cash! Really need to focus and not get down at any bad sessions. I will give myself a figure so if I can make £250-£300 profit this month no matter how it comes. If I get a downer at any point but im still on for or ahead of my target then feel free to slap me down!

CraigSG1

So today was a bit of a warm up for the rest of the month. Both in hours and in the amount of tables I played. I played 8 tables for the first time and after a few minutes of getting my head around the extra decisions I found it ok. I definatley couldn't play that many MTTs as the decisions are often more complex and you need so much more information to judge a decision but in cash if I make a mistake I can reload.

I was woken up early this morning so after watching MOTD I played 6 tables for 2 1/2 hours but unfortunatley there wa only small stakes available so made a pitiful 50 odd PPs in that period. What was even worse was I was looking forward to watching the cricket at the same time but sadly England batted poorly again. We have a better batting line-up but we are still a few years behind the curve of modern ODI cricket. Thought I ended up £10 down but actually finsihed couple of pounds up!

Returned this evening and played 7 cash and one FR. Got to last 13 in the FR and then lost a race for a decent pot. Was playing allin/fold poker and it worked this time. Well, almost! Didnt play as long as I wanted but I dont want to burn out! Finished a bit up which is nice, would be great to get ahead before any bad sessions hit me!

PP122

CraigSG1

Was having a good day until my last hour and then I dropped most of my profit to some bad hits. Namely QQ v 106o against the table maniac who liked to jam allin. He flopped 10106! Seriously, how do these guys do it? He had over £40 on an 8nl table and would just jam allin on flops. Then a set versus 95o to running cards and another set to a bad gutshot. So sigh. Also made a good fold with JJ when two players went all in pre. They had AA and QQ. Flop was a J. 

Up untill then I had played well and ran OK. Lost a few, won a few more and was nicely up. Almost 2.5 BI's. On a whole finished a few pounds up on the day. I did play a £5 BH but didnt last long. I got it in with a huge draw after 3 betting allin against a known loose fish. Sadly this time he had it and I bricked my 14 outs. Got deep in both FR's on the side but again lost a race in one and then ran JJ v AA and same player next hand my A7s v KQ. 

I tried more 8 tabling and it went ok. A bit manic at times and did make a few misclicks when trying to selct the table quickly to fold bit hit call or a min raise! Did hit a fold one time by accident. Need to be a little more careful.

To take the positives then I finished up dispite a bad session and more than doubled my PP tally in one day. Onwards I go...

PP262

shakinaces

There was certainly a good dose of creative play out there last night - more beatable but far higher variance so will result in some very swingy or losing sessions along the way (that's what I'm telling myself after last night anyway!) - you seemed to be playing well from where I was sat so some big winning sessions will come your way.

Going to try and keep pace with you on the pts front this month, give me something to focus on through the weekends... not too much of a gap to close so far...

CraigSG1

Hey, yeah there was. It was just that last session that sucked as it dragged me back down for the day. Thanks, I remember leveling myself that you was bluffing me on the river with a missed draw in one hand as I didnt look strong yet you had just pot controlled the turn. Sigh! Then you got away from my flopped two pair that I should have charged you more on the turn but I think when you gave up river you must have bricked a good draw. 

Anyway, points based I'm gunning for 5000 which as just over 3000 is my best ever will be huge for me and a big ask so I am targeting these double points w\e's big time! Hope you keep up!

Total so far is 292

CraigSG1

Didnt run well at all today, especially in MTTs. Played three cash sessions and finished about £6 up in the end dispite running bad in a few spots.

Built up two big stacks in the FRs but both ended with me having the best hand until the river. The £5 BH started great with a bounty and a full double up but from there went brutal. Couldn't hold against very weak holdings and then finished off by losing a race as usual. 

Played the ME and lasted almost an hour and a half with absolute junk hands then managed to gain an above average stack after an hour and 15 mins but then lost a race for a very big pot after I had isolated a short stack and got a very light call by a bad ace and obviously the A hit. Just running awfully at MTTs at the monent.

PP349

CraigSG1

Two losing days on the trot, havent done that in a while. Pretty brutal cash session that nothing went right. Just could not hit flops for the life of me even seven tabling. Got battered by a few players and I could not catch anything and if I did they hit running cards. It just wasnt to be. I pulled some of it back later on to go from -£30 to just -£15 and if just two hands had run out better I could have scraped a winning day. I turned the nuts against a set but it came a four flush board so lost value and then I flopped top set last hand against two very aggressive players who then hit perfect, perfect (both of them!) to leave a flush a straight on the baord so I had to fold river as the others went at it.

Past few days have seen a downwards curve but it was never going to be plain sailing. Chin up I guess, cant always keep my head above water in the fish tank.

Plus point, im coasting in my PP target. If I achieve my target of 1000 PP's over a double points boost weekend then i'll easily do it. In my head I intend to gring hard the first two w\e's so I can take a few off days later on and therefore not burn out.

PP455