That was close...

I played a bit this weekend and it started badly. I whitled away a buy-in and at one point was $15 away from having to move down to $50NL, but then I hit some nice hands and ended up about $450, so at the moment I'm on about $4.6k and hoping that I won't have to move down.

When I was $450 up, I got KK dealt on my last orbit before I went to sleep. I was very happy with my $450 and didn't really want to risk any, but I didn't want to play like a dweeb either. I raised to $3.50 UTG and a tight player in the cut-off made it $11. Then, an extremely tight player on the button (playing 8/5 over 250 hands) re-re-raised to $28. I laid down my KK, the cut-off folded, the button didn't show and I went to bet not knowing - pathetic play?

Ouch...

So, at the end of last month I started at $100NL, quickly lost $500 and then won it back.

This month has been going exactly the similar. I lost another $600 on Party, moved to FTP and won $500 of it back. Then I lost another $500 on FTP, leaving me at -$600 for the month.

I do actually think I'm playing pretty well, and have had some nasty hands (Losing 99 v AA on a Q-9-2 flop, Losing AK v QQ on a A-7-4 flop and having 7-4 v 9-7 on a KJ5-8-6 board) but really it's standard variance. I often went on 6 buy-in downswing at $50NL. However, earlier this month I withdrew about $1200 to pay for Christmas, and the bankroll is now getting dangerously close to $4k.

So basically the plan is to keep playing $100NL and hope to win. If I don't win, and I drop below $4k, I will have to move back down to $50NL until the bankroll is back to $4.5k.

Wish me luck!

And I made it...

So here it is! After a very slow and frustrating start to the month, I managed to hit my target of making $400 at $50nl. So that meant it was time to move up! Things at $100nl have not gone as smoothly, I lost $500 in one day which was a bit of a shocker, but overall I am slightly up at $100nl so at least it's a start. Usually when I move up a level I play like a complete idiot at first, thinking everyone is trying to out-smart me etc and not playing my A game (see hand of the month). But the more I play the more confortable I should get and hopefully the winning will start.

The main thing is that when I last moved up to this level I played something like 12/9 which was way too tight. So far this time I have been playing 18/14, and although it's very early days (only 3k hands at $100nl) it feels a lot better.

Overall for the month I made about $400. I earnt $100 in bonus but also staked a friend in a long-term plan for $200 (hopefully I will see some returns on this soon). At $50nl I ran at 4.21 bb/100 but at $100nl only 0.24 bb/100, but it's very early days and I'm happy with any profit after a $500 downswing.

Hand of the month - I'm not really sure the best way to play this. I have to re-raise initially I think but when I'm min-re-re-raised can I let it go? Unless he was a complete idiot (which I had no reason to believe that he was) he has to have QQ+ here. Any views?

So the plan for this month is to get comfortable at $100nl and to not lose money. Obviously I would like to win some, but it's a learning curve. Also I probably won't be playing much this month anyway due to christmas, studying and I may have to go to Bristol with work for a few weeks.

Bankroll ~ $5.8k

Comeback complete

Well that was a tough month. For most of it I was close to 10 buy-ins down, but in the end I pulled it back. With bonuses I made almost exactly $100 in total, which is absolutely rubbish but doesn't feel too bad after this past month.

I haven't played that much - only about 14k hands - which have nearly all been on Party. I really like it there - they have a good table search feature, crap players and good bonuses. There's not much more I could want (maybe rakeback???).

Hand of the month - not at all interesting but just the way it went this month (until the final week).

So the target remains to win over $400 and move back to $100NL. I really hope that this is the time for it to happen.

Bankroll ~ $5.5k

Here we are again..

Now I only update this blog for two reasons. Either it is a recap at the end of a month, or I am venting after a horrible run of cards. Today is the 10th on the month, so you can guess what's coming...

I don't think I played these particularly well, and in some of them I'm not actually unlucky at all, but I do think they are fairly shit situations.

Hand 1 - Enjoyable

Hand 2 - Maybe even more enjoyable. Hard to judge.

Hand 3 - Those bloody 10's!

Hand 4 - I'm not unlucky at all. Just annoying.

Hand 5 - I was behind the whole way, and I could've easily lost my whole stack, but why do I have to turn a set???

Hand 6 - 67s is an unbeatable hand so I can't really hold a grudge over this one.

Hand 7 - Obviously when I see the final diamond fall I am resigned to losing, but to K9???

Hand 8 - Again, I'm not ahead in the hand at any point, but just a nasty situation blind v blind.

So as you can probably guess I am down a lot this month. I feel I am playing well though and I know I can turn this around!

Turning a corner

September has actually been ok! I'm pretty suprised, after 3 basically break-even months, it's nice to a have a bit of a win. Overall I won about $310 (a few hands didn't import in which I lost nearly $80 and I made about $30 in rakeback in the few hands I played at Full Tilt). I also played a bit looser than I was at Stars, and at the moment I'm having a lot more fun with it.

So after last month I was looking for another site to play at, and concluded that the only ones with good enough software for me to comfortably multi-table were Full Tilt and PartyPoker. I have never been successful at Full Tilt but thought it was worth another go. I only played about 2k hands there, which is not really enough to determine anything, but it just didn't feel right.

I started at Party at it felt good. Party is the site that I built my roll at before I went travelling and I feel very comfortable there. The software may have changed a bit, and the bonus scheme has become the most confusing this ever, but I really like playing there. You see so many moves that most of the players at Stars are just too good to make; min-raising pre-flop, min-betting with lots of draws out, stacking off with overpairs on any board etc. I don't get rakeback there which is a shame, but so far they have offered me a lot of bonuses and I think I should be able to make a bit from the points (if I can understand them). For the time being I'll stick with it and see how it goes.

Hand of the month - I'm very fishy on the turn but it paid off - if I know I'm getting his stack if I hit then it seems ok but very debatable.

October - The plan is to stick at Party, play well, win some money and earn some bonuses. If I make over $400 this month then I will move back up levels so that's the target.

Bankroll ~ $5.4k

A 3rd shit month...

So another fairly shit month, I only won about $150 and actually played a fair amount. I don't really know what's changed, maybe I was getting very lucky a few months ago, or maybe other people are playing differently but I'm fairly sure that I'm playing the same. It's very frustrating. This is my graph on PokerStars since I started to play there properly in February...

It really has gone shit. So I've decided to change from Stars. Overall in the last 6 1/2 months I've won nearly $1900, earnt $360 in bonuses and got enough points to buy a £250 amazon voucher. So it's not been all bad, but I can't stand another break-even month. I'm not sure what site I'm going to join (I've tried a couple in August) but I know it's time for a change. But the Stars software is so good that it's not going to be easy, but let's hope thinsg can pick up!

Hand of the month: No skill to it but always fun

Bring on September!

Bankroll ~ $5.1k

Lame Lame July

Well that was a pretty shit month. In the end I won about $65 and ran at 0.23 BB/100. Impressive. I don't think I played badly, particularly towards the end of the month, but it just wasn't happening. It seemed like a had to fold a lot of strong hands as well as getting no action on my big pairs/sets etc. Pretty frustrating. The good news is that I did manage to get enough points to reach Gold level on Stars.

Hand of the month

It was a very tough month, and I really feel like I need a change from Stars. The players are so tight, and with me being pretty nitty, it doesn't really work. So I need to play for a couple for hours to earn my $240 bonus and to get enough points to get £250 and then I'm off to new waters. It's not easy to find a good site - I want somewhere with enough players and good enough software that I can multi-table well, and with loosey-goosey players. We'll see if I can find it.

Bankroll ~ $4.7k

June is Over

So, as the graph clearly shows, June has not been good. It took a while for me to get used to this looser strategy and I seem to tilt a lot more when I am playing like this but hopefully I am beginning to get it under control and I can start showing some nice positive months again. Overall I am down about $170 as rakeback and MTT entries pretty much evened out. I'm not too disappointed, not long ago I was over $400 down so it could be worse. But I did play a lot of hands this month and I really should be doing better than minimising my losses.

My final VP$IP and PFR stats for June were 19/15. So I didn't hit my target, but I am a but looser and this was key. If I can increase my PFR stats so I am playing something like 18/16, I think I should be on to a winner.

Biggest pot of the month - not much to say - ideal.

This month I will grind some more at $50NL, hopefully hit Gold Star (unlikley as I am going on holiday for a week, but I am playing 12 tables now) and hopefully show a nice winrate. This is the main thing. I need a good month to get my confidence back to its peak. Losing nearly 16 buy-ins in a short space of time did mess up my game a lot, but a nice winning month will go a long way to fixing that.

Bankroll ~ $4.6k

Beats and Coolers

This will be a very boring post but it's helped me in the past to post my bad beats/coolers so that I don't dwell on them. This last week has been horrible, I lost about $200 which made me tilt. This tilt made me lose about another $200. I then ran bad and lost another $200. I took a few days off and today I tried to win some back. I lost another $200. That's $800 I have lost in about a week. If I lose much more I will have to drop down levels to recoup some money.



I was tilting but today I think I played really well and got horrible unlucky. These fun hands are all from today...



Fun hand #1

Fun hand #2

Fun hand #3

Fun hand #4

Fun hand #5

Fun hand #6

Fun hand #7

So... I probably won't feel like playing again for a while but we'll see what happens.

Profit = -$400

Tough month

So far this month is going pretty slowly. I had today mostly free and wanted to put in a good few thousand hands, which I managed. I started on Full Tilt and managed to lose about $100. I don't know why I can't win there. I know it's psychological - I tilt so easily when I'm on Full Tilt - but I can't seem to stop it. So I moved to Stars and dropped another $50 before winning most of it back, ending up $23 down. There were some pretty crazy hands, and I played a lot of them very badly, basically giving money away.

- Figured there was value in pushing here - turned out I didn't even need to hit that river!

- Giving it all back - against the same person, thought it was the same move, of course it wasn't - i'm an idiot!

- Nice river! - I get lucky and set-up on the river! Ah, not so lucky...

- Nice River! #2 - I probably stack off even without hitting my queen against this opponent, but still a nasty river

- What's the move on the river? - It's against the same opponent, I think I was tilting because I really don't like pushing the river, I was very lucky that he had a hand that I can beat and that will call my push. Usually I think he only calls when I'm beat.

- 9h10h - never loses!

- Set v Set - Evens out my other 3's earlier

- Standard 1-outer - I get very lucky to win back some money for today.

So that was all fun. From now on I will continue on Stars, I just can't handle full tilt. I had said that I would give my rakeback for this month to help a school in Ecuador that I worked at last year, and I will work out how much rakeback I would've earnt on Full Tilt and donate the equivalent. I'm still trying to play looser, but I don't think I will be able to get over 20 VP$IP. Oh well, over 19 is still a big improvement from under 15.

VP$IP - 19.22
PFR - 15.58
Profit - $135

Back on Full Tilt

I decided that I wanted to get some rakeback again and thought that maybe I could finally overcome my inability to win at Full Tilt. I haven't played for a nearly a week because I was busy and went to Holland over the weekend, but I was up about $130 before today. I had a bit of time today and I managed to play 2 sessions, and was hoping to get this month going. In the first session I won about $180, and in the second I lost it all. Pretty disappointing. Here are some hands...

First session
- Nice flop for me - Can't go too far wrong with that flop.

- I'm a lucky bugger - should I be folding this? I find it very hard to fold an overpair when someone bets in to me, but I guess he has a set most times here.

- Standard - didn't expect him to turn up with this hand, but felt good.

- cant beat 67s - actually you can - but how can he call with that???

Second session
- Too aggressive? - I have a OESD and overcards but my raise is so big I'm only getting called by a big hand - bad play?

- very standard - but still pretty nasty

- even nastier - what more can I do?

So after all that I'm pretty annoyed, but I will stick to FT this whole month and then I should be able to judge if I'm better off there with rakeback or at Stars where I can win.

VP$IP: 19.43
PFR: 16.09
Profit: $166

"I need to loosen up, loosen up

I need a little juicin up

I´ve been hangin from the noose

Baby won´t you cut me loose

Come on everybody loosen up"

Loosen Up, Winger

It's been a big month for me. I had my biggest losing day ever, my biggest winning day ever from cash games and I moved up a level. As the graph shows, it's been a pretty good month. I have lost about $50 on MTTs and hands that haven't imported properly, so overall I won about $780 and ran at 6.43 BB/100. I'm very pleased with this. Since the last update I continued to play at $100NL and won a bit, but so far I have ran at 3.7 BB/100 at $100NL, not great.

Biggest pot of the month

June

I have set myself a target for June - I have to have a VP$IP of atleast 20% and my PFR% has to be atleast 3/4 of my VP$IP. I am just way too tight and need to loosen up. I think at the lower levels you can get away with playing as tight as you like as people generally don't understand or aren't paying attention. But as I move up I am going to have to stop being so predictable, especially as my instinct is to tighten up as I go up levels. Normally at $50NL I have played with stats of about 15/12, but at $100NL they dropped too 13/10. This could still be profitable, but it won't be for much longer. So, unless I run really well, I will drop back down to $50NL and try to play a lot looser, and hopefully even more profitably.

A hug.

Bankroll ~ $4.8k

Update - This is going to be harder than I thought! I just played my first session and thought I was a loosey-goosey but my stats were only 18/14!

Good week all round!

"Im winning,

Im winning,

Im winning,

And I dont intend on losing again"

Winning, Carlos Santana

OK, I do expect to lose again, but hopefully I can put it off as long as possible. This week I've only played 3 sessions again and here's the details...

Session 1
This session was fairly dull and I won my standard half buy-in. I got stacked early on when I got all-in with 9h8h v 9s7s on a JsTs7c-3c board and he rivered a spade. After that though I managed to win quite a few average-sized pots to make it a winning session.

Session 2
This was the session I'd been waiting for! In under an hour I won 5 and a half buy-ins. I had a few over-pairs, hit a couple of sets and made one debatable play with AK. It was 4-handed and the button made it $2. I made it $6.50 out of the SB and he called. The flop was a difficult K-Qh-10h. I bet $8 (in hindsight too small) and he called. The turn was a 6. Now I was stuck. I decided to check and see what happened. He bet $12 and I decided it would be just about profitable to push. He insta-called with JJ and luckily missed. I'm not sure about this play. I felt that if I bet the turn then I am committed to calling his push, and so if I am planning on playing for stacks then I should check and give him a chance to bet a weaker hand. I'm not sure if that is correct thinking but luckily it worked.

Session 3
Now I had reached my bankroll target and could move up! I eventually managed to get 9 $100NL tables open and got going. I was a little nervous but I think I played ok and won about $75. I hit a set against TPTK and a flush draw and managed to win, and apart from that nothing exciting happened. It will take me a week or two to get used to the change but hopefully I can continue to run well. We shall see.

A hug.

Hands: 7,452
Profit: $587
VPPs: 1,780

No real excitement

In the last week I have only played 3 fairly short sessions and they have not been very exciting at all. In the first I managed to win about half a buy-in, but only because I managed to stack someone when I had 9-10 v AK on a 999-A-7 board. Standard! I didn't feel I was playing that well though, and I felt that the big swings that I've had lately were affecting me.

In the second session I again won half a buy-in, and this time I definitely got lucky. I called an all-in with AA v Q5 on a Q-7-5 flop and managed to turn a 7. Again, I wasn't playing great and definitely appreciated this luck!

Then Friday came around again and I was looking forward to a win! But it started badly, I got committed pre-flop with AK and got it all-in on a Q-10-5 flop drawing pretty slim against QQ. But after that things picked up and I managed to win just over a buy-in, but again I feel as though I got lucky as I doubled up with 55 v AQ on a A-Q-5 flop. I don't really enjoy stacking someone when I know that if I was them then I would've been stacked too. There's just no real point to it, as these situation will even out over time. I much prefer when I stack someone when I have 55 and they can't fold A10 on a AJ5 flop, knowing that if I was them I would've saved money there. Oh well, I guess it is always nice to win.

A hug.

Hands: 5,626
Profit: $218
VPPs: 1,357

Big swings

In some ways I have done well so far this month, mainly because I have managed to play a few more hands than I have recently. However, the poker has not been straightforward. I started out by playing 2 short sessions and was running amazingly well, up over $150 in an hours play. I felt I was playing well. I was calling a few bluffs but also getting fairly lucky as I stacked someone with AQ v A5 on a AQ5 flop. Good times.

Then came bank-holiday Monday. I had nothing really planned and intended to get a few thousand hands played. This I managed, but at the same time I lost over $260. This was my biggest ever losing day by over $100. I didn't feel as though I was playing that badly, but it was one of those sessions when ever C-bet seems to get raised when you miss the flop and everyone folds when you hit it. The only hand that I feel I played badly was stacking off with QQ pre-flop when I was pretty sure I was beat, but that's not the worst play in the world. Anyway, considering it was a lot of money for me, I didn't actually feel too bad about it but decided to take a few days off poker anyway just to purge it from my brain.

So Friday comes around and it seems a good day to get back to winning ways. I haven't actually played that much on Friday nights before, but I've heard that the play is awful, and from my short 1-hour session I can definitely vouch for that. In just over an hour I won $210, which felt pretty good. People were just crazily aggressive, and so I sat back and called bluffs. My stats for the session are 19/7/1, not good, but when most other players are going crazy it seems to work!

From now on there's going to be more play on Friday night and less on bank-holidays!

Hands: 3,209
Profit: $100
VPPs: 835

Lazy April

So there's the graph, which looks pretty good, except the number of hands! Less than 8k, what the hell happened there? I am so lazy. Also according to PokerEV I am about $200 up in All-In luck, so I have run very well this month, but I think I have played well as well and hopefully it can continue! Overall I ran at 6.2 BB/100 and after a few small MTT losses I won about $435 this month.

Biggest Pot of the Month
- Playing 4 handed, I make it $2 UTG with 99 and the button and BB call.
- The BB stacked me about an hour earlier and I want revenge.
- The flop is 6-7-10
- BB checks, I bet $4 and only BB calls.
- The turn is a 6 and we both check.
- The river is a beautiful 9.
- BB bets $9 and I push.
- He thinks for ages.
- I type "Hurry Up!"
- He calls with 88
- I win $70.45

Targets for May
I have to get back to playing more, and I don't know how it's going to happen but I have to play 12k hands this month. It would be nice if I could play well and run well too.

Bankroll ~ $3.9k

Slow going

So much for 4k hands this week - I have managed just under 2k. I am just way to busy to play much poker, and even when I do have a free evening I don't seem to be able to keep up the concentration for over an hour playing 9 tables. Anyway, when I have played it has not gone great. Three times in 1 session I was down $100 and each time I bought it back to break-even, finally stopping when I was up $2.21. Apart from that I had only 2 very short sessions, and only made about $10. As well as this, A Game re-united to try to take down a big tourney but with no luck, losing about $20.

Part of the problem this week is that I have been losing quite a lot with AA, with only a 50% win record. I think I am playing them well and I know this will change with time, so I'm not pissed off. One stack I lost with AA goes like this:

- MP makes it $2 and I make it $6.50 in the SB. MP calls.
- The flop is 2-8-4
- I bet $8.50, he calls
- I plan to check-raise the turn
- The turn is a J, I check, he bets $15 and I push
- He calls with JJ. The river is another J.

But I'm happy with how I played it so nevermind. On to next week.

A hug.

Hands: 6,542
Profit: $470.50
VPPs: 1,333

I can't miss!

I have been crazily busy this week and so have hardly played. I thought that after my exam on Monday (it went really badly!) I would have more time to play, but so far that hasn't happened. Maybe next week. So I have only played 3 sessions this week and this is how they've gone...

Session 1
This only lasted about an hour and was pretty up and down. I lost 2 big pots early on with AK (both of which I could've possibly gotten away from) and then was stuck a bit. But then I hit 3 beautiful/lucky hands to get me back in the game! Firstly I had QQ v 88 on a KK2-8-Q board. Then I got all-in with AdTd v 33 on a 8d-6d-3 flop and managed to hit. Finally, some loser was nice enough to pay me off with AT v Q7 on a 7A7-Q-K board. SO after all the excitement I ended the session up about half a buy-in.

Session 2
I won almost the exact same amount in the next session, but it wasn't nearly as exciting. I was missing every flop, and despite not losing more than about $5 on any hand, I was about $50 down after half an hour. Then there' s a limp UTG and I make it $2.50 in the BB with AQ. UTG calls. The flop is Q64. I bet $3.50, he calls. The turn is a K, not ideal. I check, he bets $7.50 and I call (?). The river is a 10 and I check/call $16. He had 33, but I think I was pretty lucky here and he often has me beat. I obviously tilted him though because the next hand he stacked off with his K2 against my AK.

Session 3
This session was one of those rare sessions where everything hits. You raise 77 and flop 7-7-6. You hit every draw, and every steal turns into the nuts. Good times. Example 1 - I raise KQ on the button and the BB calls. The flop is AJ10. He has AJ. Nice. Example 2 - I call a re-raise with TT and the flop is AT2. He has AK. Nice again. Example 3 - I get all-in with KK, and he has QQ. Ideal. Example 4 - I get all-in with Ad3d v JJ on a Jd-2d-4 flop and hit. So after all that fun I ended up winning about 3 and a half buy-ins in 38 minutes. Good times.

This week I need to try and play more! I would hope for at least 4k hands this week, but you never know.

A hug.

Hands: 4,548
Profit: $456
VPPs: 900

Going OK

Well I definitely don't think I am going to hit my target of 14k hands this month as we're approaching the halfway point and I've not even cleared 3k, but nevermind. I have an exam on Monday so it's probably a good thing.

I have been analysing my play a bit and I really think I need to loosen up a bit. At the moment I have a VPIP of 15% I raise 11% of hands pre-flop, which isn't too bad, but I think I can afford to play a few more hands. It's quite hard when you are playing 9 tables though, and things are still going ok at the moment so I have no real need to change but it might be more fun andf a bit more profitable. I also need to work on my positional play and steal more blinds.

So this week I've only played a couple of times but it's gone ok. Firstly I had a pretty sweet session where I won $113 in under an hour, mainly by getting in with AA v 56s (people are loving their 56s!) and by getting a bit lucky and getting in with QQ v AK on a Q-J-10-5 board and rivering a J.

I then played again yesterday and quickly lost $100, mainly from being unable to fold AA even when it was pretty obvious I was beat. However, I stuck around and eventually managed to stack the same player and made about a $40 profit.

Hands: 2,687
Profit: $217.80
VPPs: 500

First weekly update

I didn't do weekly updates because I didn't have enough to write about, and this time I definitely don't. I was on holiday Monday to Friday and I've only managed to have one quick session since I've been back, and that only lasted about half an hour. I managed to win nearly $50 which was pretty good though, but it was Friday.

One hand that shows PokerStars Friday night fun...

- I have KK UTG and make it $2. The button makes it $6.50 and the SB calls. I make it $18, the button folds and the SB pushes. I call and he has 56s. Nice.

So, monthly stats so far:

Hands: 353
Profit: $49.25
VPPs: 91

March update

It's that time again for a monthly update (in future I will try to do weekly updates) as I will not be playing again this month. As you can see I actually won money this month - pretty suprising! In fact I have won about $565 but lost some of the hands and couldn't import them into the graph. I'm especially pleased because I have only played for about 13 hours this month which is a lot less than usual, and hopefully when I have time to play more I can continue to run at over 5ptbb/100 - fingers crossed!

Biggest pot of the month (new feature)

- I make it $2.50 UTG with AJ and get a caller in the cut-off.

- The flop comes Q-10-8 and we both check.

- The turn is a 6, I bet $4 and he min-raises. It's worth a call.

- The river is a beautiful K. I check, he bets $7.50 and I push for $54. He calls with 9-7.

- I win $63.70

Targets for April

- I have an exam on the 14th, but after that I should be able to play some more hands. I would hope for about 14,000.

- Keep SilverStar status on Stars.

- Keep playing well and making good decisions.

- Hopefully win.

As for the collecting of FPPs, I only have about 6500 now so an iPod by May looks optimistic, so we'll push that back til June, unless I manage to move up to $100NL soon. I plan to move up when the bankroll hits $4200.

Current bankroll ~ $3300

February update

So the graph doesn't look great... Overall I lost $16 and ran at 0.3 BB/100. I started the month carrying on at Party, but I moved up to $50NL and it stopped being so good to me. I lost about 6 buy-ins and decided to try my hand at PokerStars.

At PokerStars I think I have been playing really well, if slightly too tight. But think have not gone my way at all! I haven't been unlucky, and have suffered no memorable bad beats, but I have just had no good situations. I think I got AA or KK about 15 times in a row without winning or losing a pot over 10BBs, and then I got KK all in against AA. Also, there were four occassions when I flopped a set, three times with only one other opponent seeing the flop, and all four times I was behind, got all my money in and didn't hit. But as you can see from the graph this partially corrected itself in the last session and I managed to stack 2 people with sets and got all-in with QQ v JJ. Friday night fun.

Anyway I think I have been playing really well at Stars, despite the small win, and so I will stick there and attempt to build up a nice healthy stack of FPPs. My taget is to be able to buy an ipod with FPPs by the end of May.

As well as this I have tried to do a little spinning this month. I got a free $50 on Mansion after completing a crappy quiz and managed to withdraw $140 before losing the rest, and Titan gave me $5 free and I managed to withdraw $80.

So overall I think I will stick to $50NL at Stars and see how that goes. I'm feeling optimistic!

January Update

I started out continuing to play 25NL on FTP and it was it's usual mix of small wins and small losses, none of which was very exciting. About midway through the month though I decided to check out PartyPoker, and they have been very good to me! I am running very well there, and in total over the month I played just over 11k hands and ran at 4.8 bb/100 (although at Party I ran at over 100BB/100!)

I also played a few tournies. One night I couldn't sleep at all and do decided to play a shit load of $2 and $5 STTs. I ran so badly! It's unbelievable, and my SharkScope graphs now look rediculous. I ended up losing just over $100 and I was pretty pissed off.

Another night when I couldn't sleep though I played a $5 MTT on iPoker and ended up coming 4th for $170. I was pretty annoyed, as I got all-in with TT v AQ, and had I won that I would probably have taken down the tournament for $700. Oh well, I can't complain turning $5 into $170.

So overall I am about $330 up for the month, and on about $2700 overall. I will continue to play what I want, when I want and hope the cards contonue to go my way!

Crappier December

December has been good, but not in poker terms. I have been way too busy - I've got a new job and obviously it's Christmas, so I have not even managed to play 8k hands this month. Over this I managed to win an impressive $5.51! Wow! That's 1.33BB/100 hands! I have been fairly unlucky, and am about $100 down in luck according to Poker EV, but still a crap month.

I have no real motivation to play at the moment, so I'm setting no targets or requirements for January. I'll just play what I want, when I want.