Re: The strike I certainly wasn't expecting it to change decisions made at Amaya, but I like dhte thought of the poker playing community showing unity to give them something to think about, what we got was a half-arsed version of that despite not being able to avoid the news every time I logged into twitter or facebook.

Still grinding and SN seems a certain, needing less points than Platinum this month, something I think I've hit every month of the year. Continue to run bad but seem to be increasing ev bb/100 which can only be a good thing. Also had my coaches show full faith in my ability which is certainly re-assuring and helps with the confidence.

gl with the bad run, feels you

whats ur evbb/100 pointing at atm ?

has been hovering at 6/7, looking to make it a constant 7 and pushing the 8 mark

Ayyyyyayay.

Decent session although left the most down I can remember after an FT. Had chunks in the Big162 throughout the night, push some nice spots on FT then QQ<TT for absolute chunks 5 handed (1/3rd chips in play I believe). Ended up blinding down due to ICM, busting 4th again vs Padjes where he does a get there otr which would have helped us get back to 10 beebs. Decided to post this whilst the emotion is still raw, not sure I could get to sleep without writing my feelings down. Realistically 4th for $5k isn't something to be sniffed at, but even a win wouldn't have had a huge difference to makeup but would have at least started some mental momentum.

Can take faith and hope in believing I played well and honestly believe I out shined some of the other regs in late stages. Back tomorrow to do battle again

Just finished reading and this is an awsome thread man. I'm assuming no GGs yet cuz no update.

Just my own .2 about stars changes. Its just gonna get worse. Original PS cared about poker and its players. Amaya is just a greedy ass kissing deuchebag company that sold its soul. PS glory days are over and it will continue to decline. Its all about money now and the regs are an inconvience to them. Although in my opinion it is all UB/AP fault because the initial fraud scandal put online poker on the map and gave the USA greedy ****s in Vegas and washington a reason to pursue them which eventually led to BF. Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker ****ed the online poker world. AMAYA is in the USAs back pocket and is essentially there bitch. USA is eventually going to regulate online poker but they won't allow it until they can dominate and own the market like they do with live poker.

great thread

subbed

“My goal is that all of our gaming revenue is sub–50% of the company’s revenue,” says Baazov. “We are a consumer–tech–focused company. We didn’t buy Rational because of gambling; we wanted it badly because it had 89 million consumers. I wouldn’t call them players or gamblers–they are consumers.” Whatever they are, they’ve been a very good bet so far."

Pretty much sums it up. Dudes a pure shark and could care less about poker. Only cares about money. Interesting story though. From $1 penny stock company to buying poker stars in 7 years...

Quoted forbes interview on Amaya CEO David Braazov

Certainly no GG's had a while off over the Christmas/New Year period. However had a nightmare recently as the flat I was renting flooded, thankfully no property damage but means I've had to make 6x 2 hour round trips to collect all my stuff and move it into my parents place whilst we look for somewhere new which is a lot of hassle. Got back from a mini holiday with friends at about 11pm just to have to get them to pick us up as we certainly couldn't have stayed there. Somewhat of a blessing in disguise I feel however as they were a nightmare to have any work done, we had mould on the bathroom ceiling for 2 months (still there) and they knew about the leak on 23rd but chose to ignore it over the holiday period.

Had things set up and ready to go by about Big 109 time yesterday (Sunday) so got grinding and found a little bit of heat, 5th in the 888 Sunday Challenge for in the region of $5.7k, nice start to a new year.

2015 - In Review (A story of two halves)





On the whole I can only be extremely satisfied with the years progress, although the early year heat (highlight of winning $74k for 4th in the Sunday Million) came to a halt with a big MU figure to grind my way out of by the end of 2015.

At the start of the blog I suggested I hoped to be in high stakes by the end of the year, I'm currently in mid-high stakes, was certainly high during WCOOP. I also feel like had the brutal end swing not happened I would be playing a little higher as I have somewhat limited how high I play to try and beat the variance.

Start of year Goals - Review

Play 300 games a month every month - Success!
Really happy with my volume over the year and don't think at any point have I felt like I don't fancy grinding or want to end sessions early. My routine certainly runs like clockwork and I rarely, if ever, stray away from my planned hours of grind.

Break into the top 300 on PocketFives - Success!
Hit a high of 145th due to Milly scores and a couple of others, currently sat at 371st which I obviously will be looking to improve upon over the year.

Focus on Game Selection - Achieved

I perhaps focussed a little too much on reducing my turbo ratio (as shown it hit about 21.6%), when realistically optimal is probably closer to 30% for myself. This will be something I will work towards over the next month or two.

Review More - Success!
The vast majority of weeks I have been reviewing 2x a week as well as personal work on hand histories, plugging ranges etc. and more recently 3 reviews a week due to having responsibility of the Small Stakes stable which leads me on to highlights:

Highlights of 2015:
> 4th SM - $74,000;
> 2nd Mega Deep - $23,000;
> 2nd Big 109 and 1st Big 162 in same week - $25,000 and $16,000;
> Being coach/mentor of small stakes stable on behalf of BITB (currently 11 members).

Becoming coach definitely a highlight and I feel very honoured that BITB presented me with this opportunity. It's been a lot of added work but worth it both financially and mentally with the added skills its given me over time.

Lowlights of 2015:
> Knocking it in during WCOOP (no real sweats);
> Failing to cash any event on the live circuit;
> Hitting $55,000 Makeup at ABI $60.

Obviously WCOOP was a huge disappointment as I prepared so long and meticulously for it, although went in with full realisation that this could occur. I didn't play many events live but biggest disappointment was running up a huge stack early in a WPT just to spiral down in Day 2 getting coolered for chunks. Also hitting 900 ABI downswing is brutal and painful bu it gives me goals for 2016 and these circumstances are where you learn the most,it's easy to stay on top and clear minded when crushing but these are the periods that really count in regards to how you battle against adversity.

Hope you all had a great 2016 and hope you are crushing but not too hard at my table please!

Nice thread! Hope to get there someday grinding live.

Goals for 2016

Thought I would add goals for the entirety of the year so I am able to set checkpoints.

> Hit 7bb/100 for the year in all in adjusted equity
I think this is the best way in MTT's to work out your profitability (although I understand it is obviously not a fool proof guide as many factors can influence how much money you make). I remember a post from Pads blog which I agree with, suggesting 6 or 7bb/100 suggests you are one of the better regs in your games, whilst 8-10 suggests you are a top reg. As I am playing fairly high I would like to have stats that back up being one of the better regs, hence aiming for 7 as the minimum threshold.

> Make $125,000 over the year
I just about hit 100k last year despite a very hefty downswing towards the end of the year. I feel this is realistic as I become a better player (even though I received ALOT of heat last year which I'm aware of), but this can be replicated hopefully and potentially find something in upcoming series events.

> Have 5 guys I mentor advance into the main stable
Obviously this doesn't rely entirely on me, but I have been somewhat responsible for choosing who we have recruited and think the team of guys we have is very strong. Obviously for this to happen I'm relying on them to put a lot of work in away from tables amongst themselves but hopefully the coaching, advice and the example I set goes a long way towards that. For this to work I need to make sure I am as coherent as possible, around for them as much as I can be and reviews we run are very effective.

> Move up in stakes
I'm not necessarily looking to play the hot $162 every day but would like to move up a little from what I'm grinding at the moment (currently stopping myself from playing 888 $162 Crocodile, but play Big $162 and Hot $82 on good days, Big $109 and party $100 MTT's daily, mill and warmup on Sundays).

> Average 600 games per month
Last year I averaged 668 which I think is very strong considering I've never mass tabled and don't intend on doing so. I don't want to set a certain amount of games every month because should things go very well I may potentially go Vegas for somewhat of a WSOP series, although this seems very unlikely given current circumstances one score could change that, never say never.

> Get out of Makeup by the end of May
I understand this could take a significant amount of time, but I think having a goal of being out of it by the start of June is somewhat realistic, given the amount of profit I want to make throughout the year. Succeeding this goal could also go some way towards hitting up Vegas also, something I've always wanted to do and I only just turned it down last year, so I'm hungrier than ever for this to happen.

Sssup man..best of wishes for 2016..i recently got into my biggest downswing also,quite similar with yours.. and i totally understand what u go through and i think that with this mindset and aproach is only a matter of time untill we` ll eventually recover.

See you at tables!!! Ha ha!

Nice write up! Gl for 2016

You where talking about your playing hours running like clockwork. Can you say how long do you play a day and how many days a week? Also, what's the last reg speed tournament you sign up for?

good luck this year mate. I'd say a slightly better measure of how you're doing in your games, is all in adj bb/100 with antes, which can also help eliminate some super early crazy coolers for 100b+ pre ante etc.
glgl

gl with your goals man, so you made over 100k but are still in makeup?

That's the beauty of being staked. You never ever get out of makeup

Gl 2016! Remember playing micros with you and you seemed to be the one guy that crushed it/to be feared.

Correct. Think of it this way, I've cashed out $145k total but I'm in profit of $100k for the year. That 45k has to be repaid.

@ Eddy BOL with the year. I've done that and my bb/100 is actually higher post ante than pre ante, perhaps shows I beat games more so than this overall figure suggests as the money is made post ante.

Had advice from a couple of coaches, and they feel whilst I am on track with my goals they are perhaps not ambitious enough. Also have a couple of suggestions as to what can be added so may throw up a revised version once I feel I have them nailed down. If I hit all yearly aims then they are probably poor aims.

I reg B75 as the first (3pm GMT), finish with the Hot $44 (11:30pm GMT) daily and ensure I play a minimum of 5 days a week unless I have a loaaaad of real life stuff to take care of (imagine this will come into play when looking for/moving flat). last reg speed I reg is the $82 prog KO (11:15 GMT) as field isn't huge. The final big field reg speed MTT is probably the Big $55, very rarely will add the late $27 prog KO if I feel I have lots of hours left in me.

man u ve been gone for so long

happy new year bud and gl

^haha

Got the picture tho Gil. Thanks for the reply and gl!

First time Ive ever heard that. Do you have an idea why? Seems really weird since stacks are so much shallower post ante. Gl in 2016

are you sure you are looking at the right stats? When I was looking at mine, and I filtered on post ante with my reports it showed +12bb or w/e but when I looked at my graph it was much less, so just be careful with that if so

Gl in 2016, let's clear that make up

Glgl in 2016! Play well and run better!

Can anyone using PT4 please explain me how to filter bb/100 and what else to consider? I'm an absolute PT4 sucker.

@Gil: what does your Sunday schedule look like? I'd be also interested in your thoughts about game selecting on a Sunday given you have to pass on so many good tournaments when sticking to 6-8 tables max.

Also thoughts about playing more live this year?

GL in 2016!

Why not plaxing the 160$ croc on 888 anymore?
Added it to my sched at the end of last year and am pretty satisfied with it. Insane how many icm mistakes ppl make on this FT.

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