So, it's Gary here again with I believe my third PC+G thread. I like starting new one's when a new venture begins. So here it is!

I've been playing poker off and on for the best part of a decade. Taking it semi seriously since 2014. When I say semi seriously I've actually tried to improve myself, the way I play, the way I study etc and I guess I've done OK.

I've been between MTTs and MTSNGs since I luckboxed a HU finish in an $11 MicroMillions for $5k. I am a family man, wife plus two daughters so most of that went offline. I went on a heater in the first 5 months of last year and had $15k in winnings but since then MTT variance, poor game selection accounted for most of my roll (not the whole $15k obv!)

Last week I withdrew the remainder of my roll and decided to look for backing and coaching in the art of MTSNGs, $2.50 180 man turbos. I was lucky enough to get a few great offers and I narrowed it down to a few and got the best deal I could for myself.

I am being backed my benny8580. We have a 3 month agreement in place after a short trail period I guess for this month. So, I'll be aiming to play 300 games this month (starting today) it's quite a target for a rec like myself but I believe it is doable!

Hoping to have a live sweat with him once he returns from holidays early next month.

So that is my sole goal for this month - play 300 games!

See you at the tables!

Day 1

Day 1 was pretty good both results and volume wise as I managed to play a total of 80 games beating my personal best by a fair margin! I structured my day into 3 sessions, early morning, mid afternoon and then in the evening.

Morning session was very soft, the tables were fun. Games run much slower though but I managed a FT and a 2nd place to get off to a good start.

The afternoon was hugely luckless until I brought my last game to a FT. Again an agonizing 2nd place which just about saved the session. Lost HU to a cocky reg.

The evening session was turning out like the afternoon but we had some mincashes and an early FT that finished 8th. I reduced the number of tables from 12 to 9 which seemed to help focus a little and I ran the final 2 games deep.

A 7th place finish and and 2nd place finished meant I ended the day $130 in the green. Not a bad start at all.

Have reviewed almost half of the games so far and I'm very happy with how I played. Especially short-handed. Made a few mistakes HU especially in the final game against the only other Irish reg I've seen at the 180s!

Anyways hoping for a good day again today - volume will be somewhere between 40 and 50 games I'm hoping.

Yesterday I played 45 games, the weather was really nice outside so volume suffered as a consequence but I still play a lot for my standards.

4 Final table appearances in those games and quite a few ITM (26%)

I think the last 6 games I ran ITM and had two FTs at the same time. Unfortunately 3 handed I ran godawful and lost a huge CL stack to runner runner flush after flopping top-pair.

The other FT last night I also finished 3rd.

Not sure about the call here:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 2.5 Tournament, 3,500/7,000 Blinds 700 Ante (3 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com

Button (t60,493)
SB (t149,127)
Hero (BB) (t60,380)

Hero's M: 4.79

Preflop: Hero is BB with 6, A
Button raises to t59,500, 1 fold, Hero raises to t59,680 (All-In), Button calls t180

Flop: (t124,960) 8, K, 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t124,960) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t124,960) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t124,960

Results below: [spoiler]
Button had 8, 9 (one pair, eights).
Hero had 6, A (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Button won t124,960[/spoiler]

Anyways, great start results wise and I feel like I'm playing pretty well on top

Small session of games tonight, regged for just over one hour and had 19 games in total.

Had 14-15 tables running at one time, happy with that and very happy with how I played overall again. Had a lot of misfortune around the 40-60 player mark where I lost huge flips but once I got games ITM I ran golden.

Had 3 FTs tonight, the first I finished in 7th but the other two I took to the finishing line for wins #1 and #2 of the stake. Made some huge folds and really thought about every single hand of each FT so I'm really delighted.

Almost have of the required volume in for this month - it'll be tight but I should make it to 300. Probably won't play again now until Friday or Saturday.

Nice will be following your thread as I have with the other two. GL getting to 300

Thanks mate

Off to a great start mate! We discussed that first hand together already and as told i think it's close but would tend towards a call (not going through the details here as I'm on my phone). Looking forward to working some on your game and discussing things together. Keep crushing and will be following closely.

Take care and keep up the good work,

Ben

Thank you, thank you!

Work was tough on Thursday and Friday so I was feeling pretty tired last night and decided against playing altogether.

Today I've had a mini afternoon session and I hope to play a decent session tonight.

Had another victory in the afternoon session so I guess the heater continues!

Best of luck mate, subbed.
Looking forward for your progress.

Thank you.

Tough evening session.

Had only one FT and a handful of mincashes before I bricked practically all the remainder. Played well but got a little tired towards the end. My eyes are hurting as well.

Anyways, ran particularly bad this evening but was probably overdue it. Still ended in profit for the day so all is not lost in the grand scheme of things!

200 games played now.

Today was by far the most frustrating day of poker for me this year.

Managed 40 games, 4 final tables, 7 cashes in total but horribly at the same time.

I was building stacks right, left and centre but just before ITM or right after or at the FT things went disastrously. Losing so many big pots when I was 85-15, 80-20, 75-25 etc.

Really happy with how I played again - I am really in the zone right now and I truly believe I am playing the best poker I've ever played and I'm dealing with the beats better than before.

Volume is at 240 now, so with just two sessions coming this week I should make the 300 target

I played a decent session last night where I regged for an hour total and got 25 more games in.

Had a few sick beats early on, shoving QQ into KK and then AA for my first two bustos. Battled on and made a few mistakes I think where I could have made slightly -EV calls when there was going to better spots down the line.

Towards the end I had a few tables coming close to ITM. Busted one in 27th and had a heartbreaking FT bubble in the next. Open shoved ATo from UTG 5 handed with maybe more than 15BB and got called by BB who had KQ, K OTT sent me to la showers.

Next three ITMs I got to the FT, losing the first in 9th, the next in 5th and taking the final one to HU where I lost after playing pretty poorly. Definitely annoyed that I wasn't more patient HU.

The session ended up $55 but it could have and should have been more. I definitely need to be more patient and more clinical when the opportunity arises. Lesson learned!

Should make the volume target of 300 quite easily as I've already reached 265 and have a free day on Saturday to finish it off!

Daughters birthday on Sunday so once I finish up Saturday my month comes to a close then probably.

Made it over the 300 mark (yay) but finding grinding difficult atm due to eye problems. Definitely cannot do extended periods on the laptop at the moment so it's off to Specsavers I go next week.

June figures:


June graph:


Will sneak in another session before the month is out hopefully

22 game session last night where I 15 tabled for a good portion of it. #proud

4 cashes in total, 14th, 10th and 2 2nd places for $117 in winnings.

Total ROI in $2.50 180s is now over 30% and over $1k in profit. #notsustainable

Will play another session tonight to wrap up the month as I'm 19 games away from SilverStar so it would be rude not to make it!

Tonight was disgusting....

Played 23, had 4 ITMs, 2 FTs but highest was 5th finish for a $10 loss on the session.

Month overview:

Total games: 350
Winnings: $1,511.29
Profit: $636.29
ROI: 72.7%
ITM: 17.7%
FTs: 29
FT Bubbles: 10

I started the stake on the 13th of June so 350 games is pretty awesome for me and I'm very happy with that.

Spent a lot of time reviewing my games, reviewing other regs' games so I've definitely spent a decent amount of time studying as well which is pleasing.

Will post up some July goals tomorrow

http://i.imgur.com/qKkiSOU.png

Was sitting beside this fish today

God not that fish!

Today was a good day I guess. Tried regging early in the day but tables were loading very slowly and I guess it kinda tilted/annoyed me a little and my focus wasn't 100% or close.

I waited an hour or so and went back and got a total of 31 games in. I wasn't running the best, building no stacks and when I did I was getting coolered a fair amount.

In the end though I started getting a few ITM and had a few games 12-15th before I finally landed 2 FTs.

The first of which ended in a disappointed 8th where we lost QQ to AJs for our last few BBs (both villain and I had the same stack and we were both joint last so it was standard)

The 2nd we started the FT 1/9 after pwning a fish for a huge stack on the FT bubble. He got it in vs me with 66 vs my K9 on a K23 board (lol)

Lost a big flip for 1/2 the chips in play (AK vs JJ) and managed to negotiate my way to top 3 vs a decent reg and a drooler. The drooler eventually bust and I battled the reg HU FTW.

Got lucky in the end and picked up the $123!

Have a lot of studying/reviewing to do before I hit the tables again.

Found a spot in my review this morning where I am shoving too wide with 12BB from MP. Quite a bit away from nash in that spot so happy days.

Forgot to post goals for this month so here goes:

- 500 games
- 12% ROI
- Keep my overall ROI over 20%
- Review all hands
- Send some HH to some fellow regulars
- Review 2 regs games
- Have a sweat with Ben

So, if you are playing the 180s and would like to review/have a review of your game just hit me up on Skype or PM me here

gary.cunningham1984

Keep up the amazing job so far buddy, loving the july goals!

Keep up the amazing job so far buddy, loving the july goals!

So good you said it twice

OK, the week is over now so it's time for an update.

Saturday:

I challenged myself to register to games for up to 3 hours last night and I managed to pass it! Games were kinda slow in loading last night I guess with the good weather in Europe and the summer time it was a little strange.

Anyways, I got 42 games in last night taking a small loss overall including 3 FTs finishing 6th, 5th and 4th.

Today:

I'm not sure if it was over-doing it last night, the lack of a good nights sleep or a bit of both I found it hard to play today. I had intended to reg for 3-4 hours but I picked up a headache after an hour or so, I decided to stop regging until I got it sorted.

Came back after an hour more refreshed and grinded a total of 40 games to make a small profit meaning a breakeven weekend.

Had a HU loss and a 4th as well as an FT bubble and a few mincashes along the way.

The month so far:

Games: 113
Net winnings: $64.36
ROI: 22.8%
ITM: 15%

Happy with those figures because I've been hitting some FT variance the last few games. Happy with the volume although I had hoped for it to be higher initially.

Got some study to do over the next few days and still waiting to hear from some regs so HIT ME UP!