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Hey Guys,

I'm back with a new PG&C as I plan to navigate towards retirement from poker by the end of 2018. Above are my previous PG&C's, which sort of towed the line between being high morale and quite worrying and depressing at times.

I want this thread to, if possible, focus on the positives and less on the negatives.

The downside is that it'll be mainly tracking my live poker play. I actually started this year playing a lot of online poker, I think I've played about 70kish hands of 2/5zoom on Stars where I'm winning a few $k. I know it isn't the most meaningful sample but 70,000 hands and winning like $4000 made me realise that as much as I hate it the hourly live is just way too strong and in what is meant to be my retirement year I'm going to have to focus on making the most money as opposed to having fun whilst playing.

https://ibb.co/kym5nc

So the above, if I've posted it properly has been my poker play since the last thread ended. At the end of the last thread I'd been in decent poker form and I think this past year I've been playing probably my best poker ever. I haven't had my usual run of really bad down sessions through tilt and I have been much more solid and professional in general. I hit some really tough adversity, in October, (through poker related stuff but outside of player, I took on some huge debts I never really should of had to) and I had a really shaky October/Novemeber where I lost like £50k but in general live poker has been really plain sailing and I've been able to keep my hourly high.

Current Plan

This past month has been a really tough one personally. Me and my girlfriend, of 3 years, decided to break up due to differences in our plans for the future. This has left me in limbo a bit. Our lease runs up March 24th and I paid the last month's rent the other day and plan to stay until the end of the lease, she is moving onto a new place this week.

I'm unsure what to do next. My current flat is expensive, at least for what it is and I'm unsure I want to spend that much money to stay in London. Probably the easiest and most attractive option would be to head Stateside and play LA followed by Vegas for the series. I have friends out there currently and obviously some PG&C heroes like Gazzy are out there too. Games sound a little bigger than London and the good weather etc seems pretty swell.

Health

Certainly my last thread focused on health a lot. This thread i'm probably not going to focus on it as much. I've been on daily medication this past year, Pregabalin and it's enabled me to return to being my 'former' self, or normal self. I'm sure Ben will tell me I shouldn't be using these terms haha but you know what I mean.

One of the main ways I've been improving my fitness health is to play 5 a side. We've been playing once a week in a pretty competitive game and it's enabled me to get some of the exercise I'd certainly been missing in the past. However, Monday I had probably one of my biggest fears come true and during a challenge for the ball I've fallen backwards and whiplash smashed the back of my head off the ground. I felt a little groggy and wobbly afterwards and had a fair bump so I went to A and E and they said that all should be good but to go home and monitor it. Naturally this has had me sat at home worryingly like hell for the past day or so.

Anyway, that'll be it for now and I'll update again after my next few sessions.

head injuries are something that you want to avoid at all costs. take it easy for a week or two at least. what is "5 a side"? 5 on 5 soccer? never use your head in soccer.

walking/hiking is the best way to stay healthy. and i mean long walk like 2 or more miles. 1mile walks are good but 2+ are much much better.

there are a lot of british guys that play poker at the commerce. come on over to LA!

No shame in playing live poker! Games are pretty good (and big) at commerce during LAPC, try to make a stop by.

In for the ride. Good luck bro!

Glgl

Had my best day ever online. I know this was meant to be a LIVE road to retirement but after the head knock I've been at home all week and was able to put this beauty together.

Connoisseurs will notice the rugged nature of my laptop, been through thick and thin but it's just too lucky.

https://imgur.com/a/GeuI2

I also was able to win one of the Party KO tournaments for $10.5k too, so pretty sick week.

So what you’re saying. You could have taken a screenshot of the graph but instead you opted to pull out a Nokia 6300 and take a picture of a busted laptop where the graph is unreadable.


Classic goose move.

old school bro, technology passing me by!

https://imgur.com/a/Z7zIw

Happy now J?!

also learn how to img link so we can see the imgs in the forum grandpa.

and whats 5 a side? soccer?

IN

GL

Kthx

A lot better now g

Didn't do a whole lot yesterday.

Woke up and played some Party and won like $10k and then playing Calvinv7 on Pokerstars at 25/50 5c and lost like $8k. Proceeded to play a little warm down Zoom and ran decent. Went kinda deep in the 109r turbo but busted 38th for like $1k.





Will do a more in depth update, perhaps with some hand histories tomorrow.

Gonna try and not play today and chill instead and will get at it again tomorrow.

You gotta use your head in socc... FOOTBALL

IN, gl op

in for my favourite pgc <3 nice to see you crushing!

Man posts a 70k graph and you guys are talking 5 a side. Give the man some props and love ffs

Firstly, sorry to hear about your break up mate

Secondly, just casually wake up and bink every pot at 25/50 zoom lmfao what a life I like how you quit just as the greenline was going down too, could feel the downer coming right?

Glgl, maybe cya around

Haha eeexxaccccttlly teddy.

Nah, that bigger action was on Party and it was like 2/3am after I'd been playing for many hours, could feel myself getting tired and Haxton and co were much more on that timezone advantage so called it a day.

Go Phil!

Also what's the line on actual retirement by end of year?

op's sn? gl!

gl gl

What the fans want and what the blog is actually about..LIVE POKER babbehhhh

So after successfully putting my hat in the ring for this weeks biggest online winner (probably is a legitimate long shot) I decided that I'd been cooped up in the house for too long and ventured back to the Vic.

I rocked up Monday and there was a £5/10 game that had been running from over night. Game was fine, soft but boring. I grinding away a bit and was probably +£2.5k and then got AA in v JJ on AJ8r vs everyones favourite villain and managed to go ahead and lose that...welcome back to the live felt Goose.

Anyway the game starts to pick up a little heat, the right guys come in and all of a sudden we've got a pretty meaty game.

2 real fun spots...

Spot 1: So one of the more fun players in the game was in a gambly mood and kept putting the 50 on, he was on my right. In the Vic only the first straddle is allowed as live so the 50 is just a dead raise. Anyway, he kept asking me to put the dead 100 on, which to be honest I was kinda hating because it's such a burn but such is live poker and it's better to keep these guys happy and sacrifice tiny EV. So 2nd time round and I've got this fooking dead 100 on again and looking down at the powerhouse T663r. Somehow (liveaments) we go 7 way to a Q66cc flop. Standard Goose flop this. Checks to me and I haven't acted, another fun player older asian guy checks behind me out of turn, I tell him I havent acted and I bet 200/700. Older Asian guy now calls and I'm getting excited. Turn is a brick and I bet 700 he calls again, river is a brick and I bet 825/2100 and he raises and I stack his QQ for like £12k. Pretty delightful, karma (???).

Spot 2: So by this point I've had the clinic in session and there was a ton of blood on the streets and I'm feeling my oats. I raise AKTTss (nutted spade) and two fun players call and then this sneaky limper makes it £450 with £900 back, me and the fun players are hella deep though so fairly mandatory peel. 4 way to 655r. Squeezer now checks and given this guys play style I see this as a give up. It's hard to flop anything strong ya know so I decide I'll stab this, I'll have best hand a small% of the time but they'll fold JJ/QQ and it's not the trickiest group (or is it...read on to find out!). So fun player1 folds but fun player2 (the guy who earlier in the night was making me put the 100s on) calls and the squeezer folds as I suspected. Turn comes a 6 and bring bd hearts, I've got Kh. So board is 6556hh. I check and this geezer sticks £1k out there. I stubbornly take a river and it comes Jx. 6556J turn fd has bricked. I checked and he jams £3.5k. We get into a little chat and I get told off for taking a long time (probably like 40 seconds lol) but I explain I can't beat a J. The fun player says 'Can't beat a J, what you wasting our time for' - big mistake, guy is a bit of a tellbox and I'm starting to pick up on his unease. Anyway I go ahead and call cos that's what ballers do. He taps the table and tells me I'm good and I go around the table and collect the other players jaws off the floor. Obviously you get the odd one reg or two who has to say 'standard'....like lol, that hand ain't standard.

Anyway I end up booking a £24k win and it's happy days.

Yesterday I went in and we played 10/25, I played pretty poor and definitely deserved to lose. Biggest pot was like £15k or something where I had QQcc on QJ6Tccdd. I played turn bad after I'd bombed flop and should be betting again here though, no strat at the table though (or at the blog) so I ain't gonna say why. Anyway big villain jams turn for like £2.5k and I jam for £3k more and my buddy calls off behind me with A986dddd saying he's gonna be ahead for the side pot. Rofler. We run it twice and I brick off both times to see my tasty equity flush down the toilet. Ah well, can't be helped.

Earlier in the session I was spewing too hard though and I was completely burnt out at 10pm and quit early. -£11800.

I'll keep a little live retirement tally fun since starting and so we're at +£12200, which isn't bad.

I'm having the night off tonight to go and rail in the mighty Spurs with my friends, as we've all got a big bet on and I'm excited to do so as I'm really burnt out with poker as I said so will be taking a break till Friday now.

Happy grinding everyone.

Obviously in for this, sure to be another of the GOAT pgcs.

Not counting the online funds towards the retirement figure? And do you have a number in mind?

No set monetary goal in mind. Definitely a ballpark figure however and it also depends on state of the games, if there is somehow a mini boom this year that brings action then I’d find it hard to walk away.

It’s more about hopefully getting to a mindset where I’m content with what I’d achieved through Poker and would be happy to walk away and start a new challenge.

Cheers fella, hope you're well and strapped in for the crypto swings no doubt!

Dissecting a big hand

So I apologise that I struggle to update after each session but I find it tough to just mindlessly respond to session after session live and would prefer to wait until something more interesting happens

Last night we played £10/25 down the Vic and it was a pretty wild game. I was probably a little in goof mode and there were 50s on and stacks flying about. I ended up getting into a huge pot with longtime 2p2er and PLO player Wazz. Now I don't know a lot about Wazz but from the few times I've played with him he's pretty erratic, definitely has a lot of heart and definitely has a hell of a lot of gamble. I think his tilt fuse is kinda short.

Prior to this hand important things to know were 1) I'd been some what of an alpha at the table, was sat deep, without a care in the world 2) Wazz had just bluffed it off to my good buddy Flong in a £10k pot or whatever and 3) Wazz was still winning chunks in the game and I had a read the amount would be a big win for him 4) Never underestimate heart.

LOL...Technical Analysis

So in the hand in question I think there's a limp, Wazz has made it 125, few calls and I've bumped it up to 600 from the BB with A3ccKQhh. I've got a nice squeeze hand here and stacks are deep so whilst being out of position isn't fun we are happy to have nutted hands like this in wild games where we're going multi way to bloated flops etc. Wazz peels and we're playing £18k effective with me covering. This old annoying fish goes all in for £800, I call and Wazz of course calls.

Flop comes down QdJhTh. If you're unaware they call this 'the dream' in layman's terms. I decide to size around 60% pot with £1400 and Wazz quite quickly calls. I think with shorter stacks a more GTO approach would be to size smaller, say 30% as we crush the board and the board crushing our range but here with so much behind and an opponent showing a raggedness and unwillingness to not be stubborn I think we can size liberally.

Turn comes down QdJhTh8d. We got a little backdoor diamonds in the mix now guys and that's pretty gin as we're still incredibly nutted and don't mind cards that'll potentially gain some equity for our opponent, however we're going to have to be weary of more rivers now and should be planning ahead. I really butcher this street and it was a tell tale sign that I was a little tired and burnt out. I think traditionally here we should be betting full pot. Our opponents range should be strong and we want to get full value and protection. Our opponent can have AK without back up and probably will have to jam here, which is an EV print for us and he's sometimes going to call and we want it to be as incorrect as possible price wise. There's some merit potentially to betting a 50% size here to keep our own range wider, perhaps lay a good price for his almost dead equity hands like 2pr with a straight to the Q and stuff like that. I think in general though that full pot is most profitable here. I bet £3800 a total pot of about £5200 and Wazz calls super quick.

Now I don't really pay attention to live tells that much and Wazz had certainly shown a propensity to act quick but this pot is getting chunky now and I think if Wazz isn't rattled he's going to take a moment to start really thinking about decisions and consider his plan on rivers etc. I think when an opponent acts this quickly it's likely they'll have some nut outs but just want to speed degenerately along to the last act and then make an all or nothing play. Alas, this takes us to the river.

The river comes a deathly Kd. So for recap board reads QdJhTh8dKd. For those who struggle to read boards, that's a front door heart draw missed and a backdoor diamond draw that's come in and we now have a 4 straight on the board.

River decisions in poker are super fun and interesting. I think in a nutshell here I should probably be checking with my EXACT hand but I've been pondering over whether we want to be betting like 30% or 25% here with our whole range and seeing how our opponent reacts to that. Just the merits being when we do have diamonds we're laying him a great price for his straight hands, of which there should be some if not a crazy amount. Now our hand is blocking a lot of his bluffing range and we obviously don't have any diamond in our hand which sucks. I think Wazz doesn't have a super large amount of hands with 2 diamonds in it because the Qd and the Kd are out there but he can have some TTdd JTdd JJdd and AQJdd obviously some Adxxx hands that he's being creative with. Anyway I check the river, Wazz goes ahead and piles for £12/13k and I eventually fold after a long tank and Wazz shows me the A874hhh for the air pretty much and FairPlay, he's not dogged it on the river and I'm sure it's a result that made him feel good.

Disclaimer: I'd like to shame myself here and say I reacted poorly after the hand saying to Wazz 'that was an awful turn call, congrats on hitting a gin river'. There is no need for this and as someone who prides myself on my table etiquette and table presence it was just a fairly bowl response.

Lessons Learnt

I mean I was steamed for about 2 minutes and then found the spot kind of interesting and funny. I think sizings wise I've clicked buttons a bit and perhaps getting that dirt river was an ample punishment for lazy poker on the turn. I mean without doubt Wazz has spewed every street of the hand and this is kind of the beauty of poker because although he's gone about the hand incorrectly in general he's shown a lot of heart on the river and not dogged a huge bluff which as players we have to respect and commend. As for me, I was actually ok with my fold, I think I'm just blocking the worst stuff to go ahead and call and in this huge hero call spots we have to think about overall strategy and the main blockers and cards at our disposal to give us our information. I think if I call there and win I've probably made the wrong decision anyway so can't feel too hard done by.

Anyway, thought it'd be interesting to share that big hand and one that doesn't often, well never, takes place on the online felt, Huge BB's, huge heart, huge £a and huge drama, it's what makes poker great.

Online I've mainly been playing a lot of 5card on Stars and I think I'm about +$30k on the month, which is very nice. I think a lot of readers know my SN and may have seen me out there on the streets but I'd request if you do know it to not write it out in this thread please. Thank you.

I played 2 tourneys in the week and min cashed both, the 530 PLO and the hot 215.

My live month is looking a little spewy:



I need to keep trying to focus on approaching each session with my A game, m which will be far and away head of 98% of the field and I need to respect that it's not on my shoulders to make games good.

Real Life

I made a big purchase in the week and bought a really nice MacBook for £2.4k. I'd been feeling a little down since my break up and decided that my old laptop, which was certainly battered and bruised beyond belief needed a hearty upgrade. Retail therapy is also good for the soul right? Either way it's allowed me to join 99% of Londoners in sitting in a coffee shop like a douche with my nice little MacBook out and hopefully that'll push me to update this blog more and interact with the community more.

I might be playing some big MTTs next month, Barca PartyMillions and then potentially Montreal also. Therefore I'm offering a knowledge swap with anyone interested where we trade a little MTT/NLH coaching and I'll offer some PLO coaching in return. PM me if interested. Doesn't have to be too hardcore just a nice transfer back and forth of general ideas and strategies.

I would also love to get away into the sun sometime soon. In the week I painfully offered a mate of mine in Manchester to go to Gran Canaria for some sun and luxury for 4 days from Monday and he's declined, that's how painfully lonely I've become ������.

I may grind tonight but will likely chill until Sunday where I'll very likely be firing and winning the $5k 6max PLO on stars. Wish me luck