I've been lurking the threads for a while, studying hands and reading blogs and I've decided to start my own for the usual reasons: accountability, reviewing HHs, and to generally document where and how I'm going. I'm a posting newbie so be patient...

About me

In my late 20s, I was a finance professional from London, UK, who left the life of being chained to a desk about a year ago to start my own business. It's going well, and is now largely self-sufficient. By no means is it big business, and it doesn't provide enough for me to throw thousands down the drain pursuing poker. Hell, it doesn't even pay as much as my job in finance used to.

I've played poker since I was about 16, and made some decent money online about 9 years ago playing 1000NL and 2000NL. This was obviously when the games were much, much easier, and I haven’t played these levels since. I used my winnings to pay off my student loans, and then went travelling then to work, which meant I couldn’t play as much as I used to. A couple years ago I started to occasionally deposit money online for some casual play – I couldn’t believe how tough the games had become. I also played the occasional, low stakes, live tournament (buying in between £20 and £200). Again, this was more for fun than anything else.

Middle of last year, I decided to try some live cash poker. I liked it. I enjoyed the social aspect, and preferred it to a tournament where you could play for 6 hours and have nothing to show for it. In September I met an old acquaintance who had given up his job to become a pro player. He claimed he was a 5/10 player, making £80 ($120) an hour. That's like $200,000 a year! Tax free (thank you England). It struck me – could I do it? I had considered going pro during the internet boom, but decided to invest in my future by going into finance (which I can always fall back onto).

At this point, I decided to set aside £2,000 ($3,000) for live cash poker, and to start keeping records. This was mid/late October. After a shaky start, a heater, then some bad variance, I have managed to build my bank roll up to just under £4,000 ($6,000) after approx. 400 hours. This is my graph so far:



Exact roll is now £3,906

Not impressive, but winning, at least, albeit marginally. Now it’s time to kick on, improve, and crush. I feel my game has improved incredibly in the last few months, but I just need to minimise my leaks (technical and mental) to really push on (award for stating the bleeding obvious goes to...)

At the moment, the time I can commit fluctuates quite a lot due to several commitments - in some weeks I can make 8 hours, in others up to 40 – whenever I can fit in a session however, I will – laziness when it comes to play is simply not an option. I mostly play in London.

Away from poker I’m a big football (soccer) fan, play quite a lot, have some good skills in the kitchen, and generally like to keep fit, and learn new things. I like a drink, hanging with my buddies, and the occasional smoke (although spirals a bit out of control sometimes). I also love to travel, and have been lucky enough to visit over 40 countries.

What now?

Time to grind. After dreaming about it for years, I recently though f*** it, and booked a trip out to the States, when I’ll be hitting the felt in Vegas for 2 weeks. It’s not make or break, but more of a launch attempt – if it fails, it won’t be the last. I will mostly be playing cash, except for one tournament – the $565 Colossus (WSOP side event with $5m guaranteed).

My 2015 Goals

• Build a £6,666 ($10,000) bankroll in time for Vegas. When I’m there I want to play 2/5. I think a 20x bankroll is fine considering I have other income/savings. I’m going to Vegas end of May.
  
  
• Build my bankroll to £20,000 ($30,000) by the end of July, and £40,000 ($60,000) by the end of the year, at which point I’ll move to 5/10. Lofty ambition I know, but I think it’s important that is very difficult, yet still achievable.
  
• Cash at the Colossus. The field will be big (10,000+) but we're in it to win it, right?
  
• Increase my mental fortitude. I am quite mentally strong but do have occasional tilt issues. I hope that this thread will help me address that. One example is if I lose a significant portion of profit I have gained in a session I tend to try and chase my lost gains. To improve my mental game I have read Tendlers book on the mental game of poker. I will re-read, and also listen to a minimum of 2 of his podcasts each week. I also will make notes regularly on my strengths and weaknesses and areas I hope to improve, as well as reviewing "tilt points"
  
• ·Improve technically - through reviewing hand histories, and addressing my leaks. I will have one coaching session per week, review 8 hands on 2+2 per week, and study an additional 4 hours on other areas (videos, studying ranges etc)
  
• ·Take more hand histories during sessions - any hand I lost 50bb+, or where I feel I could have done better, or just interesting spots
  
• ·Away from poker, I want to keep fit, learn a new skill, develop my business, and try and develop another business opportunity. I’d also like to do some volunteering, and some travelling.
  

I'm aware these goals are not easy to achieve, but with passion, hard work, good bankroll management, and high discipline, I believe I can achieve them. Gotta try at least, hey? We miss all those shots we never take after all. I don't have a wife or kids either so it seems the right time.

I will include photos in the thread where possible, and also add some snippets about me.I look forward to posting my journey and having some or any support along the way. All feedback welcome, and feel free to ask any question. I take some inspiration from other blogs and will be as transparent as possible.

Hero goes nutting...

Good luck from a fellow London grinder, I look forward to following your progress! Where do you play mostly?

thanks bud I appreciate it. Usually play at the vic or the hippodrome. Sometimes I'll make it to aspers too, it's far but the softness of the games definitely compensates! How about you?

So last night was my first "post-blog" session, and I hit up the hippodrome for some 1/2. Ended up posting a 9 hour session. I think my game is far too up and down, I end up in a lot of marginal spots, and go through a lot of swings within a session. I oscillate between playing a LAG and TAG style, so I guess it comes with the LAG territory.

So, pumped up for a night ahead, I'm seated straight away UTG. I don't know anyone at the table so straddle to 5 - I don't usually do this, but I go ahead and do it for the first hand as I have the "bright idea" that it might make others perceive me as gambooly.

Young white guy in MP tries to make it 7 (not realising there's a straddle), can only call, then young Asian guy in MP+1 makes it 15. Folds to hero who calls with JJ. MP also calls. Both Villains have approx 500 behind, hero has 200.

Pot is 48.

Flop comes Q J 3

It checks round. I would usually lead out here, but hoping someone with a Q, or MP1 would make a cbet (planning to check-raise to rep a draw).

Turn 7

Hero donks 30, MP folds, MP1 calls.

Pot 108.

River 10d.

Hero leads out again for 40, V raises to 85. I need to call 45 to win 240. I range him to TT, JT, AK, 89. His raise screams value, but I have difficulty putting him on AK as would have expected a c-bet on the flop. Yep, he had AK for the nuts. Not a great start to the night

Soon after, I decided to table change (table seemed reg infested), and find myself in a few spots where I'm the pre-flop aggressor, hit the flush draw, bet it aggressively, and keep missing. I also win a few marginal pots, so I'm in for 450 with 300 in front of me, when I get AhAd in the SB.

Pre-flop, UTG calls, MP calls, HJ calls and button (main V) raises to 12 with 500 behind. Villain is a young Spanish guy, extremely tricky (probably a little too tricky for his own good). He's often checking the nuts, even in multi way pots, and is very capable of floating.

Hero 3! to 35, folds to V who calls.

Pot 78

Flop 5 4 8

Hero c-bets 50, villain calls. At this point I'm putting him on JJ+, AQs+. I'm pretty sure I'm ahead.

Pot 178

Turn T Hero checks hoping to rep AK and induce a bet from an overpair or float. V bets 125. With 215 behind, hero ships it. V calls.

Pot 608.

River K. Hero turns AA and is good.


I finish the night with 620 (after paying my cab home, naturally), for a 170 profit. I rate my mental game as 4/5 for the evening - I was down for a while but didn't let this alter my game drastically. If I lost a few (albeit small) pots in a short amount of time I reverted to TAG and tightened up my range, and generally stayed pretty patient. In terms of my actual play I'd rate that at 3/5 for the night. I definitely need to work on my c-bet sizing when I have air, I'll have to work on that this week.

Had an enjoyable night as well - work can be fun too. Some good banter at the tables, had some dim sum, absolutely disgusting (still a bit frozen in the middle), and was generally in a good mood and good state of mind. Had a young (must have been like 21) and nervous Asian guy to my left for a while, think he felt a bit intimidated. I tried to chat to him, but he was far too nervous. He had an earphone in one ear, I asked him what he was listening to (break the ice), and he nervously stammered "er... m-m-m-usic?". That showed me.

Overall, not a bad night, and now the bankroll stands at £4,076.

On we go.

Went for some Mexican food today with the other half, she went to meet a friend, so with a couple of hours spare before I go out for a friends birthday tonight I thought I'd check out a cash game again...

Not so good. One interesting spot came up, not quite sure how it went wrong but I guess writing this will probably make it a bit more obvious..

UTG goes all in for 15 (sigh) folds to CO, young Asian guy (been talking a bit of strategy) who flats with 300 behind. Hero on button with 350 has AQo. I 3 bet to 40, V in CO calls.

Pot 95

Flop T 3 3 with two spades (I have no spades).

V checks, hero bets 60 (hoping for a one and done here to fold out smaller pairs. V calls.

Pot 215

Turn T

V goes all in for 200 more. Hero folds.

Goes to show down, turn comes a 3, V shows 99, UTG small stack shows A5o for chopped pot. I think this hand is a good example of my c-bet sizing issues with air... Going to have to keep studying on this.

Generally I don't think these short sessions are good for me, I need to work on my mentality and not have a "rushed" attitude in these spots. Another mental game area to work on.

I'd rank my mental game in this little session as 2/5 and general play again as 2/5. Overall session £170 down.

Bankroll £3,901

Will try to hit the tables again later tonight.

Managed to fit in another couple of sessions over the weekend, putting in approx. 20 hours in the weekend.



Sadly the last two sessions didn’t go well, and that’s three losing sessions in a row now. Total losses across the last two sessions were £475. Lost about 300 in a big pot versus aggressive, LAG villain who had been 3 betting very light. I 4 bet with AK, he shipped it, I called. I didn’t hit and he turned over JJ. Meh, not too fussed about that, I think I played it right.



An interesting hand at 1/2



V1, BB, young scandy guy, no reads, 400 behind



V2, MP, aggressive Russian, will shut down multiway, decent hand reader, 200



V3, irrelevant, 300 behind



V4, middle aged Russian woman, ok player EXCEPT will call extremely light pre flop (called a raise to 23 with T3s in 4 way pot (obviously ended up winning)), misses a lot of value post-flop by not raising hands on the river unless with the nuts



Hero image is LAG, approx. 400 behind in SB



MP raises to 10, V3 calls, V4 calls, hero calls with 66, BB calls



Pot 50



Flop T 6 5 rainbow



Hero donks for 15 – I was hoping to induce a raise here, instead everyone calls except for V3



Pot 110



Turn 7



Hero bets 40. I’m trying to control the pot here, various draws have come in at this point, so I figure to get more money in the pot if I’m still ahead, or try and give me good odds to boat up in case someone has the straight. V1 (SB) and V4 (Russian woman) call.



Pot 230



River 2



Hero bets 50 – with so much money in the pot if I’m ahead I know both players still probably call. It’s also a blocking bet in case there’s any straights out there.

Both Vs call. Pot 330. V4 shows 34 for the small straight. She was up and down on the flop, hit it on the turn. My flop bet was too small, although knowing this villain she will have called up to 85% pot bet on the flop for the up and down straight draw. In hindsight, and over the long term however, this bet always needs to be more. #chargethosedraws!!

This weeks homework:

* Listen to 2 x Podcasts by Jared Tendler

* Review all hands I noted from my last 5 sessions

* Have a session with coach, with focus on c-betting with air

* Read 8 hands from 2+2

* Comment on 3 hands from 2+2

* Watch the video "c-betting like a champ"

* Re-listen to past session with coach

* Watch 1 other coaching video, taking notes

Good luck OP. Hand above is pretty interesting, I would bet larger on flop as you mentioned all day long. If draws wanna call then they can, but you can't give such a good price!!

Managed to squeeze in 3 hours tonight with the remit of "be strong, be patient, play your hands passively".

Ended up £85 up for the night, nothing spectacular but GII good against the table fish with AK on a K 8 9ss flop and he hit his flush (raising my cbet all in), leaving me 225 down. No drama.

Soon after the following hand happens:

V1, fish from above (calls 80% of flops), 500 behind,MP

V2, seems like a reg, quite aggressive, plays spec hands, 400 behind l, SB

Hero, solid image, 200 behind, BTN

V1 and 2 others limp, hero raises to 15 with QJss

V1 and v2 call

Pot 50

Flop Kh 9h 7d

Checks to me, I check as v1 is such a station

Turn Tc

V2 donks for 20, V1 calls, hero raises to 60 - is this too small?

Both villains call

River 8h

Pot 230

V2 checks, v1 goes all in. Tough spot. I tank. Im very close to folding when the hand above reminds me this V played his flush draw very aggressively last time. I call, v2 folds, v1 shows a set of 3s. Know your villain...

Bankroll stands at £3,511

Am working mostly this week so going to have to wait until Friday for my next session.

In the meantime I'm going to work on my fitness. Aim for the week is to get 2 runs in (1 down), play a couple of matches of football ("soccer"), do a couple of 10k cycles, do a few abs/press-up/pull-up sessions, and maybe even squeeze in an Insanity workout session too. Healthy body, Stealthy Mind.

Will obbo also make sure I smash my poker studies..

I'm a bit of a nomad, I play basically everywhere! Lifetime I have racked up most hours at the Empire, but it's rare that I play more than two days a week in one place now. I go least to Aspers - the place just tilts me - but I see there is a lot of value in the room.

Are you trying to qualify for a cash race? IMO for a low stakes reg with a smallish roll it is a great way to get a leg up. It's also good motivation for putting in volume.

That's not a bad shout to be fair. The only issue is this month is quite tricky with various work commitments, next month I'm up and down the country a little bit and the month after Im off to the states!

I just checked the Vic though they're qualifying month started on Monday so I might as well try and go for that.

I went to the empire on Monday, definitely want to go there more - seemed quite fishy compared to the vic and hippo, although not sure if that was just by chance

Managed to fit in 4 sessions over the weekend. Friday night I played 1/2 at the Vic, finishing the session £25 down.

As I waited for a table I sat at 1/1. Ended up on in a hand where I was at the river with a pot of £20 or so.

I had A 4,

board was 23810 J

I reraised young asian on river to 24 trying to rep the flush. He tank called, I showed my hand and he went to muck his hand. Another player says "What??" and V replies "he has the flush". The other player, older Asian guy says "no, he doesn't, show your cards". I was fuming .. Villain then says, "no, he still wins". WT?! I'm not complaining though.. must have been one of those famous bluff calls.

Played again at the Vic on Saturday day, finishing £113 down, and played today at the Hippodrome. At 2pm every day they have a draw for who gets the free rake card, and I got it, happy days. Sadly, I didn't get to see any rake after being in for 500, with only 200 on the table about an hour into the session. 300 down with a couple of bad beats and mistimed bluffs it wasn't feeling like my day. Kept my cool though, tightened up for a couple hours, and soon after that span up my stack up to £900. Hit a big hand to double up and then won a lot of small and medium sized pots. Here's the stack



Felt good to get back on the winning track. I have to get up early tomorrow so couldn't take full advantage of the rake card as I wanted to go to the Vic to get the Sunday double points for the cash race next month. Got to the Vic, and sat down on 1/3 as it was the only seat immediately available. I played for an hour, had my dinner, and left with another £125 up.

Not a bad day. Most importantly I feel like I played well, and my mental game was very good. I was able to increase my reciprocal profit by getting money in some very thin value spots and controlled pots well. Will post hands at some point in the week.

Bank roll at £3,898

At the vic, 4 hands in, aggro villain (played before) bets to 10 on the button I have AKo and 3! to 26, he reraises all in to 103, I call. He obviously has AA. Sigh... These starts are killing me :-/

Ok, managed to win a little back and finished £35 up for the night after 3 hours.

Came down to the following hand:

V1, 350, raises a lot, calls 3 bets light, UTG

V2, MP2, 110, same villain who'd won with AA earlier. Had earlier called me 3 streets with a flush draw, hit second pair on river and still called a 2/3 pot (I was bluffing, sigh).

Hero, quite aggressive bluffy image (see above), 210

V1 raises to 12, v2 calls, I have JJ and 3bet to 40. I don't usually do that with JJ but with these villains I know I will get called by worse (often).

V1 folds, v2 calls.

Pot 92

Flop Q72r, we both check.

Turn 5, both check.

River 3, villain checks. I ship it, he tank calls and mucks when I show.

Bankroll at £3,933.

It's a grind this poker game, fackin 'ell.

Hit up the vic again for a couple hours, finished £150 up. Same as usual though, found myself £150 down within an hour! Maybe I should just nit it up the first hour of every session???

Been a slow week, just managed to fit in one extremely short session for £29 up. Going to go to the vic tomorrow morning for a couple hours then probably spend most of Sunday there too. Will post any interesting HHs.

Am working during the week at the moment for the next month so finding it hard to squeeze in the hours... Not for want of trying though.

Need to get to £6,666 by mid May...

Good luck!

I prefer playing at the Hippo but sometimes the Games seem a bit reg heavy. Are they any good?

Thank you kind sir.

It is quite reg heavy, most are good thinking players but nothing extraordinary. There's usually a lot of tourists there too though, the games on Friday and Saturday night can get very juicy. I actually find the games at the Vic a little more reg infested, although at 1/2 they're all pretty nitty. It's good if you've got the balls to double barrel, they'll usually let their hands go there. The only reason I'm playing at the Vic a little more this month is because I'm trying to get into the monthly cash race tournament so need to rack up those points.

I'm sure I'll get in, then bust out early doors and claim "cooler"

Realistically if I'm going to do any well in the tournament I'm going to have to spend the first 2 weeks in April studying tournament poker and practising online, it's been a long time since I've played in a MTT.

By the way, I think softest cash games in London are definitely at Aspers in stratford, but can be a mission to get there. If it's not too far from you though I'd recommend there all day every day.

subbed and gl

i'm moving to london very soon so ill be clashing with you at the hippo

So since my last session on Monday I've managed to fit in 5 more sessions:

Vic, 1/2, 2 hours, £150 up on Tuesday
Vic, 1/2 1 hour, £29 up on Wednesday
Vic, 1/1, 3 hours, £205 down on Saturday morning
Vic, 1/2, 2 hours, £20 down on Sunday morning
Hippodrome, 1/2, 4 hours, £550 up on Saturday afternoon

When I got to the vic on Saturday morning there was only £1/1 games going on. Had a pretty up and down session, got turned quite horribly when I had trips on the flop, bet hard, was called by QQ (899 flop), who filled up with a Q on the turn. But I managed to turn it round and was pretty much even for the session sitting on £200 in front of me.

Then it all went wrong.

I have AhAc on the big blind, 3 limpers to the pot, and I jack it up to £7. 2 callers - loose caller UTG with 200 behind, and OMC on the button.

Flop comes 2h 8h Jh. The pot is 21, and I lead out for 15 knowing any jack will probably peel, and Kh and maybe Qh will come for the ride. Both call!

Turn 5x and the pot is 66

I lead out for 40, UTG calls, and OMC goes all in for 40 more. Now this is where I spaz out. I don't want to call and give UTG an opportunity to push me off, so I go all in over the top. Such terrible play - in fact I probably want him to come along. He calls. WTF!?

River bricks. OMC turns over 9h10h, UTG shows Qh4h to scoop the pot. Disaster. I leave shortly after, cursing my terrible play (should I check the turn? At least just flat OMC!).

Thankfully managed to play some decent poker today, and finished £550 up at the hippodrome (after paying for a meal, massage and a cab home of course... "business expenses" )

The session actually got off to a pretty bad start, I was slowplayed by AA and KK (same damn player) and my KK hit a JJ which rivered a J (same player AGAIN), and was soon £250 in the hole. I requested a table change (need a winning image) and topped up to £300 (in for £500 total). I was able to win a couple smallish pots, then this happened:

UTG straddles to 5, 3 callers, I call in CO with JhTh. Button, aggro player, not seen many showdowns but loves to 3 bet, raises to 30. SB looks like he's thinking about raising but just elects to call. 2 of the limpers call, and I call as I'm last to act.

Pot 125

Flop Kh 5h 4x

SB fires out 50. MP folds, I call, button folds. At this point I put V on AK, KQ and figure I have the implied pots.

Pot 225.

Turn 10x

Villain fires out 75. I'm getting good odds here, and figure any heart, any J, and T are all good (gives me about 33% equity if he has AK).

Pot 375

River 7h (booya!).

V bets out 100. I have 185 at this point. I think about just calling here, but his bet looks like he's not too fussed about the heart. But I figure I've only got another 85 on top, and don't want to leave any money on the table so I ship it. He snaps me off, I show the flush and he turns KK! Never thought he was that strong!! I guess that's what happens when you slowplay your big pairs preflop, some river rat with JT comes along for the ride and sucks out on you!

To make it matters even better, my team (United) win 3-0 today. A good day for Beady Bear (and helps me get over that terrible AA hand).

Bankroll at £4,438

Cheers bro, see you on the felt!

Gl gl. Subbed. I might see you at the hippo when I touch down in UK. London is first on my hit list and sounds like a good place to get my feet wet in live poker.

Cheers man - when you hitting London and how long for?

Not sure yet just waiting on my visa application and to sell my car and all my crap. my fiance has got train tickets for when I get there so maybe going for a long weekend after I get over my jet lag.