Thought it was worth updating this thread again. I got very few hands in the second half of 2010 - mainly due to going back to uni and juggling studying, with seeing my girlfriend at weekends, who lives 200 miles away. I recently broke up with my girlfriend plus my studies are going well so I thought I would put a decent amount of effort into poker. Also, it is quite possible I don't have enough money to reach the end of my course without being forced into supply teaching - this would be a nice backup!

Anyhow, my target of $150,000 by October 2014 is still on. Had a pretty ****** year overall, but volume was not bad for me seeing as I had a full time job for the first half and was too busy in the second half. I'm aiming to put in about 30k hands per month over 2011, which will probably take in the region of 20 hours per week to achieve. Aim to watch 4-5 videos per week too.

Everyone likes graphs so here is my year to date - being under EV makes me sad Coincidentally, my rakeback/bonuses equal exactly what I am under EV so the EV also represent what I won in the total this year.




There is a actually a fair chunk I have won in live tourneys and some bonuses not included, but based on HE manager so far:

Total Profit since start of challenge: ~$1760

Didn't catch this thread the first time round.

Interesting project you've got going here.

As a fellow UK ex-Maths teacher I totally empathise with your decision to seek something else. LOL @ the guy who saw it as evidence of your unsuitability as a teacher.

As for the Head who couldn't cope with you using poker as a way of getting kids to take an interest, just wow. Reminds me of the time, as a trainee teacher, I wanted to use a pack of playing cards in a lesson. Head of Department couldn't have reacted more negatively if I'd planned a lesson on Practical Witchcraft.

Anyway, good luck, dude. Really rooting for you on this one.

Lol start to the year, I actually felt I played quite nicely overall. Suffering a bit due to the allin EV and losing around a couple of buyins due to tilt calling during the 10 buyin plummet.

Hello mate, 1st time to see this post~ My best friend is also a teacher in london, so i know what the heck u were going through~ Violent stabbing, ignorant parents on crack, death threats~ Even though my best friend is the person with the most discipline, work ethic and heart, he's thinking of a change of career path after 4 years of teaching... So i know exactly what ur going through~

I hope ur still working towards ur goal mate~ Keep it up~

What did you do with regards to the bookmakers, just a cashier?

Time for an update!

I stopped updating the thread back in January as I felt it was causing me to be too results oriented - I really wanted to post winning graphs, and it effected my play - kind of ******ed but true :-) Quite a few things have happened since Jan: I ran insanely well up until March. I was running at something like 6bb/100 over 150k hands at 100NL, plus rakeback/bonuses, over the course of the whole challenge. A couple of failed 200NL shots in there (lost~30 buyins) - pretty annoying since there was a substantial shared player pool between 100NL and 200NL on Ongame at the time, and I was table selecting very carefully. Then I went on downswing of about 30 buyins over 30k hands at 100NL and I had a decision to make: I had enough cash in my bankroll to get me to the end of my uni course, but if I continued to play I would basically be using rent money to do so (I had 6 months living expenses and 6 months to do on my course) I decided to cash out, concentrate on my Master's degree and on getting a PhD place.

It worked out well in the end - I have a Master's degree in Climate Change (with distinction!) from a world leading insitute in the area, my supervisor said my project is probably publishable with a bit more work and I am now studying for a PhD at the University of Bristol. It's an amazing course - essentially I study topics in almost every area of science, and attempt to apply mathematical methods used in one area to other areas. Got a 15 months of messing about with cutting edge science, and scientists, before I choose my PhD topic - and financially secure for 4 years! In addition, secondary school teaching is a distant, fading nightmare. I no longer wake in the night in sweats at the prospect of another day of dreary, stressful, monotony.

Finally, I met an incredible girl. Easily the hottest girl I have ever been with. Obligatory pic:


On to the poker...

I'm not going to carry on the thread in the previous style - I don't think people are so interested in multiple graphs, minute details of bankroll or dozens of hands. Instead, I'll just blog a bit about what I'm doing in general terms, how things are going. General thoughts on poker and life I guess.

I still have the original target, of having around £100k by the end of my PhD (getting the PhD position was part of the target, so that is achieved!). I have, however, realised that simply grinding away at small/mid stakes NLHE is unlikely to get me there as things stand. I need to improve a lot, so am going to dedicate around a third to a half of my time to studying the game via books and videos, and the rest playing. Also, I'm going to be boring and have worked out that I can simply save £15k of that from my income, and more if I do some private tutoring.

Also, I plan on buying a bunch of stuff on the way - I need some kind of incentive. I definitely want a decent digital piano, a trip to San Fransisco, a nice watch, and probably a bunch of other stuff. I think simply sitting down and grinding for months on end with no reward simply sucks. Will update on my less than baller purchases! Going to spend first few buyins on GF's Christmas and Birthday presents....

I've decided to play on Sky Poker. The games are insanely weak - there is no rakeback, no HUD, and the software is really tilting, so grinders tend to avoid it. The games are also quite slow - 6-handed tables will get through 50-60 hands per hour. I'm only going to 4-table and focus on really crushing each level. The games are so weak that variance will be a lot less than on Stars/Ipoker etc. at equivelent levels.

My bankroll has basically been spent, so I'm depositing £200, starting at £10NL and just plan on grinding it up. I'll only be able to play ~4000 hands per week tops, so it is going to be a long ride.

Here goes...

gl with your goals
p.s. no need for all that math bullsh*t in online poker it doesnt exist
live is a different story where it does exist

Been donking around on 10NL on Sky Poker. The games seem really weird compared to playing 100NL. Basically nobody seems to get it in with worse than AA or KK - literally every time I have seen full stacks all-in preflop they had AA/KK. Quite a lot of random 50bb-60bb who commit with anything. Despite the virtual non-existence of 3 betting without premium hands, people still love calling 3 bets with all kind of junk out of position, so I am liberally 3-betting for value. Any agro action post flop from my opponents means they have a hand and I can lay down top pair. Seems pretty straightforward to crush (famous last words!). Stuggling slightly to adjust hand reading, as a lot of players make odd bets with medium/low showdown value that should be looking for cheap showdowns and would never be bet by reasonable 100NL players. Still, I guess it is a juicy mistake once I figure out how to exploit it properly.

Also, going to try out a biphasic (two sleeps per day) sleep pattern - a nap from 6:30pm-8:00pm and a longer sleep from 1:30am-6am. Been reading about it and it seems pretty sweet, and I should have no problem fitting it into my schedule. May reduce the 4.5 hour block down to 3 hours after a few weeks if it goes well.

Anyone here tried alternative sleep patterns? I usually need around 9 hours, which sucks, and looking for ways to reduce this.

Wow, lost about £160 at £20NL then lost a further £60 at £10NL. Pretty much a vertical drop - only two or three thousand hands. I think I stacked one player in that time and lost countless stacks. So frustrating as I know I can beat 100NL reasonably comfortably on tougher sites, just flopped so few hands and when I did flop something I got repeatedly coolered. Also played pretty poorly, but the standard is so low at this level it feels hard to accept I've been beaten so badly.

Will have to redeposit and try again.

Don't quit men! I've read your thread from cover to cover, such an inspiring story. Especially because of the topics beside poker.

Congrats on getting your masters cum laude! Hope you find an interesting topic for your PhD.
I'm currently finishing my Bsc-degree in biology and am hoping to be admitted to Wageningen agricultural university here in the Netherlands for Agro-ecology master. Also busy trying to climb up the micro-ladder, hoping to someday take a nice break from everything and go down-under or across the pond for a year or so. It'll take me about 15K so thats an interesting challenge for me.

I sincerely hope you'll continue your thread, and that your still with that hottie

Greetings!

Cheers man! The student lifestyle is fantastic isn't it? Perfect for playing poker really. I see you have a thread too here, I'll check it out!

Been super busy with assessments lately but still been donking away at the micros. I've had to make some adjustments to my play but think I can crush them without too much effort. Basically I was playing far too loose. I've tightened up considerably - no HUD on the site I play but I am probably around 15% VPIP currently, whereas I was playing 25%-30% VPIP profitably at 100NL.

Yes, I am still with the hottie too :-)

bump/update?

Hey! I totally forgot about this thread and pretty much randomly checked it today and found someone had posted. Fate perhaps, but will have to post an update I feel - thank you for asking GIMMETHECHIPS!

I've only recently started playing again properly this month, since that pretty stunning January where I won enough to get me through my Master's course comfortably. Been busy studying for my PhD course in complex systems, and pretty much chasing my globe trotting girlfriend around the world (Germany, France, New Zealand and next week Spain!).

I generally quite conservative with bankroll management and separating RL money from poker money. I deposited £200 on one of the more secure Ipoker skins and have run it up to £570 playing $20NL, and have withdrawn the initial deposit, so am back up and running with a roll of around $600 now :-) A bit of a come down dropping down so much in stakes, but on the bright side I am crushing at around 15bb/100 over my first 18k hands.

Here is my graph since I started playing again. About 5k hands played in February this year and the rest in June. Playing 4-6 tables of $20NL with a little £20NL and 20EuroNL. 14.9bb/100 so far, so running hot!



Will keep the thread updated if people are interested. Feel free to suggest your own thread for me to sweat to, been very out of touch with Goals and Challenge lately...

Still got 2 years to hit $150k :-)

My new screen name is Ilovetonyblair

I forgot our sick poker can be. In the space of 2.5k hands today:

KK<AA twice all in preflop
AA<KK all in preflop
QQ<KK all in preflop
Middle Set < Top Set all in on flop
Middle Set < OESD all in on flop
Flopped 3rd nut flush < flopped second nut flush
On three seperate occasions lost to a river gutshot for about 1/2 a stack per time

Only 5 buyins down though - could have been worse :-)

Really nice thread man, i am 100% sure that you will accomplish your goal way before the deadline.

Cheers man!