I have tried a PG&C thread before. It did not last. When 2+2 was down for a couple of weeks I used that as a convenient excuse to not update it and never went back to it.



This time it will be different. I have created a pretty little blog, which I am updating fairly regularly and which I enjoy doing. My blog is about poker, travel and anything else going on in my life but I will keep this thread just pure poker pretty much. The link to my blog is in my profile if you are interested.



The Challenge:

Take my lifetime winnings at poker up to $1,000,000 by the end of 2013.



Reasons for the Challenge:

I am losing motivation with poker, I do not enjoy it as much as I used to. Quite simply I do not play enough, I often play lower stakes than I should just because it is easier and I just don't want the stress of losing. This is a poor attitude and stems from the fact I have lost interest in poker and the money is not so important to me as it once was. I want to dedicate my time to something new that excites me, however, first I wish to make a million at poker. This way I feel I can hopefully just walk away from it or at least just play when I want to. As soon as I noticed I was 'close' to $1m there is no way I can stop until I get there.

I am going to try and share a lot in this challenge and talk about poker a fair amount. This is in the hope it can reignite my desire to play the game.




About me and winnings to date:

I am 27 and have been playing poker 'full time' since 2008. In that time I have won around $860,000. I play stakes from $100nl to $1000nl. Probably about 70% 6max and 30% HU.

I did not want a wall of text in my first post here so for my full poker story and detail on my winnings check out the about me section on my poker blog.


Questions:

I will happily answer any questions about myself or poker in general. I am not intending on outing the sites I play on or my screen names as I just don't so any reason to and can't think of anything good will come of that.



I will post my graph of last month plus this month so far later... After I have played a session. See the challenge is motivating me all ready

FÜRST!

GL. u seem to know what your doing!

should be a sick thread...love blogs written by pros xD

As promised here are some pictures.

Last month



Not all hands are included as play some on different sites and play hudless on the mac sometimes. In total I won $8,404 last month.



This month so far



Again most hands included but not all, think I am actually a few hundred up. Was away for the first two weeks of the month so playing catchup to try and get at least a semi decent amount of poker in.


New Site
Whenever I play on a new site, I tend to start low and work may up the stakes. This is pretty -EV but meh it makes me feel more comfortable with the site. Here is my recorded hands on the new site. I started with a $1000 and played $100nl and $200nl before nearly busting my roll and then rather than deposit again I dropped down to... yikes $50nl. Then climbed back up and have a roll that I can play $1000nl with.


Will post a couple of hands later.

Sometimes I do

Thanks, hope you enjoy mine

Lets do this!!! Get that Milsky.

Can you post a graph with all your play since 2008?

u seem to know what your doing![img]http://www.***********/g.gif[/img]

Oh how I wish I could. I haven't got most of my hands, I used to back them up but I don't even know where the backups are now. I wish I made more an effort to keep all the hand histories as looking at them on a graph when I hit the million would be super sweet. I have recorded the amounts and time playing in every session I have ever played though so I am going to compile them all together and make a homemade graph of it. It wont be as pretty as a pokertracker or HEM graph but will still be nice to visualise my journey

Just read your blog and I can really relate to your story. I also study maths and have pretty much no idea where I want to go from there.

Got a few poker questions, too:
How do you deal with lossing sessions? Do you have a look at the cashier / graph while playing? And to what extent do you loose confidence in your game when on a downswing?

GL with the grind.

Ha yeah maths is a little tricky as everyone says you have sooo many options with it. Best advice I can give is to get internships if you haven't graduated already, it may give you some direction or just show you what you don't want to do. I graduated with no experience and no idea - worked out well for me in the end though I guess



After most losing sessions I am affected but not hugely, unfortunately often it does dictate my mood though, which I really dislike. But if I go out and do a different activity I am normally fine and get over it quickly. However. I am worse when I have lost due to me tilting or playing poorly. As I know this could have been prevented I normally give myself a pretty hard time over it.

I look at HEM or the cashier relentlessly during a session. I don't think it affects my play too much.

Hmmm, tough to answer. I went through probably my worst downswing month in May I think. I actually broke even after rakeback in the end - but it was hard and I did lose confidence. When this happens I tend to move down stakes or try a new site out with a small bankroll and play the lower stakes and work my way up. I think this is a solid method of dealing with it as my confidence grows with my bankroll on the new site. Might not be the most +EV way to deal with it, but for me it is much less stressful then staying at the same stakes and losing confidence and money.


Cheers for the goodluck mate, what games/stakes do you play?

love your story about how you quit your job. Especially love the end of it where your asked about your gambling earnings. I wouldnt really say thats to douchy at all.

Just taking a shot a 50NL 6max zoom.

Thanks man! Will get round to finishing my whole poker story soon

you go girl!

Your "About Me" was a good read. Do you still live in London?

GL bro.

Ok so I had a pretty bad day yesterday. Which rounded off a very poor month. Will summarise the month with graphs and what not in the next day or two.

I wanted to post about today though. It started off were last month left, played 1/2 and 2/4. Lost a few buyins and I started to fear the worst, but I played pretty well. Went back on later and played 1/2 and 0.5/1. Was not too confident in recovering the $1200 especially since I was playing lower but did not want to increase my loses (obviously!). I often find it best to move down a level if I am thinking about the money I have lost in a previous session (or not play) as I am probably not in the best mental state.

Anyway it turned around as you can see in my graph:




Some Hands:



Played this guy briefly before, it was very early in the match, my first 3bet. I remembered he 4bet the first time last time so I 5bet shoved. Pretty bad hand to do it with if he is calling it off with pocket pairs!! Really surprised by his hand, with the information I had at the time it was an ok play though.



Later in the game against the same villain:




He was folding to alot of 3bets so was using more junky hands like Q5s. Thought I had ginned the flop He quit afterwards.

Later in the day things in my life got a little bit brighter:







Got to love that flop in a family pot, have to shove the flop. Too many action killing cards, and I thought he was poor enough to not be able to value raise fold. Would probably flat the flop against someone better as even if they had TT here it is probably a fold when I shove.


That's all for now

Err thanks

Cheers matey, nah moved away from London a few years back. Went to Nottingham after London, then Sheffield then a few other places. Will update the about me section to cover all my movings soon.

5/10 not treating ya so good eh?

Yeah, only a British man would consider that to be douchey - an American would have considered that line to be a supreme act of self control!!

(compliment, definitely - and I'm American)

Great bio mate, will follow this thread, and your blog.

Ok, so after a month or so off from poker due to sorting out my investment property and relocating to Italy. I am now back playing poker. I am up about $3k or thereabouts so far in Italy.

I have blogged about the road trip and everything non poker here for those who are interested in more than my poker stuff.

Will provide a more comprehensive poker report when the month is over.

Thanks matey