Update 23/02/2011

It's been a month since I last updated. The truth is I haven't played a lot - a few days tops. I made Bronze last month for Iron Man but I've come nowhere near this month. I played a lot after that last update but I mean I didn't play after the start of February.

The good news is that when I have played I have won. After that last post I went and lost even more, and went down to $550. After I collected myself mentally I managed to win it all back - I've mostly had winning sessions since then. I'm sitting on $1069.09 and feel confident about my game whatever the variant of poker.

Most of the wins have come from playing $0.10/$0.25 PLO8 and 6max Limit $1/$2 O8. I crushed in both, netting what I guesstimate is $400 total? The rest has come from $1/$2 2-7 Triple Draw and more recently, $0.50/$1 Limit Hold'em.

I figure I never did badly at Limit Hold'em so I may as well give it a go. The full ring games are still great and there are usually 2 or 3 fish playing above 40% of the hands with low aggression. The tight players don't really play that tight either. The tight Limit Hold'em players are playing probably between a third and a half more of the hands than the NLHE afficionados. I can't say I'm a fantastic player because there's certainly spots in which I feel totally lost (when I am unsure whether to peel the flop or not) but so far I've won $39.55 in 799 hands which is an excellent result over a relatively tiny sample. I am going to play this a lot and see if I can win long term at it. It feels easier than O8 although it's more complicated to play. I think that is related to the fact that split pots are rare so the rake is much more beatable. It wasn't an issue for me in FLO8 because long term I have won >$1000 at that game. However if I scooped every hand I played in which I won money like in Hold'em I'd probably have won double that amount. I think the fact my HEM stats say I've won $25 more than I've paid rake playing Hold'em could well make my hypothesis hold true. But it's a small sample and there's no way 9BB/100 is sustainable, so we'll see how it all pans out!

I haven't really got any hands worth posting. Like I said, I'm confident in my play so any hand I post would either be some irrelevant bad beat post or one where I played great and got uber value. It's pointless posting either. So you should expect only to see the "Swings & Roundabouts", ergo the ups and downs of my roll, and the details of what I've been playing.

I know I should play more. I've said to my staker i should have $1500 come the end of March. But I don't like playing when I feel poker is boring me or my head isn't in the right place. Every time I want to sit down and be able to focus without any mental hindrances so that I play my A game. 'Variety is the spice of life', I tell my friend Maxcel, despite his nagging at me trying to get me to have grind on the mind as much as he does. The guy plays every day for hours! Most of the time that's just not for me. Poker will still be there tomorrow I reckon.


I won't be getting any rakeback. I'm trying to get that resolved. But my affiliate is not good at being an affiliate and he seems quite shady. More on that coming soon.

On a final note, I'm going on holiday to Madeira in April.

Signing off,

-LV