Mike's Blog: 2014

Friday, November 28, 2014

Poker: Financial results for November 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 3 MTT with target of breaking even

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 17.23
Live play : -£ 0.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 0.12)
NLHE             ($0.10)   264 hands +$ 32.24
PLO              ($0.10)   261 hands -$ 34.36
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)    45 hands +$ 2.00

Tournament Results (+$ 17.35)
4x STT +$ 42.65 (3 cashes)
5x MTT Micromillions -$ 25.30

Reflect
November also turned out to be a funny old month for Poker (again), as been up and down a bit from Bognor and also having busy days at work which leave me not wanting to face a Poker session after dinner. I did manage to get a few cash sessions in, albeit not quite as many as targetted. The results were OK overall, but need to focus even more, as there's still one or two hands where I dump all my stack needlessly.

My STT efforts were pretty good hit rate (albeit on tiny sample size) but I do seem to do better than average for this format.

The MTTs were all about MicroMillions. I did manage to satalite for free into Event 39 but paid "full price" for the other 4 events. Sadly I didnt last very long in any of the games... around 20 mins for 3 and 40 mins for the other 2, but was low cost and quite fun, so don't mind really.

December should be more of a normal month.... although we are planning a couple of trips to Bognor before Xmas and then there is Xmas itself..... so perhaps it won't be such a "normal" month after all !!

December 2014 Targets
Back to normal routine... kindof !
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 3 MTT with target of breaking even

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for October 2014

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 11.27
Live play : -£ 0.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (+$ 10.27)
NLHE ($0.10) 203 hands +$ 15.37
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10) 56 hands -$ 5.10

Tournament Results (+$ 1.00)
5x STT (Turbo Spinner) +$ 1.00

Reflect
From a Poker perspective, September was a bit of a non-month. Being tied up with the stresses and time commitments of moving into the new flat meant I didn't get much spare time. The evenings I did have spare time, was just wanting a nice relaxing, stress free evening so often just vegitated in front of the TV !

The little I did play was enjoyable though and played OK. The Turbo spinners were a bit of fun to begin with, but actually soon got bored, so probably won't bother again!

November should be more or less back to normal, but with the distraction of still doing stuff at the new flat, but also taking part in as many Micro Millions events as I can!

November 2014 Targets
Will be focusing on MicroMillions most likely
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 3 MTT with target of breaking even

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Poker: Financial results for September 2014

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 235.58
Live play : -£ 80.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 21.17)
NLHE             ($0.10)   409 hands -$ 24.97
PLO              ($0.10)    82 hands +$ 11.32
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)    44 hands -$ 7.52

Tournament Results (-$ 214.41)
16x MTT WCOOP sat        -$ 116.90
1x MTT (180 seater)     -$   8.00
1x STT EPT London       -$ 36.00
1x STT WCOOP sat        -$   9.25
21x STT (9 seat)         -$ 44.26 (4 cashes)

Reflect
I told my WCOOP story in my previous article at http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/poker-wcoop-2014-summary.html so won't repeat it here. The other tournament results are a little below my expectations but as the STT are mostly turbo format, am expecting a fair amount of variance anyway

The cash didn't quite hit targets, but am content with my play so can't grumble too much about the results.

October 2014 Targets
Will be focusing on moving into our flat!! adjusted targets are:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 3 MTT with target of breaking even

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Poker: WCOOP 2014 summary

Can my WCOOP be over already ? :(

Yes but WCOOP 2014 has been a little bit kinder to me than last year !

My 2014 plan was to not have a plan :) and that seems to have worked out to a certain degree.

Firstly my results:

WCOOP#04 sat    Omaha      $25.50
WCOOP#05 sat    Hold' em      $27.00
WCOOP#08 sat    Omaha HL $ 9.25
WCOOP#08 sat    Omaha HL $27.00
WCOOP#08 sat    Omaha HL $ 0.00 (FPP)
WCOOP#12 sat    Hold' em      $ 9.30
WCOOP#13 sat    Hold' em      $27.00
WCOOP#14 sat    Hold' em      $31.50
WCOOP#16 sat    Omaha      $40.80
WCOOP#16 sat    Omaha      $27.00
WCOOP#32 sat    Hold' em      $24.00
WCOOP#33 sat    8 game      $44.00
WCOOP#33 sat    8 game      $27.00
WCOOP#35 sat    Omaha      $25.50
WCOOP#36 sat    2-7      $27.00 (Return $269.20)
WCOOP#49 sat    NLHE/PLO $27.00
WCOOP#55 sat    Hold' em      $11.00
WCOOP#55 sat    Hold' em      $11.00

So out of 18 attempts to get into 13 events:

Total spend : $420.85
Total return : $269.20
Overall loss : $151.65

None of my attempts to satellite into the main events came to anything sadly. My 2-7 low ball triple draw was the closest as I came 2nd for the cash prize, which was quite lucky in the end ! I laid out more than last year, but played more sats and got some money back at least, so a small step forward.

Unlike last year, my bankroll is more or less intact still so can lick my wounds and get back to my normal grinding mode and hope to make some of the outgoings back

Friday, August 29, 2014

Poker: WCOOP 2014 preview

It’s that time of year again… when I start dreaming of winning lots of high return tournaments and change my life, yes it’s WCOOP Smile

There seem to be a lot of games I would like to play in this years schedule, but of course it’s not feasible to directly buy-in so need to satellite in

Last year I planned to play 10 events, which turned out to be a little ambitious…. my 2013 results show I didn’t get very far Sad smile although did enjoy myself trying of course Smile

This year is a little different, in that we are expecting to exchange contracts on a flat next week , then likely exchange two weeks later… so will doubtless impact any plans I have for playing Poker, right across the WCOOP schedule. This means I’ll have to be a little more flexible and try to anticipate various imponderables

There are 14 tournaments I’d like to play in… but have already played one satellite for a completely different event… so much for my planning…. so in the end the plan is to have no plan at the moment, other than to play as many events as I can feasibly get into !!

Poker: Financial results for August 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 1600 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 800 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 4 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 199.58
Live play : -£ 0.00 (didn't play)

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 100.49)
8 Game           ($0.40)              -$ 2.81
NLHE             ($0.10) 1254 hands -$ 39.85
PLO              ($0.10)   625 hands -$ 49.82
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)   321 hands -$ 8.01

Tournament Results (-$ 99.09)
1x MTT EPT Barcelona Sat   -$ 2.85
1x MTT EPT London Sat      -$ 36.49
1x MTT WCOOP #35 sat       -$ 25.50
9x MTT (180 seater)        -$ 37.88 (2 cashes)
1x STT EPT London sat      -$ 92.84
1x STT UKIPT Isle of Man   +$ 66.21
12x STT (9 seat)           +$ 30.26 (7 cashes)

Reflect
My cash results were quite disappointing. I missed one week's session so didn't hit the hands target, but seem to be consistantly losing 3 or 4 buy-ins per month on both NLHE and PLO the last few months. Something needs to change so will probably play less tables and also make sure I review my hands as have been missing that the last month or so.

So, EPT Barcelona satellite.... :) Actually I thought I had put a filter on for EPT London, so entered by mistake... luckily it was only a small buy-in ! EPT london has been expensive this month, around $130 in total. I think that'll be it for this year, but may get tempted to try one more time. UKIPT Isle of Man was quite interesting, it was a moment of weakness to enter and although I won it, there was not enough players to get a seat into the next round. I was pretty happy to win the money though.

The other tourneys are not too bad a result. I seem to be able to cash more than average at the 180 seat MTT, although not going deep enough to win decent cash. Hopefully I will continue to cash, but get a bit deeper. The 9 seat STT I have been crushing in the three months I've played them. Not sure why, other than the quick structure seems to suit my style of playing at the moment. Hope that will continue as well !

September 2014 Targets

Will be focusing on buying a flat and WCOOP most likely, so along with reducing my cash hands anyway have the following targets:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Satellite into as many WCOOP events as possible !

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Poker: Financial results for July 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 1200 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 600 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 26.28
Live play : -£ 40.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 5.37)
NLHE             ($0.10)   824 hands -$ 32.05
PLO              ($0.10)   405 hands +$ 36.16
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)   106 hands -$ 9.48

Tournament Results (+$ 31.65)
10x Micromillions MTT              +$ 10.62 (3 cashes)
2 x Micromillions MTT satellites   -$ 1.95
4 x Micromillions STT satellites   -$ 3.03
Micromillions net gain +$ 5.64

5x MTT (180 seater) +$ 3.13 (1 cash)
12x STT (9 seat) +$ 22.88 (6 cashes)

Reflect
The Farnborough Poker club is now shut :( so went back to Reading Genting for their £35+5+5 (plus 1 re-entry) Sadly I didn't get much traction and wasn't 'feeling it' so once I was out, decided not to re-buy and went home early.

All my online activity is for the foreseeable, which makes it easier to report on :) I didn't quite make the cash hands target (mainly due to MicroMillions) Although the overall cash total was roughly breakeven, I was a little disappointed with my NLHE results. I'm 4 tabling so playing a little robotically perhaps, so need to keep an eye on that.

I hadn't realised that MicroMillions was running in July, so got a bit side tracked into it. I managed to play 10 Main Events and cashed 3 times, which I thought was pretty good going. Overall a lot of fun and made a small return, so can't complain.

My other MTT and STT results reflect how I feel about my game, in that I'm pretty happy with it at the moment. I am playing a little more aggressively now, especially in the STT which are often Turbo knockout formats, but seems to suit me for the moment. This is likely to give more swingy results, but we'll see over time how it works out.

August 2014 Targets

Back to normal this month:
- Play 1600 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 800 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 4 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Holiday: Bognor 2014

Decided to take a look at holiday flats whilst on holiday in Bognor this time round.

Saturday 5th July

Arrived around 12:30pm after clear run down. Was very windy on the sea front, so went to Hotham Park to have our picnic lunch. Was extremely warm out of the wind ! Took a short walk after lunch, then got to cottage around 2:30pm. Unpacked and did our tradition of washing up all the cutlery/crockery we’ll be using for the holiday to make ourselves at home. The cottage seems roomy and tidy and is very near the beach, so hoping it will be ideal. Apart from the kitchen cupboards and blind, seems clean enough..

Walked up to ‘The Martlets’ (Fayre & Square) for dinner. Similar in style of food (and price) to Hungry Horse chain so in familiar territory. Was pretty busy but the staff were still helpful and friendly. Ordering at the bar was pretty disorganised and slow, but food came out very quickly and was decent enough. Walked back and had a nice cup of tea (and some beer Smile )

Sunday 6th July

Had decent sleep, but got up for breakfast (when on holiday, ridiculous idea !) Ready for action at 10am so went to the West Park car show and had cup of tea before walking around looking at the cars. Got back to the cottage for lunch, then watched British Grand Prix. Needed a walk after the extended sitting watching TV, so walked up to Felpham and round back to town and had our Sunday Lunch in ’Hatters Inn’ Decent for a chain pub actually, so pleasantly surprised. Had to have another walk to wear some of the food off, then back to the cottage to watch TV (Johnny English 2)

Monday 7th July

Had another decent sleep, then got ready for our first flat viewing day. Looked at some flats, then had lunch at the cottage to reflect on what we’d seen. Had walk up to Aldwick and had impromptu viewing when we spied an agent showing someone else a flat, we managed to get in straight after, although turned out we saw a different flat from that which we expected. (We like to be nosey anyway, so worked out ok) Needed a rest on West Park on the way back, so coffee and cake is called for. Having regained some energy we ended up walking all way over to other end of town.

Feeling a bit worn out, decided to go to the pub, but was shut ! Decided to go back to cottage instead and had a cup of tea before our last viewing of the day. As we were worn out, went to a local favourite restaurant ‘Madlows’ where we had a lovely meal. We did have enough energy for another short walk before collapsing in a heap in front of the TV back at the cottage

Tuesday 8th July

Up and breakfast at 9:15am today ! Had hectic morning looking at flats again and it rained several times. We did get wet, but managed to find shelter for when the rain really lashed down. Had a quick lunch ‘on the hoof’ by taking our packed lunch with us. Did get quite hot for half hour when the sun came out, but weather soon turned to heavy rain again but luckily we had retired to ‘The Waverly’ pub by then, so spend rest of afternoon sitting in the pub reviewing the flats we’d been looking at. Briskly walked back as was still raining, and still needed to decide where to eat. After a rest, decided to stay local and went to the nearest Italian Restaurant ‘Mamma Mia’ where we had another great meal. When we came out, the sun was shining and we had a lovely walk along the promenade in the evening sun. Shame we hadn’t had so much sun during the day !

Wednesday 9th July

Agent rang at 8:55am asking for feedback…. don’t these people know about holiday makers ! Up and breakfasted by 9:20am today, as only got three flats to look at. Viewings didn’t quite go to plan, but the one flat we did see was nice though. Had lunch in the cottage, but then sat on the beach as it was hot & Sunny by now ! Went back to the cottage and had cup of tea and cake, before going out on one more viewing we’d just arranged. We are definitely a bit weary, so have a nice long rest in a pub before heading back to our local Chippy restaurant for a Chip supper. Feeling very full, we decide to have a final short walk of the day, although somehow end up in the Waverley pub again for another rest, then it’s back to the cottage for a well deserved veg in front of TV. All this flat hunting definitely wears you out !

Thursday 10th July

We certainly seem to be sleeping well in this cottage, must also be the walking and sea air…. We’ve got a ‘day off’ today, so with the cloudy weather forecast, we’re off to Chichester for the day, travelling there on the bus and back by train (just for the experience of it) The bus to Chichester was the local bus, so went all round the houses, but still only took about 35 minutes. Found a nice cafe for our coffee and cake before wondering around the shops. Had a decent dinner (and pudding for me) at the ‘Bell Inn’ where we’d eaten before which gave us the energy to hit the shops again. After a couple hours we needed more sustenance, so had Tea and Cake Smile It was hot and sunny afternoon, so had to get drink in pub before getting the train home. It was about 25 mins on the train, then we still had to walk back from the station. Being hot & sunny it was nice enough walk through the town to the sea front, where we had a pleasant rest watching the wind surfers in action. Back at the cottage, had a short rest before walking out to one of the local pubs, just to try it out (managed a beer as well though)

Friday 11th July

Woke relatively early at 8am, so ready by 9:15am to go out for a walk. Didn’t get too far, as wanted to try out ‘The Coffee Corner’ which was newly opened. Popped into town to buy some sandwiches for our lunch, which we were planning to have on the prom later on. went for our first 2nd viewing at Selsey Avenue and both came out feeling very positive about it. It’s started to rain though, so have to abandon our lunch out plan and dashed back to the cottage for lunch. Despite the rain, our 2nd viewing of Royal Norfolk Mews was also very positive (making a choice will be tricky) but the last viewing wasn’t so great so at least there is only 2 flats to still think about. As it’s still a bit rainy, we go to the local cafe for an ice cream and cup of tea (makes a change from cake) We also decided Selsey Avenue is our favourite, so after eating walk back past ‘our flat’ Smile End up at Bognor high street so start looking in furniture shops, but not before another cake and coffee. Finish off the afternoon by getting lots of ideas for furnishings and furniture before going back to the cottage. As we’re done with thinking for the day, end up in the Brewers Fayre for our dinner.

Saturday 12th July

Up and out around 9:30am to come back home, taking about 1hour 20 mins (plus a coffee and cake stop)

It’s been a slightly odd holiday, as it felt more like a working holiday at times, but still enjoyed it and do actually feel rested and relaxed. The hassles will likely start next week in earnest from both work and decisions about flats.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Poker: Financial results for June 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 800 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 121.09
Coral : -£ 4.07
Live play : -£ 60.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 97.24 overall)
NLHE             ($0.10) 1677 hands -$ 39.40
PLO              ($0.10)   810 hands -$ 22.89
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)   673 hands -$ 34.95

Tournament Results (-$ 23.85)
4x MTT NLHE -$19.11 (1 cash)
1x STT UKIPT Sat -$18.66
7x STT (9 seat) +$13.92

Coral results break down as follows:

Tournament Results (-£ 4.07 overall)
1x 1500GTD -£ 4.07

Reflect
For the live game, it's back to the normal game at Sovereign in Farnborough, which seems to be the best game around at the moment (and it's closer to home :) ) I had another good run, although had to rebuy once before the break. In the latter stages always seemed to have around 18 Big Blind stack so it was inevitable perhaps that my aggression on the final table saw me getting it in bad and ending up 7th from 45 runners (with top 5 paying out) Again a little frustrating but you've got to go with your decisions

Pokerstars cash results took a bit of a down turn. My NLHE game most of the loss was one bad session on one table, and for PLO cash was one bad session with two tables apart fr omthat was fairly consistant. Just need to be sure I don't get a bit tilted when get a bad run going. My NLO8 was again more than I intended to play. Might need to re-think my Mobile Zoom strategy. Having said that, I had two bad sessions from four, and in both cases were really 2 or 3 hands per session which accounted for my losses, so could easily have swung the other way if I'd got luckier :)

For Coral, I had a bad run and managed to dump my Coral Bankroll on Carribean Stud. Rather than top up and risk getting tempted by the table games again, I decided it was the push I needed to abandon Coral and focus exclusively on Pokerstars going forward now.

July 2014 Targets

I'm off for a week in July, but otherwise should be a normal month, so my monthly target for July will be (playing Pokerstars only):
- Play 1200 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 600 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Friday, May 30, 2014

Poker: Financial results for May 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 121.64
Coral : -£ 13.83
Live play : -£ 65.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 30.31 overall)
8 Game           ($0.40)             -$ 0.23
NLHE             ($0.10) 433 hands +$ 9.24
PLO              ($0.10) 362 hands -$ 34.37
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10) 351 hands -$ 4.95

Tournament Results (-$ 91.33 overall)
SCOOP#08 MTT NLHE      -$0.00
2x SCOOP#11 sat MTT NLHE -$14.50
SCOOP#11 sat MTT NLHE      -$0.00
1x SCOOP#25 sat STT NLHE/PLO -$3.75
SCOOP#25 sat MTT NLHE/PLO      -$11.00
2x SCOOP#28 sat MTT 2-7 lowball -$1.80
3x SCOOP#34 sat STT 8 Game -$31.08
SCOOP#34 sat MTT 8 Game -$27.00
1x MTT NLHE   -$2.20

Coral results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£ 0.00 overall)

Tournament Results (-£ 13.83 overall)
1x STT -£ 4.10
1x MTT Dirty Doz -£ 1.64
2x 1500GTD -£ 8.09

Reflect
For the live game, I went to Sovereign at Farnborough again. This time it was for the "Main Event" which is a 2 day event. Although I ran quite deep, I made a big mistake on my exit hand which was a bit annoying, but otherwise was good event

Pokerstars cash results weren't too bad. My NLHE was a bit more consistent, but had a bad session on PLO which ruined my month. I seem to be playing NLO8 a bit more than expected, but have been getting pretty consistent results on that as well. Just need to concentrate more on my PLO ! My tournament activities were mostly SCOOP, which I've already written up.

For Coral, I've been getting lucky on Blackjack and Roulette, but didn't play much Poker and didn't get anywhere. Not really enough games to draw any conclusion. I am wondering if it's worth pursuing Coral at all or may withdraw and focus on Pokerstars only.

June 2014 Targets

Monthly target for June will be:
- Play 800 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Poker: SCOOP 2014 results and summary

I didn't quite get all the tournaments that I'd planned for this year, but did manage to play the main ones I was targeting

6th May (Event # 8) NL Hold' em Heads Up

Played two sats for the middle buy-in, totalling $15 but then played FPP sat for the low buy-in event and won seat, so main event didn't cost anything :) Sadly finished 6'500th out of 13'808 players after just over an hour, so not a great run

7th May (Event #11) NL Hold' em (Knockout)

Played two sats for the middle buy-in for $14.50 but then played FPP sat for the low buy-in and won seat again ! Didn't get anywhere in the main event though, finishing 12'783 from 18'925 entries after around 1hr 45 min's

9th May (Event #17) FL Omaha Hi-Low

Wasn't able to play this event after all.

12th May (Event #25) Mix NLHE/PLO

Played two sats for middle buy-in for total of $25.75 Didn't have any FPP left so had to buy my seat for $11 Lasted nearly 3 hours this time, but still only finished 2645 from 6815 entries

13th May (Event #28) FL Triple Draw 2-7

Played a couple of sats totalling $1.80, then decided not to play the main event.

15th May (Event #34) 8 game

This is always my favourite tournament and was frustrated to bubble one of the sats I played... so ended up playing three sats for $31.08 (got some money back for the bubble finish) and still had to buy my seat for $27 I did have my best run of the series, lasting nearly 4 hours, but was 225 out of 2379 entries

SCOOP 2014 total results

Overall cost of all events $126.13 and 12.5 hours time investment

I got into the first couple of tournaments quite cheaply in the end, so was pleased with that result. It's just a shame I didn't manage to sat into any of the middle buy-in events and of course that was where most of my money went. Perhaps next year I will only try to sat into one or two key middle buy-in events and stick to the low buy-in events for the others. Will work out cheaper I'm sure !

Other than that, was a challenging but enjoyable year for me again, and certainly intend to try again next time.... of course there's the TCOOP and WCOOP's to look forward to as well :)

Previous write-ups
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/poker-scoop-2013-results.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/poker-scoop-2012-summary-and.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/poker-scoop-37-6-max-nl-holdem-low.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/poker-scoop-36-horse-low-stakes-report.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/poker-scoop-29-8-game-low-stakes-report.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/poker-scoop-07-low-stakes-report.html
http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/poker-scoop-summary.html

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Holiday: Margate 2014

Hoorah, holiday time. We had decided to rent a holiday flat in Margate this time, as neither of us could remember being to Margate before

Friday 16th May 2014

Left home 3:35pm Better than expected journey round M25 on Friday afternoon, as arrived 6pm. No mobile phone signal so couldn't phone the key holder ! Walked down the road and found phone box but it was out of order! Went to police station to ask where another public phone was and they called the number for us. Turned out the mobile number was wrong anyway, but managed to find the right number and ended up getting into the flat around 6:30pm. The flat is in a nice location, 15 min walk to the harbour and sea front and has with free parking on the road in front of the flat. The flat itself has all the room we wanted, although could have done with an electric shaving point in the bathroom. Went out and got some groceries in the local aldi supermarket, which was 10 minute walk away. The local Casino is only 5 mins away so may have to pop in there sometime as well :) Went out for a walk to find our dinner, but as was getting late by now, ended up in KFC.

Saturday 17th

Had reasonable sleep, but the room is on a bit of a slope so felt like was rolling down the bed ! Out the flat around 9:45am but is a bit cloudy so decide to go for a walk around. Had coffee in Dane Park which was very pleasant. Ended up doing a bit of shopping down the high street before going back to the flat for lunch. The sun came out after lunch as promised by the weather forecast so went on the beach for a couple of hours, before back to the flat for a rest. Went to the Mechanical Elephant (Wetherspoons) on the sea front for our dinner, then had another walk, ending up at the local Social Club for a drink. It must be all the fresh air, but we both feel worn out !

Sunday 18th

Had decent sleep, as got used to the sloping bed by now. Didn't wake up until 9am but still managed to get onto the beach at 10am. By time we'd setup "base camp" it was coffee time then after a rest it's back to the flat for lunch already. It's a bit chilly in the flat, so go back out into the sun by 1:30pm and setup on beach in base camp again by 2pm. Time flies by by doing nothing (apart from eating ice cream) and by 5pm we're feeling a bit sun struck, so pack up and go back to the flat to get ready for our quest for food (dinner :) ) Seems there is some kind of polical rally in the Winter Gardens (we're opposite the entrance) as noisy crowds and police around the entrance! Turned out UKIP rally with Nigel Farage speaking, so bit of excitement. We went out for out dinner and ate at a pub "The Hoy" which was doing Sunday Lunch menu so we both had nice Beef Sunday lunch meal and I had room for Pear and Peach crumble with custard, which was jolly nice. We needed a walk after that, so had a long walk along the prom.

Monday 19th

Woke around 8:30am ! and it's a beautiful sunny day By time we'd had breakfast and smothered ourselves with factor 30 it was 10am before we got to the beach again. It was just us, some seagulls and some workmen on the beach when we arrived. Got our morning coffee and busied outselves watching the tide come in until lunchtime at midday, but were back on the beach by 2pm. Lasted until 5pm, despite the sun shade keep blowing itself inside out in the growing wind. For dinner we decided to go to the Brewers Fayre pub “The Promenade”, mainly because it was the other end of town and we wanted a walk. Had OK meal then walked back via the casino. It took about 5 mins to sort out the memberships to get in, 5 minutes to walk around and see what was going on, then about 5 minutes to both loose £50 on the roulette... oh well, at least we had a bit of entertainment :) Went back to flat early, so we didn't spend any more !

Tuesday 20th

Woke to a bright sunny day, despite the forecast being for cloud and rain. Got 10am bus to Broadstairs and had nice walk before coffee, then another walk before a nice lunch in a bakery shop. Left at 1:15pm to walk the 4 miles or so back to Margate along the coast path. Was too hot to begin with, but did cloud over and eventually rain a bit as well before we got back. Had to stop in a pub for a rest and drink, plus have another rest stop for coffee and cake along the route... so didn't get back to the flat until around 4:30pm for a well deserved rest. We had planned to go to pub "The Lifeboat" for dinner, but poor online reviews put me off a bit. In the end we were too tired to walk about looking for an alternative, so ended up in pub anyway. The food was OK as it turned out albeit very basic pie and mash and there was sawdust as a floor covering :) I had a bit of a disturbed night sleep, partly due to being some noise out the back but also possibly to do with the pie and mash plus pudding leaving me with a very full feeling belly !

Wednesday 21st

Lynn awoke bright and cherpy and full of get up and go... very unusual but today is our designated "shopping day" !! Its a bit dull and forecast rain (which materialised later in the day) so we're happy to be going to West Wood Cross which is basically a large retail park. Arrive around 10am and spend an hour in Primark ! but at least that means its time for coffee and bisquit in Debenhams. Had good march around more shops until lunch, which we had in a rather crowded M&S (why aren't all these people at work !!) After lunch, we must be getting worn out as only last about another hour of shopping before we had to stop for cup of tea and cake. Finally hit the last shop around 4pm and we're both glad of the sit down in the car going home. Had a long rest in the flat before braving the weather (and the steep hill) to go out for dinner. Ended up at 'Bentleys' for dinner. Had good service and great food, the best meal of the holiday so far. By the time we left if was hammering with rain so got soaked getting back to the flat, despite our waterproof coats!

Thursday 22nd

Had a good sleep and awoke around 8:45am for breakfast in bed (again!) Up and out by 10am for another "shopping day" but this time just walking around Margate. Mike got carried away in Edinburgh Woollen Mill's sale and bought whole new wardrobe! Back to flat for lunch, before going out for afternoon session. Did a lot more walking around the shops and also went into the Turner Contemporary. It was a bit weird, in that most of the exibit room were closed for resetting of the exhibits... so seemed to us to be only the shop and cafe open, although could well have missed some stunning exhibits, if they looked like blank walls..... Went back into the old town to finish off the shopping and had one small rest at the "Cupcake Cafe" where Lynn had cupcake but Mike had TWO bits of cake !! By the time we got back to the flat, we both felt shopped out ! After a long rest, we're just about ready to walk down the hill one last time for our Pizza dinner. We went to GB Pizza on the seafront. By now was actually hot and sunny, and although the Pizza was quite good, the resteraunt was baking hot as was in full glare of the sun, with no blinds or anything, so was glad to get back out onto the sea front.

Friday 23rd

It never takes so long to pack for going home, but it was good we had an estate car in order to get in all our new purchases ! We left around 9:45am but hit horrid jam on the M25 so didn't get home until around 12:30, but overall wasn't a bad journey home

The holiday as a whole was perhaps better than we could have expected, with the nice weather. A week is probably long enough to exhaust the delights of Margate itself, but could have done more touring around the area, had we stayed longer or the weather not have been so nice. All in all a nice relaxing holiday and were happy with our choice of seaside town and accomodation

Friday, May 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for April 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 6-max (2 table Zoom) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table Zoom or maybe switch to normal tables) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$   2.42
Coral       : +£ 131.45
Live play   : -£ 30.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (+$ 34.58 overall)
8 Game           ($0.40)             -$ 2.18
NLHE Zoom        ($0.10) 473 hands +$ 0.61
NLHE             ($0.10) 1262 hands -$ 13.21
PLO              ($0.10) 670 hands +$ 20.53
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.02) 311 hands -$ 15.64
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10) 159 hands +$ 44.47

Tournament Results (-$37.00 overall)
2x SCOOP#08 sat MTT NLHE -$15.00
1x SCOOP#25 sat STT NLHE/PLO -$22.00

Coral results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£ 0.00 overall)

Tournament Results (+£ 136.72 overall)
3x STT            -£ 2.92
5x MTT Barry      -£41.27 (No Cashes)
5x MTT Dirty Doz -£ 0.04 (1 Cash)
3x 1500GTD       +£180.95 (2 Caches

Reflect
For the live game, we tried the Thursday night "turbo" format at Farnborough. Was a fun game but didn't get any traction and although managed to double up with pocket ace's to get into a good spot, my J high flush being beaten by Q high flush put paid to my night and got home early

Pokerstars results are looking a bit better. I decided to switch from ZOOM for a while and my PLO (6 max) saw immediate improvement. My NLHE (full ring) was a little up and down, but overall not too bad and starting to see more consistency. I still play Mobile ZOOM fairly regularly, despite my best efforts not to ;) Although this is meant to be a bit of amusement whilst out and about, I was just being too reckless at $0.02 level and hope the threat of more significant losses at $0.10 will help my concentration levels when playing!

Of course it’s SCOOP time of year and am intending to play some satellites and events. April’s loss is due to my satellite attempts and May will doubtless follow, so hope to get some cashes in the events themselves to show a good month for May

I am playing more on Coral now, but still iPoker tournaments are not all that good formats for me. The Turbo Barry becomes a crap shoot quite quickly and the Dirty Dozen is populated by beginners so its a bit like Bingo, but they are quite fun to play. My main interest is the $1500 GTD MTT which I've had success with in the past, and seem to do OK in still. A 16th place and 2nd place this month was a great result for me and made my month.

April was a decent month for me and although still need to improve, am fairly contented overall (it's amazing how one decent cash changes your attitude ;) ) My May schedule is beset by bank holidays, days off and a holiday so my Poker activities will be curtailed slightly.

May 2014 Targets

Monthly target for May will be:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 Full Ring (4 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 200 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)
- Play SCOOP events

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile ZOOM only at $0.02 stakes and even then as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Friday, April 18, 2014

Poker: SCOOP 2014–looking forward to it

Hoorah, it’s that time of the year again ! I wasn’t all that prepared last year, due to holiday clashes interfering. This year I am on holiday again, but only clash with the last week of the tournaments, so will at least be able to play the satellites and have a go at most of the games I want to play

To this end I have picked out the following target tournaments. As before, I will try to satellite into the middle level, but will likely play the low levels if I fail.

6th May (Event # 8) NL Hold'em Heads Up
7th May (Event #11) NL Hold'em (Knockout)
9th May (Event #17) FL Omaha Hi-Low
12th May (Event #25) Mix NLHE/PLO
13th May (Event #28) FL Triple Draw 2-7
15th May (Event #34) 8 game

Hopefully I’m not trying to take on too many tournaments and some of the timings are not ideal, but am sure I’ll work it out somehow Smile

Friday, April 04, 2014

Poker: Financial results for March 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 6-max (1 table Speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 81.58
Coral : -£ 5.27
Live play : -£ 30.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 81.58 overall)
8 Game           ($0.40)              -$ n/a
NLHE Zoom        ($0.10)   428 hands -$ 13.23
PLO Zoom         ($0.10)   463 hands -$ 55.41
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.02)   338 hands -$ 14.49
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.10)    32 hands +$ 1.55

Tournament Results (-$0 overall)

Coral results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£ 5.27 overall)
NLHE ($0.10) 59 hands -$ 5.27

Tournament Results (+£ 0.00 overall)

Reflect
For the live game, it was a Farnborough trip again. This time I was pretty steady and made the final table. A couple of bad hands and I'm out in 6th (4 paid) so a little disappointing again, but nice to run deep.

Pokerstars results were also a little disappointing. I'm pretty happy about most of my play, but just need to work out how to get more consistancy with my PLO game. The NLHE seems to be fairly OK overall and the Omaha HL is (meant to be) just a bit of occasional fun....

I haven't done anything much on Coral yet.... did play a couple of MTT with my introductory free chips but that was about it really.

March was actually a funny ol' month, as work seemed to be draining me so I didn't feel in the right frame of mind to play after work some days. It's quietened down a bit now, so hope will be back to my normal self and get back into the normal routine again for April. Of course days off, Easter and Mother-in-law in hospital will eat into my Poker playing time so will have to see how it goes

April 2014 Targets

Monthly target for April will be:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 6-max (2 table Zoom) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (2 table Zoom or maybe switch to normal tables) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for February 2014

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 35.40
Black Belt Poker: +$ 42.23 (+£25.22)
Live play : -£ 30.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (-$ 35.40 overall)
8 Game           ($0.40)              -$ 10.12
NLHE Zoom        ($0.10)   634 hands -$ 20.44
PLO Zoom         ($0.10)   514 hands -$ 6.42
NLO8 Mobile Zoom ($0.02)   414 hands +$ 1.58

Tournament Results (-$0 overall)

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£ 0.00 overall)

Tournament Results (+£ 25.69 overall)
1x STT (Brisbane)   +£ 25.69
11x MTT              -£ 0.47
   Cashed 1 from 6 "Barry" MTT
   Cashed 1 from 2 "Dirty Dozen"
   Cashed 2 from 3 $1500 GTD

Reflect
For the live game, it was another trip to Farnborough to hopefully go one step better than last month. Sadly, it was a fairly average night and although didn't need a rebuy, never got traction and ended up out early after the first break.

Pokerstars results were a little disappointing. I am making some mistakes, probably due to playing when tired (after work) May try to change the routine slightly so I play less often and only when feeling fresher. I did start 2 tabling in an effort to play less hands, which had a little success with NLHE but not sure it helped much with PLO

For Black Belt, it is sad to see the site shutdown but was happy to end on a good month. I continued with my above expectation cash ratio for all MTTs, but particularly the $1500 GTD, although would be nice to get a deeper run in that one again. My intention is to switch to the Coral account to continue with iPoker and the BBP players and tournaments

March 2014 Targets

Monthly target for March will be:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 6-max (2 table Zoom) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table Zoom) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (Coral and Pokerstars)

Strategic Objectives for 2014
* Break even on all cash games
* Play Mobile Zoom only at $0.02 stakes and even then as little as possible
* Try to play MTT more regularly
* Commit less to the online festivals

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for January 2014

Plan
Monthly target was:
- Play 300 hands of cash on NLHE $0.10 6-max (1 table Speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 300 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 12 MTT/STT with target of breaking even (BBP)

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 7.45
Black Belt Poker: +$ 369.32 (+£224.67)
Live play : -£ 60.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (+$ 9.65 overall)
8 Game           ($0.40)              +$ 10.25
NLHE Zoom        ($0.10)   414 hands +$ 24.05
PLO Zoom         ($0.10)   420 hands -$ 24.65

Tournament Results (-$ 2.20 overall)
1x 8 Game MTT -$ 2.20

8 Game wins/losses by game type for this month:
2-7         1.83
Limit HE    -1.66
Ohl         1.53
Razz         1.99
Stud         3.82
Stud HL        -3.46
NLHE          0.88
PLO         5.32

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£ 0.00 overall)

Tournament Results (-£ 220.52 overall)
1x STT (Maui)      -£   3.65
14x MTT            +£ 224.17
   Cashed 2 from 10 "Barry" MTT
   Cashed 2 from 3 $1500 GTD

Reflect
Last year was actually my "Annus Horribilis" being the worse year for results ever! Having said that, I feel I've been playing pretty well and/or improving overall and just hope that 2014 will be my breakthrough year

It seems to have started fairly solidly, just need to make sure I keep up the concentration and focus more on quality than quantity. I have also been a bit stricter about not playing when I'm feeling tired/stressed this month and that seems to have helped as well.

For the live game, I decided to go to Farnborough for my live game this month, as the Reading casinos have changed their schedules and wasn't keen on them. As it happens, I crashed out early, but despite managing to call all-in on the river with top pair vs straight flush (!!) felt I was playing well and re-bought in.... eventually finishing 8th from 50 entries (5 paid) Was enjoyable evening out, with decent chance of cashing, so overall a good result

Pokerstars I managed to play the expected number of sessions/hands and overall managed my breakeven target. One very poor PLO session saw my results worse than they perhaps should have been.

For Black Belt, I have been concentrating on the "Barry" 30 seat turbo SNG and the $1500 GTD tournament, as these suit my timescales and budget. This month I was lucky (and/or good :) ) and managed to cash more than expected for a great result.

February 2014 Targets

I hope to be back to my "normal" routine in February, so my monthly target for February will be:
- Play 400 cash hands on NLHE $0.10 6-max (1 table Speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 400 cash hands on PLO $0.10 6-max (1 table speed) with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 2 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even (Pokerstars)
- Play 8 MTT with target of breaking even (BBP and Pokerstars)

References
End of 2013 review http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/poker-end-of-year-results-for-2013.html

Mike's Blog

Friday, November 28, 2014

Poker: Financial results for November 2014

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for October 2014

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Poker: Financial results for September 2014

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Poker: WCOOP 2014 summary

Friday, August 29, 2014

Poker: WCOOP 2014 preview

Poker: Financial results for August 2014

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Poker: Financial results for July 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Holiday: Bognor 2014

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Poker: Financial results for June 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Poker: Financial results for May 2014

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Poker: SCOOP 2014 results and summary

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Holiday: Margate 2014

Friday, May 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for April 2014

Friday, April 18, 2014

Poker: SCOOP 2014–looking forward to it

Friday, April 04, 2014

Poker: Financial results for March 2014

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for February 2014

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Poker: Financial results for January 2014

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