Mike's Blog

Holiday: Bognor Regis–week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

It’s always nice having 2 weeks away, so after our first week I am ready for another week of relaxing. This time we’ll have some company with my Mum & Dad coming down for the week and Julie & Sean joining us just for a long weekend.

Saturday 11 May

Hoorah, it’s my Birthday. Woke myself at 6.00am after having weird dream and shouting in my sleep. Happened earlier in week as well, seems to be when I drink Peroni! Will stick to Carling in future. Luckily went back to sleep, waking again at a more reasonable time of 7.30am to open my pressies and cards.

It’s bright and sunny, but still windy. Went out for a walk round town. At a gentle stroll ended up being 1.5 hour walk, but was back in time for F1 qualifying and lunch

Relaxed until Julie called to say they had arrived. Arranged to meet for coffee at 4.00pm, went to pick up Mum and Dad at their hotel. They have a nice room with lovely sea view.

Went out to the seafront cafe, but they were packing away, so ended up at the Waverley for coffee and met Julie, Sean and Jasper for a chat. Back to flat to relax from the wind and get ready for dinner.

Went to Madlows again. Julie and Sean were already there with champagne open. We had a lovely meal and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Was relatively early night, but think that suited everyone ! It has been a very enjoyable birthday day for me.

Sunday 12 May

Woke to a lovely sunny day and doesn’t look too windy. Out around 9.30am and bumped into Julie, Sean and Jasper on sea front, before we stopped off for our coffee and biscuits. Had walk along front, which was lovely as was sunny and wind was on our backs. Walked back via Hotham Park and found tabletop sale to browse. They say one persons tat is another’s treasure... but we didn’t see any treasures.

Back to flat for lunch and Grand Prix. Short walk to stretch legs, then relaxed until time to go out for dinner at Mum and Dad’s hotel. Meal was okay but unspectacular but was nice meal with Mum and Dad, Julie and Sean. Julie and Sean dropped us back to the apartment so we could show them where we’re staying, which was nice as it was a bit blustery out.

Monday 13 May

Woke 8.30am to cloudy but bright day although looking a bit windy still. Went out for walk along seafront and back through town. Before getting back to apartment for lunch as it started raining a bit.

Picked up Mum and Dad and went off to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Had a nice couple of hours looking round, Mum was reading all the displays and would have stayed all day if we’d let her! Lynn sat in an ejector seat, then one of the museum volunteers came, strapped her in and insisted explaining how the seat worked before releasing.

We then went to Selsey and Mum went to shop. Drove back via West Sands Caravan Park where we use to holiday regularly when I was a child. Back to apartment, showed Mum and Dad around (didn’t take long) before they went off for their dinner and we contemplated where we would go for ours. In the end, decided on the Navigator, which was a great choice as we both had a great meal.

Tuesday 14 May

It’s a work day for me today. Alarm woke me up and I certainly didn’t want to wake up! Went our for our ‘Fish and chip dinner’ at lunchtime in the chip shop restaurant on the sea front. Was okay, but seemed expensive and not as nice as our local chippy back home. Had busy afternoon, but having to work doesn’t seem onerous as the weather is appalling outside!

Logged out at 4.30pm off to cinema again, see Star Trek at the cinema. Was an okay film but nothing special really. It’s lashing down when we came out, so brisk walk back to apartment for late tea.

Relaxed in front of TV with chocolate fingers and lager

Wednesday 15 May

Woke before my alarm today, so not feeling so sleepy. The day looks bright but cold. Had lunch in the apartment, then out for our walk. Wasn’t too bad out, but just went round the block (at a brisk pace!)

After another hectic afternoon of work, the end of the working day arrives at last and can get back into holiday mood (for the last time )

Had a walk on the way to the William Hardwick, but was too early for us to eat there, so went to the Regis again. Had reasonable meal in nice relaxed atmosphere as not so busy this time.

Walked back to the apartment and rested until time to meet Mum & Dad for a drink at their hotel.

Had nice drink and chat before coming back to relax with a nice cup of tea and biscuit whilst watching the Apprentice (not exactly raving into the early hours, but good enough for me !)

Thursday 16 May

Nice lay in this morning and it’s Sunny ! Went out 9:30am and had tea in Dolphin Cafe, sitting out in the glorious sunshine and feeling too hot for a change!

Went back and picked up Mum & Dad around 10:30am and decided to go to Littlehampton. Went to Sea Front and had nice walk and a Cup of Coffee (and cake) Went back along the front and setup base camp in the beach. Me & Lynn went off to “hunt” for food, bringing back sandwiches to eat on the beach.

After a long rest sitting in the sun on the beach, decided to go into the town centre. Had mid afternoon coffee and cake.

On the way back to Bognor, stopped at Climping Beach (simply because I liked the sound of it) to see what it was like. Now we know… there’s not much there…. except a beach.

Dropped Mum & Dad off at their hotel then we went back to the apartment for a well earned rest.

Went out for walk as such a lovely afternoon/evening, ending up at The Waverley for our dinner. Food was OK but expensive for the quality and quantity you get. Lynn’s main meal was quite small, and found she was still hungry and had to have a dessert… almost unheard of! I was very disappointed with the size of my pudding and could probably have eaten three (had they not been £5 each…)

After dinner we had slow walk back to the apartment along the sea front, which was very nice as the sun was almost down and sea looked peaceful. Was getting a bit chilly though !

Friday 17 May

Cloudy but bright today. Had a nice rest before meeting up with Mum & Dad at 11am. Walked along the promenade, had a cup of tea, then made it to the Lobster Pot where we had lunch. We had lovely freshly made sandwiches, then I had tricky choice between a nice looking Victoria Sandwich or the Banoffee Pie… with the Banoffee Pie narrowly winning out in the end. It was hugely delicious but I did feel a bit sick after scoffing the lot !

Resuming our walk (or for me, my waddle after eating lunch) along the Promenade, it was a little breezy now but still very pleasant and we had a lovely sit down in a park to give lunch more time to digest. We then headed for Bognor town center where Lynn and I stopped off for our afternoon cakes but Mum & Dad headed back to their hotel as I think we wore them out !

Even we were feeling a bit weary after our walking and eating all day, so popped back to The Hatters Inn for our dinner. We had a nice meal from their standard menu… me fancying the Sausage & Mash, and Lynn having Chicken strips. Much nicer than last night and half the price…

Saturday 18 May

Nice bright and warm day with little wind… ideal weather for the beach… but we have to go home Pick up Mum & Dad at 10am and got them back in 1 hour 15min as there was no real traffic on the route home (straight up the A3)

All in all, it was a nice holiday, especially being able to celebrate my birthday with the family. In fairness, I think it wasn’t quite as good as previous years but this was really down to the time of year (which was constrained by the date of my birth, so that is my parents fault ) We can now look forward to our July holiday, which will hopefully see us on the beach a bit more.

Holiday: Bognor Regis–week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:36:00 +0000

Saturday 4 May

Woke up normal time but excited to be on holiday. Looked out of window to see it raining! Oh well, after 4 days of sun previously, couldn’t expect it to last!!

Left after lunch and stopped at Petworth House for tea and cake.

Got to apartment a bit early but called the lady and she was very accommodating by letting us in early (around 3.15pm).

Did our food shopping, unpacked, washed up and had a cup of tea to get back into the holiday mode.

Went out for dinner. Stopped at the Royal Hotel to check the menu etc. Had 18^th Birthday party so not offering meals tonight, but had lost chef so wasn’t taking bookings either! Decided not to bother…….

Walked up to The Regis as had free pudding voucher. Both had chicken buffet, so I over ate and nearly wasn’t able to have free dessert, but managed to eat Strawberry Sundae between us.

Both a bit worn out, so went back to flat for nice cup of tea and watched The Voice… almost a normal Saturday night

Sunday 5 May

Woke early (8.30am) and had breakfast in bed. Cloudy but bright so planned to have local walks today. Had coffee in apartment at 10.00am after the shock of getting out of bed.

Went for walk along front, bit chilly in the wind. We’ve wrapped up for winter! Checking out a few possible eating locations for later in the holiday, but ended up at the William Hardwicke for Sunday carvery. Had trouble getting a table, but got one eventually.

The meal was nice, but only averagely good. Walked back along the front as the sun had come out.

Stopped for a cup of tea at West Park which was very pleasant and didn’t want to move (as we were sitting out of the wind).

After rest, had tea, then walk round block before quick pint in QEII where there was a disco (we didn’t stay long ).

Monday 6 May

Had breakfast around 9am. Excited to see the sun so up and ready by 10am!

Had nice walk around town, ending up in a beach cafe for our coffee and biscuit for elevenses.

Got very hot out of the wind but once in it, we definitely needed our coats, especially when sea mist came in. Took another slow stroll heading back to apartment for lunch. Managed to break part of my tooth eating my sandwich but not hurting (luckily).

Went out for our afternoon walk. Got as far as the beach where we had a rest and a nice cup of tea. Walked a bit further up and sat on beach enjoying view for a while, walked a little way and had a cold drink at the Waverley Pub. This cooled us down, so had to go back to promenade and have a rest in the sun, before getting our ice cream (first of the holiday!) and having another rest.

All these rests were wearing us out, so walked up the promenade a bit further so we could sit on the beach .

After having a rest in the apartment, went to Madlows Restaurant. Despite being a Monday and eating early the food service and even the ambience were excellent, and was well priced (being a Monday).

Came back to the flat and watched some TV, all this holidaying is wearing us out… must be our age!

Tuesday 7 May

Woke 8.30am and sunny again. Decided to go to Hayling Island today and Chichester tomorrow, based on weather forecast. Up and ready by 10.00 am to go.

Got to Hayling Island around 11.00am, in time for coffee and biscuit sitting in the sun, looking at lovely view. The Cafe was a bit rough looking, but they were doing very nice smelling all day breakfast… shame we’d already had our breakfast…

Walked along the coast and found nice spot to sit on the beach, with the wind was surprisingly chilly!

After half hour, decided to have lunch at the pub which was handily right where we were sitting, ‘Inn on The Beach’. Found a great table on terrace overlooking sea and beach, so had fantastic view. Food was great as well, so lovely lunch.

Had another walk, but was a bit disappointed with lack of anything interesting, the main attraction was isolated feeling and great views. En-route back home, we stopped at Havant as we havant (sic) been there before . Was pleasant enough, albeit seemed over developed with several retail parks along the main road.

Got back to apartment in time to go to the cinema. Saw Iron Man 3 which was a very action packed film and well worth the £2.50 each (plus nibbles)

Then had walk down high street to seafront and got some chips for supper, before heading back for a cup of tea.

Wednesday 8 May

Woke up and looked out of the window from bed. Thick fog and cloud! Took another look and realised window had condensation, so was just cloudy .

Once out of bed at 9.30am, its already brightening up. Went to Chichester for a shopping day, so started by having cup of coffee and cake of course…

I bought some stuff, had pub lunch in the Old Cross. We both fancied Burger and Chips, which was lucky as the pub did a fine selection of Burger and chips It was decent enough and not expensive either, which always makes it taste better somehow..

Had walk around, then came back 3ish for cup of tea in the apartment.

Working tomorrow, so relaxing ‘night in’.

Thursday 9 May

Work day, so up at 7.15am! At lunch we ate in as the wind was looking really strong. We then went out for a walk but the wind was really gusty and not pleasant to be walking in so was a very brief walk.

After work went up to local DVD shop as nothing on TV (and is a work night) then went to Hatters Inn (our local Weatherspoons) for dinner. It is curry night so we both ended up having a curry. Was very nice food and very good value so pleased with our choice.

Watched Rock of Ages DVD, it was kind of OK in the end, but would’ve probably switched it off a couple of times, had anything better been available on TV

Friday 10 May

Up and out of bed at 7.15am again. Busy morning at work, so was nice to take stroll in sunshine at lunchtime, although it is still pretty windy!

Glad to finish work today, got three days off now before have to work again

Off to do our food shopping before a modest dinner in tonight (after our not so modest coffee and cakes this afternoon )

Got to build up the energy for tomorrows celebrations, so popped down to the QEII for a swift one before settling in for the night.

So the first week is over. So far we’ve been enjoying ourselves, even though had to work a couple of days. Got another week to look forward to, starting with my birthday tomorrow

Continued on my week 2 write up

Poker: Financial results for April 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:42:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets for April were:
- Play 800 hands of cash on NLHE $1 6-max (Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 6400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

I have changed my targets this month. It's a bit aggressive on the PLO, but want to give it a try for a month and see how it goes (time and money wise!)

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 513.06
Black Belt Poker: -$ 561.13 (-£360.44)
Live play : -£ 30.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results ($-491.31 overall)
8 Game ($2.00) $ - 58.32
PLO Zoom ($0.50) 9957 hands $ -432.99

Tournament Results ($-22.00 overall)
1x STT (SCOOP sat) $ 0.00
2x MTT (Passport) $ -22.00

For Pokerstars, my main activity was to focus on PLO cash. See http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/4020786/sceaga/First-month-results/ for a bit more detail.

8 Game wins/losses by game type for this month:
2-7        + 8.75
Limit HE   +82.30
Omaha HL   - 6.78
Razz       -42.00
Stud       -72.23
Stud HL    +23.16
NL HE      -16.11
PLO        -35.41

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (£-343.11 overall)
NLHE Speed ($1.00) 3484 hands -£343.11

Tournament Results (-£17.33 overall)
7x   MTT             £ 0.00
2x   10 seat STT    +£ 23.42
7x   10 seat STT    -£ 7.79 Maui Jackpot
19x   6 seat STT    -£ 32.96 Rio Jackpot

Reflect
The first month of serious cash play was a little disappointing overall. My NLHE step up to $1 level started poorly but did improve in the second part of the month. The PLO was very swingy but overall lost both halves of the month, so definitely needs improving !

My other activities were pretty inconsequential by comparison, with not a great deal of volume to draw any firm conclusions.

May Targets
Due to holidays, etc will probably only play two weeks in May. My targets will therefore be:
- Play 400 hands of cash on NLHE $1 6-max (Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 2400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 10 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Strategic Objectives
* Keep to Poker Plan
STT/MTT results are a little disappointing, but have got the volumes in.
* Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good.
* Break even on all cash games
Not consistent enough yet, but getting there
* Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game
Achieved this month, apart from getting side tracked by Micro Millions :)

References
January 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/poker-financial-results-for-january-2013.html
February 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-february.html
March 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-march-2013.html
April 2013 Cash Challenge http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/4020786/sceaga/First-month-results/

Poker: SCOOP 2013 preview

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:54:00 +0000

It’s that time of year when an air of excitement stirs, as spring has arrived. No, I’m not excited by the sun and growth of the lawn, but because Pokerstars Spring Championship Of Online Poker is here !

As with previous years, I intend to play as many tournaments as possible for the cheapest amount of buy-in. Last years results were pretty good, showing a profit and having a lot of fun, so hope to repeat or surpass my previous effort.

Similar to my previous attempts, I am planning to play all of my favourite events. Unfortunately SCOOP clashes with my 50th birthday weekend and time away for it’s first week, but most of the events I want to play are in the second week anyway, which are:

20th May (Event #24) Mix NLHE/PLO
22nd May (Event #31) NL Hold'em (Knockout)
23rd May (Event #33) 8 game
24th May (Event #37) HORSE
26th May (Event #43) NL Hold' em - Main Event

In all cases, I hope to satellite into the Medium stake level buy-in, or will likely just directly enter the Low stake level. With my other activities, I have lots of Frequent Player Points (FPP) so should be able to use these points to play the satellite's as well

Not sure how I’m going to fit all this in to my busy Poker schedule, but am sure I’ll do my best.

Cars: Brooklands Motor Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:25:00 +0000

It’s Sunny, so everyone wants to go out and about, including us

This weekend, it is MG Era at Brooklands Motor Museum, so we went off on our first trip of the year at the museum today.

It was lovely, warm and sunny all day… although got a bit chilly out of the sun when the wind blew !

Being “MG Era” theme, there were a lot of MG’s in the car park and indeed all over the site…

They were even eating their lunch in their cars

We had a nice walk around the site, but I think Lynn was just happy to make it up the Test Hill…

There were a few opportunities for my artistic side to come out.

Even on the way out, there are lovely cars to discover in the car park

Well worth a visit if you’ve never been… or even if you have !

Poker: Financial results for March 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:19:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 800 hands of cash on NLHE $1 6-max (Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 6400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

I have changed my targets this month. It's a bit aggressive on the PLO, but want to give it a try for a month and see how it goes (time and money wise!)

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : +$ 1000.63
Black Belt Poker: +$ 101.66 (+£66.87)
Live play : -£ 2109.00

I played the UKIPT High Roller, which accounted for the huge loss. This was a special one-off and didn't come out of my Poker Bankroll so could claim it shouldn't be included in my normal monthly results.... The normal monthly game up the casino was a better result, finishing 6th for net profit of £41

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results (+$865.22 overall)
8 Game ($2.00) +£ 71.70
PLO Zoom ($0.50) 3214 hands +£ 793.52

Tournament Results (+$135.41 overall)
1x STT (8 Game)                     +$ 8.95
1x STT (Micro Millions sat)        -$ 2.50
1x MTT (NL HE)                      +$142.61
2x MTT (Micro Millions sat)         -$ 0.91
8x MTT (MIcro Millions Main Events) -$ 12.75

For Pokerstars, I was tempted into playing some of the Micro Millions events.... The distraction wasn't too expensive as used my FPP to satellite into the main events in half the events. I also decided to play PLO cash mostly on Pokerstars now, as iPoker is difficult to get a game sometimes. For some unknown reason I seemed to go on a PLO heater !!

8 Game wins/losses by game type for this month:
2-7        - 8.44
Limit HE   +12.26
Omaha HL   -19.13
Razz       + 1.47
Stud       +62.10
Stud HL    +54.13
NL HE      + 6.17
PLO        -36.86

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (+£54.37 overall)
NLHE Speed ($1.00) 425 hands +£19.51
NLHE Speed ($0.50) 273 hands +£31.39
PLO ($0.50) 144 hands +£ 3.47

Tournament Results (+£12.50 overall)
4x   MTT            +£ 46.16
4x 10 seat STT     +£ 0.71 Maui Jackpot
13x   6 seat STT    -£ 34.37 Rio Jackpot

Reflect
What can I say ! March was a fantastic month for me results wise. I also felt I was (in the main) playing well. The High Roller was always a shot and had little chance of cashing, but it was a one off that had to be done. Not sure what happened to my PLO game. Although one good month doesn't make me a good player, when reviewing the hands I am still happy with my play overall, so hope it will continue in the right direction. I am intending to push my PLO cash game in April, to see if my game really does hold up when I put more volume in. I am also trying to transition to NLHE $1, so volume will be down whilst I adjust

Adjust
I want to push myself a bit with NLHE cash by going up to $1 buy-in, and also push myself in PLO cash by pushing the volume. If it all collapses around my ears, will just have to revert back to previous levels.

My MTT/STT is suffering a bit, but with my current situation it is a lot easier for me to play Cash and a few STT than be involved in a MTT. Will need to keep an eye on this part of my game as well, maybe just do the BBP League games for a while.

Targets

* Keep to Poker Plan
STT/MTT results are a little disappointing, but have got the volumes in.

* Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good.

* Break even on all cash games
Not consistent enough yet, but getting there

* Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game
Achieved this month, apart from getting side tracked by Micro Millions :)

Poker: UKIPT High Roller

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:02:00 +0000

I’ve wanted to play an EPT event for several years now, and have had a few attempts in previous years to satellite into various events.

Following on from my UKIPT success in 2011 I tried for the London EPT and the PCA Even back in August 2012 I had my eye on this years EPT events, but later in the year when we started to think about what we wanted to do for our 50th Birthday's this year, it was clear that playing an EPT would be the idea treat for me

Although Monaco EPT would be the ideal choice, as it falls on my actual birthday (and would likely be nice and Sunny) I decided on the EPT London event in March due to it being easier travelling arrangements and meant I could go on my own. I booked the week off work and although intended to direct buy-in, was trying to satellite in anyway. After spending $645 in the attempt, a few weeks before the event it became clear I would not be able to play Day 2 (should I get through Day 1) so was no longer an option. Luckily the UKIPT High Roller event was an acceptable alternative and was only a two day event, making it ideal in many ways.

Preperation

Two weeks before the event, I got really bad Flu which knocked me out for a week. I was OK the weekend before, but still had some doubts about my fitness, even the Thursday before when I actually bought in. My confidence was quite high as I had been on a bit of a heater online, and won the Home Game on the Thursday night, so seemed to be running hot !

On the day

I woke up around 6:30am rather than at the planned 9am relaxed/rested start to the day, so not best start…. but at least the sleepiness took the edge off my nervousness. My brain was excited, but my tummy was telling me I was a bit nervous…. could have been worse I suppose

I checked the train times, contents of my pockets and wallet at least three times before I left the house but finally my journey started and the trains were running fine

I was very pleased to see the Vic dead on time at 11:15am (90 mins door to door!)

Despite warnings of being busy, I got the mandatory PS Live card and registration within a few minutes and found the seat with half hour to spare.

I had planned to have an early lunch but really didn’t feel like eating !

The stats

In the end, there were a total of 219 entries and 32 get paid. 32nd gets £3.4k, first gets £102k

The chip stacks started at 20k with 45 min levels.

And they’re off!

For some reason we started 15 mins late at 12:15, which gave me time to go to the toilet another couple of times (too much information ? )

I recognised Max Silver on my table which was a bit scary but also a bit disappointing in some ways, as I’d a small hope to have Liv Boree on my left and Vicky Coren on my right

I was still feeling on edge when the cards were dealt. Despite being on the button I was hoping to be able to fold the first few hands to settle down, but to my horror I looked down at A-Q and thought to myself “shit, I need to raise!” which I duly did. Four of us saw the flop which was something like A-7-4 and it checked to me. Despite imagining everyone else with two pair or trips, I though “shit, I’ll have to cBet” which I duly did and was relieved when everyone folded ! Hey, I’ve won a hand

In fact in the first level I got dealt some decent cards and was quite active, so although my stack was up and down a bit, felt settled after half hour and the nerves had gone at last.

In all honesty, being a £2000 buy-in had thought I would be singled out as the table fish and have everyone pounding my blinds and re-raising all over the place. This certainly wasn’t happening in the early levels and was feeling surprisingly comfortable and relaxed. I was playing my normal live style being a bit passive, although did 3 bet occasionally and make some big bluffs.

The standard of play was probably the same as BBP Live events I’ve previously played (Feb 2011 at the Vic, April 2012 at Aspen, Aug 2012 at DTD ) Having said that, as players dropped out and new players came to the table, we got some more aggressive players join. As the ante’s kicked in, there was a bit more raising pre-flop and big bets post flop with not necessarily a decent hand. Even in this phase I felt I knew what was going on, even if I couldn’t do anything much about it.

So where did it all go wrong

At the first break after 3 levels, I was a little above average with 24.5k in chips. 2nd break after level 5 I had 25k but end level 7 I was down to 14.5k and was out in level 9 just before the dinner break in about 134th place

I had a bad beat (of course ) against a short stack, in L5 else I would have been more like 40k the end of that level.

There were also a couple of hands where I should have been more aggressive to likely take the pot down, i.e. wasn’t playing my table image as much as I could have

Otherwise was pretty happy with my play and can’t think of other cases were I would play the hand differently

In L9 I had about 17 blinds left and although wasn’t panicking, had been card dead so my pocket 5’s in early position looked more like J’s I was tempted to shove, but with an young German player with a hoodie to my left, and another LAG player in the button decided to min raise and shove to a raise. Unfortunately it folded to the table short stack in late position who did shove for 14 bb in total. I felt it was a flip so called and sure enough he had Ks-Qs but the all spades flop saw me drawing dead, leaving me 3bb and in the big blind

The young German player min raised and got two callers, with the small blind folding. I looked down at my 7-6o and thought about folding, but was getting 9:1 to call. Calling wasn’t a sensible option, so decided to shove for a min re-raise, thinking at least I had a chance the German would re-raise and get heads up (even against A-A have 20% chance). Well, he did re-raise but got called by another LAG player. The A-5-4 (two spades) flop looked surprisingly promising for me, especially after there was a bet and call. The 7 turn wasn’t going to be any good for me, but the 3 of spades on the river gave me the straight. Sadly, the action on the river gave away that the LAG player made his nut flush and I’m out

Was it all worth it

Although I went in thinking I had a chance of cashing (despite my fears and nerves pre match) it was really more about having a once in a lifetime experience to make my 50th year feel special.

On this level, the event was a success as the game did feel special, as were lots of faces from the telly I spotted playing on various tables and/or milling around in the breaks.

It was a good boost for my Poker confidence, as (after half hour) felt at home and didn’t ever really feel “pwned” in the hands I played. I surprised myself in some ways, particularly by having a plan for the hands I was involved in (most of the time) and having the confidence to believe my reads and stick in the big river bluff knowing my opponent could fold (although didn’t manage to do this every time when I should have)

I didn’t think about the entry fee at all and treated it like a normal tournament, which was also quite surprising.

Just need to work a little more to get my live game more like my online game… by getting a little more fearless in good spots to accumulate chips.

OK, so what about the celebrity gossip ?

I spotted Liv Boree in the bar and was surprised she looked more petite in real life (and actually even hotter) than she seems on TV. Later on she was sat on the table next to mine, but didn’t see how she played

Vicky Coren was also a surprise but because she seemed larger in life than on TV ! She was also having a Diva strop about getting to her seat on the table next to mine as it was a little cramped. Rather than just trying to get to her seat by saying “excuse me” she got the floor staff to clear chairs, tables, etc out the way and escort her to her seat. She also bashed me with her bag on the way through without any acknowledgement and generally seemed really stroppy in her tone and attitude. Real eye opener compared to my previous impression of her I’m afraid…….

They say you should never meet your hero’s… well it’s 50:50 for these two hero’s of mine

Conclusion

For me, my (modified) Poker dream came true and is certainly an event I will remember for a long time. It gives me encouragement to pursue additional Poker dreams in the future.

I firmly recommend everyone to have a dream and then reach for it, you never know…….

Poker: Financial results for February 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.20 Full Ring or 6-max, 600 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      : -$ 296.14
Black Belt Poker: -$ 225.68 (-£142.33)
Live play       : +£   0.00
Full Tilt       : +$ 81.30

Full Tilt was a small but profitable distraction. Got an email offering free $20 so decided to go for it.

Cash results (+$81.30)
NLHE 6-max Rush 901 hands +$76.53
PLO 6-max Rush 286 hands +$ 4.77

For Pokerstars, cash was 1 session of 8 Game -$29.65 and 2 sessions Zoom PLO -$39.55 (107 hands)

8 Game wins/losses by game type for February
2-7        -12.92
Limit HE   - 0.92
Omaha HL   + 6.64
Razz       - 8.35
Stud       -15.49
Stud HL    + 5.49
NL HE      + 4.92
PLO        - 9.02

The Pokerstars tournaments are all trying to qualify for EPT -$226.94 A bit more disappointing than not being able to qualify was when my circumstances changed and found I could not play Day 2, which makes it a bit pointless to play Day 1 !

My EPT dream will have to be delayed.... maybe next year.... I spent total of $645.29 trying to qualify, and although felt I played pretty well mostly, have nothing to show for it.

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£123.53 overall)
NLHE Speed ($0.20) 683 hands   -£15.74
NLHE Speed ($0.50) 237 hands   +£13.57
PLO         ($0.50) 212 hands -£121.36

Tournament Results (-£18.80 overall)
3x   MTT            £ 0.00
1x 10 seat STT    -£ 3.82 Maui Jackpot
1x   6 seat STT    -£14.98 Rio Jackpot

Reflect
February has been a bit of a non-month from Poker point of view... in that most of the little time I played was focused on EPT sats. On BBP I had one bad PLO session which defined my month. Full Tilt was the only bright spot, but don't really want to dilute my limited playing time amongst three sites, so won't bother again. Having said that, I did nearly achieve my cash hands target, as was playing Zoom/Rush/Speed Poker mostly.

Adjust
will have to forget about Feb and hope will be able to get back to normal in March

Targets

* Keep to Poker Plan
Have just about done this

* Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good

* Break even on all cash games
Not consistent enough yet, but getting there

* Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game
Achieved this month

References
January 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/poker-financial-results-for-january-2013.html

Poker: Financial results for January 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:16:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.20 Full Ring or 6-max, 600 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      : -$ 497.94
Black Belt Poker: -$   43.95 (-£27.72)
Live play       : +£    0.00

For Pokerstars, cash was 8 Game -$4.44 and Zoom PLO -$47.17

8 Game wins/losses by game type for January
2-7        +72.50
Limit HE   -16.11
Omaha HL   -43.48
Razz       -20.30
Stud       +16.27
Stud HL    +25.87
NL HE      -17.11
PLO        -22.08

The Pokerstars tournaments are mainly trying to qualify for EPT -$312.13, TCOOP -$158.30 (http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/poker-tcoop-campaign.html) There were also 1x NLHE MTT at -$8.00, 1x 5 card draw MTT at -$5.50 but had success with 1x 8-game MTT at +$37.60

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (+£37.04 overall)
NLHE Speed ($0.20) 1330 hands   -£37.13
NLHE 6-Max ($0.20)    62 hands    +£0.79
PLO         ($0.50)   407 hands   +£73.38

Tournament Results (-£64.76 overall)
6x   MTT           -£ 8.22
8x   10 seat STT   -£14.40 L4 steps (won 3)
11x 10 seat STT   -£16.55 Maui Jackpot
16x   6 seat STT   -£25.59 Rio Jackpot

Reflect
Pokerstars 8 game cash I'm still relatively happy with. The small hand volume is tricky to make definitive decisions but still looks like Limit HE and Omaha HL are the main areas that need improvement. Speed PLO still needs more discipline, but dropping two buy-ins seems within reasonable variance (and is half my losses from last month :) ) The TCOOP was a distraction but was fun to play. EPT is my main ambition Spent $106.22 last month as well, so have spent a total of $418.35 trying to satellite so far. The dollar equivalent of direct buy-in is around $8700 (so have spend about 4.8% so far) I do need to make sure I don't get carried away in the excitement of trying to qualify, but am probably happy to spend another $200 in February before resigning myself to the direct buy-in

BBP volume for NLHE cash is above target, as am only able to get Speed Poker cash games now. I did drop a couple of buy-ins but not too bad. Didn't manage to quite get enough PLO cash hands in but the results are pleasing, with another month in profit. With my other commitments, I don't get to play many MTT, but on the STT decided to play the L4 steps to try and get a cheap buy-in to $10 MTT. As it happens I am ahead of the game with 3 wins in 8 attempts (need to win 1 in 3 to break even) It is quite a bit of effort for relatively little reward, but is quite good fun (and cheap) game to play. I also decided to focus on the Jackpot STT Maui and Rio, again down to not many decent games being available. In the main I think I am playing these games pretty well, but have been getting a little frustrated at times - not only with bad beats but when folding garbage hands and flopping huge hands. Making the right play of course, but when you would've tripled up and likely won the game it can be a bit tilting at times !

Adjust

For Pokerstars, will be focusing on EPT satellites and the cash games. Do need to adjust my Zoom PLO game still

BBP just need to carry on as I did this month really. Hopefully the results will improve for February

Targets

* Keep to Poker Plan
Have just about done this

* Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good

* Break even on all cash games
Not consistent enough yet, but getting there

* Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants
Achieved this month

Poker: TCOOP campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:36:00 +0000

I normally avoid Turbo Poker games as don't think they suit my playing style all that well. It may come as a surprise then to find out I have been playing PokerStars Turbo Championship Of Online Poker (TCOOP) :)

The fact that the games are over relatively quickly and the potential prizes are huge was a great draw. Also most of the games are very reasonable buy-ins which makes the whole affair relatively cheap compared to WCOOP and even some of the SCOOP games

Of course being enthusiastic about the tournaments doesn't necessarily translate into results...... so here's how I did...

1. TCOOP-06: $55 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Shootout, No Late Registration], $100K Gtd

Normal entry fee $55
satellite fees paid $38.10 ($16.90 discount)
Result : 3156 from 3672 runners
Amount won : $0

2. TCOOP-21: $27 NL Hold'em [4-Max], $75K Gtd

Normal entry fee $27
satellite fees paid $7.25 ($19.75 discount)
Result : 4070 from 8800 runners
Amount won : $0

3. TCOOP-33: $27 Razz, $25K Gtd

Normal entry fee $27
satellite fees paid $12.55 ($14.45 discount)
Result : 4070 from 8800 runners
Amount won : $0

4. TCOOP-36: $82 NL Hold'em [6-Max], $150K Gtd

Normal entry fee $82
satellite fees paid $70.00 ($12.00 discount)
Result : 1251 from 3225 runners
Amount won : $0

5. TCOOP-48: $320 8-Game, $100K Gtd

Normal entry fee $82
satellite fees paid $30.40
Didn't make event
Amount won : $0

Summary

Total outgoings: $158.30
Total discount : $ 63.10
Total winnings : $ 0.00

OK, so I saved myself some cash compared to direct buy-in’s, but probably need to review my Satellite strategy as I still spent quite a bit ! The events themselves were quite fun and had some bad beats and good fortune to keep it interesting….

Next year I will probably plan it out a bit better as was a bit slapdash approach !

Poker: 2012 End of year results

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 17:21:00 +0000

The end of the year already, where does the time go ! The 2011 results show that last year was definitely a good year for me, sadly 2012 was not such a good year financially for me.

Overall totals for the year 2012 are:
Pokerstars : +$ 611.03 (+£ 377.31)
Black Belt Poker: -$ 1870.46 (-£1155.00)
Live play : -£ 436.66
Total -£1214.35 loss for the year

Live games were 7 games in Reading Casino, cashing in one. One trip to Farnborough Poker club and two BBP Live events, which were fun but ultimately unprofitable.

PokerStars Results
Cash results -$149.61
8 Game -$73.41
Badugi -$ 7.20
Zoom PLO -$69.00

8 Game wins/losses by game type (June - December only)
2-7        + 23.74
Limit HE   -136.18
Omaha HL   - 38.24
Razz       - 53.78
Stud       - 84.68
Stud HL    - 90.42
NL HE      + 3.18
PLO        +145.68

Tournament Results (+$760.64 loss overall)

MTT
14x 5 card draw (one cash) +$ 21.52
1x 7 card Stud HL          -$ 3.30
11x 8 Game (one cash)      -$122.88   Including WCOOP and SCOOP attempts
26x NLHE (three cash)     +$1038.40   Cashed in both SCOOP and WCOOP   EPT and Micro Millions satallite attempts
3x HORSE (one cash)          -$6.49
1x NLHE/PLO mix             -$11.00   SCOOP
2x PLO                      -$13.20

STT
24x 8 Game +$ 35.03
1x HORSE +$ 2.50
6x NLHE -$179.94 (WCOOP, SCOOP and EPT sats)

Black Belt Poker results
Cash results (-£1167.98)

NLHE ($0.20) 2 seat      179 hands -£ 74.56
NLHE ($0.20) 6-max      1185 hands -£ 30.51
NLHE ($0.50) 6-max       860 hands -£365.10
NLHE ($0.10) 9 seat        3 hands +£ 0.14
NLHE ($0.20) 9 seat       58 hands +£ 99.05
NLHE ($0.50) 9 seat     2222 hands +£ 83.76
NLHE ($0.50) 10 seat     1425 hands -£ 64.72
NLHE SPEED ($0.20) 6-max 1048 hands -£ 28.76

PLO ($0.20) 6-max    56 hands   - £67.40
PLO ($0.50) 6-max 7023 hands   -£573.97
PLO ($1.00) 6-max   102 hands   -£ 40.35

PLO8 ($0.20) 431 hands +£15.75
PLO8 ($0.50) 332 hands -£94.51
PLO8 ($1.00) 124 hands -£26.80

My cash losses are similar in value to last year. Annoyingly, my 9 and 10 seat results are pretty good, but can't get these games anymore, since Speed Poker and iPoker2 came along. My switch to 6-max NLHE was expensive and am still adjusting. My PLO results are huge loss compared to last year and show I must focus more on this game, or consider giving up ! On a much smaller sample, my PLO8 looks reasonable but still inconsistant

Tournament results (+£12.98)
69x MTT      +£111.17
47x   2 seat -£34.78
67x   6 seat -£35.54
1x    9 seat -£17.34
46x 10 seat -£10.53

Volumewise I did almost half that of last year, and the results overall are a lot worse. I suppose I have had a lot of distractions this year, including more play on Pokerstars, so probably not a surprise my volume and results are worse.

Achieving targets set at beginning of the year

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Pretty much achieved hands targets for both NLHE and PLO Do need to concentrate my efforts on less different types of games perhaps

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
Switching to 6-max messed up my NLHE results, with October accounting for all the losses and more! Hope it is under control now.
PLO and PLO8 most of the damage was done in the first quarter of the year but certainly both need more work for consistancy.

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed to avoid it this year

* Win a BBP league :-)
Not achieved this year. Not even close, sadly...

2013 Targets
* Keep to Poker Plan
* Focus on less variants of cash games
Zoom PLO, Speed NLHE, 6-Max NLHE and 6-Max PLO/PLO8
* Break even on all cash games
* Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game

Poker: Financial results for December 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:57:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 Full Ring or 6-max, 600 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      : -$ 184.59
Black Belt Poker: +$    3.84 (+£2.37)
Live play       : +£    0.00

For Pokerstars, my 8 game cash was back in profit with +$63.61 but my Zoom PLO was -$96.08, so -$32.47 for cash overall. I played 3x 8 Game STT but had no luck, making -$14 Some MTT was just messing around, but cost me -$31.90 for the pleasure it gave, but the main loss was my attempts to satellite into EPT, costing me -$106.22. Did have one good run and felt I played well overall, so will be trying again!

8 Game wins/losses by game type for December
2-7        -12.20
Limit HE   -22.94
Omaha HL   +13.00
Razz       +30.86
Stud       - 7.17
Stud HL    + 7.07
NL HE      +23.95
PLO        +31.04

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£6.49 overall)
NLHE Speed ($0.20) 236 hands   +£ 1.68
NLHE 6-Max ($0.20) 199 hands   -£32.22
PLO         ($0.50) 407 hands   +£24.05

Tournament Results (+£8.86 overall)
3x MTT -£ 6.87
3x 6 seat STT +£15.73

Reflect
Pokerstars 8 game cash is still my most consistent area, but Speed PLO needs more discipline to make sure I don't drop loads. The STT and MTT results are as expected with such a low volume, just need to get lucky with the EPT sats :)

BBP volume is pretty low, but not too bad overall.

Adjust

For Pokerstars, concentrate on 8 Game cash and maybe dabble a bit more in Zoom PLO cash to get more consistency (or find out I shouldn't play it anymore )

BBP I just need to get back to normal volume levels, as December had a lot of distractions

Targets

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Surpassed Cash games hand targets for NLHE but didn't hit the PLO target.

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
NLHE near enough but for 6-max result, PLO OK apart from the odd poor month, PLO8 looking a bit better

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed it this month

* Win a BBP league :-)
Not achieved this year. Not even close, sadly...

General: “Old Photos” project

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:56:00 +0000

On July 15th 2012, embarked on project to digitise my old 35mm films and slides. I've got around 100 films, mostly 36 shots per film. Estimated will take 5 months and actually finished it just now, so was spot on for my estimate.

Was quite monotonous at times, but was fun to relive some of the events in my life, a few I had totally forgotten about !

Here are a few pictures thought would be interesting to share, in no particular order:-

I’m the one on the left ! New Year eve 1981… had hair back then…

From 1993, but no idea what’s going on…..

One of my earliest photos of Aldeburgh High street, not sure when but probably 30+ years or so…

Where were you when Live Aid was on (July 1985) I was in this holiday cottage and watched it from midday to midnight. Probably only remember the first three or fours hours for some reason though

I seem to have a lot of photo’s from Aldeburgh This time Carnival time in 1991

Also seem to go to Brooklands Motor Museum a lot… this one what it looked like in 1995 (there’s an industrial estate at the bottom of the hill now!)

and one of my many trips to Goodwood Festival of Speed

My first Lotus (1998)

Many trips to our timeshare at Carihuela (Costa Del Sol) always lovely weather of course….

Our old neighbours party (2000) – 1970’s theme in case you’re wondering…

It’s not all holidays, cars and parties…. went to Rome for a long weekend for some culture in 2005….

The fish is definitely fresh in Aldeburgh… this from circa 1980, although the fisherman is probably still going strong now….

You don’t often see gigs like this “True Life Confessions” one back in early eighties anymore… think they call them something else nowadays

My love of gardening started with my first house in 1988……

That’s all for the moment. Will doubtless get the urge again to post up some of my more recent digital photo’s, but there are even more of those to trawl through !!

General: Fitness Review 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:18:00 +0000

During 2012 my Keep Fit regime changed completely, so can’t do a direct comparison to my 2011 fitness review.

In June, we decided to get in a personal trainer for a couple of private sessions at home, mostly to get Lynn a suitable regime but also to give me some more motivation. After looking around locally, decided to get in Carl Bradshaw It certainly worked, in that it got Lynn back into a fitness routine and I now do a wider range of activities.

This is my weekly routine now:

	Warm up - Exercise / Time	Intensity 0 –easy 10 -Hard	Main Aerobic session	Intensity 0-easy 10 Hard	Resistance	Stretch
Monday	Running 5 min @5mph	4	Cycling 25 min 14mph level 12 (6.0m – 1.2)	7	Yes	Yes
Tuesday	X/trainer 10 min Level 2 @57 watts	4	Rowing 25 min @30spm	7		Yes
Wednesday	Cycling 5 min Level 10 @11mph	4	Running 25 min @7.0mph (2.8m)	7	Yes	Yes
Thursday	Running 5 min @5mph	4	x/trainer 25 min Level 3 @80 watts 19-16 & 8-5 back	7	Kung Fu + Weights	Yes
Friday	X/trainer 5 min Level 2 @57 watts	4	Cycling 25 min 14mph level 12 (6.0m – 1.2)	7	Yes	Yes

I have got into this new routine, but have recently been a little sporadic. Will make sure I get back into the proper routine after Xmas of course

I don't have much in the way of analysis but for the main exercise have done a couple of measurements:

Monday heart rate peak at average 138 and peak 147
Tuesday 144/151
Wednesday 154/168
Thursday 133/145
Friday 140/148

Of course the regime is totally different to last year, but overall I think the results are pretty good. I’m still able to avoid chocolate, cakes and biscuits Mon-Thur and not going too mad Fri-Sun… and my alcohol intake is worrying low recently

For 2013 it will be to stay with the current programme, and try to increase the time to 30 mins for the main exercises, whilst also increasing the Resistance training a bit over the year as well. We’ll probably get Carl to come in and do another review of our progress in the new year, so will give an incentive to make sure we keep to the schedule !

Poker: Home Tourney–December 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:19:00 +0000

The final Christmas edition of the League was a jovial event, with an "end of term" feel about it

It was slightly disconcerting that Andy was the first to need his addon chips, but in level 2 normal service was resumed when Sean managed to get all in on a bluff against Jon who had trips... Sean subsequently went on to be the first out before the break, but the shock of the night was Karen being taken out the last hand before the break!!

Luckily Sean and Karen stayed during the break, so we could all eat the goodies they had kindly provided :) I was also able to make the 1st place presentation to Darren as he was looking a little low on chips ;)

I managed to crash out shortly after the break, first loosing a big flip against Steve then Bill took the small amount of my remaining chips. The consolation was that I could sit there and eat more cakes :)

It also wasn't long before Andy and Lee both hit the rail, leaving few contenders to challenge Jock for 2nd and Karen for 3rd

Derek nursed his short stack, but eventually had to get it in but was taken out, with Darren busting soon after

The remaining 5 had decent stacks so was a battle before Bill was the next to succumb. The remaining four was a surprisingly short encounter. Alex was short stacked and was soon the money bubble boy. Steve W had his best result of the year but could only manage 3rd.

After a couple of hands, the heads up battle saw Jock raise the button and Jon call. On the T-x-x flop, Jon checked, Jock raised all-in and Jon called. Jon's K-T looked promising until Jock showed his A-A ! Another T on the turn looked to have cruelly robbed Jock, but Jock could his 2 outers as well when the A came on the river and Jock is our winner and takes 2nd place in the league overall

What a great game to finish off a great year of games ! My own performance over the year was pretty poor by my own standards, and seems everyone has picked up their game.... but this gives me greater incentive to improve my own game and adjust better for next year

Can't wait, but in the meantime - Happy Christmas and New year to all

Poker: Financial results for November 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 Full Ring or 6-max, 600 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 70.87
Black Belt Poker: -$ 243.37 (-£151.43)
Live play : -£ 41.00

For Pokerstars, my 8 game cash was a little disappointing this month with loss of $155.53 over three sessions. On a slightly brighter note, I tried Zoom Omaha cash a couple of times and made profit of $27.08

The Micro Millions tempted me, but didn't have any joy in four attempts. Three 8 game MTT saw me cash in one, but still lost $5.88   The 8 game STT saw two cashes out of three attempts, with profit of $14.35

8 Game wins/losses by game type for October:
2-7        -30.03
Limit HE   -61.95
Omaha HL   -12.54
Razz       - 9.95
Stud       -22.95
Stud HL    -30.18
NL HE      +53.81
PLO        -41.74

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£91.96 overall)
NLHE Speed ($0.20) 664 hands   -£37.55
NLHE 6-Max ($0.20) 619 hands   +£22.64
PLO         ($0.50) 475 hands   -£81.57
PLO8        ($0.20)   89 hands   +£ 4.52

Tournament Results (-£59.47 overall)
11x MTT -£40.21
12x 6 seat STT -£19.26

Reflect

Pokerstars 8 game is still my favourite, so will be continuing playing as much as possible. The PLO Speed might be something I would continue with as well, but it might be a struggle to fit it into my schedule !

I'm still adjusting to the Black Belt cash games, but have switched to the lower levels 6-Max and Speed poker. Both these formats I am comfortable with now, so hope to now get more consistent (positive) results. The PLO loss was all down to one short one session, where three or four hands ruined the session for me.

The BBP MTT tournament results were down to trying to qualify for iPOPS III, but came nowhere close sadly. The STT's were mostly Jackpot SnG as not much else seems to run nowadays. Might start giving those a miss, although normally do OK in them.

Adjust

For Pokerstars, concentrate on 8 Game cash and maybe dabble a bit more in Zoom PLO cash

With BBP, will continue to play $0.20 Speed and 6-max NLHE and continue with the $0.50 PLO and $0.20 PLO8 cash games. I will probably play more MTT and less STT but do need to be sure I have enough time to play the MTTs

Targets

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Surpassed Cash games hand targets for NLHE but didn't hit the PLO target.

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
NLHE near enough but for 6-max result, PLO OK apart from the odd poor month, PLO8 looking a bit better

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed it this month :)

* Win a BBP league :-)
Won the 2nd leg of the new league, so a step in the right direction. Two more chances this week !

References

Cars: New car, again!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:04:00 +0000

It wasn’t all that long ago I got the Alpina, but for various reasons decided to get another car.

After extensive thought and research (which was a lot of fun in itself) settled for the Ford Focus Estate ST3

I’ve only driven it the 2 miles back from the garage, but am l looking forward to many happy miles with it I’ll have to read the manual before the next outing as it’s got some whizzy in-car entertainment, etc with phone sync which I’ve not had in previous cars…. good job I work in technology ! If you get any weird phone calls from my mobile and can just hear background noise as if someone is driving… that’ll be me pressing buttons accidently

General: Redecoration–COMPLETE!! (well…..)

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:35:00 +0000

It has been a surprisingly long time to get two bedrooms redecorated… but at last we are finished…!

Small Bedroom

Main Bedroom

It all started the end of September, so has taken two months to complete.

The final part was getting the curtains installed by Curtain Flair. The one tiny bit we are still missing are a pair of tie backs for the small bedroom, but can live without that for a few more days. Apart from that, we found Curtain Flair were very efficient and took time to help us decide what we needed and gave suggestions on what would go and what may not be such a good idea. The main issue with them was they are horrendously expensive, but have been very happy with their service

Of course we are not quite finished in the small bedroom, as we don’t have any furniture, but that was always the plan for the moment. Next year we will be buying a bed and cupboard for the small bedroom and also table and side board for the living room, then that really is the whole house done for the foreseeable !!

Looking back, it is quite interesting to see how it all progressed, so to summarise the different stages, here are the previous reports:

Phase I completed – stripping out and painting

Phase II – furniture installation

Phase III – Carpet

Phase IV – Bed delivery

Phase V (this report) – Curtains

So we’re both very pleased that it’s all finished and can now move back into our main bedroom. I’m really glad I didn’t have to do any of the work myself, as just project managing it all was hassle enough for me

In hindsight, we could have done things differently to get everything in quicker, but timescale wasn’t really a big deal for us. The lead time of both the bed and the curtains were a bit of a surprise, so maybe should have thought more about these items earlier in the process, but otherwise it was all OK really.

So now the house is just as we want it and plan to stay here a long time…. why does Lynn keep looking at house prices in Devon….. ?

General: Redecoration–Phase IV completed

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:12:00 +0000

It all seemed to be unravelling slightly two weeks ago, when it seemed Furniture Village had let us down badly over the bed delivery.

Today however, it has all come together and the bed is in and ready for use !

After complaining to the sales manager, in fairness he did come up with a solution that was acceptable to us. It still wasn’t perfect, in that he promised delivery the next week and someone would ring us early in the week. When no one had rung by Wednesday, I called in and was told I’d get a call back. Ten minutes later I was called and given a delivery date of a week later. After that it was plain sailing and came together as promised, so all’s well that end’s well I suppose.

I still think their customer communication is appalling as it was always me having to chase them….. not sure I can recommend Furniture Village, and will certainly think twice about dealing with them again

Having mostly moaned about the bed delivery, it didn’t delay us moving into the bedroom, as we are still waiting for the final element being the curtains.

Hopefully they will be in next week and we can finally move into the bedroom

Update: 16th November 2012

A few days ago, I got email inviting me to give feedback on our purchase from Furniture Village, which I duly did

Got call today from Furniture Village to discuss the issue and try to placate us. We are basically happy now anyway (although could have done without the hassle at the time) but is good to see them taking the trouble to follow up on bad reviews.

General: Redecoration–almost there !

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Why can’t all redecoration be this easy……

1. Ask decorator for quote and date.

2. Decorator turns up when expected and takes as long as he said

3. That’s it

OK, so it was only a bit of painting in our conservatory… but even so, all jobs should be this easy

This is before:

and here is after:

from the photo’s, the difference is subtle, but closer inspection it looks a lot cleaner and fresher than before.

Just got to get the bedrooms finished off and that is the whole house done in the three years we’ve been here !!

Now it’s all done…. shall we move house, or just start redecorating again

Poker: Home Tourney–November 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:15:00 +0000

12 took their seats for a key game, as Darren needed a poor result to avoid taking down the 2012 title today and take it to the wire.

There was no evidence of nerves from Darren, as he was happy to call down my raises and bets with poor Aces (still won the pot tho ) and seemed to be hitting cards all night. My game was fairly active early on and although needed to double buy in a couple of times, was around average chips at the break, but Jon and Derek were the chip leaders on my table.

Andy had a fairly normal game, and was bemoaning his luck, when he tripled up on the last hand before the break with his rubbish cards hitting a straight… at least that should shut up his moaning for a while

On the re-start I wasn’t getting or hitting anything, and just drizzled my blinds away. With Lee being short stack on my left, managed to steal his BB a few times and picked on Roger a couple of times as well… but was glad when Jon bust Lee and Roger, which meant I had made the final table !

I was on around 4k, which was about 8 big blinds by now. Resisting the temptation to shove the first hand, managed to wait until the third hand before shoving any 2 against Andy in the SB.

Sean managed to dust off his big stack, firstly by giving some chips to Darren, then polishing off the remaining 21k to Karen shortly after.

Bill was short stacked and in the BB and got in against Darren, but Darren was ahead and improved on the flop, taking him out. Couple of hands later it was my turn, with Q-Jo being called by Darren in the BB with A-x Sadly for me the A came and I’m out and Darren is cruising with a huge chips stack.

It took until the last round with the excruciatingly high blinds before Andy was out in 5th and Jon soon followed on the bubble.

We were three handed into the last four hands. Karen was shortest with around 24k, Derek on 33k and Darren 45k appx

Derek managed to double up Karen, giving her the lead and on the last hand, Derek went all in blind with 11k, Karen decided to re-shove and Darren called… so it was all in the lap of the Poker gods as to who got what spot.

As it turned out, Derek had the best hand, but Darren had a better hand than Karen, so ended up with Darren winning (again!) Derek 2nd and Karen 3rd

Another great game, but has settled the winner of this years league, as no one can catch Darren now….

Congrats to Darren, but still all to play for as 2nd place is wide open !

See you next time

Poker: Financial results for October 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:46:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 Full Ring or 6-max, 600 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars : -$ 99.74
Black Belt Poker: -$ 522.15 (-£323.12)
Live play : -£ 40.00

I only managed a couple of 8 game cash sessions on Pokerstars, with result of -$31.34. I dropped about $70 on one NLHE hand, which was a correct call but didn't give me the result I wanted. That one hand defined my months result on Pokerstars really. My other activities were to spend $49.50 trying to qualify for PCA (but not got anywhere near :( ) Also played a two low stakes 5 draw and a PLO MTT which along with one 8 game STT account for the rest of the losses.

8 Game wins/losses by game type for October:
2-7        +13.93
Limit HE   - 5.99
Omaha HL   -15.92
Razz       - 8.86
Stud       +11.96
Stud HL    + 0.26
NL HE      -70.01
PLO        +43.29

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (-£386.41 overall)
NLHE Speed ($0.20) 441 hands   -£21.41
NLHE 6-Max ($0.50) 837 hands -£365.10
NLHE FR     ($0.50)   74 hands    +£6.84
PLO         ($0.50) 652 hands   -£16.24
PLO8        ($0.50) 105 hands   -£27.18
PLO8        ($1.00)   23 hands   +£36.68

Tournament Results (+£63.29 overall)
7x MTT           +£71.38
1x   2 seat STT   -£13.14
12x   6 seat STT    -£3.64
6x 10 seat STT    +£8.69

Reflect
Not a huge amount of volume on Stars, so fairly content with the results. I'll be having a bit of a rest from EPT satallittes for a while and hope to get more volume on 8 Cash with my new schedule

Black Belt cash games are fewer and tougher it seems, I literally cannot get a Full Ring NLHE game now. It seems partly down to the iPoker2 split and partly down to the rise of Speed poker. This meant that I switched to 6-max NLHE and got severely pwned every session I played. I also dabbled in Speed poker and have got used to that format a bit more now. You can certainly rattle through the hands, so is something I think I will play more of. My PLO and PLO8 cash results are about what I would expect. It's very difficult to get a game of PLO8 at $0.20 or $0.50, which is why I played a session of $1, but hope to stick to the lower stakes really.

The BBP tournament results were saved by my win in the BBP league, although the other games I'm fairly happy with. The STT table volume is certainly lower at $20-$50 buy-in levels, so am back to playing mainly $10 games.

Adjust

For Pokerstars, with my new Poker schedule I hope to get to play more 8 Game cash, as it's something I really enjoy.. and normally do OK at!

With BBP, I need to drop down when playing 6-max NLHE and play a bit more Speed Poker as well.

Targets

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Surpassed Cash games hand targets in October

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
NLHE near enough but for 6-max result, PLO OK apart from the odd poor month, PLO8 looking a bit better

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed it this month :)

* Win a BBP league :-)
Won the 2nd leg of the new league, so a step in the right direction

General: Redecoration–Phase III completed

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:41:00 +0000

OK so these phases aren’t exactly huge steps, but are different activities and different weeks

This week, Trimmer Flooring came in and did our carpets. Only took him a couple of hours, so was quick and efficient as normal. Very happy with his service

I guess I should have taken the pictures before we started putting our rubbish back in the rooms

Phase IV is getting the bed next week, but when I called Furniture Village to check on the delivery date, they informed me there is a 6 week delay and no guarantee that we’ll even get it before Christmas. Can’t say I’m impressed with their handling of our order.

We’re just deciding whether to cancel the bed order or move into the bedroom with our old bed and wait…..

General: Redecoration–Phase II completed

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:09:00 +0000

It’s been a while since Phase I was completed, so was nice that Phase II has been completed quicker than expected.

The small bedroom hasn’t changed, except I have put the Broadband routers, etc in an existing cabinet so they are out of the way and tidy.

The main bedroom has now had the furniture supplied and fitted by Oakwood Bespoke in Camberley

The fitter was very quick and efficient, so was finished in just under two days. All looks lovely and Lynn can’t wait to start loading the cupboards with all her stuff… not sure I’ll get a look in

We won’t be doing anything much with the room until the carpets are fitted, which is Phase III next week. The bed is due the following week, then hopefully the curtains the week after that.

To be continued….

Poker: Financial results for end of third quarter - September 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Shaw) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:56:00 +0000

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 Full Ring, 700 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max, all with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the three quarters to end September 2012:-

Live Play -£355.66
8 tournaments
Three cash sessions

Pokerstars +$966.23
Cash (Mostly 8 Game) +$42.65
MTT (Mostly WCOOP#18) +$1062.84
STT (Mostly sats for EPT, WCOOP and SCOOP) -$139.26

BBP -£682.82

Cash -£683.12
NLHE    +£44.42 3966 hands (target 5400)
PLO    -£607.96 5647 hands (target 6300)
PLO8   -£119.58   670 hands

MTT +£86.87

STT -$86.57
46x 2 seat -£21.64
40x 6 seat -£28.37
1x 9 seat -£17.34
40x 10 seat -£19.22

Reflect

I am a little down on the number of hands for cash, but not too far out. The financials for PLO are pretty grim reading, but recent results have been OK, so hopefully am improving my game

The STT results are a little disappointing, but actually a win or two away from being break even, but clearly need more work !

Adjust

A lot of the losses from PLO are already being addressed (having stopped playing Heads Up ! ) and my PLO8 game is also improving gradually, so hope to make up some of the heavy PLO losses.

Will be trying to play STT more regularly and am studying strategy (ICM) a bit more as well, so lets see if I can turn the loss to profit by the end of the year

Performance against 2012 targets

* Keep to my revised Poker Plan
Didn't achieve the numbers for Cash games, but not too far off so all things considered, OK

* Play BBP London Live and UKIPT Brighton tournaments
Played two BBP Live events this year

* Aim for break even month on month on all cash tables
NLHE near enough, PLO OK recently apart from odd poor month!, PLO8 inconsistent!

* Use learning tools and resources to learn and improve my NLHE, Omaha and PLO8 cash and tournament play
Am putting in the effort to do some learning.

* Avoid entering any BBP grading process !
Managed it this month :)

* Win a BBP league :-)
Still trying….