Embarking On A Journey

hey. Its been a wile. So the last trip to Vegas went a bit below break even. I was down about 1k. Mainly due to my tournament binge after early success I lost the respect for the game and lost allot. That was then putting me in a bad mood for cash and consequently I lost a bit in that too.

Since I have been back home I have been playing everyday. Not grinding so much but probably 2-3 hours a day. I started playing both Holdem and Omaha and was loosing in Holdem and winning in Omaha so just played Omaha now for the last two weeks and its been going well. I have been watching training videos a few times a week and feel I'm far ahead of most people at the 50NL tables.

The festival is comming along nicely with that taking up allot of my time also. I have spent about 5K on that for staff and brought a marquee and other things. It should be really good. Hopping to get 300-400 people there.

So, a long time break. Allot has been going on. Have been on a ski season in Switzerland, and been to China, Vietnam and hosted another festival and club night in Bristol. The club nigh was a few weeks ago and since then I have been grinding tournaments quite hard. Most of my cash game sessions have gone fine until I bluffed it away. Mainly in HU situations. So basically trying to stay away from cash games because tournaments have been going very well with a 35% ITM and two final tables last week. I also got into day 2 of the Party Poker GP in Nottingham but ran very bad and lost 5/6 pots in the 4 hours I played. This week I have been having a rest. I have been playing Blast SNGs on 888 which is like the hype lot games. they are going ok. up a few BI.

Im thinking of getting a cash game coach because I want to grind live cash this winter in Switzerland. I don't see any point in playing cash until i get a coach to work out my terrible leeks. But as tournaments are going well and always have done part of me just thinks to stick to them.

Anyway as I'm grinding again i will post on here again. This really is starting to show what a journey I have been on the last few years. ♦

Hi frazz4,

Really enjoyed reading your blog.
Looking forward to hearing how you got on with your October grind.
Good luck at the tables.

Regards

Matt

Whats up! I'm checking in from Switzerland! Right now I'm doing a ski season in Verbier which is awesome! There is a big 10,20 poker game in Montreux Which I have been planing to play but work here has been a little messed up. The first company I worked for folded so I am working for another and not getting the work I was hopping for so I have not got the capital to play the game. I still am contemplating playing it though. As for online poker. I have been playing a bit. Not too much. But I have been steadily building my BR playing mainly 1,2 cash or some 2,4. Only playing a few hours a night so not getting bored or fatigued which is nice. Skiing most days at the moment because the snow has been dumping! Any ways happy gaming!!

Hello again. Big moves have been made. I have got a backer to play in a 5,5/ 10,10 cash game here in Switzerland. I have one month left for my ski season and I'm going to hit the poker tables as much as possible. I'm looking for a mind set coach before I start playing to get my head back in the game. Also because I am quite anxious about playing with someone else's money and at these stakes. I have been paying 1,2 and 2,4 online and its been going ok but still cant stop my self playing when im in my D game mood so thats hurting my results. Most of the mind set coaching is a bit expensive at $300 an hour.

Hi, I have been playing at the casino for the last month of Sundays they play a 5,5 game. The game is very week which is nice but also very swingy. A 8X raise PF will get 4-5 callers regularly. So the pots are always big going into the flop. It is also tough to put anyone on had ranges as they are mainly playing 90% of their hands.

I have lost 4/5 sessions playing there. I think this is mainly due to no having the best of luck at the moment. I have also made some bad calls with second best hands. The general rule of thumb is that they will call off with any pair or FD and when they bet bit they usually have the nuts or close to it. I'm currently down 2 BI which of course isn't bad. It comes down to one or two hands usually at the end of the session. Also the tricky thin is that most people buy in for the minimum. in these games its 20BB and as the standard PFR is 5-8X it usually means they are getting their stack in with any part of the flop so it leaves little room for out playing and allot of luck is involved. I saw two people separately drop 300BB onto the table when only buying in for 20BB at a time.

I have been happy with my play most days and have been able to see my mistakes and learn from them. I have to admit that the loosing streak got to me a little after this week. I got a little frustrated. Mainly thinking, "How can I be loosing to these players!" I happy to have a break and not be able to play for another 4 days. I did sit down on the 10,10 game Saturday and also half way though Sunday. I was happy to find that they are nearly as fishy as the 5-5 games so I am comfortable to play on these games if the right seat comes about. I managed to pull a small profit off of that game both times I played. This week I am going to try and play Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday an hope to crush some souls. 1 good night and I will be in so reasonable profit. One bad hand and it will be the end of my swiss mission. To be continued next year with a bigger BR. Lets just hope the Gods are with me.

Hey Guys whats up! I'm going to be posting in the blog again as I'm playing poker allot for a wile now after working hard during the summer at poker and in life. Im going to change this blog from such a poker based thing to more of my personal feelings, thoughts and experiences. I think it makes for more interesting reading, rather than the same old poker crap. This will be a bit more personal.

An update on my current position. I came away from Switzerland in April with the goal of preparing my self as much as possible for the next winter in Switzerland, where my backer who put me into the 5,10 game there, said he would like to do it again 2017-2018.

My goals were,

1. to turn my results around online to be a solid winner on cash.

2. Earn 10K

3. Go on a poker trip to Las Vegas at the end of the summer with a 10K BR min to play as much as possible so when I go to Switzerland I will be in the best position possible!

I worked hard farming during the summer, which gave me less time to play poker but I earn ok money so I was ok with that. I played cash games after work. I made sure I only played short sessions as I was tired and could see a trend of mine, where I play too long and then spew off. I have been also doing theory at least once a week.

In July I hosted a small music festival, called the Simply Bass BBQ. So running up to this all my energy was going into that. The festival went well but safe to say I was relived for it to be over. SO MUCH STRESS!! "Now I can finally concentrate on poker! WEEEEEEE" I was still not putting in much volume though because my working weeks were generally 50-70 Hr/w. I was turning a nice small profit on cash but loosing it it tournaments because I'm stupidly loading up into a tourney that will go on until 3AM and I have to be up for work at 6....

I had also been playing live poker when possible and I had solid results there. Over the summer I ended up 1000BBs at the casino. I also free rolled my way into a £200 tournament and came 5th for £1700 so happy days there.

Now the summer has come to an end. I managed to earn 10K at work. My online results have been the best I have ever had. with some good tourney results in micro steaks. And I have my plan ticket bought to Las Vegas. So I'm meeting targets.

Its funny how things work out. Last time I went to Vegas I had on of my best friends out there so when we didn't feel like playing poker we could hang out. But this time I am going it alone. I was feeling a little anxious about this but I know I can make friends easy. I was also thinking I don't want o just spend the two months in Vegas. I want to travel. The next day my friend Dave. ( American, lives in Portland) Text me asking if I wanted to come to Miami for the Isle Poker festival in October. I didn't need to be asked twice. So after a week in Vegas I'm flying to Miami baby!!! I'm excited about the chance to see hollywood and all it has to offer! also being able to hang out with Dave will be great too. Now all I have to do is Ship the 1K main and its going to be one hell of a New Year!

Below is my Summer online cash results .

https://ibb.co/cLo7yw

So, I'm in Vegas. The flight was a bit shit. It was the cheapest one I could find so..... The first day I got here I was trying to stay up late to try to get over the jet lagg. So I took off 7Am UK time. Didn't sleep much on the flight. Landed in Vegas at noon. I sorted my self out and then played some cash at the Wynn. I punted off 1Buy in. But actually I was feeling like playing some more but didnt want to loose a second BI. So I went down to Planet Hollywood and played a $80 1.5K GTD Tourney. I ended up splitting that tourney 3way for $680. A good start! I then went and played some cash at Caesars Palace and won back the buy in I lost at he beginning of the day. Happy with that I went home at 11PM.

I was exhausted, but not tired. I lay in bed trying to sleep but it was a broken sleep all night. I ended up going for a run at 5AM and then starting the day early at the cash tables. That went well with me winning $150. I then played the 11AM $150 BI tourney at the Venetian. I was doing well but busted in 25th with Aces VS BB flopped two pair. Dahmm.. I was feeling tired now after a shit night sleep and then by this time I had been playing poker already for 7 hours.

Tired but not defeated. I sat at the cash table because there is a good promotion for High Hand going on right now with every 30 Minuets the highest hand wins $300. Full house or better. So I planned to play that game and try for the High Hand. That didn't go well when I ran 2 pair into trips. Admittedly I was playing my hand badly and I shouldn't have been in the hand really. So I kind of deserved it. But still sick. Then I went to play the PH tournament I won last night. I started so well busting two people quickly. My starting hands were off the chart. I was getting dealt premium hands so much! But then they started missing A,K fluff ect ect. Then I lost two all in pre flops with Aces...... and that was it.

That was the end of day 2.. Tired, felt like I was running bad. I walked home. I have to say, I slept very well that night. Today I woke up feeling re energised, But not too happy about loosing all the money I had won on day 1. I want to play the Venetian tournament but I'm not excited about it. I feel like I can play well but If i run bad it wont be good for me. Hope fully writing this will help.

Yesterdays down swing was a result of one bad decision to play cash after I busted the tournament. Turning into $580 bad decisions. Of course they hands I had were a bit unlucky. But after I busted the tourney. I knew I wasn't playing great. I was tired. Slightly pissed I busted the tourney. I had my head phones in at the table which is always a sign for me that I'm a little grumpy and not playing my A game.

Today, I'm going to go back with a fresh head. A new day a new beginning. I'm going to play each hand as a new hand and just do my best.

Bring it on!

Just got home from my day. An interesting day. I started off at the Venetian playing a $150 9K GTD. I wasn't playing great. an busted very early. It was a combination of getting good starting hands that wiffed the flops so I was being ago pre then getting owed post flop. I was a bit pissed off at my self after busting that and rather than jump straight into cash I went and did a bit of shopping to cheer my self up. By some thing nice. At least then if i loose at cash I have one thing to take home at the end of it.

After walking around the shopping mall for 2 hours I felt good enough to play cash. I figured all the regs are at the Venetian with the good promo thats on right now. So I headed to the Wynn.

I got into a very good cash game. It was mainly due to one player who was playing very LAG. Showing lots of bluffs. He had a really great character and everyone was happy and the pots were big. I was running ok and playing smart safe. I was showing a few bluffs in the right spots and winning the big pots.

One of the hardest hands I had was....

I start the hand with about $900. ( 300 BBs) The LAG is on my right with about the same. I open from UTG with JJ to $15. folds to SB who calls, BB (LAG) makes it $75.
This was unusual. He had been open raising allot and calling 3Bs. But not making big 3Bs that often. Most of his game was Post flop. I call and so does SB.

FLOP, 3s,3d,9s. SB checks. BB bets $160. I call SB folds.
TURN, 7d. BB bombs $360. Now I go into the tank. Does he really do this with AsKs???? He talking allot the whole time I'm trying to make my decision. The things he is saying are making me think he's week. But **** me this is no small betting. Hes shipped 100 BBs with draws but this is 300BBs. After tanking for a very long time I fold J,J. He shows K,K. few....

after that I ran good. I ened up leaving the session plus $640. I plan to play the Venetian again tomrrow morning.

My goal for the trip is to make 20K. I want to be playing $5, $10 by the end to get me in the right mind set for Switzerland!

I have been talking to a supper hot girl on tinder today. Hopefully we will meet up in the next few days. I need someone to hang out with when Im not playing poker. It always helps if they are a hot Female!

Good morning! I played the Venetian tournament yesterday. I managed to bust before the end of level two.. Aces into trip tens. I reloaded as I felt on top form and ready to win. I came back strong and played well all day but busted in 16th for a min cash. I was happy to make min cash to be honest after clinging on to make the money after making a mistake with 24 people left i lost a big pot to go down to 20BBs. Im feeling good today after a good cash session last night. I was playing quite crazy on the cash. Showing some bluffs, I made the table play allot looser. And I also ran good in the right spots, flopping two pair twice.

Today there is a good amount of variety. The Wynn has a decent tournament on. $225, 25K GTD. and the Venetian has a $340, 25GTD. The Wynn has an addon available, but its half starting stack. The Venetian is a double stack. I'm going to go for the Wynn tournament. I feel its better value. Also with the current promo on at the Venetian more regs are drawn to that casino so a potential overlay at the Wynn.

Other than that all is good. Im feeling fresh. Sleeping well. I'm ready for a big tournament win!!

What a Saturday night! After smashing though two bullets int he Wynn tournament I went to play cash at the Venetian to try and win the bad beat JP. The games were supper nitty and I was trying my best to make action but wasn't working. Until about 7PM when some lads sat down. Two guys were dealers ( always crazy players, trying to prove they are the best) and one was some guy who liked to think he was a big shot and was in every pot. A nice chap but he had something to prove. The table banter was high with 10-30 times blind pre flop raises being called very loose. The chips were flying and I made some huge bluffs vs those guys and got labelled the wizard lol. I was able to make some huge lay downs also. So basically playing my A game and running good in the right pots.

SO i turned the day into a profit. Despite being down $400 from the tournament. That is one of the biggest improvements I have seen in my game. To not tilt or be phased by the money as much. I guess that just come with time and experience. I'm feeling great over all and happy to be playing so much. I want to have a day off and I'm planning to go and watch a show at Caesars with the girl I have been chatting with. She seems like a fun crazy girl so I hope we get on well. I think most people are a bit mental if you grow up in Vegas though. All of this being normal to you is not good prep for life away from here lol.

I have been trying hard hen sat at the table to make it a good environment, by chatting to the players around me. It keeps the table happy and me. I play so much better when Im doing this and potentially they are playing worse.

I just got off the phone with my mate Liam. I am trying to decide whether to play the Golden Nugget tournament today Or the Venetian. The GN tourney will be softer and there for better EV. But then I'm preparing to play in the 1K in Miami in a few weeks. So I need to prepare my skill level for that and there for I need to put my self up against better opponents. Also the Venetian tournament is a much bigger GTD so I will play that and do my best.

Whats up. SO since my last message I have had an interesting few weeks. I flew down to Florida to a tournament series at the Isel Casino and race track. I met my mate Dave here and we stayed together in an airBnB. The accommodation is quite shit. We are sharing a double bed and the mattress is terrible. The first night we got here we both played a satellite to get into the $1100 tournament. I busted about 10 from the money and Dave bubbled. That pretty my summed up our trip for the next week and a half. I was in a down swing getting set over set and boat into a bigger boat in the cash games wile min cashing in one tournament and not getting close in any others. Dave went over board with the satellites and kept barreling to try tog et into the $1500 main. After all said and done Dave lost 5.5K in sats.... I said early on we should just play cash and treat them as sates. Because the tournament structures were so bad it was anyones game by the end.

My cash games turned around on the Thursday before the main. and I had a glimmer of confidence back. I was ensuring that even though I may not have been having a good poker trip that I wouldn't wast the opportunity of being in Florida. SO I took a day trip to Universal Studios with a girl I met one of the first days here. We left for Universal at 8am barring in mind i have been playing poker until 3AM most days. we had a awesome day at the park. Even though it was over priced. Then we got back home by 11PM and I had to play cash. This was my last chance to try and win $1500 to buy into the main. I played $1,$2 cash untill 5AM. My table was supper fishy and the money was flying. I didn't manage to run very good though and came away with only $100 profit.

Saturday I woke up and decided I would give myself until level 6 of the tournament (6PM) to win the buy in at the cash tables. Wile playing for about 3 hours i was about even and losing hope. Then they started running 10 way flips for the tournament Buy in to make the GTD. 10 player each put $150 in and they deal the cards face up. Best hand wins. I busted the first one but won the second ♦.

I can't believe it! I'm actually in the tournament. Me and Dave swapped 10% and my buddie bought 10%. So i'm plying. I have 75BBs. I run quite well on the first day and also make some big moves and go into day two with 120,000. Day two is very eventful with me getting dealt allot of good holdings and first missing all the flops and going down to 50K then running it up and up and up.... I make some big calls and when we get to the money I have a great table position and take full advantage. We draw for tables when we go down to 27 and i;m in a more difficult spot. I have two fish on my right. A very good pro on their right and a decent player on my left. One of the fish gets a big heater and knocks two people out in 2 consecutive hands. One hand the fish ended up 5 betting all in on the flop with the nut flush draw VS three of a kind and hit. The very next hand I get A,A. Fish opens for 27,000, I re raise to 72,000 he calls. FLOP, A,J,6 all spades. I CB 95,000 he check raises to 260,000 I shove for 660,000 he calls with K,J the king of spades. BANG Spade on the turn, Brick river........... FML!!! Still one of my biggest tournament cashes yet but still. it was $112,000 and I had my eyes set on that.

De-flatted is the feeling. I made decent money still with the tournament costing me $750 to enter and I won $4000 after paying my backers. But yea, that was so close to being and insane win!

Now the girl I have been hanging out with has convinced me to extend my stay here another week. Dave fly's out in an hour. I have accommodation booked in Vegas from Nov the 5th. so I'll fly back then. For now im going to play cash all week. Enjoy my time with the girl here and hope to bink a tourney in the last 3 weeks of my stay in America.

Yo, So I'm back in vegas. I have been here for 5 days. Its been eventful. I flew in with Seandy from Florida. ( she came for the weekend) Whilst on the flight I realised I had messed put the accommodation booking. We were landing two days early. at 12AM. So its impossible to book an airbnb for that night. So I look on the app when we land at the accommodation where I'm booked to stay in a few days and its where I stayed the last time in Vegas. 1/3 of the rooms were available on the app. It has a front door with a lock code which I guessed hadn't change in the last few weeks. So I say that we can just stay there the night for free. Who will know. We walk into the flat and there are two other guys having dinner in the kitchen part. I act supper casual. "Hey guys whats up" shake their hands have an intro chat. Then I ask which rooms are free? We booked a room but couldn't remember which one it was.They say they are not sure but think room three is empty.

Perfect! The best room and the same one i stayed in last time too. I looked in room 1 and that was occupied with bags in it. Room two the couple we met were staying in. So we walk into room three. Doors unlucked. Lights are off. Bed looks funny. I shine my phone light on the bed and sure as sure there is a body under the sheets.... "FUCK" we turn around. Luckly not waking the person and shut the door. I then act like its the Hosts fault. they must have double booked. and say we are going to grab some dinner and contact the host. We walk tot he closed other two hotels to see if they have rooms. They are both fully booked. We contemplate sleeping on the floor of the living area in the apartment... Noo cant do that.

So we decide "FUCK IT" lets stay at the Venetian. Im playing the 1K tournament there. Its handy and also a little baller with my girl. The room we get is awesome and we have a great few nights there, taking full advantage of the big shower and bath and other cool stuff that my $40 a night AirBnB does have.

I brick the 1K after playing one hand bad and slightly tilting the rest of my stack off. Then me and Seandy hang out the next day and she flys back home on Sunday night.

The next few days I cannot seem to get motivated. All I want to do is stay in bed. I'm faced with he the issue. I cant motivate my self. I feel I need to play. I dont want to play and know if I do I'll likely loose because I'm not playing my A Game. SO WTF!!! How do I get over this... I decide to just play tournaments. I brick 5.. Not happy! Im going in-between, Do I just play small tournaments? They are easy very low skill opponents. But luck based. Do I stick to cash? I feel I have an edge in cash when playing well and part of me feeling unmotivated is all the tournaments I have been bricking. I feel that if I just stick to cash games and lock up some wins ill get my MOJO back. But what if I run bad? I could be bust soon. My Bank role is getting dangerously low due to spending lots with Seandy. And having a few -1K days in a row.

I decide. Fuck tournaments. I'm going to stick cash. Thats what I'm here for. Im going to walk a bit further and play at Caesars Palace. I like the room and the dealers. And there is a decent chance a few fish will be there. So I'm already feeling better just with the face that I'm playing in Caesars. I actually got lucky! I hit a lucky straight VS a villan who was flopping everything! He couldn't miss. So I got lucky in one hand then called a big bluff of his a few hands later. That turned my day into a winner which Im chuffed about.

Now lets grind. The struggle has been real though. I'm not sure if its every time I move locations. Or I'm feeling a bit lonely with out Seandy here. I dont know. I always feel that I make the wrong decision. When I went to Florida, I was on such a heater here and the first week of Florida went bad. Then it turned around, things were going great there and then I decided to come back here. Now the first few days here have been bad.

I was in two minds about staying in Florida. Seandy wanted me too. But I felt I was taking advantage of her by staying there. Also I didnt want the girl to get in the way of poker. But now I'm struggling to play my A game here. So she is getting inivertantly in the way. Shes in my head. I will give it a few days. If I'm still feeling like this I may fligh back to florida with her.