The summer...

I would like to say I achieved my goals: running my roll up to $6k and gaining experience from playing half a million hands +, however – it wasn’t to be. What poker I played I did after drinking, although, in my defence, I kept it to small tourneys and stts in an attempt to limit the assault on my bank roll. I think I did fairly successfully. I have to say my overall respect to those who make most of their income from stts has definitely increased; those things have to be the most frustrating little fuckers around – not going to run through the outdraws and bad-beats (mainly because I can’t remember them).

The summer has been slightly dull tbh. After making vague calculations of sums that I spent over the last three terms at Warwick I knew I needed to sort out a fairly solid income. So back down the poker rooms to be paid to take shit from gambling degenerates who honestly believed I was in complete control of the cards I squeezed off the deck. This was then combined with the stress of being paid in a variety of different ways ranging from an hourly rate, rake commission and purely on tips; meaning that my ‘stable’ job could earn me half as much for the same hours one weekend as it did for the previous. Overall, I really fukin hope I never have to work in another gambling dive again.

Other than the poker dealing I also did a month of 9-5ing at a London trading house. It was an interesting experience, but I have to confess the overall impression of myself that I left was that of a lazy cunt who found it hard to make it to work before 11:30am, read the paper for 2 hours a day and always stank of the previous night’s alcohol. So, me thinks there might not be a job waiting for me there for after graduation.

I didm however, managed to get out of the country for 10 days in Ibiza. It was pleasant apart from the intense heat, the fukin outrageous prices and the parasitical Spanish people who were getting very rich as a result. Overall, good fun had by all…

Basically, how I see it now – I have two weeks left before I have to be in Warwick, and I’m really going to try to make the most of my time in terms of poker. My aim is to go for the complete package; try to eat healthily, get more exercise and reduce the evening’s intake of toxins. Hopefully, this’ll put me in much better stead at the tables, especially in terms of reducing my losses when things start going downhill.
Three concepts have certainly been compounded this summer.
1) Bad-beats happen to everyone – but it doesn’t matter how sick they are, they’re still really, really boring to everyone else. The amount of times I found myself saying, “If he was very unlikely to win, surely you wanted him to get his money in?” So, I’m going to try my best to analyse my play without thinking about my roll total - and certainly try to not dwell on bad luck.
2) The combination of pride and tilt is a danger to any player regardless of their ability and bankroll. I was dealing at the Western and watched as one of the bosses managed to loose about £4.5-5k playing £2/£2 PLH in about four hours. It included the following hand; seat 3 sb, 4bb, 5posts £5 straddle, the boss is next to act and raises pot (£19) with 9-5o – two folds and a call from the button, flop is 3,9,5 – somehow, with a combination of raises and re-raises the boss managed to get the button all-in on this board for a further £1200 and saw that he’d been called by bottom set. I’m not saying I’m a protégé, but I’m sure I could have chucked the two pair for 600 bbs!
3) Finally, alcohol (and most other intoxicants) is a great way to relieve you of your roll. There was always a couple of people who’d walk in after a long night out and manage to loose upwards of a grand on the £1/£1 PLH game.
So from this my master plan was formed – firstly try my best for healthy living; feel good, play good and get rich – lol.

Also – I think tilt can be reduced by expensive technology – so I’m looking to buy a 27” or 30” dell LCD screen to run off my new Vaio. Hopefully, these items can be seen as investments and not losses – but only time will tell.

Finally, as I only managed to clear half on my FT bonus, I’m looking to start up a new account with a nice bonus scheme some time soon. Anyone have any ideas of which site to go through?