Have a break have a........

The conclusion of the FTOPS series which I bricked (again) seemed a good time to stop playing for a few weeks and relax. When I started going on my heater and racking up a few results I was obviously motivated to play a lot and it is easy to get fully engrossed in the online mtt schedule. Grinding online mtt’s fulltime is not a healthy lifestyle whatsoever; a typical day would involve waking up around 5pm and grabbing a quick shower and some food before starting off with the 6pm tournaments. I register until 2am UK time and can have up to 12 tables at once, sometimes more on a Sunday. If I don’t final table one of the later tournaments I will finish playing maybe around 6-7am and then probably rail friends who are deep in stuff until going to sleep around 9am. Sometimes you don’t leave the house for days, have limited conversations in real life with people and become detached from reality. I think extended breaks are very important for an online mtt player in order to keep balance in your life and not become a social recluse. I had to learn this the hard way when I was first getting into online poker and became totally obsessed and harmed some friendships because of it. That’s all way in the past though and I feel I have the balance pretty much spot on these days.

I am playing the APPT Macau event next week which should be really fun; I have attended the last 2 years and always had a great time. I was lucky enough to win my seat on stars so it’s a nice freeroll as well. Will be meeting up with a few UK players out there as well as a few people I know from online so all in all should be a good trip. After the Macau tournament I am heading to Queenstown, New Zealand to meet up with some good friends from back home and possibly learning how to snowboard! Before that though there is the small matter of the WCOOP on pokerstars. Me and moorman have rented a pretty nice apartment for 3 weeks in order to grind this so hoping for some big scores. Moorman is coming off the back of a chop in the FTOPS $300r 6 max for $200k which has put him back in contention for the number 1 spot on pocketfives again. It is always good to be living with other poker players for things like wcoop and ftops because the days are long, the beats can be brutal and soul crushing.

That’s about all for now, will do a tournament/trip report after the APPT and then updates about me doing chunks in the WCOOP!

Doubt its possible for me to run better

I have run ridiculously hot online for the last 3-4 weeks starting in Vegas with the UB 200k and tilt 100r on Sunday 28^th June. Since getting home I have been catching up with family/friends etc... But still playing online a decent amount as well. I have been really struggling to sort a sleeping pattern since getting home as well; usually not sleeping for more than 3-4hrs at any one time but that isn’t too out of character for someone who plays poker for a living. Being back at home seems so quiet after living in Vegas for 3 months and it does make a refreshing change of pace, sort of, lol

Back to the poker, It feels as though I can do nothing wrong at the moment, winning key flips in big tournaments, being on the right end of coolers , making good calls/laydowns and getting there when I get in bad, all in all a pretty lethal combination. Following on from my good Sunday form in Vegas I managed to get 4^th in the $100r on stars, Sunday 26^th July for a tasty $32,302. The rest of the week was pretty quiet on the poker front until it kicked off this past weekend. On Saturday I made 2 final tables at the same time eventually finishing 2^nd in both, sigh. One was the Stars $100 2r1a for $5500 and the second was the FTP $100r for $12,700 marking a pretty good start to the weekend.

On to Sunday and up until recently Sunday’s had been the Bain of my existence, promising so many opportunities but failing to deliver any real substance. Obviously that had changed in recent weeks but the best was yet to come as I bagged my biggest online score to date. After numerous final tables in the big 100r on stars I finally managed to take it down for a cool $78,342!!! I felt I played really great throughout, especially form the last 3-4 tables but received a huge slice of luck 4 handed when I got all in pre with JJ vs KK and binked a J on the river, oi oi. Heads up really tested my patience as the guy was constantly betting 5x pre or 3-4x the pot once we got to the flop and I wasn’t making a pair for what felt like hours. I eventually got the upper hand, and clinched the victory, :-)

I am hoping this rich vein of form continues into the upcoming FTOPS and WCOOP festivals and can bag some more big scores. I have also come out of obscurity to claim 2^nd place in the UK rankings on pocketfives as well which is quite cool, although once I start travelling again my volume will drop significantly and those playing day in and day out will move back above me I’m sure. That’s about all for now, still undecided about playing GUKPT Luton this week, before heading off to Macau for the APT and APPT events.