general update, a HH and the ept

Norwich Fan Rob

Well my blog is still down, i will have to set up one under a new url, but heres a general update on things since vegas for anyone who might be interested.
Its now 3 weeks and 2 days til no more work, and it cant really come quick enough, its gonna be a bit rough til then though, getting stuff up to date and ready for a handover, and still trying to play as much poker as possible.

Ive played live a few times since i got back, including splitting the fitz monday game for €2600, and the joint 2nd that Laois got in the team event for €2370. Also got 10th in the William Hill qualifier for €625 so 3 cashes from 5 live outings.

Also recorded a podcast where myself and kp spoke to muso and big dragon about our vegas experiences, this should be out very soon and hopefully will be interesting to some people.
WPT magazine were on and want to do an article on me in the rookie section of their next mag and also i did a short interview on poker 425 at the William Hill game in the Fitz, which is showing at 11pm all week on sky channel 854.
So a bit of publicity for me, which is fun.

On the tables, ive been playing more £2/5 cash on betfair, mixed results, but im getting there. Working hard particularly on pot control and table selection as i believe these to be crucial in cash games.
The 6 pacs are still going ok, the net ROI is at 19% and i might have a go at the leaderboard they run for this on betfair in october, since i will be playing more.
Betfair hold a £300 "high rollers" multi on a monday, which gets 30 odd runners and pays 3, ive been 2nd 2nd 3rd in this 3 of the last 4 mondays, which has paid quite well, its a nicely structured tourney, but again my lack of ability to put a tourney away is niggling at me a bit.
Multi wise ive been 23d the last 2 weeks in the £50k on betfair (480 odd runners), last week i was 2nd with 31 left, so dissapointed, but 9 cashes in my last 13 goes says a lot i think, and i will keep knocking on the door.
I followed up my 51st in the stars 1m gtd the week before vegas with 189th the next time i played this, for another $1300 or so, so hopefully a major breakthrough and big once off cash will happen soon.

Ended the night before last on a low, £2/5 cash table, sitting on £620 i get AA utg, i make it 20 to go, 1 caller on the button (big stack), flop comes T23 rainbow, looks like a decent flop, i bet 45, he calls, turn is an Ace, looks like a good card, i bet 90, he calls, river is a 6, i have the 2nd nuts, i bet £130 , he insta pushes, i call, he has 45s, bit annoying, but im sure this is a lower set more often than 45, anyone disagree?

After making €35.7k in August (inc 31k overall vegas profit) im 8.8k up for september to date, so overall profits are still like a dream, yesterday was a landmark day as i am now €100,253 ahead for the year.

Planning to play a lot of the big events coming up in the next few months, including the Dublin EPT, the citywest 1500 game, and Mikes 1k game.
Trying to qualify for betfairs $5k game in Singapore in November, but even if i dont, i think i will head over there for the week, take in the main event and have a bit of a holiday, so thats something to look forward to.
On the subject of the Dublin ept, (Oct bh weekend) i really feel i have to play this, the structure should suit, and the prize pool is huge, but the most ive ever payed into any one event before is 1k, so the 5k buy in is steep. I dont want to feel under pressure (and i might if i have to physically hand over 5k in cash), so i feel like selling some of my action might be an option. Im either going to sell 50% and put in 2.5k or selling 40% and put in 3k. (im not looking for a premium, would sell 5% for €250). So if anyone wants an interest in this , let me know, im confident i should go well.

ollyk1

I can't resist a bargain Rob. 5% for me please.

I won't be able to transfer this online as I don't have a stars account but I will give you the cash in the flesh before the game. Just let me know when you are next playing live.

ntlbell

I'll have a slice of this too

Stick me down for 5%

I oue you $20 for something else aswell

Gholimoli

me too stick me down for 5%.

Culchie

Nice report Rob...well done on the 100K !

One Question ... How Long have you been playing poker?

Norwich Fan Rob

Mick
started playing just over 2 years ago.
made a loss for the first 6-7 months, (probably 5-6k in total)
worked at it, got back to even by about this time last year, and its been all good since.

karlh

Hi Rob, great to hear your progress and well done.

I'll take 5% too, fair play for face value.

I'll transfer $ equivalent to your stars account. Clearing a bonus there at the mo but should be free to transfer over the weekend. Drop me a quick PM if this is ok.

Thanks and see you at the EPT,

Karl

Norwich Fan Rob

its face value cause im not out to make a profit from the shares, plan to do that by winning the event, just want to play it, but not too keen in sticking in the full 5k, seems like the shares are selling fast, not many left, operating on a first come first served basis and i think this is the fairest.

(im assuming its a flat 5k buy in, if its 5k + a reg i might have to adjust for that, just thought of this now, does anyone know?)

Sangre

€100,000.
super result, fair play! Just to clarify orginal paragraph, you're leaving work to go poker pro full time?

If you got 100k not full time.....*jaw drop*

ionapaul

Nice report Rob.

One thing I am curious about, don't know if you want to answer, but was just wondering what do you think were the most important things you did during the learning process (I know the learning never stops!) to go from 6-7 months of losses to becoming a successful player? Book reading, forum posting, HH analysis, experience, etc? (this might be an interesting topic to ask all of the particularly successful players on boards)

Norwich Fan Rob

sangre, its pretty much as u said.

paul, its a lot of things, experience probably the number one, and various trial and error, just playing a lot of hands and trying to learn from the mistakes, reading boards was also key, read a lot of forums and blogs more so than poker books per se, have read harrington and super system though.
games selection, and trying to control tilt have been major improved areas also.
I spend over an hour a day reading stuff generally, which i enjoy, i dont just sit down and play for hours on end.

fabsoul

entry fee is 5,000 euro total.
(which includes a €250 registration fee)


http://www.europeanpokertour.com/EPT3_dublin.html

Telgere

I'll take 5% as well rob.
pm how you would like money to be sent.

Daithio

****, did I get here in time? I'll buy 10% Rob, best investment of the year!

bohsman

5% here if its still available.

Goodluck2me

if its 4750+250 in reg, then isnt everyon buying 4.75%?

Norwich Fan Rob

50% is now sold, i cant believe the demand, those who have pmd , msnd or posted here are all in, cant sell any more, so its closed now, thanks.

Lex

Nice post Rob.
I'll take 5% if you've any left!?
can transfer through P Stars if you PM me.

edit: balls!! Next time gadget!!

nicnicnic

Hi rob always enjoy your blog and good luck for the ETP. Just interested you said you lost 6/7k in the first 6 months of playing and have made 100k in the last 9 months. How was your P&L for the 8 months in between? just curious

MrPillowTalk

Damn would have taken a chunk of this myself :mad:

Norwich Fan Rob

nicky, if the 8 interviening months, i made about 16k on betfair 6pacs and the old £50 10 handers when they used to be popular, had a live cash for 6k in december in the fitz, and more or less broke even apart from this.
So got slightly ahead overall, but it wasnt that significant.
I started keeping proper daily records on an excel sheet on 7th Feb, and the €100,253 to be exact as from this date to last night.

El Stuntman

best of luck with going pro Rob

would be very interested to hear your insights on playing poker for a living without the 'safety net' of a monthly salary cheque once you've done it for a while...do you imagine your outlook on the game will change much?

The Snapper

Rob

impressive stuff. How do your results breakdown online v live play.

TacT

fair play, best of luck

Hectorjelly

Wheres the HH?

Ste05

Hectorjelly wrote:

Wheres the HH?

I assume it's this one...

Norwich Fan Rob wrote:

Ended the night before last on a low, £2/5 cash table, sitting on £620 i get AA utg, i make it 20 to go, 1 caller on the button (big stack), flop comes T23 rainbow, looks like a decent flop, i bet 45, he calls, turn is an Ace, looks like a good card, i bet 90, he calls, river is a 6, i have the 2nd nuts, i bet £130 , he insta pushes, i call, he has 45s, bit annoying, but im sure this is a lower set more often than 45, anyone disagree?

Best of luck with the new career and the EPT Rob, although I'm sure you won't need it.

peeko

impressive stuff all together!

Rob, what advise would you give on table selection for a TA player at lower limits?

Best of luck in EPT

Norwich Fan Rob

keep really good notes , get to know the good solid players, dont bother playing with them, watch tables before you play, if u see a player play a hand atrociously, get a seat, and stay til he is busto.

peeko

do you use the statistics that pokerstars offers up? like the amount of hands per hour / table average bet / table average players per flop?? Or is it all, go in, have a look and find the fish?

Norwich Fan Rob

i dont use a hugely scientific approach, just basically remembering noting the good and bad players, and observation.
If i play a few rounds at a table and dont like it, i will move.
The average hands per hour and pot size things are not always accurate as the dynamics of a table may have just changed, however, its worth keeping an eye out for a table with a HUGE average pot size, as this often indicates a lunatic !!