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I'm writing from just outside Atlantic City right now.  Tomorrow we are driving up to Manhattan to stay in NYC for 3 nights.  I only played about 25 hands of poker in AC at a 5/10 7stud table and I decided I kind of like the game.  I've played almost a thousand hands of online poker since I flew out on Sunday which is really more than I thought I might get in, so that's good.  I'd have to put these hands on my desktop database to be sure, but I think I'm around 30k hands on the challenge.

But poker is going really well right now.  On Friday and Saturday I had 2 of my best days ever, getting on a ridiculous heater and winning about 25k total on those back-to-back days.  Also, thanks to a transfer I now have a decent chunk of my roll on PokerStars.  I have played pretty much exclusively on Full Tilt for the last 9 or 10 months, but I was looking at a few calculations and I don't think playing on only Full Tilt makes much sense for me anymore.  I think I like Full Tilt's software better, and the rakeback is probably better for the kind of volume I put in this year, but I believe that having the extra game selection of a larger player base at PokerStars will do more for my winrate going forward than will the extra rakeback.  So now I'll be playing on both sites simultaneously and I'm excited about only playing in the juiciest games of both.  I'm also excited about actually being a regular at PokerStars for the first time ever, since it's the largest online poker site in the world, and the customer service is the best anywhere.

I also recently learned that my cross country team (Georgia Tech) will be going one on one against UGA at their place on September 4th.  I am really pumped about this race.  We have never had a dual meet of any kind since I've been at Tech, much less against our biggest rival Georgia and on their intramurals fields on a weekday.  I'm excited about the possibility of beating them in front of their own crowd and it's making me that much more excited about my last cross country season.

Well I am about 22k hands into my 100,000 hand prop bet so I have about 78k to play in about a month.  So far it has gone pretty well, I think I am running pretty close to my expectation, up about 14k, which is good cause you can't ask for much more than that.  If I finished out the challenge and hit what I am on pace for (64k), I would consider it a huge success.

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I played a little 2/5 at the Rio when I was out in Vegas sitting across from former senator Al D'Amato, who is the chairman of the Poker Player's Alliance.  I heard he once read out of a DC phone book during a filibuster haha.  He wasn't that good at poker, but of course his job doesn't involve actually playing poker, and he got the job because of his political experience obviously.  I think it was good to see him out there and actually mingling with other poker players in Vegas though.  I am a member of the PPA and asked him a couple questions about the UIGEA.  He actually seemed passionate about the situation, which was great to see, and he told me he thought that they could get it repealed by sometime next year.  I don't know about that but I would love to see it happen.

I'm flying out Sunday to Atlantic City for 2 nights and New York City for 3 nights with my dad and brother so that should be fun.  I've been reading up a little on 7stud and maybe I can play a little of that at the Borgata or Taj in AC for a little variety.  I've got a new trip planned now where I'm headed for the Charleston area in mid August with a couple of my roommates and one of their families so that should be a lot of fun.  However, that's about the time I'll need to be cracking down on my 100,000 hand challenge so that just means that I need to play a ton while not on vacation.

Also, my training for my last cross country season is starting to go pretty well finally.  I'll probably have run about 75 miles this week which means I'm finally getting on track for some good training leading up to the beginning of the season. 

I just got back from an 11 night vacation/business trip (haha) the other day.  First I flew out to San Francisco for 4 nights where I met up with my good friend Lindsey who is working out there for the summer.  I flew in Thursday and went to play in the Lucky Chances 10-10-20 NL game while she was at work on Friday.  Unfortunately it wasn't running at first and by the time we started up the game Lindsey was already on the way to pick me up after work.  It started off a little shorthanded which was perfect, and I managed to bust the live one just as she pulled up, which was in only about 30 minutes or so of play.  He was pretty horrible but I made a couple hands and that was all that was necessary.  As he went to get more money I chipped up.  People at the table were mildly complaining but what can you do, it made the $40 cab out there definitely worth it.  That was my biggest live win ever and set the tone for a weekend where we had a blast.  We had some good dinners and mainly just got to see a good bit of the city and enjoyed the company.

On Monday I flew to Las Vegas and the Gold Coast for 7 nights where my friend Duvy would meet me on Wednesday for the last 5 nights.  I staked Duvy for some 1-3NL and we basically just played a ton of poker at the Rio and one night at the Bellagio.  It could have been a better trip as we both ran like shit but what can you do over small samples.  Sucks that both times I have been to Vegas I have lost, but whatever.  I hate live poker but I imagine it doesn't help that I run terrible.  I couldn't make any hands and I think I played for about 25 hours total on the trip and honestly can't recall being dealt aces or kings.  I have actually been on a fine heater in the limited amount of online hands I have played since leaving for my trip so I guess it works out.  I got to meet plenty of Stoxpoker pros such as Matt, Jared, Stosh, Kyle, Bryce, Dusty, Ed, and IJay, so that was nice except I never actually met Nick or Jim.  The night I went to the Bellagio I played in the 10/20 NL game and sat down from a must-move to see Ray Zee in the 1 seat.  Before I was dealt a hand, Ray was really laying into a guy who held his cards up way high, with a player to his left still to act, before mucking to Ray's 4-bet.  The guy was acting like he did nothing wrong and Ray exclaimed "Just don't f'ing do it."  The guy called Ray crazy and Ray said "You're right, I am crazy."  I thought "This guy has played in a cardroom or two in his life and knows what is what."  He didn't play long, probably like I should have done, as I lost a buy-in at that table before finally coming to my senses that the game wasn't soft enough.  But he remembered me from when I bought his book and got it signed the day before at the Gaming Expo, and I actually ran into him the next day as well.  Overall it was a pretty fun trip to my first WSOP that we would have probably thought was amazing if we ran well.

That brings me to my next point.  I feel like I can beat higher live games than I am rolled for  (I was kind of just taking a shot at 10/20 while I was out there) and really feel like I am about ready to take a step up and be a regular at 5/10 online again.  I guess I really just feel like I am a great player for how big my bankroll is and pretty good overall not considering.  I just don't play very much, honestly.  Now some of that comes with being an athlete and going to school, but I feel that I can do better.  So I issued a challenge to myself to play 100,000 hands from July 8 through my first class on August 18.  I made a lot of my close friends aware of this challenge and announced that I would pay a goofy guy on our team $1,000 if I did not do it.  Now, the most hands I have ever played in a month is 27,000 so as a gambler I would say I'm a huge dog to do it.  However, I think I'm motivated enough to get it done.  The period even includes a 5-night trip to New York/Atlantic City and an out of town wedding, but I think I can accomplish this.  This will be enough hands to make the summer a big success if I accomplish it and run at the expectation I think I am capable of.  I am at 2,028 hands right now even though today was my dad's birthday.  Wish me luck.

I am so glad June is now over. I had a pretty crazy month in June. I had a lot of downswings and upswings which resulted in a pretty much break even month. I would say some of the downswings were a result of bad luck but the psychological effects of running so poorly resulted in me playing poorly. On top of all that happening, I had set a goal at the start of the month to play 70k hands this month so while I was running bad and playing bad I was just playing way too many hands to give myself the chance to step back and really see what was happening from an objective stand point. About half way through the month I realized this and decided to forget about my goal of 70k hands and to just start from the ground floor, playing good poker. I felt like towards the end of the month I was playing good but still just running so bad. I did just step up to 2/4NL not too long ago so some of me wants to say that I am doing poorly b/c I am playing a tougher limit but the fact is that even at 2/4NL I was pretty much break even (.38ptbb/100) and at 1/2NL which I have been crushing for more than 7ptbb/100 all year I ran at -4ptbb/100. Lucky for me I ran extemely good over the 2600 hands I played at 3/6NL. I ran at 19ptbb/100 at 3/6 so lucky for me I was pretty much break even between the 1/2 and 2/4 so all of what I made at 3/6 I got to keep as profit. So in the end I ended up with a $5900 profit and with my $1700 in rakeback I profited about $7600 for the month. I guess I can't be that upset when a break even month brings in $7600 but I was really hoping for a killer month in June.

I did a lot of hand analysis and found some situations that I have been losing more than I should and have been working on ways of adjusting w/o becomming exploitable by over adjusting. The way I see it is wheather I was running bad or playing bad it really doesn't matter. All I can do is take what I have learned in June and apply it to hands that I will play in the future and focus on playing some really good poker in July.

I studied a lot of poker and anlyzed my game a lot throughout June and was really looking foward to applying everything in July and really making up for last month but as it turns out I don't think I will be able to play too many hands of poker in July. For one, I just moved into a new apartment and apparently the people that lived at that address before me owed the cable company money so the cable company has blocked that address. I just went to the cable office today to show them the lease to prove to them that it was me living there and not the people that owed them money. They said it will take 3 days for the collections department to validate the account then I will be able to have a service call set up 2-3 days after that. Sheesh, so we are looking at not having internet until next week some time. In the meantime I am just going to my parents house and using their internet so I can still get some hands in but b/c I have to go to their house to play I probably won't be able to play as many hands. Also, I am leaving to go to Las Vegas to meet up w/ some Stoxee's on July 3rd and will be gone for almost a week. I am pretty excited about meeting other stox members and some of the coaches. I was thinking about playing in one of the events while I was out there but the Stox's meet n' greet didn't fall in a good time frame for me to play an event and go to the meet n' greet and I will be the first to tell you that I suck at tourney's. I don't know what it is about tourney's but I just don't have fun playing them so I am pretty sure that in a tourney against a large feild will be -EV for me and I don't need to put myself in a -EV situation if I can help it, especially after last month, but I think playing some cash games out there should be very +EV.

Anyways, between the two, getting my address verified to set up cable service for internet and going out to Vegas, I am not going to be left with too much time to play online so I think I am just going to look at this month as a month to take a breather and really focus on playing good poker and improving my game. As of right now I have some goals for August but none are set in stone.

Hope to see ya in Vegas!!!

June Stats

 

June Graph

 

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Day One

Pretty good start to the challenge. Got two sessions in, each lasting about 90 minutes. Not too much of interest happened. I will normally extend a little but this happened yesterday and for the life of me I can’t remember one single hand and don’t use PT or such.

Day Total: $3,844

Running total: $3,844

Days played: 1

Will try and add some content in my next blog.

Later days,

Rob

Please feel free to comment here: http://stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=90700

Hi, my name is Rob I am 23 and from the UK. I play NLH for a living these days and can be found on several sites under several alias. I play stakes from 200nl to 1000nl.

When I first started learning poker I remember reading a blog about someone making $100k in 100 days. I don't remember his name or if he even succeeded or not but it inspired me. Now it's time for me to surpass my heroes of the past, and hopefully in the process inspire some of you guys into working your way through the limits.

I aim to make $200k in 100 days. I doubled the figure as 100k would not be on par with my goals for 2008 and it's always better to aim higher.

So a quick couple of rules for the challenge.

1) Rakeback and bonuses can be included.

2) I will only count days I play. I realise this makes the challenge a lot easier but I do not want to force myself to play hung-over or when I don't want to as I will spew. I will not take many days off though and will complete the challenge in under 130 days.

I will update this blog every few days. I want to offer some value within this blog as well so I will include some theory and things that I think will help you guys.

Later days,

Rob

Cheers for reading, ad any coments you sih here:
http://stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=90700

Recently amazon.com found a sucker in me. Like a man possessed, i have been ordering poker book after poker book in short intervals. gone are the days when my local library's poker collection satisfied my hunger. here's what my order history showed:

-may 25, I ordered 2 books

-june 3, I ordered 7 books.

-june 5, i ordered 16 books

-june 17, i ordered 3

-june 21, I ordered 3

-june 22, I ordered 6

of the 37, I have finished 3 and i'm half way through 2 more. The results would be better if not for the fact that I played the most poker i ever played in a week last week in my first real attempt to place on the pokerstars Battle of the planet high orbit leaderboard. I was on pace for a pretty good shot at top ten and if not for one unexpectedly lengthy losing streak at my H.O.R.S.E STT's, I should have done better than 48th in mars division.

The losing streak forced me to play other games just to change things up and hopeful get back on rythm points-earning wise. It was a nice surprise to discover that i'm not half bad at No Limit STT's. In the first five i played (since 2007), I placed first 3 times and second once. Funnily, Most of the time that I stubornly went back to my main specialty, i struggled. if not for many cashes in NL STT's, I would've given up the run. but NL ended up more than sustaining me till my horse game got back on track, thereby helping me not be one of the bubble people in the competition.

The catch was that I could hardly multitable my NLH STT's (the most i could do was 2) as i cautiously prefered concentrating 1 table at a time since that was what got me the good results. Of course I could 3-4 table my H.O.R.SE games and while that certainly affected my winrate, it still meant the most bankable opportunity to gain points as the deadline approached quickly. By the time a downswing started in my NLH go's, My horse game was back on track and I was just able to meet the deadline after multitabling till like 30 minutes before the deadline. When both No limit and Horse did not go so well, I played lower buying 5card draw games just to get back in a winning mode, psychologically. Using the little knowledge i have about 5 card draw from supersystem as well as some of the winning concepts for other variants like stud hi and triple draw, I found a tournament that i actually got more first place in rather than second. Needless to say, I'll be taking a more academic look at that game sooner than i planned.

Since i discovered H.O.R.S.E, I never thought the day would come so soon that I would think myself ready for an intense study of pot limit and No limit poker. I think the limit games i've been playing through horse have helped me tremendously with my hand reading skills as well as given me time to unlearn most of the bad habits i probably had when I used to play No limit. I am now perfectly molded to be able to take in some NL knowledge and I can afford to get it because I have the resources and interest to do so. most of all, I can afford it because my horse game can pay the "tuition" but i'm hoping whatever poker knowledge or experience i have acquired so far makes it so it's more like i'm studying with a scholarship.

MY JULY READATHON BEGINS TODAY

Since i'm normally a low-medium orbit grinder, My chasing the leaderboard drained me so much that I have very little interest in chasing a better result right away. I really don't plan to make myself sick of poker anytime soon. I also have these new books around me which i feel i must conquer to fully enjoy poker and even stoxpoker. Although i now have positive expectation when i play, I would feel guilty playing much when i have an opportunity to,perhaps, increase my expectation dramatically. clearly, The stage is set for me to embark on another readathon.

My last readathon brought me great confidence and everything else i thought it would bring me. It was not easy and memories of the dedication it took had me negotiating with myself (for about 5 hours. lol) on which books I could save for much later. of the 37, 6 was the best I could do. Despite repetitive material i'm likely to encounter, I will not be deterred from finding whatever little treasure each book has to contribute to my building of a great poker mind. When my first readathon ended, I wondered how committed i would still be to fast-tracking my growth and I also considered the possibility of being a little too overzealous for the cause. I'm happy to say i feel that I have perfect timing. I feel I've logged in just enough hours at the table to see the many concepts i learned about in action. I have a few more hands logged in that may come in handy in helping me grasp some of the stuff i'm about to read and i am fully convinced that the path i have chosen has been the right one for me.

THE READATHON AND THE BATTLE OF THE PLANET

This readathon I'm about to embark on is as related to my general poker growth as it is to my quest to be a regular contender in the battle of the planet promotion leaderboard. in my chase for the leaderboard,while the possibility of placing in the top ten still existed, i pondered what chance i would have in a NL triple shootout tournament where top sit and go-ers do battle for their share of $50000. Although I no longer have a fish icon on my sharkscope search result, I'm not delusional enough to think I would have much of a chance at coming away with much. But with the readathon, which will probably push me to a higher level of poker awareness as well as give me the psychological pass to explore other resources like the stoxpoker NL tournament videos I've been shy about watching, I may very well find that the readathon IS the battle.

MY GOAL

Starting today, I have 31 books to finish by july 31st. I'll have to balance the heavy reads with the easier ones. Luckily I have plenty of choices and can always switch from one to another when tired. All I know is that, almost every time of the day, I must be reading something...from the following list:

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker, No-Limit Texas Hold'em: A Complete Course, Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I, Sit 'n Go Strategy: Expert Advice for Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments, The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success, Improve Your Poker, No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice, 7-Card Stud: 42 Lessons How to Win at Medium & Lower Limits, Poker Essays, Poker Essays II, Poker Essays III, Holdem, On The Come Limit Hold'em, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, High-Low Split Poker for Advanced Players, Championship Hold'em Satellite Strategy,Inside the Poker Mind, The Poker Tournament Formula,The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success, Winning Concepts in Draw and Lowball, Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-Limit Hold 'em Poker Tournaments and Sit-N-Go's, Your Worst Poker Enemy, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies, Harrington on Hold 'em Volume II,The Psychology of Poker, Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies, How To Win The Championship: Hold'em Strategies for The Final Table, Making Of A Poker Player, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, Poker, Gaming & life

-Because this goal is so important to me, I have no choice but to take a militant approach and to prevent all temptation to play by self-excluding myself from pokerstars for a month. With the battle of the planet promotion, it is simply too tempting for a Martian like me to play poker rather than read.

Here and now, my battle begins...again!