passed 20k hands

Ive passed the 20k hand mark of 50nl and 100nl in the past 2 months and overall it has went better than expected. Since my last post im close to even on the tables mainly because i had a couple of tilty sessions which cost me my potential profit, the graph doesnt tell the whole story as HM still sees £££ as $$$ and i had a big loseing session at £50nl so its about $100 too high.
Ive done some maths and so far im running at around $16 per hour with everything included. This sounds better than it is partly because theres a big touny cash in it and i find it difficult to play well more than a few hours a day which is added to by the tables being tough and empty during the day.
So if i got a full time job this summer id be a lot better off monitarily, i wouldnt be up to 2am most night, i wouldnt have the possibility of loseing hundreds in a few hands and i wouldnt have as many headaches from looking at my laptop screen for hours on end. Despite all this i never get bored of poker im playing a game which is never the same. And im playing a game for a part time wage rather than stacking shelves or cleaning floors.

My roll currently stands at $5750 and im looking to hit 8k before moving up. Im gona do some bonus whoring when i get back from ireland which will hopefully quicken the process.

biggest pot lost yet

I went from winning my biggest pot yet to loseing an even bigger one.

Table Konnont (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Gusta2307 ( $336.46 USD )
Seat 3: Dar080819 ( $302.84 USD )
Seat 4: Jones85 ( $126.55 USD )
Seat 5: Mr_rahl ( $180.20 USD )
Seat 6: Gede31121 ( $142.25 USD )
Mr_rahl posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
Gede31121 posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Mr_rahl [ Ad As ]
Gusta2307 folds
Dar080819 raises [$4.00 USD]
Jones85 folds
Mr_rahl raises [$12.50 USD]
Gede31121 folds
Dar080819 calls [$9.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, Jh, 6h ]
Mr_rahl bets [$18.00 USD]
Dar080819 calls [$18.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
Mr_rahl bets [$50.00 USD]
Dar080819 calls [$50.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Js ]
Mr_rahl bets [$99.20 USD]
Dar080819 calls [$99.20 USD]
Mr_rahl shows [Ad, As ]
Dar080819 shows [Ac, Jc ]
Dar080819 wins $358.40 USD from main pot

At the time i wasnt bothered by it its just poker but the next morning i tilted off $100 so im guessing loseing this pot caused it. When i started out playing 100nl on willhill i wouldnt have played on with a deep stack against multiple opponents but ive become comfortable with is so hopefully make a $400 pot soon.

Ive got 980mpps to my 1000mpp bonus for this month so $100 in the bag. It looks like betfair wont become my second acount as apparently im already signed up through another affiliate which will be a website planting a cookie on my comp when i visited their site grrrr. Roll stands at $5600.

biggest winning session ever

I just finished my biggest winning cash session ever, nearly $500 in two hours one hand even had my heart racing a rarity in poker these days and one of the biggest pots ive had.

Game #6079664243: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2008/07/09 - 22:10:38 (UK)
Table "Lend" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: Stefa1210 ($161.18 in chips)
Seat 2: Gurl ($99.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Decky1888 ($74.37 in chips)
Seat 4: Mr_rahl ($256.11 in chips)
Seat 5: Andye1510 ($192.60 in chips)
Seat 6: Kev140615 sits out
Stefa1210: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Mr_rahl [Ac Ah]
Gurl: folds
Decky1888: folds
Mr_rahl: raises to $3
Andye1510: folds
Stefa1210: calls $2
----- FLOP ----- [2h 7s 9s]
Stefa1210: checks
Mr_rahl: bets $4
Stefa1210: raises to $13
Mr_rahl: raises to $36
Ray21012 joins the table at seat #6
Stefa1210: calls $23
----- TURN ----- [2h 7s 9s][5h]
Stefa1210: checks
Mr_rahl: bets $45
Stefa1210: raises to $122.18 and is all-in
Mr_rahl: calls $77.18
----- RIVER ----- [2h 7s 9s 5h][9h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Stefa1210: shows [Jh Js] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Nines, Seven high)
Mr_rahl: shows [Ac Ah] (Two Pairs, Aces and Nines, Seven high)
Mr_rahl collected $319.36 from Main pot

Im well on my way to getting the $100 bonus this month before going to ireland as long as i dont tilt and have to stay away from the tables or my internet connection breaks all will be well. Recently ive been trying to get some basic knowlege of other poker games i have always dabbed in omaha but never omaha hi low, stud or razz. Ive put in a few hours in these games in micro limits and i think i will put in a few sessions of HORSE for my enjoyment and education.

Ive opened up a betfair poker acount for my new secondary site replacing ft as im yet to hear if i have RB and i get the 1st deposit bonus (i already had a betting acount) i probably wont be playing there till next month.

One thing that is bothering me is the way i played this hand, the fact that this situation has come up before been discussed on the DUPS forum and i didnt implicate what i learnt last time. The villans stats are 17 11 over 600 hands. Looking at the forum the hand is idential in the way i played it even the villans stats are similar. http://www.dur.ac.uk/poker.society/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1120

Game #6068914553: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2008/07/08 - 22:05:10 (UK)
Table "RivaRidge" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: JINJOG ($65 in chips)
Seat 2: Mr_rahl ($111.70 in chips)
Seat 4: ST500 ($118.75 in chips)
Seat 6: BruceNewb sits out
Seat 7: sainty ($122.98 in chips)
Seat 8: pjuske28 ($40 in chips)
Seat 9: Brendywoo ($38.20 in chips)
Seat 10: Digodigo ($23.49 in chips)
sainty: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Mr_rahl [Qc Qh]
Brendywoo: folds
Digodigo: folds
JINJOG: folds
Mr_rahl: raises to $3
ST500: raises to $10
sainty: folds
Mr_rahl: calls $7
----- FLOP ----- [7h 8h Td]
Mr_rahl: checks
ST500: bets $16
Mr_rahl: raises to $40
ST500: raises to $108.75 and is all-in
Mr_rahl: is all-in $61.70
Returned uncalled bets $7.05 to ST500
----- TURN ----- [7h 8h Td][8d]
----- RIVER ----- [7h 8h Td 8d][Jd]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
ST500: shows [Ad Ac] (Two Pairs, Aces and Eights, Jack high)
Mr_rahl: shows [Qc Qh] (Two Pairs, Queens and Eights, Jack high)
ST500 collected $221.40 from Main pot

running well

I played a good few sessions yesterday running well on a saturday is definately +EV. I flopped a set on 5 out of 18 opportunities. The graph above is about $80 short because i was playing some £50 tables for action which HM recognises as $$ games, if anyone knows how to manipulate results on HM to fix this it would be appreciated. So my br now stands at about 5300 the question now is if i do hit 6k soon should i take shots at 200nl, obviously i want to advance in the game and the quicker the better but i have only put in around 12k hands at 100nl and have no idea if im actually a winning player at this level. If i do hit it soon i may try and hit 8k before moving up just because the swings have the potential to be huge in cash.

I have also given up on full tilt not because of losses but the lag i get makes it impossible to play even one table and as my HUD isnt working with pokerstars im looking for a new site, if possible i want RB a decent bonus and plenty of action.

its a swingy game

Im now comming to terms with the fact that i may lose $1000 in a few sessions and i have to be able to deal with that. A 10 buyin swing is big but not uncommon to cash players. This also changes my view on my required bankroll to play cash i think i will increase my previous 20x to 30x which still might be a bit low but im confident in my ability to drop down limits if required. So this means i need a $6000 bankroll to play 200nl my online monies currently stand at $4900 or so.

Reading over this now im reminising about the time approaching on 2 years ago where i deposited $20 on poker333 and at the time if someone would have told me i would lose $1000 in 10 days i would have withdrawn and got a job instead. I remember watching fellow poker night live viewers playing the tv table which were usually 50nl and thinking they were huge games. The standard in those 50nl games were far higher than normal 50nl due to all the regulars, the first time i played in them i started out getting totally outplayed with one player floating me every time i c bet, up to that point the float had never realy been used in the games i was used to so the first few times he did it he got the better of me, i do have one thing to thank him for his play induced me to double barrel, a play which i use a lot nowadays.

Over the last few days I have been running better and definately playing better. On willhill i have switched to only 6max tables where the lose players congregate and playing 2 tables max. I have cut out any distractions like poker vids while i play and concentrate fully on my opponents taking lots of notes and trying to exploit their weaknesses. I played a couple of fr sessions on ft and the games are unbelieveably tight now im might even go as far as saying its no longer profitable to play a 10 8 game paying no attention as everyone seems to do it with the rake killing the game.
Although the graph doesnt look as good as it did today i reached the $2k profit mark again on willhill with the bonus and rakeback comming in yesterday. So i have found some confidence again which is good as i will need to play early this month to get the $100 bonus (heading to ireland around the 20th and wont be able to play online from then)