JAM & SARDINES

What a month, and what an eventful start to the year! With all these new events, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour in particular springs to mind, I knew it was going to be hectic, and I wasn’t wrong. I have quite a few anecdotes to tell, and I shall do so as we move into February, but with the Irish Poker Championships, the inaugural Grosvenor Tour Event in Bolton and the EPT in Copenhagen, I’m absolutely cream-crackered, and that’s not to mention all the Blonde work that has arisen from the DTD deal and the recruitment of a new technical team.

As a result of all this flying around (I am by no means complaining, it remains a wonderful experience), I have started losing weight again. In December, I thought I did rather well to gain a whole stone, but when you’re moving about so much, working 12 hour shifts and staying in hotels that refuse to supply food after the remarkably early (for poker players anyhow) hour of 11pm, it’s inevitable that my diet is going to be affected.

And, although I arrive home eager to stay above 10 stone, my stomach has clearly detracted slightly, subsequently resulting in a familiar lack of appetite. But I forced myself to eat before to get into the swing of things, so there’s no reason why I can’t go through the motions again, it’s just that it’s so fecking unenjoyable. Ah well, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to reach 11 stone (from my original 9) and, like everything I do, I’m determined to succeed in reaching that goal.

Talking of New Year’s resolutions, I think I recall setting myself a $32k 12-month target for my online cash games. Whilst I genuinely believe this is a piece of piss to many professional players, it’s always going to be an uphill struggle whilst I have so many other things on.

This month, I’ve earned over $1,500, which isn’t bad considering the limited number of sessions I’ve played, but for a 32k goal, it just isn’t enough, which therefore leads me to believe that with my frantic schedule, I’m setting myself unrealistic goals. It might be because I’m still playing $1/2, but as soon as I reach 4k in my account (not my bankroll), I’ll jump back up. I said after my last dip that I would drop down a level and not return until I’d doubled my 2k deposit, and I’m quite keen to stick by that statement. I’m tootering along quite nicely at the moment and, besides, I feel as though it’s benefited me in terms of discipline, which in the short-term, is the most vital thing.

I’ve always tried to be honest in this blog about my online progress, and this did start out as a purely pro poker related blog, so here are my results for January (on average, sessions are between 2-3 hours):

1st Jan = -$640.77
2nd Jan = +$280.38
3rd Jan = +$46.57
9th Jan = +$371.62
10th Jan = +$394.82

11th Jan = +$241.93

23rd Jan = +$362.66

24th Jan = +$170.61

25th Jan = -$5.29

26th Jan = +$276.47

gross = +$1499

I’m pretty happy with how I’m playing. I have definitely learned a lot from 2006 and all the unforced errors I made, so I feel I’m progressing and improving as a player. I realise that I can’t always be on top of my game, but when I’m not, I now have enough sense to stop. In fact, I played a session the other day where I was clearly not in the right frame of mind, it was if I was drunk! Raising too many marginal hands pre-flop, calling to outdraw superior hands, not caring if I lose a big pot – this is what led to my big hits last year, so I’m glad I’m identifying these situations quicker and knowing when to stick the brakes on.

On a side note, it’s also rather pleasing to see the numbers on my chosen site increasing, and the standard therefore dropping. I’m playing a lot more Europeans due to the ban, and I’m not used to it, but when, and you’ll have to excuse the sweeping generalisations, they’re as weak as the Russians, Germans and South Americans, the lack of American presence is not quite so important.

Okay, that’s enough for today. Watch out for some more major additions to Blonde Poker, it’s a pretty exciting time, so keep your eyes peeled.

Finally, apologies for the sickly self-indulgent entry, but I guess that’s what most blogs are in the end…

Ps. If anyone’s got any weight gain tips apart from the obvious ‘eat, eat, eat!’, then please let me know.