September was a pretty swingy month, didnt really get much momentum and was no where as near as good as August. Getting slightly more comfortable at 400nl and the swings that come with it, which is a good thing. I didnt play for the first week of October which delayed my goals post, but here it is.

Review of September -

Passed
Kinda Passed
Failed

25k hands of 200nl
10k hands of 400nl and finish my current staking deal

played all the hands I wanted, didnt run as good as I hoped though.

Start working on my new uni subject

yep, just finishing my assignment today.

Do my (fucking) tax return

Realised ive gotta do some other stuff before I do my return, like get some depreciation schedules done etc…didnt get around to it.

Finish watching “Mathematics of Holdem” DC Videos and rewatch some FR ones

Was lazy with watching videos and didnt finish the maths videos.

Go see my mortgage broker

Done, now all I need to do is find a suitable house in my price range.

Fitness stuff…
Go to the Gym 8 out of the next 9 days, and 3 times a week from then on.

Kept it up for most of the month, but havnt been for a week or so.

Get a new gym program (because im bored with the old one)

didnt get around to it, but ive been enjoying gym for the most part.

Make sure I eat 3 meals a day and have protein shakes

Still in the cycle of getting up late, and skipping breakfast

October goals

finish the september goals
- Do depreciation crap/tax return.
- finish mathematics on holdem DC videos

Play 30k hands overall, not too fussed about the limits, ill just play whatever tables are good.
Review sessions/share hands with friends/2+2
Look for houses to buy
Start using holdem manager/Idleminer
Do Video poker bonuses
Finish my second uni assignment
Go to gym regularly/pass my fitness test

Weird, (yet character building?) month at the virtual tables so far. Just a week or two ago I was totally demoralised and having a horrible time. A 40,000 hand breakeven stretch starting from mid August through till a week or so ago, and just a ton of beats saw me have by far my worst run ever. Very hard to get through. Anyway in the last week or so things have totally turned around and I just finished my best session ever. Im also back in the hunt to beat last months record so fingers crossed for the next 8 days or so. Variance, and the luck in poker never ceases to amaze me about how much it can change your results.

Anyway Heres my session. $1600 from 400nl and $320 from 200nl (approx).

August was a pretty good month, ran great for 3 weeks and then had a totally brutal 20k hand breakeven/downswing for the last week. My biggest downswing ever, which included losing a incredibly painful $800 pot when I was a 96% favourite on the flop. It was totally demoralising and a very tough week. Still, it was a record month for me so I cant be too unhappy. Outside of that, ive had a cold which has sucked. Here are my August goals and how I did, and my goals for September.

Passed
Kinda Passed
Failed

Play 10,000 hands of 400nl required for staking.

About 70% of the way through, probably would have finished by now if I had not run crap, but my confidence was hurt so I thought it would be best to sit out of 400nl for a few days.

Increase confidence playing at 400nl.

Getting there, still feel like im playing slightly weak, and im afraid to lose a stack.

Play 25,000 hands of 200nl.

Easy, played about 35,000.

Go to the gym min 3 times a week.

Failed, I was on track at the start of the month but I have a cold which has seen me out of gym action for the last 10 days or so. Feel lazy and unfit, looking forward to hitting it again this month.

See my mortgage broker and start preparing to buy a house.

Kept putting it off and didnt do it.

Finish my current Uni Subject.

Handed in my last 2 assignments and got credits.

Watch more DC videos and actually pay attention.

Passed. I have been taking notes watching the “Ringside” and “Freestylin” vids which is great, I have also been watching the “Mathematics of Holdem” series which has helped my maths game alot.

September Goals
25k hands of 200nl
10k hands of 400nl and finish my current staking deal
Start working on my new uni subject
Do my (fucking) tax return
Finish watching “Mathematics of Holdem” DC Videos and rewatch some FR ones
Go see my mortgage broker
Fitness stuff…
Go to the Gym 8 out of the next 9 days, and 3 times a week from then on.
Get a new gym program (because im bored with the old one)
Make sure I eat 3 meals a day and have protein shakes

gogogogo

Not much to write about lately, im about halfway through my current staking deal and its all going well so far. Here is a hand i just played, im pretty sure its the biggest ive ever won.

Seat 1: Mr.Skuda ($977.80 in chips)

Seat 2: mylo1 ($974 in chips)

Seat 3: 00oasis00 ($731.40 in chips)

Seat 4: debbadegurkn ($381.45 in chips)

Seat 5: callu2see ($329 in chips)

Seat 6: goravensgo ($539.50 in chips)

Seat 7: Faldy ($410.50 in chips)

Seat 8: RaiderDuck ($589.50 in chips)

Seat 9: freds129 ($394 in chips)

Seat 10: Andy1718 ($390 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS mylo1 posts blind ($2), 00oasis00 posts blind ($4). PRE-FLOP debbadegurkn bets $12, callu2see folds, goravensgo folds, Faldy folds, RaiderDuck bets $48, freds129 folds, Andy1718 folds, Mr.Skuda calls $48, mylo1 folds, 00oasis00 folds, debbadegurkn folds. FLOP [board cards: 2C,8D,5S ] RaiderDuck bets $86, Mr.Skuda calls $86. TURN [board cards: 2C,8D,5S,AS ] RaiderDuck checks, Mr.Skuda bets $140, RaiderDuck bets $418, Mr.Skuda bets $703.80 and is all-in, RaiderDuck calls $37.50 and is all-in. RIVER [board cards: 2C,8D,5S,AS,9H ] SHOWDOWN Mr.Skuda shows [ 8C,8S ] RaiderDuck shows [ AC,AD ] Mr.Skuda wins $388.30, RaiderDuck wins $1,194.

Slightly late for a monthly goals post, but doesnt matter. July was a excellent month where I won at 4ptbb at 100nl and 200nl for pretty much the whole month, and it was a record in terms of $ won. Hopefully I can break that in August. I have recently been given a 50% stake for 10,000 hands of 400nl to be completed this month so I am very excited to be doing it. So the Goals for the month are..

Play 10,000 hands of 400nl required for staking.
Increase confidence playing at 400nl.
Play 25,000 hands of 200nl.
Go to the gym min 3 times a week.
See my mortgage broker and start preparing to buy a house.
Finish my current Uni Subject.
Watch more DC videos and actually pay attention.

So we got back from vegas on the 4th, after another shocker of a flight. Hui and Andy had bought noise-cancelling headphones so it was slightly more bearable for them. It was a long 16 hours. Thanks to Andy and Hui for inviting me to go to vegas, loved every minute of it. Hopefully we can all go again next year and play a few WSOP events.

Since getting back ive just been working. I have played around 20k hands online and going alright, although had a few ordinary sessions. Still struggling at 400nl, I feel like every time I get on there im about to lose a big hand….pretty negative mindset so probably not the best to have when Im playing. Im very comfortable playing at 200nl now though which is good. Im happy to play there for the future until Im more at ease with 400nl.

So we have another trip planned for November. This time it will be me, sara, andy, emmy, dave and possibly Hui and Nobby. We are going to New York and surrounding areas from the 21st november until the 13th december. So definetly looking forward to that. It will be more of a touristy holiday this time, so less sitting around in the hotel playing online before heading to the casino.

Yesterday we headed down to the MGM pool which is pretty spectacular, its in the shape of a river and you can float round on these inflatable rings. It was great, the temperature here is perfect for the pool even if its overcast. We stuffed around there for an hour or so and then I managed to get through a disgustingly big cheeseburger from one of the shops around the pool area.

After that we played at Excalibur’s poker room. I wanted to play at MGM but the waiting list for us was just a bit too long. Luckily for us finding another poker room is as easy as walking 50m down the road and that’s what we did. It wasn’t as flashy as MGM but the game was good. I had one extraordinary hand where I had AA and 2 other guys had KK. One of them managed to make a good (?) fold on the flop but I still won a pretty big pot.

Around 10pm we entered the MGM theater (well one of the theaters here anyway) and saw a David Copperfield show. He is playing here twice a night for a few weeks I think. Anyway there were probably 500 other people in there and he performed for roughly and hour and a half. We saw him pass through a sheet of metal, make one of the audience members tie dance around to music, make a napkin float and then turn into a rose, made a ring disappear, he told a story about his grandfather having these license plates, and then he got audience members to say numbers out at random. He then got the plates out of the bag and they were the same as the numbers that the audience had read out. That was really good.

The most impressive tricks was his appearance at the start of the show, where his assistants held up an empty (?) box, and then they closed it and he came out of the box on a motorcycle. Another one he made a car appear out of nowhere which was great.

Yesterday we all went to the Rio and Hui played a couple of satellites. He ended up splitting for first in both of them so nice job Hui. Me and Andy lined up for about an hour to the buffet which probably wasnt worth the wait. On the plus side they had free champagne so I managed to drink probably half a bottle over lunch (well, breakfast for us).

After that we walked over to the poker room and we ran into David Sklansky and I got a photo with him. We also saw Amarillo Slim playing in one of the events. After Hui finished his satellite we went to the bowling alley. Just outside it we ran into Johnny Chan (TV poker pro and founder of the poker site i play at chanpoker.com). I was wearing my chanpoker hoodie as usual and he was pretty happy to get a photo with me wearing it. After that we went bowling and promptly got hustled out of $50 by Andy.

Later that afternoon Hui was playing more satellites at the Rio and me and Andy went to Planet Hollywood to play the cash games. We played for around 2 hours and both finished around $100 in front. It was a satisfying session because I really didnt pick up any big hands, but i was patient and was able to pick up small pots and basically accumulate chips without too many worries.

Today we checked into the MGM grand, its the best place we have stayed in during the trip by a mile. 3 Plasmas, an actual kitchen, 2 bathrooms. Really good pool and gym facilities etc.. We are here for the last 4 nights of the trip. Tonight were probably just going to the gym and then play some live and the tomorrow we are probably going to a show.

Yesterday Me and Andy went to the Stratosphere, which is this big building in the middle of the city kinda similar to Centrepoint tower. Hui was still a little sick so opted to stay at home and sleep it off. The Stratosphere is a hotel and casino with a big outdoor lookout point at the top, and it also has 3 rides on the roof - The Big shot, which shoots you up in the air up (kinda like a backwards space probe from wonderland), and the X-Scream, which is kinda hard to describe but you sit in these seats and it tilts over the edge of the building. The other ride was closed, but it could be described as an upside down cha-cha that goes over the edge of the building. Anyway the 2 rides that we went on were good and scary.

After the rides we went downstairs to the poker room and played some 1/2NL, I finished up about $40, it should have been a lot more but a hand just before we left I folded 3 tens when i was 99% I was beat by a straight or flush. Turned out the guy only had a pair of queens and it was pretty devastating. The hand only cost me $40 or so but the fact is I should have won around $300 and didnt because I gave my opponent way too much credit, overthought the hand and tried to make a “hero fold”. An expensive lesson, and I felt very bad since I played the hand badly as well as costing myself and Andy around $150 each.

Today we had a look at the gold nugget (the actual goldne nugget) inside the golden nugget (the hotel where we are staying). Pretty impressive. Interestingly it was found in Bendigo, VIC in 1975. Also watched Hui playing some highish-stakes BJ which was good. Tommorow we are going to the Rio to finally go bowling and maybe meet up with John, another 2+2 friend.

The other day me and Andy got up early and Doug Polk (WCG|Rider on 2+2/pokerstars) came with his friend in their hire car to take us out to the Morongo casino in California. We had to go there because they are both only 19 and this casino (on an Indian reservation) allows 18+.

Doug is a professional online poker player and is very well known in the community because of a $20,000 bet he had a month or two ago saying he could make $10,000 in a month at very low stakes. He didn’t win his bet, but it did turn him into a bit of a celebrity in the poker forums. Doug is a great player and has done very well online, showing maturity beyond his age and racking up a huge amount of experience against top pro’s online in a short time.

The games at the casino were very disappointing, it was a 1/3NL game with $100 max buy in and a ridiculous rake. I managed to lose an Ace high straight to a royal flush, and twice lost AK to QQ and then JJ for a total loss of around $400 for the day. Andy managed to play well for the team and finished up about $150. Despite that, it was well worth the trip purely for the poker conversation on the way there and the way back. It was great to see how Doug thinks about the game as he is a great player and has recently been employed by the training site www.cardrunners.com to make some instructional videos for them.

So thanks to Doug and Jessie for driving us out there, it was great to meet you both in person.

Yesterday was another quiet one, we had a plan to go to a bowling alley but somehow managed to miss it completely as we walked down the street. We ended up going for dinner at a restaurant at Binions which was really good, It was up on floor 20-something and you could see right across town. So we didn’t make bowling yesterday but 100% are doing it today. Went for a swim in the golden nugget pool earlier this afternoon which was pretty sweet. its got a massive fish/shark tank in the middle of the pool and a water slide that goes through it. Will have to get some photos tomorrow.

Didn’t play any poker yesterday either online or live, because the Internet here is pretty slow and I didn’t really feel like it after my unlucky session out at Morongo. Today I got back into it and played around 2 hours online this morning. Had a ok session, playing 2,500 hands and finishing up about $650. After bowling tonight me and Andy (and Hui?) will probably play some live downstairs in the poker room.