So I got off to a terrible start when getting back into poker and dropped 10 buy ins in one weekend which is pretty bad at 25NL IMO. I was definatley rusty when getting back intot he game and making a lot of mistakes a lot of people make when first starting out, so I took some time to review my play, realised where my mistakes were and took my time over the next 6 days on which I can report were all winning days :) until today I managed to get back to witin 4 buy ins down for the month which felt good.

It's amazing how you can lose sight of the fundamentals and without these you can lose a lot of money very quickly. Re-reading old posts by players, watching an old video, dropping some tables and really focusing makes all the difference and it felt good to know that I still had some of that edge.

Then today hit - I didn't do anything terrible and didn't lose too many big pots (1 for 100bb running KK into AA BvB) looking over the hands I never really done anything too wrong but just didn't seem to win any hands - just one of those days in poker I guess, so its back to the gring for me for the rest of the week and hopefully i'll be back to even by the end of the weekend

GL at the Tables

KaiZaN

So the weekend just gone was my worst in poker since I started. I managed to drop 10 buy ins and if i'm really honest I probably didn't play that well. It just seemed likenothing was going right - draws not getting there, big hands not getting paid off and the usual I know he has that, but maybe he doesn't I raise oh shit instant re-raise, ah well it's only another $5 i have outs etc eyc - I know this is terrible and completly the wrong mindset and I have learnt the hard way this weekend - guess thats what happens when you take a month off and think you can play as if you have never left the tabes, just doesn't work (or at least for me it doesn't) so my bankrool took a hit at probably the worse time possible, but hey thats poker, i've come back from it before I can do it again.

On a more positive note today I played some 10NL (waiting to be able to transfer money between accounts to get back to 25NL) and I focused a lot more - made the lay downs I needed to and generally saved money by not calling it off, so at least i'm starting to turn that corner again. Today I didn't run great but managed to end the session up a whooping $11 - hey after the weekend I had I'll take any win and build on it :)

So maybe i'll stick to 10NL just for this week - until I feel comfortable again with my game and my reads.

GL at the Tables

KaiZaN

Thanks for the comments on my last blog.......

Well I finally managed to get my HUD working on Full Tilt again - currently while i'm developing as a player I do really find the HUD useful and must admit I find it difficult to play with out one at the moment - I don't use it for in depth analysis at the table, but to have the basics by each player I find to be really useful at time and knowing how aggressive I might be playing really helps keep an idea on what my image may be like at the table,

Anyway it was my first proper day back in a month and omg was I rusty - it was great to get back intot he swing of things and I have definatley missed the game. I managed to experience some high's and lows straight away :) set over setted, sucked out on, board running crappy etc and as well as sucking out on some people my self - the usual stuff :)

Anyway put in 3k hands and ended up $90 not bad for my first day back, although my second session is worrying me as I won over 5 complete buy-ins and lost 2 yet only ended up the session a little over a buy in, now I know I might of lost a load of medium pots etc and blinds, but looking over the hands it really doesn't look like I lost as much as its saying (and it is correct based on my balance on Full Tilt :( )

Ah well, all in all it's been a great first day back, I look forward to getting back into the swing of things and clearing this rust from my game, hopefully this will be a good weekend back at the tables

GL at the Tables

KaiZaN

So july has been a pretty bad month for me - it started out with me recovering from the Vegas flu that a lot of people seemed to have caught which put me out of action for a week and then I / we got some bad news about my Grandad.

My family's pretty close, there's only 9 of us, me, my sis, mum, dad and I am (was) luckily enough to have both sets of grandparents. I don't have any couisans and live with in 5 mins of one of my nan and Grandads and 3 hrs to my others - which has made as all manage to keep very close. I've been very lucky that I have never had to experience anyone close to me to pass away (apart from 13 years ago when my great Nan passed away which made me 10 at the time - which made me hardly realise what had exactly happened or have the full aprecitation of what the relationship meant to me between my great nan and I)

Unfortunatly this changed in the last week as when we got back from vegas we found out my Grandad had been taken to hospital very ill. At the time it didn't really sink in what this meant, we would get updates from my nan daily - as anything though my grandad would have good and bad days, I managed to get up to Liverpool where they live and visit my Grandad in hospital to truely understand how things were. I was lucky again to see my grandad at what turned out to be his best remaining days on this planet. The sad thing was it seemed as my grandad was actually getting better, then it all changed in a week. unfortunatly my grandad passed away on Wednesday 22nd July God bless his soul.

Why have I typed this in my blog? i'm not 100% sure, but what I do know is how importnat life is and that anything can happen in a day and we should spend and enjoy time with our loved ones and not be angry with them for any reason, because you never know when you may not have time with that person again.

July has been a very reflective month for me - having such a good June with the bootcamp, going to Vegas twice - seeing the world series etc to the downs of July I have re-evaluated what i want to do and what I want from life. My grandad had lived his life, had stories to tell his grandkids and lived to a good age. I want to live my life as much as I can while I can - as you just don't know what is waiting for you round the corner.

I finally have a friend who seems to love America as much as I do :) and it seems like we are going to trave it for 3 months in April. Going through what i have in uly has made me more focused on life and enjoying it while I can, taking the risks needed to hopefully achieve what I want. I love poker and there are some great people out there around the world who enjoy the same things I do. For too long I have been at home on the computer talking to people who enjoy what I do but never actually knowing who they are. My friends here in England are great and I couldn't ask for better people, but they don't enjoy the same hobbies I do with the passion I do and its time to try and meet people that I can connect with on that level. I've thought a lot about it and its now or never to take the chances to do the stuff I really want to do. Take my poker game to the next level - while hopefully earning an income from it as well as trying to understand the stockmarket and hopefully start trading by myself. For years now trading the stock market has been what I have wanted to do, but ever since getting a job right out of Uni, I just haven't given it the time needed to really focus on it.

A lot of people say - yeah jsut work and then when you get home and at weekends try and study for Stockmarket trading - or your poker, but honestly after doing a 9-10 hour day you don't want to then have to study as such or sit down and grind for 2 or 3 hours and at the weekends you want to see your mates of have a social life etc. Sure I can really focus at my job and try and work my way up the ladder, but I am never going to get where I want financially in the field I am in, Poker and trading can offer me that - can I do it sucessfully? who knows, but if I never give it my full focus how will I ever know, at least if I try and fail i can look back and say - at least i gave it my best shot and have no regrets in the future.

It works out currently that if I could make 5 buy ins at 100NL a week I would be earning more than I do now - I mean seriously if you was playing full time and really aiming to develop your game, surely making 20 buy ins a month at 100NL is not a far stretch, damn even if I move up a step in my current job, which will probably take a year it would still only equate to 6 buy ins a week. Knowing this gives me great determination to make poker work.

At the beginning of the year when I first set out playing poker it was more recreational - if I could be taking shots at 200NL by the end of the year I would have been over the moon, after 6 months of playing and meeting the people I have, I see now that in fact poker could be much more to me and I want it to be - I love the game so much why not and try and make a living out of it, so my goals have changed.

April 2010 I will be hopefully going with my mate (depending on money) and travelling America for 3 months, at this point I will quit my job and be looking to take poker a lot more seriously - my aim is to be comfortable at 100NL and have a 15k roll by the beginning of Apri (not a huge target if I am being honest, but having this will make me happy when I quit my Job)

I expect 2010 to be a great year for me and hopefully I will be on my way to achieving some of my dreams - why not try and live the life you want while you are young, at least take a stab at it so you can say at least you gave it your all, live your dream if you can - some dreams we will never get to, but if there is a chance that you can actually achieve a dream give it a go. Life is short so live every day to the fullest.

So this has been a really long blog, why I have shared what I have I don't know, but it definatly feels good to write about it and let it out there. My English writing is terrible and a lot of what I have said may not have come across exactly how it has been said in my head.

If you have read all of this blog then thankyou and sorry if its been a bit depressing

R.I.P Grandad "take care and be careful"

KaiZaN

So it's taken me ages to update this, but I have basically just got over the jet lag and combined with a busy weeked I just have'nt been able to find the time (had to re-pack to go back to Vegas tomorrow)

So day 4 and 5 basically went play more on day 4 - review again day 5 with poker related chat throughout the days. Kind of what I have mentioned before, it was exactly like you would expect it to be with a group of poker players in the house. Constant poker talk and questions answered.

Thursday a few of us went to the cinemas to watch The Hangover - funny film, what was as funny was to see how the British and American humour differs in some cases, I did find myself laughing at some parts by myself which was a bit weird but funny at the same time.

Friday we got the STD VIP access to Pure :) thanks to Mike again. As far as clubs go, Pure has to be the best one I have been too, now thats not saying much as I do come from the UK and the clubs here are not great, but any club that has an outside bar area with the view of the strip is pretty sweet in my eyes.

So just a quick update to say that the bootcamp was on most parts exactly what I expected / wanted it to be and the guys / Ladies I met were great, could not have asked for anymore. The whole experience has given me a lot to think about, poker and life wise. I'm pretty sure what I want to do now and have some objectives I would like to achieve, but thats for another blog.

So i'm back off to Vegas in 8 hours and I can't wait

GL at the tables

KaiZaN

So I didn't play mush poker myself today - decided to get an early night instead (1:30 in the morning is early here:) after the long session yesterday I didn't get up till 1 in the afternoon today. So played a little poker and then just had a lenghty hand review session with the guys. This turned out to be really valuable as although there was some spots where I could have saved myself money, the real shock came where I could have gotten more value - which until today I didn't realise just exactly how much I was losing.

The whole enviroment in the house has been great. Just sitting round the table playing, chatting etc is just what I expected poker players to do and already feel gutted that I have to go back home and to a regular job :(

This evening I sweated Grant at 200NL for about 3 hours. This was great as Grant is so layed back about playing and answering questions about what and why he is doing what he is. I find it very enjoyable to do this as I am more looking towards what to do as such and the plays that can be expected to make at the higher levels that the levels I am at the moment. I'm pretty happy with my own play at the moment at 25NL and with a few adjustments I feel I will crush through 50NL as well, so its great to watch these guys live and understand what theya re doing at the mid stakes.

Also today Verneer poped over (as if its standard for that to happen!) I respect him a lot for what he has done for us micro players and it was great meeting him. He is just a great done to earth guy and funny as hell (he does a great impression of himself when recording videos - I dunno if you had to be here but it was pretty funny - he knows he says erm eh a lot in his videos)

Well i'm just chilling writing this entry while in the hot tub - you know how it is ;) god what a life

Anyway

GL at the Tables

KaiZaN

So there was a lot of poker today. In the end I played 6 hours which was about 3200 hands. My normal sessions are a couple of hours at by which point I do start to feel tired, but today was a different beast. It felt great playing, especially along side the other guys. It just took the edge out of the grind. Me, Kwab, Grant and Alex were playing from about 11pm Vegas time till about 5 in the morning (well thats when me, Grant and Alex finished, Kwab is a different beast and was still playing when I woke up at 1pm and still hasn't stopped!!!) It was great to be able to discuss plays straight after they happened with the guys as well as sweat the guys playing and understanding the reasoning behind their plays. Plus it helps when we are winning as the vibe was just great around the table, was just a lot of fun.

Anyway just a quick update to say day 2 was great and I look forward to reviewing my session tomorrow as well as grinding again in the evening - man I LOVE VEGAS!!

GL at the Tables

KaiZaN

So I arrived in the afternoon on Saturday (after a 14 hour flight) and straight away everyone in the house made me feel welcome and comfortable, it was as if I knew these guys for years. There was already a student here and a couple of Mike's mates (their last night) as well as Grant and Alex. So my first day / night here and it started by playing beer pong (never played before and don't really drink beer) lets just say that was an experience in itself and was good fun - something to try and add to the drinking games back home. So that was the warm up - next we got ready to go out, we headed to LAX, we done about an hour of gambling and then cos Mike has some sick contacts, we managed to get VIP entry, a booth and bottle service - welcome to Vegas Michael :) so the club was pretty sweet, busy and we had a lot of fun, was there till the end about 4 I think when some of us decided it would be a good idea to finish the night at spearmint rhinos. Now by this time I had already been up like 28 hours, but hey, can't turn that down to end the night. Another first for me as I had never really been to a proper strip club. anyway apart from the crazyly over priced entry fee (only $40 but still) it was a great experience ;) we ended up leaving at 8am and I can honestly say that walking out of that club seemed like a scene in the movie, when we entered it was dark and when we left it was as bright as anything. So from this point there didnt seem like any reason to go to bed right? so we got back, put some burgers on the bbq as you do and chilled for an hour, at this pont it might have been a good idea to try and catch some sleep, but I think I was too hyped up by my whole first night experience that I just chilled by the pool and read a book and played some poker. Lets just say that by 10pm Sunday night it felt good to finally go to bed 48 hours after I woke up to leave for Vegas. great first 2 days :)

So today was the first day of my official bootcamp week and its already opened my eyes up to a lot of things I could be doing differently. Watching these guys play at their stakes as well as sweating us (another student out here named Kwab) and then discussing the hands throughout the day and concepts has been a real eye opner and its only the first day!!

I have been pretty lucky that the Kwab plays the same stakes as me and its been great to sweat him and discuss altogether plays he would make and I would make compared to what Alex, Mike and Grant would make.

So i'm pretty much running well at life at the moment and look very much forward to the next 4 days of some action packed poker

GL at the tables

KaiZaN