Good afternoon laddies and gentlemen, it's been a while since our last conversation where I think I got into a rant about love and Harry Potter lol I often find in blogs that I just talk allot of shit and never include many facts about myself.

I am in limbo living wise at the moment. My family home was recently sold and I was pretty much told to find myself a new place to live by August, so I viewed some flats with dougiedan which are situated near to my university and we found a place we both liked. Unfortunately after 1 day living in our new 24 hour grinders bachelor pad we were told that we would soon have to leave. The owner of the flat had told our letting agent they wanted to sell the property a few months ago therefore our letting agent should never have put the flat on the renters market, and should never have let us sign the 6-month lease.

So as you can see we are in a bit of a pickle. For the last few weeks I feel that all I've done is pack shit up, take it to the dump, take stuff between my flat and my house, unpack, then pack again, it's becoming extremely hard to fully concentrate on anything else. Legally we do not have to leave until our 6-month lease is over, but we have decided that the sooner we move the better. If anyone has any legal advise, feel free to share because I'm like 80% sure that we have valid grounds to feel aggrieved, and could be entitled to x, y and z.

In other news I randomly decided to show the world how good I am at poker by posting all my hands and some stats for 50nl, not quite a brag, not quite a beat, it just is what it is!

We also had a home game in the new pad where I was seated to dougiedans right which made the nights grind extremely difficult, and ended in a 13 buy in loosing session, gutted!



PEACE \./

Dear leggo, I had a sort of epiphany tonight, which I felt the need to somehow document, and share. My first thought was facebook, however there are simply too many words, and I also didn't feel as comfortable sharing my thoughts with people I knew so well out of sheer embarrassment. This is very ironic, that I felt uncomfortable sharing my thoughts with those closest to me, yet I decided to share them this a group of relative strangers. Fuck it!

I am a great fan of fantasy movies, where there is some kind of good vs evil war, Solomon Kane, Price of Persia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Batman The Dark Night, etc. and after waching one tonight I kind of got lost in my own thoughts about the world, and life, and got into all kinds of philisophical shit.

My first thought was how boring modern life has become, how people can get excited about going to university, working their asses off for four years, only to be rewarded with a shitty 9-5 desk job, or some other random job they never thought they'd do. But in my negativity I wandered over another thought, that maybe this dullness was perhaps a source of peace and safety. Back in the days of Frodo and Gandalf, you could step out on your front door, and be killed by some mysterious creature, even 500 or so years ago, the average life expectancy was around a quarter or what it is today (these are extremely inaccurate figures, just of the top of a bro's head). So in between all the corruption, war, global warming, famine etc. there is some good going on in the world.

I am not a religious man, nor an atheist, I'm kind of undecided. At the beginning of our time, a man called Jesus Christ was killed for speaking his mind, and fighting for his beliefs (at least I think he was). Whether Jesus had healing powers or not, we now live in a world where things like this does not happen, people can speak their minds, believe what they want where ever they want, and fight all kinds of battles with society without the worry of prosecution or death. Which leads me too my next thought.

I may earn a gayboy badge here, but fuck it, I'm just going to roll with it. As I have previously stated I am not particularly religious, and the fact that science has disproved many stories from the bible, just makes me think that it's all a load of shit. However the lessons the bible aims to teach cannot be regarded as "a load of shit". In my opinion, time has taught us that too much anger, grief, greed, jealousy and evil has no place in this world, justice will be served! But it's the other side of the spectrum I feel allot of us have forgotten. Yes we are not evil, but at the same time, would you honestly consider yourself a good, honest person? Things as simple as treating others as we would like others to treat ourselves, love, kindness, purity, and honesty have been too easily disregarded, and perhaps the key to moving all of our lives in a positive direction. We should all show love where we can, and if we find any kind of love, we should fight to keep it as it is, because it may not be there forever. Anything in life that is worth living or dyeing for, will not come easy, and you have to fight like fuck to keep it alive.

What I think might be my final and closing thought, is a sort of reference from A BOOK WHICH MANY OF YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF, SO IF ANYONE IS PLANNING ON READING ANY OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS FOR THE FIRST TIME, PLEASE LOOK AWAY.

In this particular story, for the first seven books Harry Potter continually questions the loyalty of Severus Snape, who is continually backed up by Albus Dumbledore, the smartest wizard of his time. The fact that Snape had a very suspicious past, and was apparently a spy for the good guys, did make for a very interesting debate as to which side he would inevitably choose. This conflict was in my opinion an extremely crucial part of the story and I believe that J. K. Rowling made by far the most +ev decision. One of those things you see dudes do in videos, you would never in a million years think to do it yourself, yet once you are aware of the line, you realize how it is by far the best play. So what happens is Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of the sixth book, only for stunned readers to find out that Snape was ordered to do this by Dumbledore himself as part of his own elaborate plan. The next question that needs answering (and the main focus of my point), is how could Dumbledore trust a man such as Snape, when it was clear the more +ev move for poor Severus, was to betray Dumbledore, in favor of the Dark Lord Voldermort? The answer is love (yes, ok, gay boy badge for Mark). As it turns out Severus loved Harry's mother Lilly and after Snape had lead Lilly to her death, swore to Dumbledore that he would do Dumbledore's bidding in order to make right his mistake.

Again, this long winded point leads to another Harry Potter related question, how could Dumbledore really, really trust Snape? Not because the man was a genius, but because he understood that love is the most powerful energy created my man, and there is no evil in the history of world cinema, or world history that could ever come close to this crazy little thing called love. It makes us laugh and it makes us cry, but I feel as a group of young dudes who come across a ton of money very quickly we should see past logic at times where logic is not needed and simply share and cherish any kind of love we have.

Anyone who has reached the end of this blog is a true champion, and I hope they have taken something (amusement if nothing else) from this blog. I fear I have come across as an over sensitive bull shitter, ready to burst out the closet, but for those who know me personally I think you will agree that I'm just a weird dude with some shit on his mind! Peace!

yoyo leggo, march has been as the title suggests, mad! had some good days, and some bad days lol I officially moved up to 50nl after a few days after my retreat to 25nl, and this month I definately mixed up the stakes due to my participation in JaymesBonds Bankroll on Swole series, which I am very thankfull for.



I would also like to share some man love for mr matt probability who at 6am yesterday morning helped me out with a few computer problems which were driving me insane. and another shout out to two fellow grinders jamjam and dougiedan, who, along with myself have been destroying some KFC and putting in some serious volume lol and also to mr dudu who is now on the full time grind and is therefore now a rolemodel to myself

keep the mind on the grind!

yo leggo, it's been a while lol not posted any results or thougtfull thinking recently, mostly because my results have been shit, and my thoughts clouded with other stuff. was playing 100nl at the end of last year and got crushed, so I made a few changes toward how I go about playing poker.



those are my results from September to 3/4 through January lol fuck my life!

I dropped down to 25nl recently because I am a lemon. tried out some proper bankroll management, and it has been going very well lol



as I read through this epic entry I can see how dull I sound lol

keep the mind on the grind!

peace \./

As usual a losing/break even month takes a little bit longer to put in a blog. My results for July and August were kinda disapionting. Had my biggest losing day ever at the end of July, and I think I just had other things on my mind during August, which can be seen in the massive up and down swings I had. I would like to think these are more a reflection in my mood than my poker skill.

July



August



My good friend dougiedan has had some recent success playing rush. Previous to the last week or two, I have always hated rush, but I started playing and have found it an extremely successful venture.




I think I may start grinding just rush from now on, as I feel I don't realy tilt or sprew whilst playing. I do occasionaly missclick quick fold when the rush takes over. I misclick folded a set the other day, however two guys got it in with top pair vs nfd and the nfd got there so no harm done

I have been very hesitant in posting my results for May, mostly because they weren’t very good. I had an awesome start, and then who the fuck knows what happened. As you can see I broke even. Not terrible, but not so good.





For some reason I thought playing rush was a good idea. It wasn't. I just kept running into the top of peoples ranges and getting some really strange bad beats (shown below), but such is life.

However my result for purely 25nl (my main limit) were, what I thought very nice, and from the 1st May to today have been rather good imo.



Below is proof that poker will always be profitable, but also why my bankroll was looking very squeemish at one point. These hands are funny.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($26.65)
Button ($27.21)
Hero (SB) ($25)
BB ($87.11)
UTG ($39.74)
MP ($45.72)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero bets $1.40, BB calls $1.25, MP raises $2.50, Hero raises $8.25, 1 fold, MP raises $17.75, Hero raises $15.25 (All-In), MP calls $4.50

Flop: ($51.50) 10, K, 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($51.50) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($51.50) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Results: $51.50 Pot ($2.57 Rake)
Hero showed A K and LOST (-$24.90 NET)
MP showed A 2 and WON $48.93 (+$23.93 NET)

nice call sir.

Pot-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($33.96)
MP ($47.99)
CO ($25.58)
Button ($18.32)
Hero (SB) ($73.47)
BB ($30.26)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, 7
1 fold, MP bets $0.85, 1 fold, Button calls $0.85, Hero calls $0.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.80) 4, 2, 7 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $2.80, Button calls $2.80, Hero raises $8.25, MP calls $5.45, Button calls $5.45

Turn: ($27.55) 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $13, MP raises $38.89 (All-In), Button calls $9.22 (All-In), Hero calls $25.89

River: ($114.55) 5 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Results: $114.55 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed 3 A and WON $111.55 (+$63.56 NET)
BTN showed J J and LOST (-$18.32 NET)
Hero showed 7 7 and LOST (-$47.89 NET)

ambitious float on the flop my friend.

Pot-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (4 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($31.78)
UTG ($58.94)
Hero (Button) ($25)
SB ($33.51)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, 5
UTG bets $0.85, Hero calls $0.85, 1 fold, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.65) 5, J, Q (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $1.75, BB calls $1.75, 1 fold

Turn: ($6.15) Q (2 players)
BB bets $6.15, Hero calls $6.15

River: ($18.45) 7 (2 players)
BB bets $18.45, Hero calls $16.25 (All-In)

Results: $50.95 Pot
BB showed 7 7 and WON $51.15 (+$26.40 NET)
Hero mucked 5 5 and LOST (-$25 NET)

hmmm interesting.

The main message that you all should take from this blog is that I am a baller, and no matter how much Howard Lederer tries to put me down, I will always bounce back hence I am fist pumping and loving life.

During my poker career I have had many extreme ups and downs. My longest period of dominance was between May and August last year where I went up around $600 after rake back playing 10nl on Absolute Poker.

After this I thought I was the main man, Tom fucking Dwan. But I wasn't, thoughts can be cruelly deceptive. A year on, a new Full Tilt account, and 2k of my well earned money gone, I now find myself doing quite well. I have been losing for week, and breaking even etc etc below ev snore snore blah blah blah, we've all heard the sob stories. But things have changed, fuck the poker gods, fuck Howard Lederer, I am the Guv, and I am in the fucking house!!!!

Proof:

As the title says, I'm going to be brienf in this blog. I can't realy spell either so you will all need to bair with me. I realy enjoy wiriting my blog, and I havn't done one in a while so I thought I'd randomly jot down some quick thoughts about life.

Poker is a card game, and online poker consists of sitting in front of a computer screen, on your own for hours on end. To me this sounds like a very dyer existance. However the similarities between life and poker, to me, will never be in doubt. To live a life where you arn't totaly in control of your own fate, and are continuely trying to prove yourself to others, also sounds like a dyer existance.

When I sit down at a poker table, I am filled with a great pride. My opponent don't know who I am, and I don't know my opponents, all we have is an avatar, a vpip, some other stats and a chip stack, nothing personal. I am a looser in life, and a looser at poker. Can you see the pattern? I am lazy, obsessive, depressive and emotionally unstable, which as you can all guess, is a terrible starting point for playing poker.

Poker will pull me through my personal problems, like a friend would. A friend who won't judge, won't critisize, will never leave you, and will always be there to go back to when you decide you've had enough. So who am I to give it up.

I have the talent, I have the mind, the brain, and the desire. Poker will teach me how to care again, how to strive for success and glory, and it will make me myself again.

My name is Mark McGovern, and I have so much more to offer the poker community than I am curretly showing.

My name is Mark McGovern, and I have so much more to offer this world than I am currently showing. Watch this space, look out for this name, because the guv is in the house!

The first step to recovery is acceptance, and to lose denial. So here it goes, I am a fish. I have lost around £1000 playing 10, 25 and 50 NL over the past six months, this is a reflection of both a lack of poker skill and problems I have with myself. However this is going to change.

So I introduce to all fellow leggo members The PTR Challenge. In the next twelve moths I aim to erase all dets I have on PTR at 10, 25 and 50 NL, and I aim to have a bank roll of $3000 by January 1st 2011. I am starting off with a bankroll of $278 (£180) and will play 10NL. Once I erase my 10NL dets I will move up to 25NL and once I have erased those depts., up to 50NL and hopefully by the end of the year be playing 100NL. This will take many hand history reviews, videos, sweat session, hand threads and statists reviews, but these are the figures I aim to make:

$250 or 25 Buy INS at 10NL 6 max
$380 or 16 Buy INS at 25NL 6 max
$350 or 7 Buy INS at 50NL HU
Be a winner at 50NL 6 max
Be playing 100NL
Have a bankroll of $3000

I will update readers on the 8th of every month on my progress!

This is the first of two post I am going to make to my blog today, the first a few personal paragraphs about my life, the second a more exciting challenge I am setting myself which I’m sure will interest readers allot more.

Today has been a good day, as was yesterday. In fact the past few weeks have been going very good for me, both in poker and in my personal life, and it’s scary how similar both aspects really are. The connection between winning at poker and being happy is incredible, and I have definitely learned this lesson the hard way. Being satisfied with your poker game as well as being willing to learn is hugely connected with being satisfied with yourself and willing to learn things about yourself. This, I’m sure is a cliché most serious poker players will have herd time and time again, but I thought I would just reiterate its importance.

Yesterday I grinded from 1pm to 8am this morning and had huge success at the Full Tilt 10NL tables. I went up approximately 14 buys INS ($140) which is definitely a crushing session. I did blow $52 on two stupid tournaments, but I did not let that ruin my night. I entered a $26 9 max mtt in which I was doing well but busted out with 30bbs in an epic race between my AK and villain QJ which I sadly lost. I then entered a $26 HU tourney which I got a by in the first round and then got a fish in the second, however I did not adjust adequately and just assumed I would win, and to my deepest frustration got it in with K8 vs. 1010 on 87X and crashed out at the second hurdle.
Anyway, the point of this blog is to announce that I think I have grown out of some childish habits that greatly affected my poker game. I am feeling happy and confident about myself which I haven’t felt for a while, which has resulted in a surge in performances on the poker table, PTR shows that since the 25th of December I have had 12 winning sessions and 5 loosing, with an average profit of 70bbs, this was including the $85.72 session I had last night over 2081 hands.

My family life has been pretty turbulent over the last two years and it has affected me in more ways than I was aware of. Poker wise I think it has caused me to tilt overwhelmingly and lose as much as £600 in one night playing 25 and 50 NL, which is bad. However I went to see my mother on Boxing Day and went to see my grandmother today which has helped heal many burt bridges, and make me and everyone else allot happier. I have a month’s free leggo subscription and will hopefully purchase a year’s subscription in the near future. I am now ready to live, learn, and grind the night away. Keep the mind on the grind!