Ok I havn't post in a while, just another thing ive been lazy with. I set a target of a couple of months ago 2 make $2000 in the 2 months i've had of work n i've made it, not through hard work and skill, but by 1 small bink.

I won a $16.50 PLO event on stars with 382 runners so was very happy. My overall play was gud and i am very pleased with the result as its always nice 2 win a tournament. Anyway i have had a 2 week break from my normal games after a sick run bad and $350 down session. I have just been lazy to be honest as not much should have stopped me from playing. Anyway hopefully the next time i post i will have got back 2 the grind and make the money that is there 4 me 2 easily get my hands on if i can just put in the hours n effort.


Cheers 4 reading and any comments are appreciated.

Ok, I set myself a target last week of making myself a minimum of $750 the past week. Unlike last week I have fallen well short of this margin for 1 reason or another. I have made just over $100 after the worst week of running bad i've had for months. I moved back up to the $16 9 man sng's playin 12-14 at once. I haven't put anywhere near the volume in that I would have liked and also just seemed to either run into hands when shoving in position, not picked up AA and KK very much and also it seems that my bigger pairs are getting cracked by smaller pairs when all in pre flop and I havn't won my fair share of flips. It doesn't matter though because as a poker player it's about the long run and i will run bad and run also good once in a while. I believe the reason why it has annoyed me is that i have only just moved back up to the 16's, and even though it's only a small downswing i was down around 20 buyins. I have now ground through that I hope. I need more 1st places as I have finished 2nd and 3rd to often when I have cashed. Also my laptop is playing up, so I haven't played as much as i would have liked, but now im making excuses.

Rite, next weeks target is to make a minimum of $500. This is lower and back to where i started, but I think it is reasonable and easily achieveable. My aim was to make $2000 while i have been off work after my knee surgery and I am still well on target to get that. I will be staying on the 16's and will hopefully run better.

Thanks for reading and ur comments would be much appreciated.

Well i set myself a weekly target while im off work with my knee after surgery. I met my $500 target 3 days early as i have till sunday 2 reach this amount. I am currently $540 in profit playing mostly $6 9 man sngs and just grinding them out. Now my roll is back up after cahsing it out numerous times 9(mostly just 2 go out), i can get back 2 playing the $16 tables. I played around 30 earlier n made a profit, but i finished 3rd 2 often even going 3 handed with big stacks. Hands didnt hold, but at least i was still cashing.

I will recieve roughly a $30 bonus for finishing high on the battle of the planets leader board so this always helps. I also reloaded 2 recieve the $300 bonus from pokerstars. I'm about 1/7 of the way there after 4/5 days so i should clear it in the next month especially as i am goin back up stakes. A good point a friend of mine salfi made is that i need 2 push myself more as i have never found a sng level that i haven't beat and beat comfortably!

Right next weeks target needs to be set. I will be aiming a little higher obviously. Next week im aiming 2 get a minimum of $750 and try and push on from there.

Cheers 2 any1 who actually reads this haha

I have decided this month to set myself weekly targets as i am off work this month after a knee operation. My roll is just over $1600, but $600 of that i have put in to get my $300 stars bonus, Anyway i am starting at the $6 9 mans just to get back in the swing as i feel my ranges are a little rusty. After 100-200 games i will move back to the $16 9 mans playing 12 at once. I feel i should aim to get around $500 in a week and the move up stakes and move on from there, The only thing holding me back is putting in the hours. I have already made $100 today so i want to try and double that in the afternoon and keep pushing myself to play more. I am also goin to avoid mtts for a while because i feel im not cashing enough, whether it is a live tournament or online i am either not cashing or getting mini cashes. Personally i feel i cud play slightly better, but in truth i am aslo running awfully. I know alot of players say this, but i really am. Im either all in ahead and loose and i dont mean just a marginal favourite or i will run into a disguised set, Well let the target setting and grinding begin!

Good news on a personal note. I have decided 2 get back into live poker aswell as the online grind. My results live used 2 be 2nd 2 none when I lived in Leeds but since then (about 2 years go) I have not won a tournament and bareley cashed live. On a positive note i have played less than 20 live tournaments in that time! I do believe not living near a casino does affect my live game in several ways. For example I can be 2 eager 2 play hands (too loose) and also I am more afraid of going bust as I know i wont be playing again 4 a while.

Anway I will be playing the £330 NLH deepstack event at DTD which I have already played 3 times and had good runs without cashes. Evrytime I have played this event I have recieved half the backing and will be again. I have managed a 18th out of 111 players and 27th out of 131 players and also a poor early finsish, twice going out as a 2-1 favourite for pots well above chip average and one loosing 2/3 of my stcak AA v 10 10 having 2 pass on the river as he flopped a set and I never recovered. I am really looking forward to another shot at this tournament as I know I have the ability and the attributes 2 win this tournament.

I will aslo be playing a £75 NLH freezout the day before to get in some practice and hopefully get a good result and good preperation 4 the main event. If I do get a 1K + cash in 1 of these tournaments i will play several more live games in August.

I will also be playing a £50 PLO event near the end of the month. I feel my PLO game is very good online, but I have never played live so it should be a good experience. The day after this tournament I believe I will also be playing a £100 NLH deepstack tournament.

Well i guess the whole point of these tournaments is 2 get back 2 winning ways. I am not a player 2 sit back and wait 4 the money and be happy with a cash. I am always looking 2 win and if that means bubbleing evry now and again so be it! On a final note I belive I am more than due a big live cash this year and hopefully these tournaments will provide it as I have mostly been playing at least my B+ game..

Well to start off i want to mention what a grid Sunday the last day of the month was. I needed 1200 points in a month 2 get the extra 60,000 vpp bonus from stars and all i had managed in 30 days of barely playing is 500 points. I needed 700 points in 1 day 2 achieve this and playing the $6 9 man tables (9 at once). I started on a big downswing of nearly $200 at the 6's which wasn't really a problem to my roll except it dented my confidence a little. After earning barely any points in the morning a friend of mine salfi offerd to stake me over 500 games at the $16's which i am familiar with but don't play them all the time as i tend 2 spend the money i earn from poker on going out and enjoying myself. Anyway back to the point i managed to make the 700 vpps i required by aorund 23:00 GMT so i was extremely happy, so i want to say a big thank you to Salfi as he made it possible by movin me back up stakes.

I also played the $215 Sunday warm up on stars and came around 1000th out of 4100 players, still not good enough for a cash but i felt i played very well and just made 2 mistakes that cost me my tournament (however i did run into a set when i made a move). I earnt the seat playin the steps on stars aswell so it only cost me 60fpps (roughly $1) to play a $215 event so i was happy just playing, but after having a bigish stack from start to finish i am dissappointed not to have at least cashed.

Back to the $16 games i have only played on 2 seperate days since Salfi staked me but i have made $500 from 100 games running at 31% ROI which is unreal for me as my average ROI is %17, but im just going to put this down to playing well and also running well as i ran like shit the other day. I have also just match my best cashing streak which is 8 in a row (9 man tables) so im also hoping to improve on this.

Anyway on a final note i need to grind more as its clear to see how much money i can make if only i had a goal to aim for!!!

Well to get started my laptop is broke so i have not had the usual comfort of playing often and when i want. I haven't been grinding the cash as i had planned simply because i haven't played!

Anyway back to the title of this blog. I was 4 tableing cash games ( 2 5cent 10cent 6 handed nhl and 2 10cent 25cent 6 handed nlh). I am quite an accomplished cash player, but mostly in a live environment and only really played these game to pass the sum time. As these limits are tiny compared to my roll i was able to play for stacks and bust players for fun. I find this is where my game is at its best putting players to harder decisions and also being able to play a variety of hands. I played for 2-3 hours and ended the game $108 up seemingly playing the best poker i have at online cash. I was folding in the correct spots, value betting and figuring out where i was in evry single hand and making the right decisions. I got payed when i hit and got away cheaply when i got unlucy. One hand i had Qs Qd and player in the cut off raises to $1, i repop to $3.25 folded back to the initial raiser who is very aggro pre and he makes it $8.50. His stack is around $35 after the raise and mine is about $60. I just opt to call, flop 9s 7d 3c and he pot bets which i find strange, he cant pass to a raise and the rest is in on the turn regardless so i decide to laydown as i hav ground out the money slowly and have betta spots. To my supprise he shows his cards Ah Ad, i had put hi on A A or K K, but cudn't believe my luck that he showed and that inspired me to play better.

Anyway i should have my laptop back soon and get back to the minimum of 12 tableing and grinding. The plan is to get to vegas next year so i need to build my roll and save up. I would want a minimum of $5000 to spend on poker and enjoying myself when im there and with my internet roll in around $900 it should be pretty easy as long as i stick to it.

Well as i mentioned earlier im back 2 playin the $6 9 man SnG's after deciding to go out and enjoy my bankroll by going out and things instead of looking after it. Not going to bad so far, although i feel i should have made at least double what i have the past 3 days (making careless mistakes). I have had a month or possibly 2 off playing online poker so im sure they will dissappear soon and normal order will be resumed. I have only managed 6 and a half hours of play in 3 days, but taken into consideration i work 40 hours a week monday-friday this is not to bad. I have made around $100 so this works out at around $16 an hour which isnt too bad, but as i said should be much more and when i build my roll back i can move to the $16's and then push on from there. I believe the test for me will be to keep it going and also try and play the weekend rather than going out evryday. Anyway i need to keep up the winning form and improve on it. Also i find it funny how i make much more hourly than my day job where i only earn £6 an hour ish. Hopefully if i can stick at it i will make the transition to pro quicker than i planned. Also for any sceptics thinging im just beating a soft field i am a winning player at higher levels and am comfortable playing much higher and the transition will be quick and easy. Im am blogging my thoughts and progress to keep me focused and to remember my goals and aims. Keeping this going is alsmost like encouragement to do well for myself, so there will be many more entries. If any1 bothers reading this feel free to comment (positive or negative). Cheers

Ok 2nd entry. I've decided after some time off 2 go back to the boring, but also very profitable grind. My roll is low on Pokerstars at the moment and only on $800 so i will hav to start back at the $6 9 man SnG's. I will try and have that back on $1200 within a week so i can move back to the $16 9 man SnG's. Also a big point to address is shot taking. For the next month at least there will be no bigger buyins trying to score big and thats why this blog is titled back to the grind! I think my main set back could be the tiredness i get from my day job, but i need to put the hours in if i am to make the 2nd income that i should be getting. A player of my ability should be playing a minimum of 12 $27 9 man SnG's at a time and ive move backwards towards the $6's. Anyway hopefully the next entry i write i will have moved back up and also stop spending my profit on my social life.

Ok, this is my first blog on this site and ever! I feel i need to address one of the biggest issues and weakness of my poker playing career and that is motivation. I have all the skills and attributes to be a top class players (obviously i am still improving and trying to better my play all the time), but i never put in the volume of games i need 2 make a solid living from poker. I also make excuse to myself for not playing and only play when im in the mood to or i need the cash. I feel that i am looking for easy cash rather than grind it out like top players do. Also i have been told with my ability and skills online (especially SnG's) that i should have turned pro a while ago, but i just cant seem 2 do it. I have a pretty poor job considering my education and qualifications and the hours also leave me with little time to play. I wonder why i dont just quit and throw myself fully into poker, however that last step seems some way off for now. I need the motivation to go for it in the game. I don't think i am motivated my money (it helps though), but more by results. As i have not had a big live cash or tournament win for over 2 years now i believe this is killing my drive. I have played very few (below 20 games), but i am staring to get back into live play. I don't wish to complain on these blogs and i will get this out of the way. I haven't run very well live the tournaments i have played recently and this also doesn't help my confidence on the felt, even tho i know i am capable of winning tournaments for fun. Luckily more online play profit also goes to playing live and i have friends willing to back me as they know what i am capable of. Lets just hope the poker gods just start taking a like to me.