HI first of all I want to get a little thing out of the way and that is my coaching status. I'v not released a video now for over 6months and have decided that it is fairly unlikely that I will do so in the future and as such have resigned from my position as a video producer for the site. I've been in limbo deciding what to do with this, since I don't want to make plo videos and I'd really have to be playing NL day in day out to produce msnl videos good enough for leggo. I could probably do some ssnl stuff but that doesn't really interest me and I'd still be concerned about not being "in practice" at NL. A weird thing with that is that when you haven't been playing/studying a game for a while it REALLY affects your ability (or at least mine) to articulate your thoughts. I'm also off the shelf for private coaching until after vegas (so likely July/August time, I think my coaching page may remain up for logistical reasons so I'l get it updated to that effect).

Now the second part of the blog. Had a very swingy start to the year so far which is kind've unfortunate because the games have been amazing. 25/50 has been softer than 5/10 from what I've played this year and it's just sucked a bit that I've ran pretty bad so far. Fortunately I ran red hot through the end of 09 and I can take the swings without having to drop down for a while when the games are this good. Also had a pretty unsavoury chatbox incident with William Thorson in which he decided to comment on a flop bet I made in a 3b pot 200bb in hand with another player 3 handed after he'd folded. Afterwards I typed in chat "not in the hand plz" so he decides to type lol about 17 times in the chatbox. A quick apology would've been fine but with this response and being a little stuck I had to hu4rollz him, he declined. The full transcript makes for entertaining reading but I'l spare him the embarrassment mainly because I'm too lazy to dig it up.

Quick notes:
1. Bought Assassins Creed II, it's GTA with swords and worse fluff. Pretty fun.
2. I've been watching "One Tree Hill", fml.
3. Congrats Jake for winning EPT Deauville for 850k euros. (yes you're less important than 1 and 2).
4. Make Money/Get Paid:
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That's all I'm sure I had a load of interesting things to say but as usual I only think of those when I'm in bed, think oh I'l save that for a blog and then end up forgetting it when I'm typing. Also just to clarify I'l be keeping my blog here and staying active in the forums, just won't be making videos.

Gl,
Rob.

First of all obviously, Rajmaster, hu4rollz? (you burnt the next 2hrs of my life with your flippant bullshit so I will not go easy).

I don't normally do serious or long blog posts because I find them either too boring/time consuming or too personal, or both. Unfortunately when someone calls in to question your ability at your profession you are called in to the line of duty to defend youself. Such accusations not only take a shot at your reputation but the reputation of the people around you, in this case guys I happen to have a lot of time for. By questioning my ability you are basically calling the recruiters, the top guys at leggo, the "name pros" incompetent, and this is unacceptable. So in response Il give a brief account of my history at leggo and my successes failures at different levels at different times.

I joined leggo early in 2008 after my good friend akmaert had discovered the site and realised that it owned. Being the astute intelligent young man that I am, I quickly realised that it owned and watched videos daily/posted in forums and moved my blog here. I 6-9 tabled 2/4NL and beat the game pretty handily (I think a little over 3ptbb) through the first half of the year over ~70k hands. I don't have my db from then since it is on my old and very broken laptop so you will just have to take my word on that. In November 08 leggo had a video member contest where 1st place would be offered a position as a leggo coach. I decided to record 1/2hr of 4 tables of live 2/4NL. There were a lot of great videos from serious winning players so for some of the top poker minds in the world to pick my video was a great feeling, and I was very excited to work as a coach here and work alongside the best. A quick note on the recruiting process also. I did not just make a video and they said ok hop on board. Sometimes I don't think poker players realise that coaching sites are businesses that are run by some highly intelligent young guys. These guys realise that the quality of the coaching IS the business and as such the recruiting process is taken extremely seriously. As such, all the top video makers were interviewed extensively and asked to send dbs of winrates over significant sample sizes. Like I say I don't have my db from early 08 to hand but you can still watch the video and post on it in the forums. Watch it and tell me if you still think I was a rakeback pro back then.

In 2009 I had finished university and was going to live the dream of becoming a hardcore grinder that crushed day in day out. Like every msnler, I wanted to be nanonoko. I bought a 30" monitor upped my tables from 9 to 12. Here were the results from January 09.



Not exactly earth shattering, but I was just about winning. It might be a little misleading since I was up 3200 at 2/4 over 83k hands and just under 20k at 5/10 in 13k hands. I believe my 2/4 results were pretty true to my actual ability 12 tabling 2/4nl at that time. A little better than breakeven. At the time I was really dissapointed with the results but looking back I think it was a solid start to serious grinding given I was getting used to playing more tables and more hours. On the negative side I was really burnt out from playing so much and could see poker taking over every aspect of my life. I gave up on SNE midway through february and took a few weeks off.

I played sporadic 5/10 through spring and did pretty well. I definitely wasn't cut out to be a 12 tabling monster but every time I played lower I would always play a ton of tables to try and get better at it. I would realise mistakes I was making throughout the session 2 minutes after I'd do it and it would piss me off no end. I was pretty much on a mild form of constant tilt when playing so many tables and it showed in my results. Here was my 2/4 in 09.



So yes, I would agree that this is pretty rakeback proish. You'd think I'd get the picture that this wasn't the best approach after ~50k hands but I'm pretty stubborn when I get an idea in my head. Contrast this with my 5/10. This is 40k hands 6max and 10k hu.




and



Despite winning at 5/10 I was still finding it tough. It was tough in the sense that studying away from the table became more and more important and I knew from my experience trying to be a grinder that I simply had to play 6 tables or less and be in the right frame of my mind to be my best every single time I played. I had been dabbling with PLO all the while, never really sticking to one game in particular. I have terrible bankroll management and tilt control and would usually play underolled at high stakes trying to get unstuck. As an example, I spun 10k up to 250k in a little over a month on ftp playing the deep ante games, only to lose it back at nosebleeds. I don't normally talk about this since it is embarrassing. And no, I'm not going to type my ftp name but if you played those games you can probably work out who I was.

After that I went back to stars and have played the majority of my hands 2/4-25-50 PLO on there. I still mix in some 4 tabling 5-10nl to try and keep my holdem game sharp. I have studied aarons memoirs (it's very good) and watch videos across all the coaching sites on a regular basis from people I believe are on a similar level to/better than me at poker. That has been going well, but I realise I can't really be a huge winner in todays games when I'm not playing and studying them them day in day out. One thing I will say though is that learning PLO has definitely improved my holdem game, whether it be actually improving me technically or the reduced NL volume just making me more switched on when I do play. Probably a little bit of both. The last bit of NL coaching I did was in spring of this year, and I have had a fair few requests after that. I decline these since I would not feel right coaching a game that is not my main game. I agree with everything boywonder and aaron have said on this topic and have been and will be doing a lot of thinking over the next few weeks re my position at leggo. There are a good number of coaches charging less than me that I think might be more suitable for a player when they tell me a little about their poker history. I always tell them what I would do in their shoes. Fwiw it is ridiculous that anyone thinks they have the right to question somebodies coaching rates and if you don't know why you are an idiot. And, as much of an idiot I might seem with some of my blog posts I am a student of the game, respect and study it intensely and do my absolute best to help anyone out that ever pms me for help.

I didn't bother posting my December graph but since somebody called me a "rakeback pro" I suppose I'd better.



That is all, I have to go rail PTR now.

I'l skip the formalities and just list all the notable hands.

Day kicked off at 12 noon, started with 30k @ 50/100. Get seated at my table with players as follows:

Seat 1: Old rich looking guy. The biggest nit I have ever seen in my entire poker career. Literally did not win a hand until 150/300/25 and aside from limp folding once or twice a level did absolutely nothing.

Seat 2: Tricky/splashy young american guy. Opened a little too wide pf given his seat but was generally a good hand reader post flop.

Seat 3: Young scandi, v v good. Possibly skjervoy, would be hilarious if so.

Seat 4: Bad nit

Seat 5: Sitout later replaced by average nit.

Seat 6: Me

Seat 7: Another scandi, did a lot of calling and not much of anything else. Saw him overbet bluff a river once so maybe he had something else in the locker other than call call call but wasn't impressed for the most part.

Seat 8a: Old guy, opened fairly solid ranges, readless on him aside from that.
8b: Recreational middle aged american player. Played quite well for one of his kind but a bit of a tellbox.

Seat 9: Good young american pro, constantly taking notes (lol).

First hand I get AQo, 8a opens t250, 9 calls I fumbling call from bb after asking the dealer "how much more it was" (I'm also wearing my England cricket shirt to this effect). Flop is Q75ss I check 8a bets 600 1 fold I call. Turn 8c I c/f 1500.

I fold a few orbits and seat 3 who has started out opening a lot opens t250 utg1. Seat 4 3bs t600 and he's pretty young so I cold 4b t2100 next to act with 54o. 3 folds 4 makes it 4500 I call, flop comes KQ3r he bets 4700 I make it 10100 he folds.

I open MP with KsTs @ 75/150 7, 8a, 9 call. Flop is 872sss I cbet 800 8a calls others fold. Turn Tc I check he bets 2k I make it 7200, he snap shoves for another 15ish I call he shows 222 and I hold. Up to a little over 60k, everything good.

2 opens MP t450 @ 75/150 and has been very active recently, 3 3bs next to act t1400. I make it 4150 otb with 94o folds back to 3 he makes it 9400 with a little over 20k behind. I go allin and he does the backflip call with KK.

I flat seat 9 utg open with JTo from btn 8b calls from bb and leads 1k at 866r. 9 makes it 2400 I decide to "overfloat" since it looks insanely strong and I can probably get him off and overpair with stack sizes. Turn 4x chk chk I bet 6200 with 15k left both fold.

I open KcJc t525 @ 100/200/25, 7 calls 8a calls 9 calls, 2 calls. Flop 872ccs checks through to 9 who bets 2500. I call and two guys behind me both call. Turn Ks checks through to 9 who bets 9500, ughhhhhhh. After much deliberation I ship for another 21k, thinking he's probably good enough to have air sometimes since the other two would play big hands fast on that flop texture or he could be committing his stack vs those two (they both have 10-15k) with a draw I'm in good shape against. Obviously his range is still nutted so I wasn't wild about shoving but I think it's the right play. 7 folds 8b snap calls for his last 12k 9 thinks for a long time before folding what he says was KQo. Anyway 8b flips 6s9s and river is 7s, asdawfwervtvy£rv£%yv5YYVC. Down to 20k.

Folds to me otb and I open Td8d t1100 @200/400/50 (can you guess what it is yet?).
8b quickly makes it 5k off about a 50k stack. I'd seen him 3b a few times before and he'd always make it around 3x and had shown down big pairs twice after doing so. There was also a lot of 3bing going on and I thought it might be a case of "monkey see monkey do" and on top of this he was a tellbox and giving me his plzfold AND I'd opened every single btn folded to me with him in the bb that for the last 3hrs (literally). Sooo I shipped it and he did the sigh call with AK and held. gg pca. Hope you enjoyed the hands, I know I did!!

That's all, I'm going to get some room service, have a few drinks and see what plo is running.

Gl all,
Rob.

Soooo, the journey to Nassau was AWFUL and not for the reasons you expect I'm about to list. The best part of the journy was going through US customs, yes you heard it right.

It started out with the LHR>MIA flight taking off 2 hrs later than expected due to the fact they full body/bag searched everyone getting on the plane before boarding, including babies. They clearly weren't prepared for this and it was really poorly done since nobody knew what was going on at any point and there was no indication the flight would be late up until it was, well, late. I've only ever travelled from LHR terminal 4 which is pretty good but terminal 3 was much bigger and absolute f mayhem on the morning of my flight.

Ended up getting to Miami at 7pm ET and my connecting flight to Nassau was at 8.40pm. I was fairly certain this would be a close call, erring on the side of not making it but it was a breeze. First of all the people getting connecting flights were fast tracked through the cues for immigration, saving a ton of time. Then immigration ushers me through in about 30 seconds (ship it!!) and I am promptly directed to my gate. Nobody at the terminal going through security at all so I just waltz through thinking hang on wtf is the catch?? "Dick" even had time to make a joke about my last name!! So, I'm feeling very proud of myself arriving at the gate just after 7.30pm. Unfortunately, the flight was 5hrs late, fml.

Get in to Bahamas, ready to have a really long sleep in an awesome bed after a good 28hrs of travelling, bag doesn't arrive. So I'm there absolutely out of it, calling on all my experience of playing epic sessions on zero sleep trying to point to a piece of card to show the woman which picture my bag looks like. My misery is compounded further whilst, when filling out the baggage irregularity form the woman lists, "clothes" "red towel" and "tennis silver" as notable items. This is despite the fact I stated "universal security lock" "red wash bag" "silver running shoes". I had trouble tearing the face away from the palm. Fortunately my bags arrived at the hotel this morning as they had promised. This was a pleasant surprise and I really did not want to spent all day chasing around for my stuff the day before the tourny.

Actually had quite a pleasant day, the weather is a little cooler than I expected but it's still quite nice. Went to play some PLO and got in a 5/10 game. Made ~6.5k didn't play particularlay awesome just got good hands at the right time and got payed off in a few spots I probably shouldn't have. One semi interesting hand. I had btn pf and 3b an iso of a few limps with Ah9hAx3x, sb calls and original raiser calls. Think it's like 2.5k eff with sb. Anyway I cbet KT8hh when checked to sb quickly calls 1 fold. Turn 5h he checks I check back. River 8x he bets 600 v quickly I call he shows KKxx, oops. I got pretty live owned in this hand.

Just polished off the 12oz steak on room serivce it was good but not great, and about 5x the price it should be on account of them bringing it to your room. I shouldn't be a nit about this but I always feel really dirty when getting things on room service that just aren't the stone cold nuts when the price would suggest otherwise. Obviously I don't intened on acting upon this and discontinuing my use of room service, but still. Anyway I should get some sleep day one kos in 9hrs, I'm table 38 seat 6.

All the best,
Rob.

This won't be a long one, I have to set off for Heathrow shortly and am saving a longer "2010" blog for the flight/any downtime while I'm out there.

Much in the style of "2months-2million", I have my whiteboard packed and am ready to fondle the bullion. I've never been to the PCA and I've heard pretty good things so I'm hoping for an epic trip. The weather here has been terrible lately so it makes it all the more sweet that I get to skip some bs rain/snow/general UK misery.

A quick mention as to the whereabouts of my blog over the last few weeks also. Unfortunately somebody took out a fraudulent card in my name and I took a few measures to protect my identity whilst I made sure this wasn't just tip of the iceberg. Well, things seem to be in order but I have done some things to protect myself and will be keeping a vigilant eye on everything over the coming months.

Post PCA I'l be having a quick turnaround for a skiing holiday with some school friends, so I may not get much time to play online. I put in quite a bit of work the last few months of 2009 and now is a good time for some relaxation and travelling. It's always good to go away for a while knowing that you've deserved it.

Anyway s'all for now, heading out of Heathrow around midday and through Miami to Bahamas. Been 22 years without the anal probe, it's been a good run.

Glgl,
Rob.

P.S. what do ppl put on their forms for "occupation"??

Fmfl anyone coach blog titles?

Been back in Leeds this past week and it's pretty nice getting away from home and back in to doing the things I enjoy most. Excited for xmas this year and I have some good presents lined up for family members, just need to get around to buying them now.

I don't know if anyone follows salfis blog (and by follow I mean read) but there was the small matter of his birthday the other day, and that was a pretty enjoyable night out. We went to River Plate about 5mins from where I live and got steaks. The place is very very good and if you want a steak in Leeds this is probably the best option. I won the flip again obviously, I'm now 3/3 there and have been dominating dinner flips for the last few months, mostly at the expense of leggo lurker "Suuprlim".

I've also been runnning very well in poker lately which is nice. I think it would be safe to say that this year has been rather turbulent with regard to shipping the green so it's cool to finish the year off on a bit of a heater. I had in my mind that I was going to make ~65kvpps this month to get to the 400k milestone but I have abandoned that plan since it's far too much grinding for a 4k bonus, which just isn't worth it particularly with Xmas and various social things coming up. Speaking of which my friend from home managed to bink us in to some rooftop party in London for New Year which should be a lot of fun. New Years normally sucks the fattest of ones, but this year definitely has potential spending a few days in the capital with all my of best friends from home.

HH to break things up. 1 pair 3's won't do the job sir.

Party, $25/$50 PL Omaha Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $9,007
BB: $2,500
UTG: $10,152
Hero (BTN): $8,995

Pre-Flop: A A 7 8 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to $150, Hero raises to $525, 2 folds, UTG calls $375

Flop: ($1,125) 5 4 3 (2 Players)
UTG bets $1,000, Hero calls $1,000

Turn: ($3,125) 8 (2 Players)
UTG bets $2,400, Hero calls $2,400

River: ($7,925) K (2 Players)
UTG bets $6,227 and is All-In, Hero calls $5,070 and is All-In

Results: $18,065 Pot
UTG showed Q 3 J 9 and WON $1,157 (-$7,838 NET)
Hero showed A A 7 8 and WON $18,063 (+$9,068 NET)

I made a 100nl video the other day, I think it went quite well. Most of my volume has been PLO lately but I do try and get some holdem in to try and keep my game sharp. I've been doing some other things to ensure this such as reading hsnl daily, reviewing hh's, watching vids and listening to aejones' memoirs. Anyway I'm going to take a look over the video tonight and if everything is in order it should be up soon.

In other news, I took my first proper plunge in to the stock market the other day. My friend Dave (Suuprlim) got a tip off his bazillionire retired hedge fund manager friend to invest in Nostra Terra Oil & Gas. Anyway they're penny shares and I shipped a cool 2.5million of them so hopefully they like, go up?!

Going to be playing the £1k at Dusk Till Dawn this Friday. This will be one of my last chances to get out of this dumbass tourny hole that I'm in for the year so although I've reserved my one time for an NTOG boom I'm gonna do my best to win this one. Either way I'm sure there will be some good plo action going down. The biggest running last time was 2/5 which was a bit lame but we obv took 7k out of that game so if there is 25/50 running and my calculations are correct I'l be at least 70k richer.

Finally I'l take the chance to let you know that there will be some ammendments to my coaching page in the new year so if for some unknown reason you want to be coached by a maniac donk calling station please hold off on the pms for a couple weeks until the new page is up.

All the best,
Rob.

Got back to the UK early on Tuesday morning. The trip was epic and I have some very fun hands and a few non poker stories to talk about in a later blog.

Anyway I was all set to have a big sleep on Tuesday and write up my TR when I got up.
Unfortunately things didn't go to plan as I was met at Heathrow by my dad with news that my grandmother had died the day before. This was a big shock since I have (had) 3 living grandparents and she was the liveliest/one I expected to see live the longest. She was pretty full of life for 84 anyway. Suffice to say this was a very upsetting and shocking piece of news to come back to compounded by the fact that I was on the other side of the world when it happened.

So I'm spending the next few weeks at home, I'm gonna post in the forums and get hands in when I can but obviously that isn't a priority right now.

Rob.

I haven't wrote a blog in a while and I'm sat in bed moderately hungover and not really wanting to move/do anything other than pointless surfing of the interwebs. So this day kicks off with a modicum of productivity I thought this would be a pretty good time to update you all on what has been going on lately. Before I continue I'l just mention that what has not been going on is me making videos or doing stuff for leggo, I'm aware of this and I feel very bad for sucking.

October was quite a strange month. As I mentioned in my last blog I'd been doing a lot of unproductive/destructive things revolving squarely around drinking way too much. Well I gave that a backseat for a couple of weeks and went back to my roots, sitting in my cave ordering takeaway and crushing souls whilst counting the zeros. Anyway I put some pretty big days together and ended up with my best month of the year, so ship da cheez etc etc.

November has been ok but I've gone back to doing f all a little bit too much I think. I've been feeling a little ill and the days are getting shorter etc and everything is a little depressing atm. Not really in the mood to grind long sessions and mood/mindset is so important for me, I'm not a machine. Anyway now seems like a good time for a trip so I'm going to Costa Rica on Tuesday for LAPT Playa Conchal. It was good fun last year and this year the location looks much better in an actual resort surrounded by things to do. Back to back ft bubbles one time?? If anyone is going out there and wants to meet up shoot me a pm.

Once I get back with a nice tan and my novelty sized $250,000 cheque I'l be ready to take my late October form in to December and play a ton of hands before Christmas. I still have to get to 400,000 vpps so it will be mostly on stars, so if you play on stars watch the fuck out I am coming for you. And then of course they'l be the small matter of 3million USD in January or whatever than ridiculously sick tournament that is the PCA pays up top. I won my $15k seat in a $30 rebuy because that's how I do. PLO and donkaments, what could possibly go wrong?

Once I've dragged myself out of bed today I'm going back to Doncaster to see the family and after a nice home cooked meal and some mildly annoying but ever so slightly missable chat I'l be ready to do the Sunday Million/FTOPS 2500 double. And if (when) I bustout out of everything early there is the Pacman Cotto fight in the wee hours that should be a sick sick fight. fwiw I like Pacquiao but am considering putting a fairly substantial wedge on Cotto since the line is drifting from decent to very good.

One more thing, since it took up a week of my life I should probably give a little mention to the show Entourage. I watched a few episodes on demand, liked it went out and bought all 5 seasons and polished them off in a week. The theme is a little flimsy/repetitive but the characters are great, the writing is genius and it's just a ton of fun. My advice would be to purchase all available episodes and save them for a rainy day/hangover, or both, there's a lot of those here.

Gl all,
Rob.

I had my driving test yesterday, I failed. I'm not going to dwell too much on failure. I like to think there is no such thing, rather only what you do and don't do. What you don't do you invariably regret more than the outcome of whatever you do do so every 'do' in a sense is a success. Yay for success.

Lately I've been very lazy with poker. After moving in to the new place (pics to come when I find my camera) I've basically been a complete bum. Anyway this has involved eating out every day, going out probably 4-5 nights of the week and keeping terrible sleeping hours. This can't continue so I'm setting a target of 30k hands for the month (played a miserable 4k so far). Bearing in mind I don't play any more than 6 tables nowadays (and usually 4 or less) this is a decent few hours. I'm also going to try my hardest to get in shape, I was doing quite well in the month leading up to moving but it's gone rapidly downhill since then.

I have a few interesting things lined up for leggo. Firstly I'm starting private coaching again and will be coaching PLO as well as NLHE for anyone that is interested. I won't be making any PLO videos. Secondly, I will have a NL video out by the end of the month. Thirdly, I have two strategy articles lined up for the forum, one is psychology related and the other is to do with live poker. I'm writing all this down here to a) keep you all informed, and allow any suggestions. b) set myself some sort of timeplan for doing things, I figure if I write it in my blog I have to prioritise it a little!

I watched In Bruges the other day, it's a great film and I highly recommend it. Colin Farrell is immense.

One more thing, obligatory calldown hh. Gotta put these high stakes hu sng players in their place sometimes:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 1030 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t1610)
Hero (SB) (t1390)

Hero's M: 46.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, 10
Hero bets t40, BB calls t20

Flop: (t80) 6, Q, 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t50, BB raises to t175, Hero calls t125

Turn: (t430) 3 (2 players)
BB bets t285, Hero calls t285

River: (t1000) A (2 players)
BB bets t890, Hero calls t890 (All-In)

Total pot: t2780

Results:
Hero had J, 10 (high card, Ace).
BB had 7, 8 (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won t2780

Gl all,
Rob.

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