Hit The Wall

Like a marathon runner approaching his last few miles I have hit the wall in my Maui Challenge. The first half of November has seen me make little progress towards my goals. My game is a bit all over the place if I am honest. I have lost focus on my core strategy and my relationship with variance has cooled somewhat. I have also struggled to play the planned volume of games I needed. If this continues I will: 1. Fail to hit my $4000 target. (Which admittedly is very tough anyway now) 2. Fail to stay in the top twenty on Sharkscope for $5 sit n go players in 2011. I have dropped from 16th to 19th in the last two weeks. 3. Fail to play my intended 3000 games in total. I need to play around 500 more in the next six weeks or so which is just about viable. This blog in a way is my feeding station at a crucial stage in the race. I need to get going again:refueled with renewed focus and endeavour and just a little closer step by step to the finish. I also need to inject some Tendler logic to my thinking and take genuine inspiration from Sunday Million dual winner Kev Steele. If he can achieve that surely I can play well again in some $5 sit n gos. More than anything right now I need to make good decisions, to play my best poker and feel a balanced level of confidence again.

Inspiration from Kev Steele

Kevin Steele is similar to me in many ways. He started playing Poker around six years ago. He is a regular on Pokerstars and Betfred Poker. He hails from the North of England. He is around the same age to me. He has a professional administrative position. He is a successful sit n go player and plays a lot of Maui Jackpot Sit n Gos. Indeed we have played against each other many times. There is one very significant difference:   Kev has had massive success at multi table tournaments, recently taking down the Sunday Million for the second time. In the last few months he has pocketed the best part of $300,000! including a $12500 win on Beftred (see link). http://www.pokerlistings.com/uk-amateur-wins-second-sunday-million-in-four-months-75416

When I look at his sit n go stats compared to mine I wonder if I should stop pissing about at the lower level games, get some balls and take a shot at the big games. One big problem is that I don't really have the time for a MTT schedule. The most I can dedicate is a few hours a night. Like Kev I have a full time job but I also have a wife and young kids. I suspect he has not. If he has even more respect is due. I cannot contemplate taking on the twelve hour marathon that is the Sunday Million and playing well througout. The last time I got a good nights sleep Bill Clinton was in the Whitehouse.

kevsteele	232	$1.69	$12	6%	$393	-	68	PokerStars	SNG Only	x
kevsteele	3,001	$0.83	$7	10%	$2,503	-	70	iPoker	SNG Only Betfred	x
Kartajana	3,615	$0.99	$6	18%	$3,588	-	72	PokerStars	SNG Only	x
Kartajana	7,367	$0.67	$9	9%	$4,910	-	69	iPoker	SNG Only Betfred

This has certainly given me something to think about as I come to the end of a year and contemplate my poker future.

Well done Kev. Congratulations. Fantastic effort.


...................
A few days after posting this I played against Kev in a couple of Maui games. We had an a bit of a chat about missed jackpot opportunities and how some coin tosses are more important than others.  He then kindly read my blog and commented as below. Amazing how things work out. He could easily have gone to Las Vegas for the main event, busted early and stayed way down on the poker radar. Good luck with the hatrick bid Kev!!!

Blog Traffic

I have really enjoyed putting together my blog entries. One aspect that is interesting to me is the range of countries that make up my blog traffic. Sure not a lot of people read my blog and most of them that do are just having a one off look but the range is genuinely vast, covering all parts of the globe. Ipoker obvioulsy has a worldwide player base. My top five visting countries outside the United Kingdom are The United States, Germany, Hungary, Russia and Portugal. The United States is an interesting one as no Ipoker players are based there. In the last week I have had visitors from Argentina, Slovakia, India and Greece.   When focused on pushing and calling ranges during four tables worth of sit n go bubbles it is so easy to forget you are sat playing a game with real players from around the world; in different continents, with different cultures, varied geography and diverse time zones.   Good luck all, wherever you are in the world.

October Result: +$483, Overall: +$3036

Another very decent month in the end. $276 in the Maui games themselves topped up by around $120 in freeroll wins and $85 in rakeback. I have passed through the $3000 barrier and with two months to go have a reasonable chance to achieve my challenge aims.

Kartajana

264

$1.05

$5

17%

$276

Hot

N/A

iPoker

10/1/2011 10/31/2011 SNG Only

I will need two very good months though.

My survey has concluded that Ireland's Eoghon O'Dea will win the main event. Thanks to those who took part. I hope you are right.

Later this month I will start thinking about and making poker plans for next year.

The November Two

It certainly seems that poker in the UK and Ireland is really progressing at the moment. Whilst the US players have to cope with the fallout from Black Friday players like Jake Cody have become more prominent, dominant even. Now step up Eoghan O'Dea and Sam Holden. Playing at the final table in the biggest game of all they both have a real shot at poker immortality, and a bloody fortune. One that certainly puts my Maui challenge into perspective. I really hope one of them can do it. Last chance to vote in my survey on who will win.

Betfred Poker - Six Years On

Betfred Poker was the first poker site I played on six years ago. I have probably played two thirds of my poker there and it is still my favourite site. The site is good value I believe in terms of promotions, bonuses and other players.There are plenty of regulars who I have had good banter with. There are also a lot of weaker players particularly in the jackpot games. How else can you make a decent profit paying twice the normal rake. If you have not played on the I-Poker network before I certainly recommend it. I have played the vast majority of other sites though only significant volume on Pokerstars, Cake and Full Tilt. Betfred have just launched a new website and are a very successful sports betting outfit here in the UK. They are also heavily involved in horse racing sponsorship. As I am a big horse racing fan I have always been happy to pay my rake to Betfred. I genuinely believe that one day I finally will win the jackpot bonus I have come so close to winning in the past.  Meanwhile, September has been a bit of a mixed bag so far for my Maui challenge. I have bagged a couple of reasonable freeroll cashes ($77 and $40) but my Maui form has dipped a little. I have made a small profit on the Maui games themselves but for the first time in a few months I have played badly at times and have got a little frustrated. Variance has definately been against me so I must refocus and concentrate on making good decisions. Cheers Fred

September Result: +$404, Overall: +$2553

Another good month with a good rate per game. Very similar to last month overall and in that I added a further $93 from rakeback and freeroll cashes. I need to average just under $500 a month for the last three months to complete my challenge. If I continue to play well like August and September then I will come close but will still be a few hundred dollars short. I need a decent freeroll cash and/or a further consolation win to really have a good shot. If I can enter December with a realistic chance that would be good.       Kartajana   259 $1.2   $5   20% $311   - N/A iPoker 9/1/2011 9/30/2011 SNG Only       Good luck.