Last Chances To Qualify! Failed!

Having now dropped out of the top forty I have only a handful of chances to qualify for the Betfred Social League Final this Sunday and a shot at the £1000 first prize. As the league has progressed the number of daily entrants has increased to just short of two hundred. To move up the league table you need a final table spot which clearly is not easy. I have been more focused over the last few days and have given myself a chance to do that on a couple of occasions but ultimately have fallen short. If I don't make my third final table appearance of the league by Saturday I will simply not qualify for the final. Given there are probably only one hundred regular players, not making the top forty would be a big disappointment and an opportunity lost. 

If I don't make it good luck to those who do.

............................

I write this as the worthy finalists prepare to do battle for the £1000. On the final day of qualifying I did it, I made another final table and finished seventh. However my prediction that this would be enough was as impressive as my overall play in this league series - pretty poor. Whilst I have not seen a final overall league table I expect my final position was around forty-fifth. I made a pretty good fist of it over the last few days of the competition but it was not good enough. The three positives I take from it are as follows:

Playing this early at night is not a good idea.

I returned around £45 from £25 invested.

It reaffirmed the need get stuck in and play to win in tournaments. 

I am taking a few days off poker to lick my wounds and re-focus on my Maui Jackpot strategy.


Good Luck

Storming Result And Betfred League Update

Last Sunday I played in the weekly Sunday Storm $11 tournament on Pokerstars. In coming 1754th of the 35269 entrants I cashed for $42 but more importantly found some renewed confidence in my multi table tournament game.    One of the main reasons I played was to help me focus on the latest Betfred league game running at the same time. Strangely when I am playing only one or two games at once I easily lose focus especially if they are low buy in games or freerolls, so I had six games open and enjoyed a profitable few hours. The Betfred league is now at the halfway point and I am starting to struggle after a good start. In the first five games I had two final table finishes (8th and 3rd) which established me in the top ten overall. However the last week has seen me slip down the table as I have failed to put in any solid results. I have not given the games the time they deserve, I have been distracted and also sometimes a bit unlucky. To qualify for the final and a chance to win the £1000 first prize I need to remain in the top forty. I need at least another couple of solid finishes to make it. Part of my problem is that these league games run quite early for me and coincide with other stuff going on in the Tomlinson household. For example the early tournament stages run alongside the kids bedtime. This can be a stressful time not conducive to playing A-game poker and reminds me why I tend to play poker when everyone else is asleep! Sometimes as a result the poker and real world combine in a bizarre way. One minute I am deciding push or fold, the next ham or corned beef for tomorrows packed lunch!   Not really complaining about my situation which is generally wonderful but as a family we can be guilty of trying to fit too much in. Me playing these league games is an example of that. I don't really have the time - but I do like a cash generating challenge.   Corned beef please.

Betfred Poker League Returns

Under the new title Social Poker League a new league based challenge has returned to Betfred. I do enjoy this kind of structure and am planing to get very much involved. Over twenty five nights you compete in a tournament with added cash in the prize pool. Over the league your best seven cashes count towards your final league position. The top forty UK league players then play in a final league game with £2500 added including £1000 to the winner. This final also includes the top ten players from a Rest Of The World league.   Given the league structure and the top heavy cash payouts in the daily tournaments the key is to get to the final table, (hopefully seven times) so it is worth taking a few chances to go deep and secure a good score. Two things help this approach. Firstly, there are some poor players taking part. Secondly, the structure does allow for some play so there is no rush to make your move. After playing two games I have made one final table (finishing 8th) and now lie 14th in the table overall. With around one hundred playing each night so far and £100 added each game the games are good value in every sense. Went the game starts you are instructed to "Enjoy the table banter and the free cash." This I guess is what makes it a social league. So far the social element seems to be a mixture of berating each others bad play, complaining about the software favouring donkeys mixed with the occasional polite good wish. I will see how the banter develops and take the cash with a smile, hopefully the £1000. Cheers and good luck.

The Mental Game Of Poker 2 On Its Way!

Today is my forty second birthday. It began well poker wise as I concluded last nights session with a victory in a Pokerstars forty five man sit n go for $90. A very overdue success on Stars where I have struggled this year. Despite my ageing years I still feel mentally focused and strong enough to take on the younger poker generation. Indeed, I am like two twenty one year olds .................................. until I need my mid evening nap!   One poker birthday gift I am particularly looking forward to is Jared Tendler's new book, the imaginatively titled "The Mental Game of Poker 2". The first book has helped with problems such as tilt and fear of losing.  The new book is focused on more positive issues, helping you play in the zone for longer and improve decision making. Yes please. I pre-ordered the book some time ago to get a discount, a signed copy and access to a Webinar Jared is running in June. If the new book is half as good as the first which I read a few times I will be very happy. Play well.

Back On Track In March With Consolation Win

March was a very good month poker wise and saw me very much back on track. It was the coldest March in my lifetime but poker wise I was pretty hot. I played entirely on Betfred focusing on the Maui Jackpot games and trying to pick up any freeroll cash and rakeback bonuses. My total profit for the month was $503 plus a Spurs shirt. Quality not quantity was the key as I probably played only fifty hours or so and just over two hundred Maui games. Overall very satisfying. My progress in the month looked like this:

Two key pleasing aspects where my mental game improvements and the success of winning a $200 consolation bonus. I continue to be more focused on my play and less affected by things out of my control. This is really transferring well to my results. The consolation win later in the month also gives me great encouragement. The sequence of first first second first second shows how close I came to five wins and a big jackpot. Two coin flips in the right direction was all I needed as I was in a position to win both the games I came second in. A very pleasing and positive month.

I will not be getting carried away though. There is still plenty of room for improvement. For one thing I remain stuck at the 13% win rate. Also my first two April poker sessions have been poor. My old friends tiredness, computer trouble and misfortune have been round to wish me Happy Easter and make me look an early April fool!

Good Luck

Losing My Shirt?

Some gamblers regularly risk losing their shirt. In my case recently the opposite was true when I risked nothing to win a new shirt. I won a Tottenham Hotspur replica football shirt in a recent Betfred freeroll.   250 players entered for the ten shirts available, first prize being signed by the current squad. Despite some internet connection trouble I was pretty much one of chip leaders throughout but around the bubble was under pressure when down to 12th of 14. Some poor play from my opponents meant I was able to make the top ten comfortably, eventually finishing seventh and securing a shirt. Occasionally I will play this type of freeroll and win a prize as opposed to cash. A few years ago I won an Ipod Nano on Beftred so they can be worthwhile.   Whilst I am not a Spurs fan, I am a football fan with an appreciation of the current Tottenham team and Gareth Bale in particular. So I will happily wear my new shirt this spring and summer kicking around on the park with my five year old son Jake. He is a promising young footballer himself, recently scoring all seven goals in a seven-four soccer tots win. At the moment this is a great start for every weekend for me watching him enjoy himself playing football and usually scoring lots of goals.

Poker Blueprint Breakthrough

As part of my poker plan I signed up for Nick Wealthalls winning poker blueprint program which has helped me refocus on my game in quite a few different ways. For example I have a warm up routine now before I play and a mental process for dealing with key hand decisions.   The main thing I have been working on though is changing my mindset from winning being more important than playing well. Last weekend I played a few sessions that demonstrated I have made something of a breakthrough in this area. On Friday night I played seven games ($42 staked) and won $95 (three wins and two thirds). I played well but had a lot of luck when needed most during the final phase of these games. So yes I was elated with such a good winning session but I was also mindful that I had run good and this was not sustainable. An inconsequential break even session followed on Saturday.   On the Sunday night I played six games ($36) and won only $10 but it was in this session that the main breakthrough was made. As I was playing I was focused on making good decisions and as things gradually unravelled in an unfortunate manner I was content with my play which seemed important in a new way. I followed the session with a quick analysis of my play in the key hands of each game, perhaps reviewing ten hands in total. The outcome made me feel very satisfied in that in all six games I made no significant errors. All key hands apart from one came later in games when blinds had become significant and confrontation was inevitable. In these I was able to use ICM/Nash calculator tools to assess my play. All my shoves and calls were mathematically correct. All my play was logical and thought out. The other game saw my aces cracked early on by ace-king in a pre-flop battle which saw two kings hit the flop With average luck I would have had a profitable session. So importantly I was more satisfied than normal with a losing session. Sure I was happier on Friday night when I was luckier and won but it definitely felt like a breakthrough. I am not saying I played perfect poker but in key hands I made no mistakes. That's all I can do. The bottom line is that I am becoming much more focused on what I can control. Making good poker decisions, being relaxed about luck and being more realistic about my overall win rate is the way forward. On the Monday night I had no negative emotions relating to the previous session which really helps with avoiding tilt or a potential down swing. As a result in March this new improved thinking is impacting positively on my results. Play well.