Failure is an option!

 

 

 

 

With three weeks to go in my Maui challenge, my form patchy at best, the strong probability is that I will not hit my $4000 target. A shame, but it genuinely was a tough figure for me to hit playing three thousand $5 sit n gos (especially with the $1 rake). A true challenge. In the last few weeks I think I have let the growing realisation of my impending 'failure' affect my game. So I am trying here to inject some needed logic in my thinking here to help me focus on a positive end to my poker year. The aim for the year (see above) was in effect five fold:

1. To play 3000 Maui games. Nearly there. I have showed some real strong discipline to play this number of games and these alone for a year.

2. To have fun. An easy one really as I love playing poker.

3. Make $4000. OK I will probably not make it but if I only hit $3200 I have completed 80% of the total. I still maintain my failure will be down to the lack of consolation bonus success. I came so close again at the start of December with a sequence of 12123. I won't whinge too much about the details of the third but suffice to say the last few hands were pretty cruel from my point of view. It would have been a great start to December.

4. Achieve a top twenty Sharkscope leader board ranking. I am currently 18th in year winnings at the $5 level and have a good shot at staying there. A poor run in the next three weeks could cost me here.

5. Record my progress on this blog. I am happy with the job I have done in this respect posting monthly progress and lots more around once a week. I hope it has been some use or interest to others.

 

So yes failure is an option because in failing I will have achieved a great deal that is positive.

 

So get over it Jason and start playing your best poker again!

 

 

 

 

Please note this is not a concession of defeat............................My challenge continues.

Golden advice from Phil Gordon?

Around five years ago I read what was probably the most influencial poker book on my early game development. It was Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. It helped me with some key fundamentals of poker I was able to use as firm foundation to build on and improve my game. Two lessons that come to mind are protecting a good hand with solid post flop bets and going to war with strong drawing hands. Five years later following a lacklustre Blue Book he is back with a Gold Book and I am giving it a try. It is marketed as a follow up to his original green teachings but updated for the modern game. Where his teachings of green and gold conflict now follow gold. I will try. I started it last night and looks of interest.

I am need of this new material following a steady at best month or two. The last poker book I read about the mental game of poker helped me achieve a three month hot streak. Rather foolishly I abandoned my poker reading to enjoy a thriller about a kidnapping. Not a bad book (see Simon Kernick's Deadline) but it was my A game that seems to have been kidnapped so it is back to poker reading for me!

Interestingly there is a large section on Pot Limit Omaha which I may take up next year. He may well establish my fundamentals for this game as well.

Cheers Phil

November Result: +$117, Overall: +$3153

In the end I was happy with the outcome for November but it took me a week or two to recover from a bad spell. I generated only $5 from the Maui games themselves. Added to this was my usual chunk of freeroll cashes and rakeback to make my haul for the month a modest $117. This leaves me with $847 to make in December. Possible, but very unlikely. I give myself about a 5% chance. I need to make $300 from my last few hundred games, $50 in rakeback and then hit $500 from a combination of freerolls and consolation bonuses. Betfred have doubled the prize pool for the daily freeroll which helps and I will try to play more often. Realistically though I am looking at $3500 for my challenge.     Kartajana   245 $0.02   $5   0% $5   - N/A iPoker 11/1/2011 11/30/2011 SNG Only x     My improvement/recovery at the end of November was sparked largely by me basically writing a strategy document for the Maui games to try to get me back to my best game and eliminate flaws that had crept into it. I have nearly finished this document. It is not quite spot on yet but is a good starting point and will help me stay focused in December as I push for challenge glory!   Good luck.

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.