My Poker Evolution

Nice to see you find your game, keep us updated about your omaha goals and achievements please, I'd be really interested in these..

GLGL,
Fran

Finally i made 13th over 113 in the 110$ mixed event. That was the paid bubble, so i had no loss (other than the night taxi), but it frustrated me because i wanted to score (officialy) in this (hendon mob) recorded event, as much as for my personnal proudness. I counsider it a nice score. Every one of my PLO live mtt have been success (except the one I was a bit drunk i vegas). This one is a mitiged one.

But the next day, yesterday night I finished 1st in the 110$ 8-max event, over 250 players, for 3 400$, and a bracelet (on the photo below).

That is another victory !! I am proud of it. It is not a WSOP bracelet but the beginning of my long road into poker. A big step for me.

Note: we dealed and chopped (chip chop) so that the chip leader at the time took 4 000$, and finished with more money than me. The original 1st place was to be 5 400$. I had 2 600$ by chip chop and added to that the manditory 800$ (5% of the prize pool) & bracelet. Nevermind, i got it.

Next:
And finally i decide to play a last event of this festival (110$ deepstack turbo) the night before i leave for France, because i love this type of festival where player compete even more than usual, and i can meet greater players (to make me evolve). I must admit i love the publicity that can be done through the hendon mob after. It is a poker player glory, his curriculum vitae.
I won't be able to play the last 110$ 1R PLO event, to my regret, as I will be absent. Nevermind.

Hey RiSh421,

Congratulations. Just shows that hard work and persistence will pay off in the end.

May there be many more to come.

Laz

Originally posted by Lazza61
Hey RiSh421,

Congratulations. Just shows that hard work and persistence will pay off in the end.

Yes basically it shows that, as i work my poker a lot.

Also, it is some revenge, to get the trophy (despite its moderate value), because, last time, i ended 3rd (instead of 1st) during 330$ Pokerstars Canada's Cup bounty event, due to incredible sucks-out from the winner.
Also, i hard a hard july month and august was quiet the same.
Persistence is needed, as much as mental strenght (courage), and finally work is rewarded.

There it is. I am back in France after 3 years in Canada. It is also my discovery of the poker in France as i was not playing before.

LIVE:
Casinos in France:
I went to the Casino in Lyon and discovered there was only 5/5 (minimum buy-in 200€, maximum 2000€). I decided to play the day of my arrival because i could not sleep. I left with 600€ (starting at 200€ and down to 50€ at a time). But then i managed to loose my profit on a stupid night not far after. Profit/loss: 0€
The rake is horrible. It is 4% non capped !!! They can take 50€+, from a pot. I will not play there anymore. The rake is unbeatable.

ONLINE:
I played a bit online on pokerstars.fr and winamax (difficulty to get a connection). I played some higher stake for me on ps.fr, trying to qualify to some 100€ events by 20-30€ satellites and played some 20 € events with no success until now. I had the crazy idea to play PLO 50 and lost (on bad beat...) a BI. I lost some 150 €.
On winamax i was more successfull on PLO with 2 cashes:
-5th place on omaha beach (168 players)
-35th place on Winamax series 12, PLO 10+R, 2333 players. So good, so bad !!

Basically, PLO is once again my predilection ground. I am still a winning player on online mtt, (while HE online mtt are still down despite some winnings).
Despite those scores, with my others (crazy) cash game play, and mtt losses i am still down for now. I will continue on focus on rare higher stake (to me) online mtt.

CASH GAME COACHING
I will definitly look for some online cash game coaching. i contacted Gordon from Best Poker Coaching and aplied to caoching for profit. Sadly i had to delay my subscription because of me moving from Canada to France and soon to england. it is complicated for internet right now. But i am more than motivated in this possiblity. i was looking for such a coaching for a long time. A profit coach i really interested in the players. i will pay Happily 50% of my earnings. On my side i must show my motivation by a 50 hours poker/week (35h play + 15h theory).
To be followed.

Week €€€:
Live: 0€
online: -130€

I made a schedule of the Big live mtt I target, as live mtt is my poker predilection ground. I want to try to shoot at those limits to test myself in the higher poker world. My precedent 300$ shoot in live mtt happened ideally (becoming my biggest scores).

-October 7th to 18th:
UKIPT & EPT, in London. I will be there, moving soon....
I plan to play a £165 satellite to UKIPT £770 main event, then one NL £220 turbo deepstack and one £220 PLO turbo. (If any score i reinvest more).

-October 23th to 26th
PKR live in Cannes, France: 400€ ME.
I plan to get a 850€ package on PKR (.fr or .com).

-November 6th to 9th
(no more movember....). The battle of malta !!
This live mtt appeals me a lot: 500€ ME.
I plan to get a 1500€ package online, or maybe fly there by myself if hosted by a friend.

-January
Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
I plan to get a 14k package on internet (last year, I failed on final step 6, 4th/9players for 1 package and 2nd place money).

......
Next is unplanned yet.

Otherwise than those ones, I plan to grind London low stake mtt, the higher etc. Those are the spice of my live mtts.

I can't seem to be a poker player on internet.....

I had deposit slowly 200euros on pokerstars.fr (meaning 4 times 50euros) and manage to lost it all as i had begun to say in my last post (-130e...)
Then i decided to deposit a bigger amount on Winamax to stop spending little money by little money, wich might be worst.
I did not last long that way : one week is all i needed to loose it. I regret half of it. i played 2*50e Winamax serie event. i did not cash but did not played badly. but, once agin i got crazy, playing high limit cash game (Plo 30 or PLO50). I wasted 80euros right now on 20e turbo mtt and PLO50. :-( ....to leave my account empty. BRM/tilt madness again.....

Otherwise:
I bought "Harrington on online cash-game (6-max)" and "poker blue print", each on ebooks. I may there, have 2 of the best cash game books there event if not PLO applied.
I must, above all, continue reading "mental game of poker" (vol 1).

week €€€:
-online -370€
-live 0€

After visiting all my close family in France, i finally move in London to settle, tomorrow.

My motivation to move there is:
-move back to the town i lived in, as a child.
-find live poker.
In London with all those casinos and poker rooms I can find happiness as live poker (mtt) grinder. Eve Paris would not offer me as much.

I might repeat myself , but goals there, are:
-find a job
-grind some live mtt (and a bit of cash game, depending on results: mostly 1/1 and/or 1/2 PLO)
-grind online on .com (France is still restricted to .fr)
-get my "coaching for profit" from Gordon (no BS). This one is still difficult because i must put 50 hours/week. But this is THE coaching to get.

Not long after i arrive there will be....

and....

London is welcoming me, and I am happy this way. I hope i will have good news to share. I will not play much but try some satellites and side events.

Others:

Online poker.

Bad grind?
I continued my bad grind and did continue to cash-in online until i reached some 660 euros loss, total, since i rarrived in France beginning of september (last post was around 500€ loss). Then i got qualified to Winamax series 150€ main event, and rather than keep the 150T€ i played it, i got to day 2 and min cashed some 212€ (which is not far from less risky 150T€, but i can play them in cash game which what i need for the follow....). So, roughly, i am still at the precedent loss results online, maybe up 50€ (with a bonus).

PLO coach
I got a PLO coach . We talked through skype. 1st hour was free and already helpfull. He is only 25€/hour, young but efficient. I should have done it before as I don't evolve much alone (in PLO or HE). 1st paid hour, we did build a PLO HUD for Poker tracker. That was very interesting as he initiated me to quiet precise PLO statistics.
I will keep my remaining 200€ BR for PLO5 BR (40 BI) and grind courageously.

It has been around one week i arrived in London. I miss it until now....

To begin i had the bad idea to try some cash game on the night of my arrival . Not a big time zone change (1hour) but still a little move in the face. So i lost some £240 on 1st night.

Then i got the lesson and continued on live mtts only (my speciality).
I played
-two £90 mtt (one unlucky , other bad played)
-one £55 satellite. badly played.
-one £45 30 players mtts. badly played.
-one £55 200 players mtts.
-one £60 300 players mtts.

I won't explain my live mtts much more, but i wrote badly played because my bust out were not due to bad luck but my bad play (bluffs----again?-----bad move etc....).
So my beginnings in London are bad and discouraging. It sincerely affect me badly. Such losses are huge.
Positive: i can change it. the problem is not that i encounter (too much) too strong players.
I need strenght and courage.
PLO cash game is not for now. I don't have the necessary bankroll, which i must build with live results.

to be followed.....

week £££:
live -£640
online ~0

I calmed down the game not playing until the week-end (the health formula for me). I even begun to watch again "Sliders", the 90s sci-fi serie, to cool down from poker. When i watch it i quit on thinking of any poker, so that i can come back to it more efficiently later.

LIVE:
I restarted poker on friday. It happened well, when i win a £165 unibet warm-up ticket in a £20+R satellite.

The same day night , i played the friday night "big" oturnmanet of london (actually a £55, 10k gted, which is not much but the best value of week). I lost and rebought and lost again but at the very last stages of the tournament (ending 33 over 203 players for 24 paid). Sick but very poker. I decided also to never rebuy again in this tournament which is not a so big value, and so is not worth £110 buy-in .

Unibet £165 warm-up tournament, next day, i last only one hour only, missreading an opponent on an early hand.
I half regret it as i wanted to play aggressively, meaning double up or bust early. I think this a good approach to a tournament even if it last not long.
But finally, the result is still bad.

Right after, i took the subway (thanks to the great subway of London !!) to the Victoria Casino to play their satursday afternoon £46. I lated around 45 minutes loosing the most in the 1st 10 minutes. This time this was stupid bluff (there it is back again !!!).

ONLINE:
I played a bit of internet. Roughly loosing some 80$ slowoly to omania 33$ and other, then i manage to won a £27 satellite to UKIPT main event, giving me a £162 ticket to the final qualifier. But i thought about the 1/8 winning player ratio of this qualifier and cash the T£ instead (converted into T$). I made me even of my recent grind on pokerstars.
I am still so bad online, slowly loosing every money that i cash-in.
I tend to be good on those new Spin & Go, and to be lucky, winning regularly bigger prizes.

GAMBLING ACT:
Another problem is the recent gambling act issued in UK, right when i move in.
It has already been reported and corrected (backing the autorebuy options), but it is still a big problem. Some site have already closed their doors to UK customers:
-french sites (my native country)
-Carbon poker were i was dreaming of playing with their odds calculators.
-etc....

Week £££
live: -£220
onine: -50$

I realise i did not write for a time. This was mainly because i was deprimed by my bad results.
Roughly.

INTERNET
Still playing some PLO tournament online. Mostly omania 5, sat to omania 33, PLO 27,5$ turbo etc...I roughly lost 160$. Some bad beat, variance of the PLO. I continue playing at those stakes (higher than micros) and more rarely and believe it will pay soon. Even if not paying yet, i know i am doing the right thing.

LIVE PLO
I begun doing nice session of live 1/2 PLO.
I decided to shot one more time because PLO is my variant of poker. I built a strategy of short stack, buy-in the minimum £80. I average £93 win/session, over 7 sessions with 6 sessions winning (from £38 to £290) for a total of £650 win. Nice. I will continue it regularly as the players there are beatable for me.
I found some formula for live plo. I plan my play (BIs, time, hands) and stick to it, whatever the results are. It helps me improve my game and my mental game, to cope with swings (either up or down....). The sample is microscopic now buy i plan to play live plo at least 3 times a week.

LIVE MTTS
I played the UKIPT/EPT sat and side evnts i ha planned to.
I tried 1st a £165 sat to the £770 UKIPT main event: i ended 27th JJ<A9o over some 120 players for 24 tickets. That was difficult to accept.
I retried the same the day after (bit out of project and bankroll) and busted earlier.
So far so bad....
Then i played a £220 deepstack turbo. Played well but ended 85th/225 otm.
Then i played a £220 PLO turbo. I finished 7th/60 for £600. This tournament happened well for me and then i fucked up before the final table loosing half of my chips because of some 3 betted raise. I was in the big stacks but then after those losses i never got back. I was lucky to see 2 players bust before me so that i could earn a decent money. My finances were beginning to seriously hurt in London. That 1st cash brought me some hope, although as amertume for missing the end of tournament being weak tight. Anecdote: i befriended the man who was reraising me thoses times.
Then i played a £220 deepstack on 2 days, because i love the 2+ days structures. And i was right to do so because i won it for £9 800.

My biggest score so far. I am proud of it.
I needed this as i was loosing money since i arrived in london (see precedent postes). I am up, now.

So london is happenning well for me since a week. Sadly it is the end of EPT, but event will still be present. I target online qualifications now (EPT prague, PCA etc....)

Last £££
online - 160$
live + £9 680 (yes !!!)

i got a (signed) book of Chris Moorman, best online mtt player so far.
I know i already love this book. I love the concept of him reviewing hands of a middle stake player. I did not read it yet, but soon....
I was looking for a mtt book. This is probably THE ONE.

The after winning:
After my big win at the EPT, i played another tournament 220£ 25/25 (25 000 chips for 25 kgted) at the Victoria Casino. I did play badly (when i bust in last 30 minutes of day 1 on an unusefull flip), and even re-enter the following day, with my new richness (10 000£ !!)

Being a wise grinder, those days, i did not do any crazy thing with my money. I only did invest in some 23" screen for my poker station.

I also invested in some vertical mouse evolent 4 , that is soon to be delivered.

But nothing more. No crazy buying. Only one little family restaurant and some little toy for my nephews, really nothing big.

Cash game:
I grinded a bit of cash game and got back to the break even point in PLO cash games. This hurts me as i before i had up 600£ with 7 winning sessions. But one bad consequence of my winning, i guess, is that i made a terrible bad session after that, loosing 300£ (highest loss). I was probably too confident in myself. Whatever. I played days after but my graph seem to stay break even. I even played holdem to avoid PLO variance which was hitting me badly.
Finally, i stopped playing cash game at the beginning of the month, sadly. :f_cry:I will be back later to cash game when i will be ready: machine-like towards win and loss, efficient on long-term.

Job quitting
I won my 10k the day i was supposed to begin my barman job. I was being sick the days before so i called and said i could not begin on friday (with the week-end resting anyway) but on monday. I shipped the tournament , still being sick : headaches, dizzyness cold sweats, (but nothing serious otherwise i would stay home for other people health). This did not motivated me to continue my job but i did, and very seriously, for 3 weeks. But in the end i reclaimed to work on part-time only. The boss did not want part-time as he wanted concentrated employees, so i decided to quit with one week notice.
So basically that I am jobless, and by the way, professional poker player. It is not that i am a profitable long term profesional poker player but, without any other income, that is my life, for now. I try this , now that i have some money, and see where i get. Why would i refuse an employ where i make nice money ?

Live mtts again:
Back to the good. After my light downswing (25/25 mtt and cash-game), and my family visit for 3 days, and my job quitting, there was the infinite poker world for me. My 1st mtt (now on 220£ stake , leaving behind the 90£ stakes behind) was a 2 days event "london poker tour grand final" at the Victoria last week end (15-16th november).

I ended 2nd, over 104 entries (some 94 players and re-entries) for 3 300£ cash.xD Nice beginning for my poker carrier.

I had decided to play the coming week , many little Buys-in tournaments (from 30 to 50£), in the afternoons to train myself, for the coming week (see after), but i stopped right on after monday, when i played a 30£, stupidely. Nothing interesting there. I changed my mind with this pre-3,3k£ -decision and decided to keep the week to rest, do sport and eventually study poker.

Coming poker
Next, is that super week, at the Victoria, full of tournaments.

GUKPT, in london the week 23-30th november. Lots of events :

220£ NLH 1 re-entry
275£ NLH 6-max, 1 re-entry (2 day)
275£ mixed event plo/NLH
275£ PLO 1 re-entry
220£ 50/50 bounty
330£ NLH 1re-entry
220£ NLH bounty booster (50£)
165£ NLH 1 re-entry
and of course, the Main event : 2 125£ (3 days), with 275£ satellites to get into it.

A week of live mtts as dreamed......

I will begin by 275£ supersatellite to 2 125£ main event, sunday night.
Doing so is costing me the 275£ "pokerstars autumn classic" at the hippodrome pokerstars live, a 2 days event, this week end. It costs me much (mentally) not to be able to be at this 2 days event. But i calculated that i'd rather do the super satellite for the GUKPT main event , sunday night, than do the pokerstars mtt and win, in the best case, maybe some 20k for 1st, or some 5 to 10k chopped on the FT. If i do well on the 2k GUKPT main event (also meaning if i get qualified), it is, this time 400k gted minimum. We are talking about 100k£+ for the winner or even some 50k£ chop. So i took the pricey shot at the 2k£ main event. But nothing is free....
I hope to do well.

The week of tournament at the GUKPT was a disaster and i lost every single tournament i played. Here is my graph for that serie….

I played two 275£ satellites to the main event and

-220£ NLHE
-275£ NLHE 6-max (2 days event)
-220 £ PLO/NLHE
-275£ PLO
-220£ 50/50 bounty
-330£ NLHE (2 days event)

I lost every one of them. Only positive point was a bounty (100£) earned during the 50/50 mtt. I was a t my low level poker. I was sick too, taking drugs every 4hours and it did not help too.

In poker, i believe one need goals and objective. Mine were to play every tournaments of this serie with my newly earned bankroll (3 300£ for 2nd place of the poker player final at the Victoria on 15-16th november), so did it. I did not stop when feeling sick and feeling my play was low. That was an error. I should have re-evaluated my program. It is difficult to think clearly, when in the “storm”.

I did what i thought was right. Now it is time to repair that, by a sane grind.

To be continued…..
I migrated my blog to: myevolutioninpoker.

Cheers.

After my desastrous week at the GUKPT, (which costed me some 2 100£), i took sunday and monday off. I knew i had overplayed because of my goal of playing most events. So i did not play sunday last little events. I rested monday too and got back to The Victoria for the tuesday nigh mtt, 80+10£, which usually host 100+ players, as i have been said regularly.

It was my 3rd trial on this one. I played and busted in an enormous pot i could have played better. But somehow it was not enough for me, so i used my re-entry. I did well, because with some better play and a bit of luck on the bubble, i ended 3rd for 1300£.

I entered the final table as a short stack but i was sticked to the thought of every place being worth money. I let people bust and still played some hands. I ended at the more i could do.

I am back to a normal rythm in poker, since a while, after (disastrous) GUKPT mtt weeks. With this routine, it is time that I evoke health with poker.

In life, and so poker, i believe health is an important thing. I don’t drink too often alcohol, i don’t smoke (only rare times , socially), and i have the healthier possible way of life. I am graduated in health psychology and orthosist. It adds to my health behavior when i don’t do (much) troubled thing nor bad postural thing. In poker, as well, to be efficient, I need to be healthy: to be more endurant for tournaments, more stress tolerant, and genraly more prepared at the table. This is an important part of poker, for me, as well as mental and Bankroll management, that i will evoke later (ok i am not creative when i talk about it all, but it is still important).

But mainly i do:

I have subscribed to the gym/pool/sauna (which are one) early in my arrival at my place, in october. I am there, 2-3 times a week, for some elliptic/gym session and pool/sauna ones. Booth of those are good for me and keep me in shape. I should go more often but i haven’t succeed yet. Everytime, I am there i tell myself, i should be here everyday, but i can’t do that. I will try to improve that point.

I eat healthy, the more possible: vegetables, fruits, no industrialy cooked meal. I do my best but not strictly i must say. My recent improvement in that field, was the buying of a blender, last week, to prepare myself smoothies of fruit and/or vegetables.

It is wonderful what i can do with it in 5minutes. So, i buy more fruits than before now to use it. I am certainly not a specialist of it, but i begin to know waht to put inside: soymilk (intolerant to lactose), goatmilk, fruits, nuts, protein powder (soon), vegetables, ice, honey, juices. It isquiet easy to do and then i use the recipient as a glass, i can even bring to the gym. I recommend this article for your smoothies: 5 minutes food for poker, article by pokerstrategy

Those are 2 important point of my care, nowadays.

I don’t talk much about online poker as i am mostly a live player. But for online, my health investment was a vertical (evoluent) mouse to avoid wrist pain and carpal syndrom.

This mouse is great for the wrist. Besides, it has 5 programable buttons, which is useful. Maybe it will be more useful to me if I begin grinding more online cash-game, as I hope someday to be able of. But for now, it is even good for my occasional play.

When i will be more settled in a flat i will invest in a nice chair, because back is important as well. For now i have a bad chair.

Last year, at the same period, I was doing my new year's poker resolutions, and i was opening, part of it, a blog. I was younger in poker and had thoses goals:

extract from my blog " my poker evolution " on pokerstrategy

Originally posted by RiSh421

For 2014 i did post some objectives, at the beginning of january, for the end of the year:
1)Online: win some mtt on pokerstars.com (the tougher site, no ?)
2)Live: play some big live events, like WSOP 1 000$ side event or a Main Event (much probably but satellites, after my PCA failure), or even bigger live event that my usual 80$ mtt.
3) play NL200 online

For 1) online, it was done when i won the 8,80$ turbo on pokerstars for some 1800$ after deal. I also made some final tables, mostly in PLO for some some hundreds of $. Goal achieved but i do not do that regularly. i did not reach my goals on online mtts. I am still weak at it: I am not a winning players online.

For 2) I did it. I am actually playing at 220£ to 330£ level, in UK, wich is even more than with $$ (around 350 to 500$). I am playing at a higher level than last year. Live MTTS is where i evolved the most. I made big cashes last year: 1800$, 5 500$, 3 400$, 10 000£, 3 300£........

I am actually out of results so i might have to play lower stake, but even if it was a long shot, it was interesting. My live level, got better.

for 3) when i wrote that, i was shoting, with success at NL100 online. i end the year not being even winning at NL10. I did not work it.

That leads me to....

As a man and poker player, i have some resolutions for the year. I like to do it and fix objective to reach. each year.

1) Tend to evolve to the professional live poker circuit.

I mean being able to grind all the live poker circuit, during the year, as a professional occupation (PCA, WSOP, EPT, WPT etc....). This is definitly my goal as live MTT player. I am not sure one year is enough for that, so i say "tend to" do that.

2) play cash game

I am an occasional cash-game player. I am not bad at it, but not good. I was loosing money until now. I am no more but not earning. This is a default, as cash game is a nice revenue for professional poker players.

I did bought Dan Harrington on cash-game (all 3 volumes), and will read it. I will read and post on forums. I will play more regularly live and online.

3) put (more) work in poker

I am professional now: read, work, discussions, forums....

I will read all Harrington cash games. I will read all Jared Tendler's "mental game of poker". I will read other books , like "treat your poker as a business" or PLO books.

4) live an healthy style

I will do more sport and eat more healthy. I do but i will tend to do more. I will see more (every type of) doctors.

5) hold to my poker profession "dream"

I will be a professional. It is not a good run but my consistance as a poker player. I can generate enough money to live and even more in the futur.

Last year, my hendon mob went from 146 US$ to 30 000 US$, for live tournaments. According to my bankroll applications (which i use strictly), i did cash out approximatively a total net of 20 000 US$ (covering all Buy-ins and gains, mtt or cash-game, live or online). For next year i target much more than that. I had the ambitious target of 100 000$. Let's see if I can do it.

Happy new year to you too....if you are not at my poker table.

With not much followers (and so, not much interest for me), i decided to close this blog.
This blog meant a lot for me. I begun it when i was still a loosing player, exactly one year ago. I started a blog to motivate myself to win and evolve. It was a success. During the year, i went from loosing player to, winning live tournament player (with recent big score 10 000£ for EPT side event). I am still loosing online, but I made big progress. I can now hope big result in the poker world. So, for those did read this blog all year long, you could find here all my progress. You could witness a birth, birth of a big player I hope. I continue to work my poker and the skills it is asking: poker knowledge, mental skills, BRM, zen, endurance, healthy man.....all directly and indirectly related stuff.

May you evolve in poker too.

Thank you pokerstrategy for this opportunity.

I am continuing a blog on blogspot: my evolution in poker