Merry Christmas!!

Just a quick note to say Merry Xmas all and a happy new year :)

My poker playing has slowed somewhat over the last few weeks due to christmas drinking and mince pie eating etc etc lol. SO fat bastard is me at the moment, gonna have to get straight back into the kickboxing after xmas as I have a fight next march so all the mince pies are gonna have to go!

Im still plugging at the $15 sngs, not doing too bad at the moment however still floating around what my bankroll was last time I posted due to playing a few mtts. Having fun though. ALso just ordered 3 books using the ITH free gift offer as I finally cleared the pokerstars bonus. THe books are:

Little Green Book by Phil Gordon
Internet Texas Holdem by Matthew Hilger
Texas Holdem Odds and Probabilities by Matthew Hilger

I will try to post a review of these books once finished

Im hoping to take advantage of the new pokerstars reload 25% up to %150, should help pad the bankroll :)
Anyway Later all, have a good one, drink and be merry!!

Ok time to move up..Again! :)

Well Ive had some success at the $6 turbos, im very happy with a ROI of %40 over 54 sngs. I know this is a small sample to reflect on but the play is definately soft. SNGPT has been very useful to me in making decisions during the endgame, ive noticed im able to make push/fold decisions a lot easier in the later stages of the turbos sngs, and dont need to refer to SNGPT after each game so much as I was before.

Any player that has researched the right situations to push in these games definately has an edge. I see so many people not pushing at the right times, or pushing at the wrong times. According to my sng tracking spreadsheet ive made $140 profit at these :)

So Ive decided im being way too conservative with my bankroll, its time to take on the $16 beasts eek! Well ive played 3 so far with a 3rd and two 2nds. Nice way to start, early days yet though!

So my bankroll has seen a small increase to $1210 having lost a bit at William Hill during the bonus chase.

I promised my girlfriend I would treat her if I managed to take my bankroll over 1k so ive decided to cash out $150 to take her out for a meal this weekend. Its a shame the Exchange rate is so crap for converting to sterling at the moment, from $150 I got about £75, not the best considering I would have got a lot more back about 6 months ago, but theres no point in waiting, I cant see it getting any better any time soon.

To summarise:
willhill :170
bodog: 87.99
pokerstars: 640
ladbrokes: 3
neteller: 271.68 - 150 cashout = 121.68

Bankroll before cashout = 1210.99
After Cashout = $1060.99

Im gonna hit WillHill again this month hopefully for another $50 @:)

First attempt at the turbos

Got a few things to cover, its been a while since my last update!

Since my MTT win I havent had much luck playing the $10 sng's at pokerstars, in fact my roi is in the minus at the mo :(
Apparently according to some at ITH im not the only one that sees these as a rockfest. On average after about 40 mins of play most of the table is still in, if you compare this to bodog, 2 or 3 players are often out within the first 2 levels!
Theres an interesting discussion here if anyones interested:

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/phpbb2/ps-550-rockfest-vt45886.html

So im trying out the turbos at the moment, apparently these are quite soft. Ive started at the 6.50s just to get used to the format. Ive played 6 so far, 3 wins and 2 2nd places. Even though its a minute sample, the results are already looking a lot better than those at the $10 standards.

Im thinking I could try multitabling these and hopefully make a bit more profit than singletabling the $10s.

Ive also invested in sit n go powertools:

http://www.sitngo-analyzer.com/

Its a very useful tool for making all in or fold decisions during the endgame of sngs, the most important part. Its got a hefty price tag at $79, but worth it in my opinion.

Finally I deposited at WillHill to take advantage of the pay per hour promotion. Theyre paying £5 an hour up to a max of £25. This is an awesome bonus, I deposited $100 and have already almost doubled it to $191! Im gonna try do this every month now, its so easy to clear at $1-$2 limit. I just play ridiculously tight playing about 2 tables at a time for an hour :)

So to summarise, my bankroll is as follows:

willhill : 192.53
bodog: 108.49
pokerstars: 516.40
party: 202.12
neteller: 121.68

TOTAL: $1144.22
GL ALL!

WOOT!! First MTT Win and $1k Milestone!

Wohoo how happy am I! Looks like my moaning did some good, the poker gods answered my prayers. On my last $20 at stars I decided to have a bash at the $10 Sng 180 man. And I went and won the bloody thing!! I know its not a huge cash but for me bankroll its a major boost.
Throughout most of the tournament I had no hands and at one point my M slipped down to 6, but I think I played my short stack quite well, pushing at the right spots. With about an hour to go I started catching cards, and winning lots of coinflips.



I know the pictures crap but you can kind of jsut about see my name at the top, 1st place for $540 :)
I also had my first royal flush! Looking back at my previous post only a few hours before I entered this tournament this is a drastic turnaround, just what I needed.
The guys on IRC chat at ITH railed me on the final table, so thanks to them for supporting me.

Im in work at the moment so dont have exact figures but I know roughly my bankroll now stands at around $1200. Ive only got about 120 fpps so still a long way from the $50 bonus at stars..

Need an upstreak!

Ok im not running great at the moment, im not doing badly but im not doing well either!

My bankroll at the moment stands at just over $700 but it still looks a long way from the big 3k :(
The problem is I just cant seem to win at the moment, ive got plenty of 3rds. A sprinkling of 2nds but hardly any 1sts. I could really do with just one win to pick up my bankroll a bit.
I think I need to reread the harrington books as there are certain aspects of my game which need some work on. Im finding the opposition at the $10 level a lot more challenging than the $5 sngs - everyone says the $10 levels should be easy, so what does that say, does this mean im crap!?

I also need to make a decision on which site to play at as im currently switching between party, stars bodog and ladbrokes. My bankroll is split between them all
Im sure stars has me on a downstreak at the moment as im getting bugger all hands compared to the other sites so im having a break from stars at the moment....

Crazy Hand!

Ive been running badly at pokerstars lately, wont go into the details. So I decided to try a SNG at party to see what the competition was like, this happened in the first 10 minutes!:


Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t20/t40
10 players
Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: t1875
UTG+1: t1825
UTG+2: t2318
Hero: t2120
MP2: t1255
MP3: t1920
CO: t2140
Button: t1815
SB: t1675
BB: t3057

Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is MP1 with J♥ J♠
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to t80, Hero calls t80 (pot was t140), 5 folds, BB calls t40 (pot was t220).

Flop: T♦ K♥ K♣ (t260, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+2 bets t249, Hero calls t249 (pot was t509), BB folds.

Turn: K♦ (t758, 2 players)
UTG+2 bets t658, Hero calls t658 (pot was t1416).

River: 3♥ (t2074, 2 players)
UTG+2 is all-in t1331, Hero calls all-in t1133.

Uncalled bets: t198 returned to UTG+2.

Results:
Final pot: t4340
UTG+2 balance 198 bet 2318 collected 198 lost -2120 Qh 6c Hero balance 4340 bet

UTG+2 balance 198 bet 2318 collected 198 lost -2120 Qh 6c

Hero balance 4340 bet 2120 collected 4340 net 2220 Jh Js

HAHA I had to laugh, what was he thinking! Well its nice to know there are still some fish left at party :)

ITH members got together last week and staked a load of players in the Sunday million - I saw this as a golden opportunity to get my money in where its best as there are some awesome tourney players on ITH. Therefore this kinda persuaded me to finally deposit at pokerstars.
Ive been meaning to deposit for awhile but just aint got round to it, I deposited $100 to get the $50 bonus. I sent a $50 stake to krazyxtan for the tourney - As it turned out there werent any major winners, only one person ITM meaning a return of $8 :( Oh well, maybe next time!

My bankroll then is spread between pokerstars party poker, ladbrokes and bodog. Im kinda undecided at the moment which side to play at. The majority of my cash is at party due to the reload bonus but im tempted to take most of that out due to the new US legislation meaning the traffic at party is bound to suffer....

I played a few $10 SNGs at pokerstars. OMG the first two I received terrible bad beats, on the first hand of both tournaments out straight away. The first with AA, raised all in preflop against KK. Another K shows up on the flop. So straight onto the next SNG, qq first hand. V nice!Now theres one limper UTG, im on the button so I raise to about $80(blinds $10/$20). UTG minreraises me to $160. Uh oh, have to call though. Flop comes AKQ - hmmm tricky flop. I have the set but J10 beats me plus AAA.
I figure I cant get away from this hand, I know I was minreraised preflop but that could mean anything at this point - in fact I put him on AK(wishful thinking maybe).

Anyway to cut a long story short, all the chips ended up in the middle and villain shows J10!!!!!! A minreraise preflop with J10? Well fair play to him he got all my chips. Out straight away. NOT A GOOD START!!

PS I anyone happens to be reading this im trying to figure out a way to get my hand historys into my blog with illustrated cards and not boring old text. Anyone know how to do this?

At last :)

Wohoo I finally cleared it. Bodog bonus over and done with :) I had a few problems withdrawing, at first they declined me saying I hadnt made the requirements(even though I was actualy 50 points over the required amount!). Got onto customer services though and managed to sort it - cashed out $300 and left $80 in my account - my poker points are around 370 at the moment so i may aswell get them up to 400 so I can enter some of the T builder tournaments. Turned out to be a good investment that one!!

Ive had quite a successful week in all. As soon as I got my funds from bodog I deposited at WilliamHill to take advantage of the september bonus paying £10 an hour up to £50! Probably one of the best bonuses ive seen actually, loaded up two tables of $1-$2 fixed limit and just played uber tight, managed to steal a few blinds quite easily, every table was a rock garden.
It seemed to good to be true, after 1 hour of play on two tables, two payments of $18 instantly in my account!! Long story short I deposited $150 and cashed out $250 just a few days later. This bonus chasing can be quite lucrative!!

So now my bankroll stands at $750. I decided to take advantage of the party poker reload this month, 20% sign up bonus up to $75. Ive deposited the max $375 and hope to clear 750 raked hands multitabling 0.50/1 limit plus a bit of NL. Im gonna have to get a book on Limit cash games as im sure im making mistakes being a NL player. Im never quite sure whether I should be cold calling raises with something like aq or reraising preflop?

Ps about the 10th hand in playing two tables at party, the most amazing thing happened. I had AA at exactly the same time on both tables!! Then the flop on both tables both contained another ace, so I got AAA on both tables at the same time, what are the odds on that happening???!!!!!!!!!! Didnt get many callers though so only made about $12. Cant complain though!!

Nice run!

Ok since moving up to the $10 sngs at bodog so far ive won 2 placed second in two and 4th in the last. I cant help but think I may be on the start of a good run at the moment but im not complaining! Its good timing for me as im nearing the end of my bonus chase at bodog. I now have 330 points, need another 20 to clear the bonus, so fingers crossed ill finish it this weekend.
This little run has boosted my bodog bankroll to $325 :) including my ladbrokes account this takes me up to, off the top of my head a few $ off $600(excuse my inaccuracy, im typing this at work at 8.35 am friday morning. Brain isnt fully functional yet!!).

Apparently im gonna need to overplay the bonus otherwise bodog get pissed off, poeple abusing the bonus etc. Theyve got a cheek though, they still aint fixed my software problem - im just a minority according to them!
So plan is to get a few more points over 350 then withdraw. My next decision is where to go next, ill probably withdraw from Ladbrokes also and go for another bonus chase elsewhere.

Bye for now!

Upping the stakes - $10 sngs

Ok well so much for me waiting until I reach $500 before trying out the $10 tourneys.
Ive seen such bad play at the $5 and $6 sngs, ive decided to see if $10 is the same.

To be honest ive seen no difference whatsover, I bubbled my first three but I won last night. A cool $50 wohoo!
I know its not much but I really thought I had no chance in this one, at one point I had an M of 6 versus 4 other players with Ms over 15. But I used harringtons low m strategy and somehow managed to break the bubble. Two chipleaders went all in against eachother on the bubble aq vs ak preflop and put me in the money! Unbeleiveable considering I only had a few bbs left at this point

I was happy to be in 3rd at this point and assumed thats the way it would stay, I had about 700 chips. Other 2 have a few grand! BB is 300 at this point, I was very selective in moving all in with practically no fold equity. And they folded every time! I moved up to second place and knocked out the third.

So its heads up, chip leader has a 7-1 chip lead on me no word of a lie!
Blnids up to 500 so im all in with a wide range of hands - thinking this is it im resigned to second, my chipleader again folds to my all in every time!!!
I flopped a full house at one point, slow played and took the chiplead. He finally calls my all in with 52o, versus my 55. They hold up and I win!!! Couple more like that and im laughing :)

Almost there!

Well nearly anyway! Im up to 302 points on bodog, I rejoiced thinking I can now withdraw my inital deposit and bonus but ive just been informed that the 50 points they start you with doesnt count towards the bonus!
Oh well another 48 points to go.
Ive moved up to the $10 tourneys now, ive lost the last 3.
The last hand I busted out with was 88 in the bb. 1 limper utg folded round to me, I push with 720 (blinds 100 and 50). UTG calls w j10(2000 chips)
I thought it was a poor call personally but thats the way it goes
2 jacks and an 8 appear on the flop, the turn brings another jack JUST TO RUB IT IN!!!

I really am suffering some terrible beats lately, just wanna clear the bonus and get out.

BTW If anyone is actually reading this do you have any tips on what to do with my bankroll once ive cleared the bonus? My bankroll including money from ladbrokes will be around $550.
Im hoping theres some juicy bonus out there that will help boost my bankroll a bit!

I know pokerstars isoffering a deposit bonus at the mo, they dont do it often so think I will deposit some there. Ive heard good things about pokerstars.

Anyways best be off.
Oh yeah ive got a rematch with the same fella I fought last week in 3 weeks time. THis will be my first away fight - just as I relax and start pigging out again, its back to the hard work! Wish me luck
Good luck all at the tables :)

My kickboxing bout

Firstly im gonna apologise for being slow in updating this, ive been busy over the last few weeks training for a full contact kickboxing fight last saturday. I realise I am most likely talking to myself, but i like to pretend someone might actually be reading this..and it keeps me sane!

Saturday was the big day for me, this was my 3rd kickboxing fight(So far ive won one and lost the other). A lot of people think that having fought before in the ring then it would mean you would be less nervous for the next one.....For me it is the complete opposite, I think because I already know what it feels like to fight in the ring in front of hundreds of people it makes me even more nervous. It is a very nervewracking experience! The nerves hit me the week before the fight actually, I found myself constantly thinking about it, couldnt get hardly any work done - I still played some poker, it was actually quite good for me. helped me take my mind off it!

The night before the fight I was feeling quite down, I think I was just very tired - I was training 6 days a week and had only slowed down in the last week so I think my body had started to complain. I was in bed by 9.30 friday night and woke up feeling on top of the world, wide awake and feeling very hyper.
I basically stayed that way for the rest of the day - I went to a bbq at a mates for his 25th birthday, sipped squash and somehow stayed away from the burgers all day while everyone else got pissed :( (I hadnt had a drink for 5 weeks!). I was due to weigh in at 5.30. 4.00 came along and I was still at the bbq - the food hadnt been served yet so I started to panic! 4.15 panic over, steaks chicken and lamb kebabs galore :) Had a humungous potatoe and a bowl of pasta, and felt carbed up to the max!

Got to the coal exchange in Cardiff bay for about 5.45(Theres no point in turning up on time for these things, it always takes hours to get things sorted). To my amazement, all the fighters had been matched up - all we had to do was weigh in. They even had a list on the wall showing whose fighting who and what time etc, this is a first!
I weighed in at just over 85kg, about 3kgs heavier than my opponent.
I watched the first few fights and must admit I still felt pretty good, I necked a can of red bull - the effects soon kicked in and I felt even more hyper than before.

About an hour before the fight(about 9.30) I started to feel tired, i was sweating already and had a heavy feeling in my head. this wasnt good...Did some warming up on the pads, and felt v slow compared to my usual standard in training. I just felt as if my energy was lacking for some reason..at this point I was thinking all sorts of things. ...'Please dont let this happen again, not like last time'. The same happened to me last time just before the fight, lacking energy and feeling slightly dehydrated
'You have to win this, everyones come to see you they think your going to win. You cant let these people down' I kept telling myself not to think negative, to just go in and do the business. But my body was telling me something else, just didnt feel right..

'In the red corner........' My name was called and I make my way to to the ring, followed by my corner guys. Walking through the crowd I dont see or hear anyone, Im looking straight at the ring nowhere else.
I get in the ring, the ref calls us to the middle..I have no idea what he said to me, I think I just nodded! I looked at my opponent he wouldnt look back at me, he looked a little bit scared.

Bell went, first round. Took a jab straight away, cut my eye instantly! I think I must be one of these people with stupidly soft skin as I seem to cut v easily.
I was pissed off at having taken a punch already so tried to counter, I got quite a few punches in on him but just wasnt on form. I felt quite weak and lacking in energy, I basically decided to let him to do the work - to not use up too much energy and counter attack when I get the chance.
1st round over, instructor tells me ive got the first round. I wasnt confident though - why am I so slow? Im mcuh quicker than this in training?
He tells me I have to win, i can win this. This is my fight! I need to throw more kicks, somehow id forgotten to kick. This is a kickboxing fight after all!

Round 2 - I charge straight in with a jab followed by a right roundhouse to the ribs then a left roundhouse to the ribs. We clinch quite a few times and trade punches toe to toe for a while, when he backs away and looks to the ground. The ref steps in and calls timeout, he is crouched over in his corner. I think hes winded - ref puts my hand up..OMG ive won! How the hell did I do that!!!!
I have some pics which ill try put up, my face is a picture. So releived!

That night I celebrated with a few pints and a curry at 3 in the morning. How I stayed awake that long I dont know...

A break from Bodog

Having gone through a bad downswing which never seemed to want to end I decided to have abreak from Bodog and see if my luck improves elsewhere.
I still have funds in Ladbrokes (these had dropped to around $260) so decided to go play some sngs on here for a change in scenery. I actually prefer the structure here, the blinds are a bit quicker but they start you with 1500 chips(bodog is 1000, each game takes over an hour to finish). The downside to the sngs on ladbrokes is the $1 fee for the $5 games..but then again the play is pretty poor (as with bodog!). However at Ladbrokes I have had some success at SNGs.

This week was my first week back to Ladbrokes. Ive only 5 SNGs at LAdbrokes this week, plus a few at Bodog. Ive played about 4 Bodog tourneys all of which I have lost, and each to a bad beat. At Ladbrokes Ive won1 and placed second in 3, the 5th SNG I came 4th- and this was only because I accidentally opened two SNGs at the same time, and I ended up heads up in one and playing the bubble in the other. I won heads up and went out in 4th in the other one, though I am confident I could have cashed in this if I gave it full attention - Multitabling is not for me, I cant deal with lots of screens flashing at me to make multiple decisions at once lol. I nearly accidentally folded QQs preflop yesterday first in!

Now..I havent exactly had amazing cards at Ladbrokes, or hit a number of flops etc. I dont think ive had any sets, just an average amount of overcards/pocket pairs. Ive just had less bad beats, and ive also managed to steal a lot more, pulling off some bluffs in the right spots - I think my postflop game has improved recently due to thinking a lot more about my decisions and paying attention to betting patterns.
Here is a key hand which won me $500. I had nothing when I bet, but I felt I had a read on the guy. Unfortunately Cybrarians hand convertor isnt working at the moment so its just boring ol text at the moment, but you get the picture. Ill try update it when the hand convertor is fixed:

splors2 sitting in seat 1 with $2050.00
- AliMacG sitting in seat 3 with $1690.00
- TSO1 sitting in seat 5 with $3345.00
- trejster sitting in seat 7 with $3030.00
- Gustavsvik sitting in seat 8 with $1805.00 [Dealer]
- Happiz sitting in seat 10 with $2930.00

Happiz posted the small blind - $50.00
splors2 posted the big blind - $100.00

** Dealing card to trejster: 7 of Clubs, 8 of Clubs

Here you can see im on the button, the blinds are significant so I quite fancy a steal here :) My image is pretty tight so far

AliMacG folded
TSO1 folded
trejster raised - $300.00
Gustavsvik folded
Happiz folded
splors2 called - $300.00

** Dealing the flop: King of Hearts, 3 of Clubs, 3 of Spades
splors2 checked
trejster checked

I would usually stick a continuation bet here but decided to check and keep the pot small, and see what the bb does. bear in mind I did this earlier in the game with a set

** Dealing the turn: 9 of Spades
splors2 bet - $200.00
trejster raised - $500.00
splors2 folded
trejster mucks:
trejster wins $1350.00 from the main pot

The small $200 bet simply looked like probe bet to me, he wasnt sure about my check on the flop so wanted to see where he stands. I cant see him calling with a 9 from the BB so I doubt the 9 has helped him. If he had a king he most likely would have bet the flop, any other big pair I reckon wouldve reraised preflop.
I had a strong feeling that a reraise could take the pot here, I sensed weakness and luckily for me it worked out.

I had a few hands like this throughout the game where my reads paid off, I do feel like my game has stepped up a level. Now Im dying to reach the $600 so I can up the limits, im confident the skill level cant be too much of a jump...

Anyways im gonna keep track of my bankroll ups and downs at the end of each post:

Bodog Funds: $230(inc $100 bonus funds) Points: 220 (another 80 needed)
Ladbrokes Funds: $302.89

Good luck all!

Ps Apologies for the essay, once I start I cant stop!!! If anyone has any similair blogs please add a comment with your blog name, I love reading these things :)

Cant get out!

Ok I now it sounds a bit dramatic but does anyone ever get the feeling they are trapped by a poker site due to being stuck on a bonus chase? Or am I just losing it lol!

I get this feeling with Bodog, im gonna be honest I hate the site. I signed up for a 100% up to $100 sign up bonus a few months ago. It is an instant upfront bonus but you cant withdraw until 300 points have been reached.
Sounds lucrative right? Well yeah I guess it does. Its not easy to clear though, ive played there for the last 2 months or so and am only halfway through it. For a low limit player like me its not too easy. Basically you get1 point for every $1 in rake for cash games, and 3 points for every $1 in tournament fees.
Ive worked out that it clears quicker (not a lot quicker) for me by playing SNGs. So at the moment ive got 210 points, I deposited $100. Inc the bonus I have $234 in my account, I need to play about 60 more SNGs to clear the bonus.
I know this doesnt sound a lot, but I just hate playing at this site and am just dying to cash out and play elsewhere. I have my reasons:

The software is terrible! I cannot sign in the regular way, I have to click on account preferences then my account to sign in(as advised by cust service)! But I cannot access any of my hand histories, I cannot access my profile/image etc or many of the other options on the site, I get asked to log in again and again!! AAAAAAAHHH
Ive been onto customer service for months who have told me it only affects a handful of people therefore its not a priority for them to fix it.
This is a major issue for me as I cant post my hand histories for review onhere and ITH - I have some classic hands to post but cant access them :(

Now this site is completely crammed with fish, now I know what your thinking this is a good thing right. Well sometimes..but at the moment its not a good thing. Yep im going through a downswing(Youd never guess would you!), out of the last 15 SNGs ive played ive only cashed in about 3. Now I dont think im a bad player, I play tight in the early stages and step up the aggression in the later levels, it has worked for me in the past.
But lately I cant do anything right, donks are calling my raises left right and centre - any ace is a monster, obvously! ......
Today I busted out in 8th with kk, donk calls raise from CO with A8(this particular donk drew out on my straight earlier by catching a flush on the river) along with the sb(im in the bb).
Flop Qs6s2h. I decide to bet the pot, noones gonna draw out on me. Donk calls...
8h on the turn - looks like a safe card to me, I bet about 1/3 pot..donk calls again??
River is 8 of course :( , I only have about 300chips(started with 1000) - donk calls :(
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH

This is happening constantly at the moment, how I havent thrown my laptop out the window I dont know!
Anyway as you can tell my quest aint going swimmingly at the moment. As soon as I clear this bonus im g0nna withdraw and look elsewhere, Im considering purchasing SNGPT too.
I have $250 in my ladbrokes account which I will also withdraw the majority of and try find a big bonus chase somewhere.
Meanwhile im thinking of depositing a small amount onto pokerstars just to give it a whirl, ive heard good things about this place, I think i have about $50 sitting in my neteller account - may be a nice break from bodog!

Please excuse my ranting im not always like this, heres hoping my next post will be a bit more positive! Oh I have a full contact kickboxing fight in a few weeks, that should help me let off abit of steam ;)

PS It was nice to see my first comment on my first post. Cheers Llanlad, another fellow welshman!

A bit about me and my Quest

Hi im Gareth or Trej as most people know me by, im 25 and live in Cardiff Wales.
This blog is to track any progress I make on my new quest :)

First a bit of background about me, im a software developer by day and kickboxer/poker player by night lol! I train at the dojo about 4 times a week but I always manage to find time for poker...somehow!
I started playing poker back in October when i found a link to a free $10 for Royal Vegas. I couldnt turn down free money ;)
So I took my $10 and planned to turn it into $100. Lol, I lost that within days. But im not a quitter..I deposited $50 into party poker for the free $25, within days I was up over $100 but yep you guessed it I lost it all the next week!

Now heres where I used my common sense, and decided to do some research on texas holdem before depositing any more. I logged onto www.pokerstrategy.org and found a very useful article on bankroll strategy. This taught me to stick at the microlimits!

Next I logged onto ITH - www.internettexasholdem.com. This site was a godsend!!!! There are some very good players on this site offering some very sound advice. With the help from ITH and their free gift offer I deposited at doyles room for2 free books - Harrington on Holdem and Harrington on Holdem 2. These are the most useful books ive read, ive come to learnfrom reading these books how to play SNGs and MTTs and soon realised that im a tournament player - cash games are not for me!

Anyways to cut a long story short I built a bankroll on Doyles up to around $100 then withdrew and deposited at Ladbrokes for a $250 bonus for depositing and referring a friend. Ive also had free money from partypoker added to my account which ive managed to increase.
Having reached $300 I deposited $100 at bodog for the 100% bonus. This is the stage at which im at at the moment - Im about halfway through the bonus andintend to clear it solely playing SNGs. Once this is cleared I should be up to around $500..still along way to go :(

Me and my girlfriend have always wanted to go to Australia however we do not have the funds at the moment. So ive masterminded a plan!!
Ive worked out ill probably need around $3000 by Christmas 2007 (We want to spend Christmas 2007 in Australia!).

Having had some success so far(have only been playing since october 2005) ive decided to try and build up enough of a bankroll to fund my trip to Australia!

Now I realise most people make this kind of money quite quickly playing poker but for a low limit player with a small bankroll, its not so easy!

I have a bankroll of exactly$420 at the moment. This is split between Ladbrokes and Bodog Poker.

Once ive cleared this I plan to move on and chase some more bonuses. At the moment im playing $5 SNG's however once I reach $600 I will most likely move up to $10 tourneys.. WISH ME LUCK! I will update this blog weekly :)