Is It All Starting To Come Together?

I read dozens of blogs of blogs on a daily basis. Some are fellow micro-donks, some mid range players and some who play nose bleed stakes poker where one big blind is more than my entire bankroll! A lot of the comments left by players like myself on the blogs of the NL200/400 regulars ask the blog owner when did they realise they were a winning player or was there a clear point where everything they'd learned and tried to put into practice actually seemed to work. You can see clearly on some of the blogs when the change from breaking even to becoming a winner happened. I'm starting to think you'll be able to see that on my little blog from now.

I'm in the process of making the transition from 6 max NL to full ring for a few reasons. Firstly, I find it easier to multitable FR and can play 4-6 games comfortably where when I play SH I don't play my best if I have more than 2 tables open. Also, I am honest about my ability as a poker player and if I find myself on a table where there is someone clearly better than me but I don't want to leave that table because there are a few donators there I find it easier to "hide" from this player at FR than I do at SH for obvious reasons. Thirdly, the vast majority of micro and low stakes players do not have a clue about position and how hand value change with position and with me being pretty clued up on this I have a major advantage. Again, a lot of FR players are very weak, have tried SH and failed and come back to FR as it's less aggressive but have brought many bad habits with them from SH games. Finally, I am wanting to try live cash at some point so this is in theory my training!

Anyway, I really feel like everything is coming together at long last. I am playing some brilliant poker, for micro stakes, making some solid reads and acting on them and I'm really enjoying my poker again at the moment. Yeah I'm still making some ridiculous mistakes which need ironing out but I'm experimenting with plays and bet sizing and for the whole it is paying off. I've played 3.5k hands over the past week and a half and I'm running at over 20PTBB/100 and it would be more had I not been stacked once with QQ, once with JJ and half a buyin last night with AK on an AK4 board. Of course some of this is down to our favourite bitch, variance, but looking at my Poker Tracker I don't seem to running insanely hot, rather just getting maximum value out of my hands and losing less when I lose. Reading blogs, books and forums I realised I was missing out on a lot of value by under betting my hands on most streets, especially the river, but I have altered my game somewhat and I'm so far reaping the benefits.

I put this down not only to the forums and blogs but to the fact I have really cut down my boozing and lifestyle changes. My old routine was to get home to the pub, have a couple of pints, go upstairs and get changed or whatever, crack open a can of cider and play poker whilst drinking. Drinking whilst playing poker is like drinking and playing pool. You get to a level where everything is great, you have that confidence where you're invincible but then it all goes tits up as you get pissed and I was getting pissed every night and not playing very well at all. Now I have a beer when I get home and that's it until I have something to eat later on in the evening and I'm seeing so much more at the tables. Also, a lot of my life stresses aren't bothering me as much anymore, they're still there and they eat at me but I can control them because I'm not depressing my brain with alcohol and other shit all the time. It's fucking great! I'm really looking forward to October and I'm hoping to play between 20-30k hands which if I 4 table on Full Tilt is around 3 hours per day. If I stick to my guns I fully expect to be bankrolled for NL50 by the end of October and I'm aiming for at least $500 profit and I should generate around $300 in rakeback too which would be fucking brilliant and might allow me to pay a bond on a flat and keep my bankroll almost untouched. Here's hoping!

I'll be playing tonight but only one table because Pudding Dad wants me to go through NL with him just to see the thinking behind certain hands and stuff. He's been playing a bit of FL but I'm trying to convince him to move over to the dark side and rinse some fish! I'm not expert but I can give him more than a few pointers and because he's an expert Bridge player he should pick it up pretty quickly I should imagine. So Pudding Mum is making my tea for me so I will be well fed then when she toddles off to work me and my Paw will be hitting the tables on my Full Tilt account so stay the fuck away Spunk Sock! Only downside is I'm going to miss Billy Piper looking smoking hot playing a tart in her new drama. She can't act for shit and looks a bit like a monkey but I definitely would especially when she's in her benders and all her get up. How the fuck Chris Evans rattled that I will never know. Oh I do, money!

I couldn't think of a picture to go with this post so Milla makes a return, the filthy bitch. I've also developed a thing again for Kelly Brook even though her chap is a big fucking puff so might have to add some pics of that tart too!

Thanks for checking in on this uber-confident Pudding! Updates on Pudding Dad and other shit tomorrow!