Jack of All Trades

Well, fancy this. A new post only 10 days after the last!

I've got this week off work to spend at home sorting things out around the house, so I figured what better way to spend an hour waiting for the mortgage broker to call back than by putting down a few thoughts that have been milling around inside my head.

A while ago I started writing a series of articles about whether my life was better because of poker. I didn't finish them, but they covered or would have covered my financial situation, career prospects, relationships and friendships, hobbies, health - both physical and physiological, and intellectual well being. I'm not entirely sure what my overall conclusions would have been. The process of writing the articles was supposed to lead me to realise the effects of poker on my life. I suspect that there would have been a mixture of good things and bad to have come from poker, but ultimately it's hard to tell what would have happened if I'd never discovered poker.

At 26 I know I'm not old and I certainly don't feel old, but I am beginning to feel that I've already lived long enough to have done quite a large variety of things and to have been through a variety of different phases in my life:

I grew up in rural England and went to a local primary school. I lived a pretty standard parochial existence, but I wasn't getting on at school. I was in trouble quite regularly and probably wasn't enjoying it much.

In an attempt to give me better stimulation improve my behaviour and probably also my prospects, my parents had me take a choral scholarship at a choir school. I got the musical and academic background that has served me well so far in life, but my behaviour still left quite a lot to be desired.

I took an academic and music scholarship to a good secondary school and I gradually grew up. There was some excellent teaching and I grew to love science as well as music.

I got a place at Oxford to study biochemistry, but in the meantime I took a year off and taught in a primary school in Kenya. During that year I did virtually nothing in the way of music and very little in the way of any kind of study, but it was an incredible experience and I know I matured a lot during that time.

I shouldn't really be surprised that I changed dramatically during the course of four years at university either. I met the future Mrs. Pink. Music became much less a part of my life, although I still did some singing. Academically I started off strong, but I wasn't totally convinced with my choice of biochemistry and my by the end of the second year I was thinking about doing medicine as a second degree. In the third year I discovered poker and my studies almost completely ground to a halt. My third year exams (about 60% of my final mark) were fairly abysmal and the idea of medicine pretty much went out of the window. By the end of my degree I didn't really have much direction in terms of future plans...

... except that I was going to marry Mrs Pink. We got married after I'd finished my degree and moved down to London. Mrs Pink had a job lined up and I treaded water playing a bit of poker, doing a bit of office work and then trying my hand at the career I'm currently in, before giving it up to play poker full time and then realising that I wasn't really cut out for full time poker and coming back to the job I'm in now.

Right now both I and Mrs Pink have both got good jobs with interesting paths ahead of us. Poker is a big part of my spare time and provides a handy supplementary income. I'm not really doing much else, however. I keep myself fit with a bit of exercise, but I'm not doing any music and I'm not sure my brain is as active as it could be.

Last night I was thinking back to all the different things I've done and am not doing any more. As I've gone through life, I've been pretty successful at everything that I've put my mind to, but I'm not sure I've really mastered anything at all. Of the two things I'm doing right now (work and poker) I'm not sure if I'll master wither of those either. I'm never going to be a world class player and I'm extremely unlikely ever to win a WSOP bracelet. As far as work goes, it's not out the question that I could end up at the top of the tree, but it's a pretty distant ambition and it'll certainly take a hell a lot of hard work and luck.

Does that mean I'll end up being a jack of all trades for the rest of my life?

Well, maybe I will, but what I've realised it that that's not at all bad. As long as I'm happy - and I certainly am - then life should be pretty enjoyable. From what I've experienced so far I think the two ingredients in my life that are necessary to be happy are Mrs. Pink and having something to strive to achieve at any given point in time and if I never master anything else, then it probably doesn't matter.

Quarterly Update

As you can see it's been over a month since my last post. That's the longest I've ever gone without posting. I hope this blog isn't completely going to dry up, but it certainly seems to be dying a slow death.

I'm increasingly busy these days, although I guess I'm comparing my business to when this blog started and I was a lazy student, so my alleged business now probably doesn't count for much! In any case, I do have less time for faffing around on t'interweb than I used to and what time I do have is therefore almost all spent playing poker.

I thought I'd do a quick summary of the first quarter of the year and have a quick look back at the aims I set myself back in January to see if I'm still on track:

My life goals for this year were (a) to continue to be happy with life in general, (b) get on the fast track promotion scheme at work, (c) learn Turkish, and (d) run a marathon.

(a) I'm certainly happy with life, which is far and above the most important aim.
(b) The fast track promotion scheme at work isn't open for application until later in the year.
(c) I'm not spending any time learning Turkish at the moment, but I am having the occasional opportunity to put what I do know into practice at work and now I've finished all my training at exams at work, I should have some more time to spend studying.
(d) I'm doing quite a lot of training for a marathon. Last weekend I did a half marathon (self-organised), which went pretty well. I had pencilled in the Istanbul Marathon in October, but it looks as though Mrs Pink and I may be going away for a couple of weeks in September, which wouldn't work very well for final training.

Poker so far this year is going reasonably well. I haven't hit any of the goals yet (make $25k, achieve earn rate of at least $30/hour, play in and score in large tournament, and go to Vegas). I'm happy with my earn rate so far ($40/hour) and although I'm not putting in enough hours yet to be able to hit the $25k mark by the end of the year, hopefully I can up the hourly rate as I build the bankroll back and move back up stakes (I'm playing $100 and $200 tables at the moment).

I think a trip to Vegas this year is unlikely, as we're planning a relatively expensive trip to Kenya in September, but who knows; if the bankroll rebuilding goes well then maybe it can be justified. I have some friends who are up for heading out to Vegas in June while the WSOP is going on and crucially they have other halves who get on well with Mrs Pink, who - understandably - wasn't really up for the idea of coming out to Vegas just to watch me play poker.

In other news:

The Salisbury Poker Championship was a great success and we raised about £400 for Harambee Schools Kenya. I thought it would be a little rude to win my own tournament so I gracefully came in 2nd! Dusk Till Dawn kindly donated merchandise and money in online accounts so I was able to donate an extra £50 for my 2nd place finish.

I headed up to Dusk Till Dawn two weekends ago with a couple of mates. We played the £75 on Friday night, in which I made it to about 14th place only a few spots off the money. But the real highlight was the cash game. We were all pretty boozed by this stage and what was once a pretty soft £100 max cash game turned pretty crazy when a drunk John Kalmar and Normal Pace joining the action. It was good to bump into WonkyJim again who was also at the table, although I could have done without padding his roll quite as much as I did!

That’s about all of note. With any luck you wont have to wait over a month for the next post!

The Salisbury Poker Championship II

Note change of time.

On Sunday 2nd March The Salisbury Hotel opens its doors for a second time to a charity poker tournament this time in aid of Harambee Schools Kenya.

Entry to The Salisbury Poker Championship is £15 and all the money will go to charity. The event starts at 4:30pm and poker lessons for beginners will be available from 4pm.

You can enter online or make a donation here: www.justgiving.com/salisburypoker

The event is kinldy being suppoerted by Dusk Till Dawn Poker who have donated over £200 in cash prizes and merchandise.

Harambee Schools Kenya works with rural Kenyan communities to improve educational opportunities by providing and upgrading school buildings and teaching materials. They provide direct support to primary and secondary schools in rural Kenya.

The Salisbury Hotel is found at 1 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, London N4 1JX (Map Link). The cloest tube stations are Manor House and Turpike Lane (both on the Picadilly Line).

Down to 31 (teeth)

Contrary to popular belief I am still actually alive. I've just been busy and lazy all at the same time.

Pokerwise January was a good month, although I wasn't able to put many hours in. The bankroll continues to grow steadily despite a few cashouts including a recent trip to Paris.

Paris was good, although I feel like we overindulged somewhat. It may just be bad timing, but I've been a tad ill this last week with a stomach bug of some kind.

To cap the week off I've just got back from the hospital having had a wisdom tooth taken out and I'm trying no to dribble all over the keyboard.

Well that just about sums the last six or so weeks up in a rather brief and substanceless manner. Standby for an announcement about the upcoming charity poker tournament I'm organising in North London. Keep Sunday 2nd March free.

2008 Goals

I didn't accomplish many of my 2007 goals, but I still want to set some for 2008. Many of them will be the same as 2007, I suspect ;-)

Life Goals

1. Continue to be happy and enjoy life with Mrs. Pink; always the number one priority.

2. There's a fast track promotion scheme at work. It'll be tough, but I'm going to apply for it.

3. Get of my lazy arse and learn Turkish. I mean it.

4. Run a marathon. I probably won't get a place on the London Marathon, but I'll apply and look at other locations if I don't get a place.

Poker Goals

1. Make $25,000. It's the same target as last year. I'd like to set my sights higher, but I didn't manage it last year, I'm playing small stakes at the moment, and I don't have all that much free time.

2. Achieve an hourly rate of at least $30. Last year it was $20/hour. I think I can better this as much of my downfall last year came while I was playing full time when I played too many tables, played at the wrong times of day and played while on tilt.

3. Play in at least two decent sized live events (£500+).

4. Have a decent sized tournament score ($5,000+).

5. Go to Vegas.

I'm not setting any targets for large event qualification this year. If I have a decent sized bankroll at the time of the WSOP then I may try a couple of qualifiers for that, but otherwise I'm happy concentrating on making money within the scope of my bankroll.

Here's hoping I achieve a few more targets than I did last year and I hope you all have the 2008s that you're looking for.

2007 Roundup

Happy new year one and all.

Time for a quick 2007 roundup. Not much pontificating here, just a look back at the goals I set myself:

Life aims:

1. Continue to be happy and enjoy my life with Mrs. Pink.

Check – good to see that I managed the most important one

2. Progress in my career (this is actually unlikely to happen this year and is largely out of my hands, but it's still an aim. It would definitely help if I wasn't white, middle-class and heterosexual!)

Actually, yes. Although I gave it up to play poker, I kept an application to go back (at a higher level) in the pipeline. Poker went badly and I started the new job in September. I'm very happy with my choice. My life-work-poker balance is much better, although one could always do with more free time (and maybe a little more time to play poker ;-)

3. Get off my arse and get good at Turkish.

No. I'm a lazy arse. Shameful.

4. Improve as a poker player.

Maybe a bit. I haven't really worked at this as much as I should. Joining Cardrunners definitely helped, although I don't have the time to use it any more. I think my tournament game has also improved a bit.

Poker aims:

1. Make $25,000 (a la BadBlood I'm aiming at least to double last year's winnings).

No. Made just over $18,000, which is about 50% more than the previous year, but considering I was playing full time for about 4 months. It's woeful really.

2. Win entry to a tournament circuit event with at least $5000 entry (WSOP, WPT, EPT etc).

No. Only played about 3-4 satellites. They were all for the WSOP and I didn't come close.

3. Regardless of Number 2, play in a live event with at least a $1000 buy-in.

Yes. I played in the £1050 GUKPT event in Manchester. Despite a good start, I made a bad mistake and got knocked out near the end of the first day. I also played in the £550 invitational at the opening weekend of Dusk Till Dawn and made my first decent sized live final table coming 9th for £850.

4. Have a $5000+ tournament score.

No :-(

5. Become a winning player at $1000 NL.

No. Don't have many hands for these stakes, but I'm probably not a winner here in the long run.

6. Learn to play PL Omaha and win at at least the $400 level.

Barely. I've done some work on Omaha, but not much and I doubt very much that I could beat $400.

7. Play live at least once a week, preferably by establishing a regular home game.

No. Play live very rarely. I've had a few home games and I've got some mighty fine chips, but they don't get used all that often and I've been playing like a retard in home games this year.

8. Get out to Vegas.

Still no - booooo.

Overall it doesn't look as thought I've achieved very much this year. In terms of poker - overall - it's been a disappointing year. I've finished the year nicely in profit, but it could and should have been so much better and my current roll is really very small (about $3,500).

However, my decision (if I had one) to go back to the working world was an excellent one. I'm very happy in my new job and although I'd like to be playing more poker, the poker I am playing is enjoyable once again.

So all in all, it's been a good year, if a bit too stationary in terms of poker progress and extra-'curricular' pursuits.

End of Year Sunday Million

So here's for some live blogging of the $1050 Sunday Million on PokerStars:

12:10am Busted. Went for a resteal with A6 and ran into AK. It was a good spot for a resteal: he opened on the cut-off and I had about 4.5 times his raise back. I just didn't factor in the fact that A6 does badly when it gets called. Oh well. I've still got the $530 Million ticket. Maybe I can do something with that in the new year. Have a good one if I don't get round to posting before then.

11:50pm A table move and a timely double up with AA v AQ: $10,200. Blinds are 400/800 and average is 22k. so I could do with another.

11:39pm Down to $5,300. Just doubled up a fairly aggro player with KK against AJ on a JJ5 board. Approaching the second break now. Arse Arse Arse.

11:33pm Back up to $15,100 after the calling station pays me of w 99 on QxTJx board after I raised pf and checked to the river with AJ.

11:18pm Back down to $10,000 after chasing a straight draw.

11:11pm KK in MP. Only the station calls, again in the BB. He folds on a low all sapde flop. Up to $15,200.

11:05pm I open with KQ and only the station called in the BB, but folds to my bet on Kxx flop. I have BeLOWaBOVew on my immediate left, which I could do without. $13,800

10:41pm 99 in EP. Blinds 150/300. I raise to 1000 and get called by the station in the SB. Board comes AKxx9 checked to the river and he called a pot sized bet with KJ. Up to $13,600.

10:31pm $10,300 at first break in the Million. Lost half my stack in the 25k.

10:02pm Nothing much to report. Playing in the $50, $25k garunteed tournament and a couple of cash tables on the side.

9:35pm Just notice Isabelle Mercier is on my table

9:31pm I take down the first hand uncontected when I raise to 175 with ATo in mid position - $10,075

9:25pm Armed with blck coffee and warm Chritmas cake with brandy butter - nothing can stop me.

As 2007 Draws to a Close

I thought briefly that I might go a whole month without posting, but I've finally got off my arse to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I've been looking back over the last year and in particular to last years review and my aims for this year. There have been highs and lows in both poker and life. On balance it would seem that all the highs have been all life related and the lows have been all poker related, which is somewhat worrying, but I think I've taken steps to remedy it.

I'll post a full review of the year in due course and my aims for 2008 (don't hold your breath, will you?), but as I fully intent to take down the end of year Million tourney on PokerStars it may affect my yearly profit figures. I'm using the $1050 ticket I won in the Stars Blogger Freeroll a couple of months ago to enter the event. I might even live-blog it if you're lucky; it seemed to have the desired effect last time.

In the mean time I've uploaded some pictures of the new chips, so you can enjoy some gratuitous chip pr0n: