Week Two Update

Bad bad bad bad (Brief summary). In fact it's gone so badly this week that I'm starting a new temping job next Wednesday. I can't believe I'm having to go back to a job - so humiliating. Monday started off great again, but Tuesday onwards just went completely Pete Tong. I was on perma-tilt by Wednesday. By Thursday I was playing $5-10 NL sitting with $500 trying to play catch up. I finished today with $300 left in my bankroll. Just kidding.

Actually this week has gone very well. If it wasn't for a bad afternoon today then I would have won every day this week. I've found it hard to put the hours in this week - I only managed 30 hours this week as opposed to 40 last week. It's also begining to become a bit of a grind, but over the hours I did put in this week my earn rate was exactly where I wanted it to be.

I still made mistakes, but fewer than last week. I wont go into hand histories here, but I've posted a few over at the ITH Forum in the No-Limit section, in case you're interested.

I'm not getting in as much live poker as I'd like, but when I do it's a welcome break from the grind of the computer screen. I'm giving up on trying to organise a regular home game for Friday night. I'm gonna try and fix one up for Wednesdays instead. So, for those of you that read this and are in the London region, take note and let me know if you can make it.

That's all for now. I know that reading this blog is about as interesting as unmatting a horses tail, but that's too bad. I'll make up for it by taking notes the next time I play live and hopefully I can come up with a good story.

Laters.

Belated Update (Week One)

Forgive the delay in reporting my progress in this whole playing for a living lark. All my blogging and blog reading was done while wasting time at work. Now I'm less inclined to be wasting time.

This week has certainly been a rollercoaster. It started with a bang and nothing could go wrong on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday both started with big losses but I managed to claw my way back out for a small loss on Tuesday and a decent profit on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday went tits up. On Thursday I played like a muppet and today I was simply card dead.

Overall, I broke even for the week, but was saved by some bonuses I'd been clearing. I can cope with breaking even if it's just down to varience, but I made some really bad calls on Thursday, which amounted to little more than tilt.

My A game is really improving but if I dont cut out the odd moment of madness I'm prepetually going to be relying on bonuses and rakeback.

I'm still confident about the venture and I've been much happier this week now I'm not stuck in an office from 9 to 5.

Next week I'll be bringing my A game to the table at every session.

Bullet Bitten

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Enough is enough.

I quit.

I'm going to be playing poker for a living for the immediate future.

It wasn't a easy descion, but Mrs. Pink and I, both think that it's the right one. I'm really not at all happy at work, especially since going back after the Christmas and the New Year. This past week I've really not been myself.

I've taken some time to estimate my win rate over the last few months (I've been without Poker Tracker or any other record keeping) based on the amount I've cashed out and a guestimate of the number of hours I've put in. I'm clearly making more at poker than at work.

My bankroll is much more comfortable than it has been over the last few months. I certainly wouldn't have considered this venture without a comfortable roll.

Although I just about have the roll to play the $200 NL tables, my bread an butter will be the $100 NL 6-max tables. A conservative bankroll strategy is going to be paramount.

I need to make $100 a day to equal my current salary, which is more than doable assuming my earn rate estimate is acurate.

I'm going to put in at least 40 hours a week, working week days only. I'm going to get up early and get in 5 hours in the morning while the late night players in the US are still around. I'll take a couple hours off over lunch to go to the gym and then put the rest of the hours in later in the afternoon. I'll also play a couple of evenings every week when Mrs. Pink is working late.

If it all goes tits-up and I get to the point where I can't pay the rent then it'll be pretty easy for me to walk back into a similar job on short notice.

It's not a long term plan, but I hope to be able to carry it through until I get the job I'm chasing. On that front, I'm still waiting for them to take references and the other necessaries. They can't tell me how long it'll take, just that it could be anything from a matter of weeks to a matter on months, before I get a start date (assuming everything checks out).

I plan to finish work at the end of this week, starting playing for real next Monday. In the mean time I'm going to put in as many hours as possible this week in clearing a few bonuses that should help pad the roll and prevent the possibility of a loosing first couple of weeks from hurting too much.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and Happy New Year!