Mammoth post tournament Review, from the salubrious Bolton Summer Series+ odds and ends.


Firstoff a catchup. I didnt get my hands on a brownbelt, which was a little frustrating. Im a little cheesed as i really felt i was one of the stronger candidates, but i missed the last workshop which probably cost me. I wish the best of luck to the browns, who fully deserve what they got. Im not bitter. Having Channing ring me up at 3am to let me know i was the bubble boy was hardly ideal, i would have rather heard i was 16th or something. Marvellous. Well, i should give this some sort of appraisal. Was the grading worthwhile. To be completely frank, not for me. I am not going to blog on here about a bunch of issues i have with blackbelt, as i thought the original idea was immense and i genuinely think Neil and Nick had a pretty fair and player orientated site in their mind when they designed the site. What i was really concerned and disappointed about was the fact the goalposts were effectively moved once the grading was completed. I was elegible for a bluebelt after the grading, which means i get $1500 a month to spend on live tournament entries. These tournament entries would be split 50/50 on profit between the player and blackbelt and most importantly, would be 50/50 after rakeback. Brownbelts (what i was aiming for) get $4k a month in the uk and $20k in vegas. Now this all sounded fine and dandy at the time, but once the grading was completed, monthly raking figures became clearer and eventually we were told. In order to maintain bluebelt status, you would need to rake $4k a month. Now if you rake $4k a month, you can pretty easily get 35%+ rakeback on ipoker, which means you can play/spend that on what you like, do not have to go 50/50 on any profit AND dont have any makeup. Hmmmmmm. For brownbelts im not 100% certain but i believe the figure to be $8k. We were informed at the beginning of the grading that there would be other ways in which we could earn points, which would maintain our status, but it doesnt seem all that sweet. The points earned for the action taken do not appear to addup. My hourly rate at 200nl this year is nigh on exactly $60/hour. I write articles for insidepoker and pkr stacked because they pay me IN EXCESS of my hourly rate, plus i get satisfation from researching ideas and theory, which keeps me fresh. I dont do it for ego. So when the breakdown of points came in and i saw that an article i penned would be worth $400 OF RAKE i was kinda upset, i want to be a part of what should really be a new home for professional poker players, but i feel somewhere along the way its got a bit too greedy, which is a crying shame given the staff and framework. Lets hope they fix it.


Blondepoker: I have recently been speaking to senor Dempsey, and because we will probably doing some stuff in the coming couple of years, have agreed to mentor some of his cash game players at the lower limits. It should be fun, blondpoker is basically my home on uk forums and i would like to see his staking scheme end in success. I hope any students get on my wavelength pretty quickly, basically to make money from 6max you need to crush non-showdown profits, which will give you a game that is scaleable from 50nl to 1knl. Once the system is in place, its hard for you to not win.


Me, family, freinds etc. Well me and the missus are currently doing work on the house, which is going at a rate of knots (sp? does nautical knot change to not?). The steels went in last week after me and a mate dug the footings. The place is gonna look the bollocks when its finished but Suz is getting kinda stressed that its not done yet. All in good time, my love :P Family is well, cant help but feel i need to take my mum away for a few days, probably next summer, to try and say TY for being super supportive all the time and helping me out with the house no end. MY Dad would get a holiday, but only if he actually pulled his finger out once in a blue moon. GG South of France old man. On the Dog front, im afraid its still not happening. Dunno why, but my mate Tom is being so difficult with a certain border terrier breeders number and its fucking me right off. Hes just being lazy (runs the oxford shooting school) but the number of cats shitting in my new garden is doing my head in, which is why we need our cuddly litte terrier (translation cold hearted killer) to put the wind up them a bit. MY brother came back from Plymout uni last week, i came into his room and it literally stunk of cheese. Like someone had oven-baked stilton for a month. I naturally assumed it was his washing or something, till i looked on his desk at a supermarket carrier bag full of a type of skunk he assures me is actually called cheese. Little shitbag. I gave him a bollocking, but in truth i doubt there is a better way to fund your expenses at university whilst doing minimal work. wp.


Online: well, im still grinding, not been too busy of late but im putting that right now. Trying a new thing, where i aim to win everday. I dont set myself a target, or play when im tired, i just setout to win small every single day. So far its working, playing fresher with shorter sessions lets me get away with some funky stuff. Need to make some major money this year so wont be playing live much more this year, possibly only the DTD 1k events and the gukpt grand final. Vegas is well and truly off the cards, despite having seom very kind offers from Keith hawkins, Sida and Neil himself. I just dont feel like i can justify it this year. Well thats it, i was gonna write a tournament report, but thats gonna have to wait, ill do it later this week. Be sure to read it though, i robably played the best i ever have live and felt way more comfortable than i ever have done. tara.

Meh, 50nl. I got selected for the blackbeltpoker first grading, which was nice as i know a few people that didnt make the cut and feel priveledged (sp?, deffo sp) to get a shot. Got to play 6 hours of 50nl a day 6 days a week. First 2 weeks 50nl, 3rd 100nl, 4th 200nl. I am away in week 4 in Cephalonia with the family but they have a decent internet connection and my sister just got an awesome new lappie, yoiiik.

Well so far the grading has been a nightmare. Im playing my usual hours anyway (babay got to eat right) so i tend to play ipoker after midnight till 6am, sleep till 4pm, get up, mill around, get on betfair by 8pm etcetc. Its a ridiculous schedule and taking its toll on me, i dont have time to go to the gym and i feel/look like shit, but i keep telling myself its only a month and this is probably going to be my best shot for a stable long-term backer for live events for life. Im not even hugely fussed about the whole vegas with $20k thing to be honest, i just want domestic/ odd european sponsorship in smaller fields..........

Well, its nearly the end of week 1 and any graders reading this, dont worry, im losing. Infact today i just tilted for the first time in a while, most likely due to the insane hours im putting in, zero excercise and no real timeout. Im down about $350 which is a bit of a see you next tuesday. My main problem is boredom, i know i shouldnt be concerned but when i see yet another 12/7 reraise my cbet from $2 to $4 on a super dry K high board it tilts the absolute life out of me and i just have to see what hes doing (holding AK). He has a set. Simple answer. Always. Like seriously a raise from any of these weaktight regs is at the bare minimum top 2, i see them checking back AA in a 3bet pot on the river of a 33K34 board. Seriously. How these guys get enjoyment from playing such a retardedly mind-numbing brand of poker is beyond me. also the software is a fucking joke, i just bought minimaxmod to try and save me from the tilt-inducing graphics, irritating "ping" when its your turn to act and a miniview that wont fit my HUD and a full view that i am forced to overlap. Which tilts me.

So starting from now im gonna change this shit. Im gonna cut back to 4 tables and play in 3 sets of 2 hour sessions with breaks inbetween. Im going to go to the gym everyday while im doing this grading, as hopefully the endorphins will protect me from wanting to stick rusty nails in my eyes as a preference to playing these arseholes. Honest to god this network is the worst iv played cash on. Table scanner at 11pm on a saturday night (peak fish traffic time) revealed 40ish tables of 6max 50nl, with only two having a vpip above 30. I didnt believe it so i made it run every 2 minutes for another hour. Yep. WHAT THE FUCK. Contrast that with like 50nl on fulltilt. errrrrrrr.

So i am being forced to play a different kind of poker of late. There is no real levels of thinking, because 80% of the regulars play faceup. They all basically try and see a cheap flop, flop/turn the nuts, min/checkraise or min re-raise the turn to build the pot then shove the river. Thats their plan. And its worked on me mostly :). I thought about it a bit, did a little homework and iv decided to just LAG it the fuck up. Im gonna play a much looser 35/30 game and open basically every CO/Button and SB with 90% of holdings. Im gonna stop bluffing a guy whose vpip is half a 200nl regs prf. I mean his calling range crushes most of the regs i play on betfairs 3bet range, so guess what, hes not gonna fold 1010 on 245 (unless i barrel the K/A/3 turn ldo). Im going to coldcall the button a bit more/ 3bet in position more than i normally would player dependantly. Im going to be ludicrously tight from utg and mp. I will have a super tight 3b range oop as they dont ever seem to fold to cbets in 3bet pots (coz they have AA obv) and i just cant fuck them over like i can IP (coz they cant handread very well and have no idea about my percieved range v actual range).

Anyway, its like 9am and i should really be going to bed. Night night.

Summertime. Well, nearly. Just got past the 20k barrier at 200nl, won a bit more here and there but im still defintely a bottom feeder compared to the rest of the balla uk poker community. Feels slightly depressing really but i guess it will come eventually. Time is a great test i guess. Went on a ridiculous downswing a couple of weeks ago, losing like 20 buyins in a week, maaarvellous. But i didnt panic, just realised what was pretty obvious, i was playing 6 tables like a bad robot, waiting for hands etcetc and not playing poker. My bad. So i cut back to 4 tables, turned off the tv and surpise suprise was winning again.

My student at the moment is an absolute revelation. I originally had some apprehension as he is spanish, but his english is perfect and he is just a really nice smart guy. Great to bounch ideas about with him and it was great that he was a regular in my games that looked for me, nice ego boost. Mikel when u see this can you coach me into making my showdown winnings line at least breakeven :) Im really pleased that he is having a sick heater of a month, he is learning so fast he wont need me anymore in a while, although i did get the better of him today :)

Played a few donkaments lately, the 5006max on stars was a cracking comp, shame me and my backer/coach boxerdean couldnt have gone further, ended up having trouble with maniacs to my left, bad seats are a nightmare in 6m and in this sort of comp is was even worse. Felt good for about 4 hours, but i need to work on my stamina. Talking about SCOOP, must mention Flushies truly sick run in the last week, making 3 finals, including the 5k plo8 and winning the 300 2dayer for in excess of 200k. Sick puppy. At least i know my ecoop stakes are safe for a year or too :) Unlucky to moorman too, who finalled this tonight only for a truly sick exit hand, im sure you can go find it either on blondepoker or on 2+2. I cant really comment as im sure there was a tonne of history and im probs biased but in the final of the 10k event in scoop i think the guy has made an enormous error, coming ott of moormans second barrel on a 3sKhJsJc board allin with A10 with moorman having invested 70% of his stack. Hmmmmmm, run that past me again, still hes probably a great so i shuld stfu.

My garden is done, thanks to lots of work from suz's mum and dad and zan herself, with obviously me carrying the lot of them (riiight....). We got some cool limestone paving now on the way to my "office" outside (think big swedish log cabin/shed) and im itching to get in now, that + the dog that should be arriving in the next couple of months will be awesome.


Blackbelt poker grading starts soon, iv saved up as much as i can for it on the pittance i earn so hopefully i can have a good crack which will let me compete in the longterm sustainably on the live scene and also in vegas this year. Would be fantastic for all of the things im involved with if i could be one of the 8 selected from the 50. Sadly, i think the competition will be pretty strong, so ill have to rely on cunning and backhanders to win the war!! Also, and no this is not a copout, but i think im in Cephalonia in week 4 when we are playing 400nl, so i might be able to fade that puppy :)

Insidepoker going well, i havent seen my boss for about 2 years but im still really enjoying writing about poker. Seems like in the last 2 years strategy has just reached a much higher level of thinking, probably aided by the emergence of a lot of intelligent young pros sharing ideas. I was thinking of wrting an extensive 6max guide, possibly in conjunction with insidepoker/blackbelt poker but someone pointed out to me it probably would have a shelflife of about 2 years given the way things are going. Still, i might do it if i get prompted :) I could write a good book :) Im playing more omaha lately, (bigup to chris noflops on a SCOOP final too! wp fella) and im enjoying a lot more after watching plo dojo and plo by whitelime and jman on deucescracked. Just feel like i have a better understanding of what im doing now (like in nlh u steal from the sb v a tag with a wide range, in plo thats dumb coz they defend wide with position and stacks..) which could be benefitial in the future.

Been luton a few times lately, but have not performed and honestly been card-dead for eternity. Cant get anything through there anymore either which is not ideal :(
Still, ill probably have a bash at their gukpt :)


So thats it, another update for the month. Next update will be house photos and other stuff. If you have any comments, derogatory or otherwise, come join the party.

argggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Downswinging hard. Marvellous. Just had a pretty brutal 20buyin downswing, biggest iv had in a while. In 4 days. I got unlucky a fair bit but also played like a twat on numerous occasions. People hero me so light now on the end that im going to have to adjust. For the next few weeks im gonna really tighten it up and spot the levelling ware postflop deep when i decide to rep super narrow ranges and my opponents are good enough to realise im bluffing 70% of the time. Been running at about 32/25/12%3b which is normally my optimal winrate, but ppl are 5b shoving 88 on me pre and calling my 3barrels down light, so i need to punish them. Nedd to cure them or always tapping that call button. Need to make them feel the pain of bad hero calls :)

Otherwise, my garden looks sick now, suzanne has had most of the input but the turf went down the other day. Ill take some photos soon.

cya kids, blackbelt grading starts 27th april, mail them if you might like to take part in future opportunities.

Okok fish im writing for you. Been pretty tough @ martin towers last few weeks, my opr on fulltilt is ridiculously bad and iv worked out why. I kinda treat mtt's as a little joke at the end of a cash session, which is really not clever. These things are pretty tough now and unless you put in the effort you aint gonna make the grade. I normally reg, then about 1 hour in think hmmmm, something decent on tv, want to go out etcetc and just donkoff. Not clever. Im gonna be a little more focused in the future, playing the smaller fields in the rebuys and 6m arena (long-handed nitfests with super slow structures are like pain personified, where is the skill in waiting for your opponent to make a mistake?) and hopefully bink something.

Played last night, had one hand in the 80k on betfair that i just cannot understand and i see more and more. Like regularly now i see the BB snap calling button shoves for huge chunks of his stack with no hand. Last night, ave 10k, i got 6k @ 400/200/50 and open shove btn. BB snaps me off playing 8k with Q8o. I dont get it? Is that really the best spot u can find for making chips? Calling off 75% of ur stack with Q8 in a $500 comp. Gimme a break. He then justifies by saying "the last 2 times i 3b shoved and u folded, so i figured this time u would shove" well thats all well and true mate, but ur forgetting you have QUEEN 8! He probs stoved it and given he dominated 70% of my 8's it was a close but correct call. fk me.

Anyway, unregged from stuff on fulltilt and 1 tabled a little comp on betfair, which boxerdean from bb was railing me (cant say coaching :) ) through and i utterly crushed. I made some ridiculously huge laydowns v other bigstacks in the runin simply because i didnt want big chip confrontations. AQs v a sb call and a bb squeeze sticks out in the memory. I was allowed by some fantastically weaktight players to dominate and felt in complete control till hu when even with a 4:1 lead i was tired and made mistakes. He was vul to lose. Still got there in the end and had my second online mtt win of the year wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii lol.

Cash has been interesting, had some bad runs @ 500nl a little while ago but now back on track, need to really pull my finger out in remainder of march to get back on target. Im running at 11bb/100 over 100k hands so far, which is lovely but i need to put in more hands, i play everyday but im still lazy lol, especially when it comes to playing at the peak 7-10pm twilight zone.

On the coaching front, i now have my two students for now (out of 3 enquiries, sigh ;) ) and hopefully they will get what they want out of it. Putting a lot of time in and taking an effective paycut but i hope to learn a little too whilst im at it, so can cost this several ways.....

Badbeat poker grading takes place in a couple of weeks. As one of the 50 i sevretly think i will crush, but am a little concerned with the amount i have to outlay in week 4, hopefully ill run good up till then. Writing some stuff for their website today which hopefully will meet snoops+co's criteria :)

London gukpt stuff this week, unfortunately im pretty skint at the moment after various bits and pieces so wont be attending, but good luck to all in attendance, take home mad dimes!!!!!!!

Time for an update. Firstly, coaching enquiries please just email me at alexander_martin@hotmail.co.uk , i dont have time to be messing about on various forums pm'ing blablabla. I will respond promptly.

Month has been reasonable, had my 1st serious downswing of the year last week, think i logged 4 losing days before coming good again. wiiiiii long live short ds's. been doing my absolute conkers on fulltilt mtts of late, cant seem to catch a break in the endgame and its getting a little frustrating. I went deepish in the 750k on sunday but alas my exceptionally spewy bluff didnt get past top 2. Infact i got slowrolled. The most infuriating thing about tilt imo is immediately after busting a comp it closes the table. So unless you know someone on your tables name you cant go back, find them and abuse the hell out of them (not that i would condone that fo course ;) ). Anyway, mtt's seem a lot tougher now on the us sites, which is a bit depressing.

Went to the launch of blackbelt poker on monday, went for a beer w JimJam before and tried to steal raaby's little comping book in the vic. Didnt get it but ill try harder next time :) anyways looks like mr. channing+co have made some pretty shrewd observations about the uk poker scene. I have been asked to contribute some strategy stuff and will probably have a go at their grading system when it is released. Looks like a pretty generous vegas package they are offering (50 ppl go for grading, 8 ppl get a 20k vegas package (brown belt), rest get something or other, think green belt? gets $1500 a month for live donkaments. Basically, they are launching a site on ipoker, plus they are setting up a training site/forum specifically for pros and neil is giving away 250k in vegas but is going to judge ppl over 4 weeks on his site....smart idea see. Anyhow, i like the idea and my experience with all of this kind of stuff is put something in and somewhere down the line you might get a favour elsewhere, so iv told nick and neil ill contribute some strategy and put some money on ipoker, again.... Obv night got pretty messy pretty quick so i stopped drinking and then just milled about in the empire until 1st tube.

Off to Venice on weekend for a little r+r and some nice grub. One of the few euro cities im excited to be visiting so hopefully that will be sweet. Setup our little vegpatch on the weekend with some railway sleepers, really itching to move in but gonna be a while yet. Looks like we could be getting a dog, but to be honest depends a lot on how much i can clear this month. Obv black and white springer for general crazy excitability and awesomeness for flushing/retrieval. Will update soon....

cya.

You want thrills. Check this out. Im not sure id have the stones to do it, but HOW FUCKING SICK does this look.