OK, iv been in the sun and sea for a week and feel good. Come home raring to go and obv play a little online. Drop 1k in about 4 hours after losing perhaps 6/7 $500 pots sometimes going in good, sometimes bad, but whatever. I dont feel confident playing 400 or 600 NL atm so im playing 200nl and might even drop down to 100nl if this ds continues. It does feel like 1 step forward 3 steps back for me atm, but im reminded by my peers that your results catch up with you in the end. Im still a baby in poker terms (im not swayed by the seemingly weekly arrival of another 21yo millionaire, iv known two personally that have won and lost enormous bankrolls in tiny amounts of time) so ill just carry on grinding until i hit that sweet spot that lets me get back on track. Failing that a donkament touch would be nice in the ecoop coming up.

Im actually feeling really positive atm, im a much tougher opponent than i was a year ago without a shadow of a doubt, but iv made very little money since January. Infact, i think iv made about $5k overall in about 300k hands. Simply not good enough. So im going to start pulling my finger out and playing my heart out, i really wanted to go to vegas but i cant warrant it atm. I always said when i 1st go Id like to go with a big chunk of change ($30k+ really) and i dont have anywhere near that kind of liquidity atm, so i guess that will be on the back burner till next year. Im happy with my understanding that sometimes you can play well and not get the expected results, but it still gripes me that im not playing in the big games and not progressing as fast as i would like. Getting drunk with "the mole" in Manchester was about as heartbraking as it gets for a cash game player. This guys regular game is 200/400nl and 300/600nl. Disgustingly overrolled too. And there i am working my socks off in the 200nl games, i wouldnt have it any other way. I like the fact that im a grinder, pure and simple, not some kid that won 200k in a tournament and was instantly rolled for 5knl. Ill get success the way that feels best, hard graft and monstrous amounts of effort.

But the sick ones still hurt. Got battered today in some of the most donktastic displays of stupidity iv seen for a while. Ill drop in some random tips that are pretty useful atm. Betting orphan pots is obv a main source of your income in shorthanded games. For ex in a limped pot preflop on low rainbow paired boards you bet 100% of your range if given the chance. EG you complete from SB after a donk button limps and BB checks. Flop comes 337r and you should bet 100% of your range here until a reg catches on to what ur doing. They just give up too easily as we all know. This is pretty basic but there are so many other flops that are pretty much the same. Disconnected rainbow flops are like printing money if you get the oppo to bet 1st from the blinds.

Another useful titbit that is kind of a timing tell but is pretty well 100% reliable with 15/12 nitbots is the AA timedown 5bet. You 4b QQ deep ip, they pretend they have a deicision and then shove. I fold QQ/AK pretty quick to these from some regs now. Other things im improving on is getting better at selecting who to float. There is almost a recipe for success for floating TAGS, which is there has to be little history between you, he should view you as taggy (if ur 28/26 is aint gonna work, they know ur fos), the board should be dryish and he should preferably have opened from MP/CO and you are (obv) on button. UTG opens from these guys are a bit too dodgy to mess with. The boards im talking about are of course the non A/K boards, which good tags will slap you about on b/c they know fellow TAGS dont hit these very often so ur range descends to sets/draws/air which isnt good. Rainbow flops, low connected flops, paired boards, these are the ones you look for.


Cutting down to 4 tables allows you to know who's doing what and there are about 4/5 guys that i have totally mapped out. I mean 100%. One Donk leading into me on say Q24 is almost always 55-99. Another guy only lead sets. But some of the guys who give me probs (HIERKOMMT, HULIOS@400, Venereal) were giving me info i didnt see until recently. Venereal in particular has got this sexy habit of never double barreling or C/Ring the turn w/o a big hand. How exploitable is that? So we just sit to his left and call all his opens before taking him off it on the turn. In theory (obv i never bother seeking these guys out as the donkeys are just plain softer).


So despite my lack of form im gonna keep ploughing forward, regardless of the proper poker players flying off round the world to take part in the real poker game.
Ill swallow my pride and grind it out, so expect to see dirtloads of nikinblinds on BlueSQ poker in the coming months.