(This was written on my flight to North Carolina from San Jose)
I guess now that im up in the air i have time to write a blog update. This will be my longest post to date, and my be my longest post after, who knows. What I do know is that the past year of my life has really been something, and I think that is somethingthat has been lost on me through all of the change. This post is going to pick up where the first post left off, analyze the past year of my life, and hopefully add some perspective forthe future.
I dont really need to go into too much depth of pre ths blog as i had done a decent job of summarizing that before, but just in case you dont feel like reading back, I started poker in May 2007, starting at 1c/2c and reaching 1/2 by October despite spendng a couple of months of that time period in Europe. In late 2007 i had a bad downswing which lasted into early 2007, where my 14/11 24 tabling full ring ways were being just picked apart. However I dropped out at my low point at nl 100 with a bankroll of roughly 5k. By the time i reached vegas it was only 3k.
Honestly looking back I dont realyly know what I was thinking. Pretty ridiculous decision, especially considering how important education is. I was gonna make it work and moved in with some family in Vegas, and started grinding. Thats where this blog picks up.
So in March 2008, the world seemed to be my oyster so to speak. I was absolutely positive I wouldachieve great things, and started 24 tabling nl 100 for 8 hours day. After a week I moved up to nl 200and repeated the process. Before I knew it I was taking shots @ 2/4 with like 10k a couple weeks laterand was sort of getting owned. I decided to try to move over to 6m.
For some reason this really jst clicked and won like 6 or 7k at 1/2 6m in a few days. I moved up to 2/4did well there, moved up to 3/6 and won there, then got a stake from the 2+2 poster CFTW for 5/10, and hada pretty swongy experience. I ran ridiculously below equity and whenever I had a big upswing id get crushed back down. I still started to think about my game a lot more, and began to open up my 19/17 game to try to improve my results.
April 2008
I had been doing ok at 5/10 on my own dolla bill, and went on a trip out to Raleigh to meet up with my best friendand some of my other friends in Raleigh. I really shouldnt of been playing there I think, but I did and managed to snap loselike 10k or something of my 40k roll playing 5/10. Ballinnn. It was at this point though I really thought I could make it, even mroe then before I was dedicated to my craft and was gonna show I had what it took to be a professional poker player.
I began to stake/coach players at this point, and had some success in this field. However I did run into some problems with this.I had one fairly retarded stake who just could not understand ow it worked, and ultimately tried to give me the 12 teddy by ganking my money.I made a thread on 2+2 and got my money back, but I started to realize that Your first impression when it comes to backing is important.Another stake got smashed and blew our profit, however since then he shipped me some of the profit back on his own $ bill and I think (or at leastto the best of my knowledge i suppose) he really meant well.
May 2008
Enter the prop bet. I looked at my sample of hands at nl 25, and I had roughly 150k hands of winning @ 7-8 ptbb/100 12-24 tabling. I started doing some rough estimations and decided to prop bet to make $10,000 at nl 25 in one month. However before I could begin this prop bet, I had to stop backing the players I was staking. Looking back, this was extremely unprofessional and I did not handle my money very well, I had about a 50k rolland had 15k of my 20k in action That I booked on 2+2. CFTW took the remaining action because I told him I as a gurantee (lol). Anyway so I kicked off the prop bet well but I had some major issues. I just couldnt sleep at night, and was having major database issues so I never evenknew where I was at. In early June 2008 I ended up throwing in the towel because I had only made $3500 in roughly 2.5 weeks.
Now just take a step back for a moment and think abou that. $3,500 in 18 days @ nl 25! That is actually pretty sick when you realize that its 120+ bi. Close doesnt count in prop bets though. Stars ended up giving me roughly 700k fps, I cleard a bonus, I joined cardrunners, and became a mod on 2+2. I mayhave lost the bet but I ended up about even in value, and at least I had gotten my name out there. I think this is why I am such a polarizing figure in thepoker world. Some people think im retarded for having done the bet without being positive I could win it, others think im a hero for trying it, and many people think im terrible at poker. Regardless, almost everyone has a opinion. THats fine with me, I can handle the hate =p.
June 2008
Fresh off my prop bet loss, I started grinding out the MSNL. I began to play much looser and try to experiment with that type of style. I would have lots of sessions in the low 30's in vpip, trying to steal every blind and out play every opponent. I was still hugely negative in non sd, but my loose image allowed me to get paid off. I tried to take a shot back into 5/10 but I had a crushing -10k day when my roll was only 35k or so to start. I was spending a lot of money irl as well,just buying random stuff and trying to live it up while just dealing with the huge swings online. At around the end of June I had not made much progress on the month, except I had earned a ton of fpps and rb @ FTP.
July 2008
I headed out to North Carolina again, however this time me and my best buddy were planning on backpacking Europe. We ended up going to London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rome, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, Paris, and back to London. However sure enough about halfway through this trip I was getting bored of not being able to play poker,especially during a lot of the downtime or traveling that we did. So I ended up buying a laptop in Munich and would occasionally 4 table for the past couple weeks of the trip.
This probably wasnt the best idea, I probably should of spent more time visiting the cities, but I was already getting tired of the traveling and really wanted to get backto business. Anyway so it started off well, but eventually ended in disaster. (PUlled up my HM right now, maybe ill show a screenshot.) Apparently I was playing 38/32 with about80% ofthat being 6m and the other 20% being a mix of fr and hu. HOwever i had many sessions into the mid 40's in vPIP/PFR. I started became an absolute nutcase postflop and when I flopped a pair in any situation i REFUSED to fold. This ende up becoming a major weakness I had in 6m, and I had a fairly huge downswing towards the en of my rip.
August 2008
I got back from Europ and decided to move to San JOse to be arund my direct family there. I started mass grinding hands and had a ridiculously swongy AUgust. I told myself Septemberwould not be the same and I would get back to solid fundamentals.
September 2008
I withdrew all of my roll down to $5,000 in order to start playing at nl 100 again and return to higher stakes when I wasnt so spewy. It actualy went greatand I ended up making 20k+ and started to get bac into MSNL games again. I started to put withdrawn money back online to supplement playing higher now thatI was doing much better. THere was only 100k hands this month, lots of table selecting, and a 45 degree graph. Fairly solid all in all.
I also went to EPT BArcelona during this time period, had a ton of fun and meant a lot of great people. THere were a few poker guys who were sort of dicks but hey happens I guess. In the event I busted on Day 2, never really got much of a hand. I did bust a pokerstars pro tho! Vanessa Roussou.
October 2008
This month had a lot of swings, and towards the end of it i was playing a lot of 5/10 an 10/20 6m. I felt prety good about my game but I had stllbeen primarilygrinding out a lot of full ring. Around this time i sort of wished I stuck to that.
November 2008
Kicked this month off with a brutal downswing at higher stakes, and began to grind full ring lower again. I also began to pick up my staking program again,however this time I primarily stuck to coaching and backing full ring players. Ive currently got a great group of guys, everyone is respectful and theyall listen to what I have to say. Not to mention most of them have just been crushing the games. If there is anything I think i do best, Its coaching FRplayers to just crush the games their in. Im not sayng this because im trying to advertise, my program is full anyway. However I turn FUll Ring playersinto champions and I hope to continue with the success in ths program.
I went out to RAleigh to vist some friends during the latter half of this month and I ultimately decided I was going to move back to Wilmington, the citythat I was in whe I was going to school last march.
Dec-Now
So now im here in Wilmington, trying to get the place together nicely and get going again. My bankroll is by far the biggest It has ever been, and i feel really happy with how things are going. The only thing I really need to work on is my shorthanded and heads up games, especialy at higher stakes. I used to really contnt wih just 24 tabling 1/2, but then I think about where i want to be in a few years in poker, and I dont want it to be grinding1/2. I want to get good at this game and hopefuly through working with my coaches,and with my students, Ill get there. Just saying, by the end of 09you are going to see me @ 25/50 consistently for sure.
Also When I do the prop bet again this year, Im gonna win it.
~Doug
