a conversation with.... karl mahrenholz. (pt.2)

Karl was one of the first guys that made me realise you could make money from poker. We used to play home games together back when we were at university. I nearly fell off my chair when he said he made $4K over the Christmas holidays! What?? Where? How?!

And that's when I discovered there were books on the game... chapters explaining when to call, when to fold, when to bet. I remember reading a section in a book I picked up which explained continuation bets and betting for information. It was like a ray of light shining down from the gloomy, overcast sky. Holy crap! I tried online poker for the first time shortly after and deposited $25. I literally googled online poker and pokerroom.com was the first site that came up. And so began my love affair with that site...sigh! I miss that network!!

Anyways, having absorbed this knowledge, my $25 suddenly turned into $80. I couldn't believe. I remember waking up the next day and checking my account - yes! it was still there!

I still had a lot to learn though. I picked up Caro's Book Of Tells shortly afterwards and remembering reading about big laydowns. Facing a small bet, I remember folding two pair K9 on a 963K board against Karl just because I think, I was getting too hung up on what a certain twitch met or what that facial expression meant. It's like I wanted to prove to myself I could actually fold two pair when I put him on a set. He showed complete air. What an idiot I was!

Anyways, here's the final part of Karl's interview. If you missed part 1, you can catch it here.

C: What’s been your biggest improvement over the last 12 months?
KM: Hmmm…can't think of any 1 significant thing but, my game overall has been improving steadily, thanks to time spent chatting over things with some awesome people. Maybe the biggest thing would be that I've kind've become a PLO tournament shark. I always fancy my chances in those these days and have racked up some decent results

C: which leads me on to my next question....How did you get so good at PLO so quickly??
KM: some very good PLO people around me - Paul Jackson, Nick Gibson, Jeff Kimber spring to mind. Using training videos and putting in a decent amount of hands. The fact that the general standard is (or was) lower meant I was able to get ahead of the game reasonably quickly.

C: How much % of each other do you and your friends have on each other and is it something you would always recommend to other people?
KM: I tend to swap 5% with 2-4 people on average in a tournament. I have debated %s with myself and others at various stages - the thought being that when you get 5% of someone paid out, sure it’s nice but it’s never enough to make too much of a difference, whereas when you have a big score and you have to start giving out 4 or 5x 5%, it’s quite meaningful. I think I ended up concluding that it’s still a good idea, so long as you don't go above say 20%. It’s mainly just a friendly thing between good mates.

C: Sometimes when I see you in the late stages of a tournament, you can be a bit cynical / pessimistic / realistic compared with say James (Akenhead) who’s more happy and excited – is this a defence mechanism? Has poker made you a bit grumpy??
KM: Ha! I hope not! Realistic is a better phrase. James will say stuff like "I’ve got a really good feeling about this..." whereas I'm a bit more "I’ve seen this before..." Praz (Banzi) has been talking to me recently about how we all need to have more of this confidence and belief, and he believes in the positive impact it can have. I’m not too sure, but I’m willing to give it a go, James seems to have been doing ok for himself recently

C: Quite! Do you ever feel guilty for taking someone’s money?
KM: Ha! No. Although, I’ve never really been sat with someone that I cared about that I didn't think could afford to be sat at the table

C: So you would never tell someone to stop if you could see he was a desperate broken man, a broken man who happens to be losing hundreds of pounds to you in a live game??
KM: C, I don't think it's come to that yet has it??

C: Haha!
KM: I don't play many live cash games, but unfortunately poker is quite a cut throat game, and assuming I didn't know said person, I wouldn’t be the one to stop him, no.

C: Good good Karl. So, how do you personally stop tilting?
KM: Hmmm. I'm not sure many people do 100%. I try to force myself to quit cash games when things aren’t going well but I still find that hard in a tournament where you don't have the chance to just stop, I'll maybe get up and go chat to one of my friends who are playing have a bit of a moan about how bad I run, and a pep talk and then snap out of it and get on with the job in hand. The final in Cardiff springs to mind - going in as chip leader, and getting it all in vs 2nd chip leader kings v A 10, losing and being left with 10bb as he constructs the biggest tower of chips you’ve ever seen.

C: You had a break after?
KM: I got up and chatted to one of my friends, bemoaned my luck and refocused on the new situation I was in.

C: Something Jay Rosenkrantz mentioned in “2 months, 2 million” ... Do you feel happiness after a big win or just relief?
KM: Happiness. Those highs are what you work hard for.

C: Has poker ever ruined a relationship for you?
KM: I’ve not been in a serious relationship since I've been playing poker and it's suited me well.

C: well are the two things linked then??
KM: I’ve seen at least one other relationship fall to poker but then again I’m not sure that would have lasted anyway. Maybe. One of my friends was in a relationship, that broke up during a long stint in Vegas. Poker involves a lot of travelling and not all partners are going to be able to deal with that. The people who I know in relationships are predominantly online players. I think I would definitely have been in more than 1 if I was in a "normal job". Saying that my job before this wasn't normal, so maybe that's not the case. (Karl was working as an analyst in an investment company working long, long hours and often at weekends)

C: So how much travelling do you do a year?
KM: UK… well I play the GUKPT, that’s one week out of every month. I’m a lot more selective about the Europe events I play than I used to be but I’ll probably play one every other month. Then there’s always 2 months for Vegas in the summer.

C: How much would you have to make in one year for you to sit back and think “Yep. That's a good average year. Happy with that.”
KM: £100k

C: And how's this year going?
KM: ha! Above average sir.

C: Nice.
KM: I’ve has some nice %s thrown in this year!

C: Indeed you have! (Karl had a 2.5% piece on James Akenhead’s WSOP winnings). Ok, so how’s TGF going?
KM: Currently negotiating our deal for Ipoker, which has taken slightly longer than I would have liked but we are getting there. I’m very positive how next year is going to be for us.

C: Why should people check it out?
KM: Between me and Paul Jackson, I think we've got 2 names that people will immediately trust. There's lots of skins around these days that get into trouble and people are becoming more careful about who they trust with their money. With TGF, people can just pick up the phone to us and we will sort any problems out for them, rather than going round and round with automated support answers. On top of that, we'll be offering mentoring and even bankrolling which hopefully some people will find valuable.

C: Cool! How are you offering mentoring?
KM: I’ll do sweat sessions with anyone who wants one whilst playing on our site. Paul does regular ones, group and individual. Paul is without doubt one of the best teachers in poker I’ve come across.

C: How come?
KM: His ability to think logically and analyse situations/break down though processes is spot on. Great poker mind!

C: Ok finally , what do you feel someone needs to have achieved before they can turn pro?
KM: A consistent cash game winning record say over maybe 12 months. It all depends what you're leaving behind. Personally I was quitting my job anyway but I wouldn’t rush anyone into quitting their job. Poker is getting tougher and tougher.

C: Any advice to me on how to improve my game?
KM: chat through hands with people you respect as often as you can, get alternative view on things, things that you may not have thought about and watch as many videos as you can on Cardrunners or any other of the main training sites

And there concludes the first interview for 'a year in the life'! I've got a few others lined up including a very honest, frank interview with would-be which is a must read. I'm actually half way through that one so any questions, you've wanted to ask him, leave it in the comments.

a conversation with.... karl mahrenholz.

As mentioned previously, I’ll be embarking on a string of interviews with top pros and prolific bloggers across the poker world. I’ve lined up a bunch of people and I’m pleased to bring you the first in the series, part 1 of an interview with Hitsquad member Karl Mahrenholz. Together with recent November Nine member, James Akenhead, WSOP bracelet winner Praz Bansi, Sunny Chattha and Chaz Chattha, the Hitsquad are proving a dominant force on the UK poker scene.

I’ve known Karl for a good few years now and as well as an accomplished poker player, he’s an all round nice guy. It’s great to see someone so down to earth achieve all the success and profile he’s currently getting. At the time of writing, he just won the first event of the GUKPT 2009 London leg just a few days ago for another nice five figure sum taking his career tournament earnings around the $750K mark. Let’s get to it…

C: Yo! What you up to?
Karl Mahrenholz: Just got in from golf and watching the GUKPT coverage from Blackpool. Didn’t play great and got beat by James who is a newbie!

C: Did you gamble before you got into poker?
KM: Don't think I’d ever been into a casino before I played poker… trying to remember how old I was…probably about 18 or 19 years old. Didn't really bet on anything before that, none of my peer group were really into gambling

C: So when was that exact moment when you thought, you know what, I could actually make some decent money here??
KM: Hmmm…. probably about 2006, I came 2nd in a big online tournament whilst I was at work for a nice cash. I think it was $60k for a 2nd place finish in a tournament on Cryptologic. But I was never a consistent winner in cash games, and therefore I doubted the longevity of it. When I quit my job in 2007 I still wasn't that convinced - I never quit my job to play poker full time, I was just intending to have a year out. Luckily it's gone ok since.

C: what did you do with the money??
KM: Put it on the pile

C: Ha!
KM: Didn't really do anything special, I was still working so no time to spend anything anyway. I guess it helped me when I eventually quit work

C: What do your parents think of your career choice? Are you ever embarrassed to say what your profession is?
KM: My parents are great and have always trusted me and backed me 100% in whatever I do. I guess it's because I've been lucky enough to do well in most things I’ve done be it at school/uni/work and so they've no reason to doubt me. I'm never embarrassed no, but I do find it frustrating talking about poker to non poker people and so I try to move the subject on quickly whenever it comes up, just to avoid painful conversations. Everyone is always fascinated so though.

C: What do you mean painful?
KM: Just when you're trying to explain it all. What it is and what you do. And try to explain the difference between poker and gambling. I’d just rather talk poker with poker people and other stuff with other people.

C: Do you feel you lead an unhealthy lifestyle? do you worry about your health?
KM: yes and my lifestyle is something I’m trying to change but i don't worry about it no. I’m inherently lazy but I'd rather keep fitter/healthier. I'm taking up golf in a big way at the moment. Not sure that’s going to keep me fit but it gets me out of the house and into the fresh air which is good!

C: Who are your heroes in the poker world?
KM: Heroes?

C: Who do you admire?
KM: I don't really have any heroes in poker but I'm surrounded by some of the best UK players and I admire and try to learn something from everyone of them

C: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
KM: My main strength I think is bankroll management. Touch wood I'm never going to go broke as I always manage myself well, borrowing well on my financial/business background. I think this aspect is underrated/overlooked by most people. No point being a great player if you've got no money to play with.

C: So any tips for those who are struggling with BRM?
KM: Don't get attracted by the bright lights of the big tournaments. Make sure you grind the cash games/STTs to fund your tournaments. Play lots of satellites into the big events. Try avoid speaking to you.

C: Hahaha! You mentioned you were struggling with cash at first....things better now?
KM: I’m not sure I ever did that well playing hold ‘em cash games but when I found PLO, I found a way I could be successful in cash games

C: So you've only been successful in cash games recently?
KM: In the last 18-24 months yeah.

C: What’s been your biggest cash win?
KM: Not sure I can tell you, after preaching about how good I am at BRM!

C: What do you mean? Spit it out!
KM: I won $20k once, taking a shot at 200/400 on ftp

C: Haha. Ok. I understand! So how about your biggest cash loss?
KM: I lost $20k in a session once, when I was travelling. It was the week before the inaugural WSOPE and I was still debating if I was going to play that so it was nice to lose the buyin online the week before! You might think that would make my mind up whether I was going to play it or not…

C: …but then you went on to have a nice cash! (Karl took 15th for £38,010)
KM: Yeah I wasn't planning to play it, but after reading the day 1a updates, one of my friends was near the chip lead. I thought fuck this, if he can do it.... It ended up being a good choice, although spending £10k on a tournament was without a doubt very stupid (BRM again!). In my defence, I think I had won £10k in a tournament at the Gutshot a couple of weeks before so I was kind of using that money...(and forgetting about the online loss!)

C: Do you ever have moments where you just want to pack it all in?
KM: Never. What could be better than doing this?


Click here for part 2. Feel free to post any comments below.

smashed again...

Holy shit... the record for the biggest online pot has been smashed already. Again it's Patrik vs Isildur1 and this time, it's come in at a WHOPPING $1.35million. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaah there!

straight in the gutter.

BK’s home game was as eventful as ever on Monday night particularly now that we’ve introduced the 7-2 rule to the game (£2 each if you win with 7-2). I thought I played pretty well and was outplaying and trapping people in a lot of spots. I really feel like I’m getting a lot better at knowing when to massively value bet, bluff and call light (there was the odd slip up of course but generally speaking!).

25p/50p again with a £50 buy in and I quickly made my way up to £175. I then got it all in with BK pre-flop with KK vs QQ. Unfortunately he spiked a Q on the river. And I was down to £60.

I then got into a ridiculous pot where I called a 3 bet with 3 people in the pot with 36off. Flop comes 10105. EP checks. JD (on the button) had 3 bet but I was probably steaming from the KK hand. I bet all in for £50 into £35 pot and got called by JD with QQ. Turn…4…..River….7. LOL. Back up to £180 ish. 3.6% on the odds calculator. lol.

I then started playing super good and making great calls and river bets. Was up to £440ish now. Then I made a bit of a stupid play where JD 3 bet on the button again after I raised with Q7dd MP. Flop comes 9d5d3c. I check. JD bets £15 into £30. BK folds. And I put in the big reraise to £51. JD dwells for ages and calls. At which point, I’m reading him for weak. Turn comes 9d5d3c5s. And I shove all in to cover him which was around £180. I just felt he was scared. He tanks for ages and eventually calls with AA. I think I did read him right as nervous but I didn’t think he had THAT strong a hand!! He definitely didn’t know where he was at. Should have read his 3 bet pre-flop as a pair. Thought he may have had AK. Back down to £125 which was annoying.

Then yo-yo’d a bit and started to make some money back. Then I had a beautiful confrontation with BK. I look down at 72 on the button and fills risky but make it £4.50. BK calls and it’s heads up. Flop comes 7s6c5c. He checks. I bet £7 and he calls. Turn comes 7s6c5c Qs. BK checks. Two draws and I still fill like I’m ahead so I bet £14 into £23. He calls. River comes so board is 7s6c5cQs3s. BK bets £50 into £51 but it just fills like he’s missed despite the flush and straight on the board. I ponder and call. He shakes his head and then when I show the 72, he loses it and slams his chips down. Ha! I know he HATES getting outplayed! Very competitive! I love it.

Ended up on the night with £218.50 from initial £50 buyin but slightly annoyed with the AA hand. I didn’t tilt afterwards though so pleased with that. The night didn’t go on as late as usual so when I got back home, I logged on to Full Tilt just to see what high stakes match ups were happening. And that’s when I saw Patrik take down that $900K pot which everyone is talking about. Insane. I’m getting pretty fascinated by isildur1 who seems to have appeared out of nowhere and is just terrorizing everyone. Yeah he lost a bunch from Patrik but is winning huge amounts from durrr, ziigmund, Cole South and Brian Townsend. He’s up about $5m I believe at time of writing having another winning session this morning.

Haven’t played online at all since then apart from a very quick session winning a buyin at PLO. I’m still enjoying this BRM challenge. I think I must be on a record or something on how long I’ve kept this up! Something seems different this time and it feels great! I know there’s probably a lot of bravado and maybe some people feel embarrassed playing this low (Brian Townsend went as far as changing his screen name when dropping down stakes!) but it’s just a great challenge and a lesson in discipline. Doesn’t sound much but up to $700ish from my initial $500 just grinding super low ($0.10/$0.20; $0.15/$0.30). Very satisfying actually.

Anyways, other than poker, I went to see Diana Vickers in Little Voice at The Vaudeville Theatre on Tuesday night and she was great although the play was far too long. I really want her to succeed as she’s a really lovely, sweet girl.

Yesterday evening, ended up staying in and watching Funny People (1.5*) which was terrible. Back out tonight for a night out with work bowling in Bayswater. I’m so crap at bowling. It’s funny how sometimes, I’ll randomly fluke a strike and literally after that I’m thinking, “I’ve got it! This is easy!” Next shot, straight in the gutter…lol.

fifteen buy-in swings.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a 'fan party' but thought we'd check out the New Moon one (the next Twilight film) last Wednesday. My expectations were low to be honest but at least we had the all important VIP wristbands. Unfortunately, I seemed to misplaced one so had trouble getting in. A few minutes of ‘do you know who I am?’ with the security guy and we were being led round the back entrance to get to the VIP bit.

There were deafening shrieks coming from teenage girls and I couldn’t believe the hysteria. All around the perimeter, kids were forcing their heads through the barrier to get a glimpse of the stars. And this wasn’t even Leicester Square. It was Battersea Evolution in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Considering they weren’t showing the film, I wasn’t even sure they’d be food but as soon as we entered, we were thankfully greeted with flutes of champagne and a wide array of canapés including my favourite, mini buckets of fish and chips. My girlfriend on the other hand was glued to the chocolate covered strawberries naturally. A few bands played including Daisy Dares You who was great, the Magic Numbers who were hairy and some other kids I’ve forgotten the name of.

On Saturday, went down to Brighton to see some friends which probably could have been timed better considering the weather warnings and howling gales. Still I had the most amazing Pork Belly in this pub for £7.95. What a bargain! Hmmm….getting hungry. The evening we headed back to London via the suburbs and had an awesome dinner/tea with some other friends whilst hurling praise and abuse at X Factor contestants.

I played a few hours Sunday evening and that got a little bit wild. Ok so I’m still obviously trying to perfect bankroll management however, playing $0.15/$0.30 HU, I somehow managed to donk off 15 buyins to one guy. Yes, 15. As in, when I rebought for the last time, I had $30, and he had $450.

He was such a donk though, I knew if I could get up to $60, I could beat him cause I had chips to play with. I finally doubled up after my overpair finally didn’t run into a set and then proceeded to extract every last dollar he had. From $30, I took him to the cleaners. He even had the nerve to say in the chat that I hit 95% of flops! Wtf?! You were 15 buyins up you donkey, you just play SO bad!! Anyway, quite a large swing and it really should not have come to that. Comforting to know my headsup game is still there once I really ultra-concentrate but still, that was a little bit naughty.

Nevertheless, the fact I never increased stakes and could afford to rebuy as was only using 5% of my roll was a good thing as I didn’t go broke. Whereas before, we all know what would have happened. Fifteen buyins though is pretty sick. I mean if I was playing $2/$4, that would have $6K. Jesus. I can't believe how low I'm playing but it's like boot camp and pretty fun when you get going.

I also did my first interview yesterday which took me back to my reporting days! I spoke to Karl for about 1hr and got some good material. That'll be posted up here soon. The idea is to interview a mixture between some live pros and also some prolific bloggers. That should be up this week.

Anyways, another week and this time it starts off with BK's home game tonight. Hopefully I'll run as good as I did last time.

Finally, some great things in the music world: Lady Gaga's new video for Bad Romance is fucking incredible. $550K well spent! It's getting about 1 million views a day. Also, I heard a new band who are doing well in the States at the weekend called Owl City which are definitely worth checking out particularly this great song called Fireflies. Also just seen the new Beyonce (feat. Lady Gaga) video which is OK. After the first 10 seconds, I was bracing myself for something incredible, and then it cuts to studio shots which was a bit disappointing.

cada's done it...

Well done to Joe Cada, I can only imagine what that sense of euphoria must feel like... oh I can't wait for next year! Meanwhile, I'll definitely be playing the Paradise Poker £550 at the Empire Dec 12th, 10K chips and 1hr blinds - beautiful. Should get a bunch of runners as it's £100K guaranteed so looking forward to that...

And in case you hadn't heard but feel like I should mention, Dwan has finally signed with Full Tilt. I'd love to see those contract terms but I can imagine, for someone who has held out so long, it's extremely favourable to Tom. The rich get richer...

I watched Julie & Julia (3*) last night which was ok...although a bit slow in places. It's about an ordinary girl who starts blogging about cooking. It's based on a true story as the blog eventually turned into a book, and then this movie. Now I'm not after fame or anything (I'll save that to when I win the World Series) but it got me thinking about how I could develop this blog into something more. The first thing that popped into my head was to interview some players/bloggers I know as I'm sure a bunch of you would find it interesting (maybe?). Also, I think it'd be pretty fun to fire some questions to the regulars at the Empire as well as a few of the pros I know.

Just an idea... I'm going to mull it over...

unpolluted country air.

Well the weekend has come and gone meaning the November Nine is now down to the November Two. I think the whole of the UK was backing James naturally but he couldn’t quite get it going. It started off super tight and it’ll be interesting to see from the coverage who was stealing, who wasn’t. Antoine seemed to be getting stuck in and again, I’m curious to see what he was three betting with. After many many hours, it’s now down between Darvin Moon and Joe Cada with the latter 2:1 in chips.

I’m going to root for Cada just as I can imagine how happy it’ll make him. Moon seems more non-plussed. Obviously I’m sure he’ll love all that money as well but he’s not a full time player and as he states, he plans to just go back to the logging business when the tournament is over. There was a bunch of speculation if he would be advertising any patch on his cap/t-shirt… and sure enough, he was clear of any advertising cementing his attitude.

My weekend was much less stressful as my girlfriend and I headed down the Cotswolds to take deep breaths of the clean, unpolluted country air. The weather wasn’t looking good but when we awoke on Saturday, the sky was clear blue. I’ve never been to the Cotswolds before but it’s just breathtakingly stunning. The town where we stayed in was picture perfect and the place we stayed was unbelievably welcoming. As well as exploring around, we fitted in as many country pub meals as possible, usually near a roaring fire. My favourite was The Bell in Sapperton. Food was amazing! As you can imagine, the whole weekend was ultra relaxing.

I haven’t played much since the last post, just a couple of sessions of PL 5 card draw – won one session, lost in the other. Down about $40 overall. (stop loss kicked in – BRM – tick!) Got the home game set up for next Monday and most likely will play some cash on Thursday night. Was also talking to one of the guys who attends the media game and challenged him to a headsup session on Full Tilt which he seems up for. Let’s just say, from the way he talks and plays, I would guess quite confidently that my headsup game against him is…infinitely superior. lol. Gonna try and play him asap. Annoying that it’s all on Full Tilt but you win some, you lose some…ha!

High Stakes Poker, the best poker show out there is back for another season soon and they’ve announced the line up being Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Sammy George, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, and Lex Veldhuis…so can’t wait for that. I’m interesting to see how Phillips plays and of course, Dwan is always so watchable.

Speaking of which, this Dwan interview just got uploaded. My God, the interview technique is absolutely terrible but some of it is worth watching just for the comedy value. Here’s part 1 and part 2.

fireworks!

Wow. The new Alicia Keys single is very very good. It’s called ‘Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart’ and hits the radio next year. Look out for it, it’s going to be HUGE. I also heard this fantastic Weezer bootleg remix of El Scorcho. I can’t stop listening to it. You may hate it, but I love it… cool little take. Check it out here. Actually I think I’ll do a music tips list for next year but that’ll come in December.

Since the last post, I’ve been trying to maintain a work/life/poker/sleep balance – sleep normally being the one that suffers! But also trying to pace myself a little bit. After I won about a grand in the home game last week, I hadn’t played until the media game earlier this week. Sixteen players turned up which means the blinds go up quicker and it turned into a bit of a crapshoot. Still managed a 4th but literally we had to come to a deal with the last five as we were getting kicked out of the restaurant. I thought I played pretty good and won £100 for my efforts.

Online, I’m continuing to do my bankroll management experiment. I opened an account on Betsafe to get my rakeback and started with $500. I played for the first time last night and really felt like a tournament so played the $50 to not much success playing middle pair/straight draw possibly a bit too aggressive. Played a $30 MTT but only 21 runners registered. Came 2nd in that for $150.

Played some ultra low limit cash to be in line with 5% bankroll risk. Sat down on $0.10/$0.20 5 max which was unsuccessful and lost about two and a half buyins. Didn’t really get on with that considering everyone didn’t know what they were doing! I opened up three tables but wasn’t really feeling it so quit after about 45mins and played $0.10/$0.20 headsup. Lost about two and a half buyins against some idiot and then proceeded to terrorise him and won about 8 buyins off him which was literally stealing candy from a baby. A baby that always thinks you’re bluffing so calls you down with bottom pair every time. Too easy.

All in all, there were some ups and downs and ended +$78 which doesn’t sound much but I’m very happy about. Ha! From now on, more than likely MTT buyins will come down and will stick with BRM grinding it out on the $0.10/$0.20 tables. I’ve had a few string of live wins recently so could play higher but that’s not really the point is it….lessons are to be learned. I need to master this. Seriously, I need to keep at this despite the profits not being as huge so I get this completely under control. And to think I was winning and losing $4K-$5K pots a couple of years ago… hahahaha… ship the $78 profit!!

The point really is I feel so in control at the moment. Not taking anything for granted and treating each session pretty seriously. Consequently, the results are coming in which is encouraging. We’ve got another home game scheduled in for week Monday so another four-figure win there would be nice…

I’ve also been watching a bunch of cards as well on TV recently as WSOP coverage comes to a close. I can’t help but think Steve Begleiter is a bloody idiot. He just comes across as such a nob! A lucky one at that. And Norman Chad’s commentary about him is hilarious. Of course, watching the footage, I am wreathing with jealousy that I didn’t make it. Ahhh…next time.

Anyways, 5th November. Pumpkin soup tonight and then off to some fireworks. Also going away for the weekend to the Cotswolds which is a surprise I’ve organised for my girlfriend. Be nice to get away from the city for a bit. The next week, I’m contemplating Flaming Lips and Biffy Clyro gigs. Flaming Lips are amazing live but the venue is such a mission and not sure it’s worth it… Also seeing hot new act Rhys Morgan at Ronnie Scotts and I think there’s some New Moon premiere on Wednesday I may have to attend for work. Then a birthday and a trip to Brighton… hmmm… busier than I thought.

Goooood luck to James this weekend. He does seem to be on a massive heater with his recent success. Spoke to Karl briefly at the Wynn who at 5pm (US time) was just waking up and ordering breakfast. Must be nice ffs… I gagging for a headsup rematch with him. I of course challenged him last night but he wasn’t ‘up for it’. I can’t believe I lost to him!! It was because it was on Full Tilt. He needs to play me on home turf where it doesn’t take me 5 mins to enter the right bet amounts…. Ongame!! LOL

Ok finally, check out this interesting interview with Luke Schwartz. Interesting what he's saying about Andrew Feldman, a UK pro who's just been confirmed on the new season of High Stakes Poker with new co-host Kara Scott.

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4