end of November

so November has ended without any other major incidents. Ran pretty badly towards the end of the month (the amount i won was statistically below the amount i was expected to win (calculated using some of the software i use)). so here is the latest update towards the challenge.


November
total cash won $4800
total tourney cash $1700
Miletsone bonus $2000
=$8500

well on the way to the targeted amount which is good to know :)

Bonus update... literally

I thought from now on I would wait till relatively interesting occurances before updating my blog otherwise it may become too dull and repetitive.

Things have been going well since the last post I made and have made a few significant strides to achieving my overall goal.

This includes having 2 strong finishes in a couple of tournaments I entered which banked me a solid $1300 and $400 profit respectively.

On top of this I have finally earnt enough vip points (vip structure is dependent upon the number of hands you have played) to purchase a $2000 bonus using the bonus point that I have been collecting while playing.

The coaching has also been very successful and the cash games have generally gone pretty well apart from the odd minor blip here and there as you can see.



I haven't played many hands this month again, which i'm really disappointed in but it has still been a very good month so far....

Tournaments = $1700
Bonus = $2000
Cash = $3107

Currently at ~ $6800 for the month, hopefully it will be close to $8k or $9k by the end of the month... fingers crossed. :)

End of month!

So it is the end of the first month of the challenge (although thats not technically trues since the challenge started in the 2nd week of October really) but things are progressing. I have not played very much this month, in fact it's the least i've played in a long while but has still been profitable. Here's the graph for the month...



Not a great month, but not a bad month either considering how little I played. The coaching has been the main highlight for the month and is certainly going to stand me in good stead for the future months. so let's tally up

October.....
Money earnt at tables : $2,606
Bonus points (fpps): 65,000 = (65,000 x $0.016) = $1,040
Total = $3,646

Goals/aims for November
Play at least 50k hands (preferably up to 80k)
Continue to get coaching and improve upon my game.
Improve my win rate and hence profit (target $5-$7K)

go go go go :)

Style related update

This is only going to be a small update, have hired a new poker coach to try and improve my win rate and hence amount of money I earn. Whilst it can be extremely expensive to hire a coach (ranging from $30 to many thousands of dollars per hour), the benefit they provide can certainly pay for itself in the long term.

So I have hired a very professional and competent coach to help me, his rate... $200 an hour if bought in 5 hour blocks, making his time more expensive than that of doctors/dentists. :(

However he is a proven coach, with a great reputation and the ability to significantly improve my game. In fact after only our first 1hour lesson I already feel a lot more confident due to the weakness's he has pointed out in my game and the correct way to address these "leaks".

We had our first session 3 days ago and I believe I am a better player for it, in those 3 days since the lesson took place I haven't played too much but have still earnt $950 and am very grateful to the investment I have made. I still have another 4 lessons minimum to take so hopefully this can only get better. :)


I'll update profit total in my next post.

First update

Ok, so I decided to get down to business and see how i could get on with my new challenge....

first day started with $500!!!.... Unfortunately it went the wrong way... sad face :(







This was not how I hoped things would start but poker is a mixture of skill and luck so you do have to expect some variance... It was safe to assume that I wasn't playing particularly well but also had a fair share of bad luck and unlucky hands....

Fortunately I have since reversed this trend...




But am still a bit annoyed. This is about $550 profit for 3-4 days work but truth be told i think it should be closer to $1000 but no point moaning... have made a start to completing the task at least but money earnt at the table is only one aspect of achieving my goal to make $100k.

I am also able to collect "bonus" points from the pokersite which have a monetary value of approximately $0.016 per point (You earn points dependant upon how many hands you play). A quick glance at my account showed i have 40,000 :) so thats another $640 worth of bonus' too...

all in all... first update and $1190 in profit..... only $98,810 to go :)

First Post - MSc over

Ok, so it's over, have finally completed my MSc in Sustainability and Environmental policy. My final dissertation was submitted on monday and now will just wait till December to see what I actually graduate with. This has led me to a "what the fuck do i do now" situation. Jobs are more thinnly spread than a steamrollered cat so I'm trying to think of things to do, hence why I started this.

What am I going to do? Earn some money I hope and also try to get some experience in the environmental sector to boot. And how am i going to do this?? well... apply for work experience and...

... the aim is to give myself till Christmas 2010 to make $100k playing poker.... that should cover the money side too!

Is it do-able? yes, most certainly.

Will I make it? I have no idea!

So this blog will serve to update anyone that is interested on my trials and tribulations. I will try and update regularly and explain some poker facts on the way.... am starting now! go go go go