The 10K challenge

So I set my self a challenge to make a minimum of 10k in the week I was going back to Spain.

How did it go? This is the big question. Last time I set myself a task I ended up after 3 days just short but this time I was determined to make it happen.

I started of in a 5 5 plo game in London the night before leaving for Brighton. I managed to get outdrawn again by a fish who wanted to call a pot sized bet on the flop od 8 6 2 with just a 6 and then bet out the pot when the turn was a K and managed to find another K on the river to save his arse against my trip eights.
OK 1 pot down, a few hands later I get it all in a again with nuts straight v lower straight but he manages to pair the right card of his 2 pair as well to make a house.
Then a few other pots and I was over 3K sterling down.
NOT A GOOD START.
From there I went to spend the weekend with my family in Brighton, Well my dad, step mum, brother, niece and nephew. Sweet really and I had a great time.
I love spending time with my niece and nephew as well as the rest of the family.
There was no Poker for the weekend but I decided to go to Spain on Sunday night and play there for a week as I had some good friends of mine Mathew and Emma coming to stay for a week.
So I arrived back home to find it remarkably clean state considering my girlfriend had left and I was expecting the worse.
It was late so I just went to sleep for the night and woke up to deal with the flat.
The sun was shinning and it was hot not as hot as Vegas but a lot more humidity but there is a nice breeze in Spain.

After sorting myself out and relaxing for a few hours I went down to play in my local 2 5 plo game which really is the best game I have ever played in.
Monday was not a great day with the normal swings. I lost a sick hand the first one I played and spent all day trying to recover. I managed to do this and went for the win near the end but failed and ended up losing 350 euros.
So Tuesday morning I woke up with 5 days to go and 3500 down instead of in the black towards my 10K target.
Tuesday was also a sick day. I went back to the plo game as this is where the money is to be made. I was up and down most the day but taking some sick beats. There was a huge pot for about 6K where I hade the nuts on the flop and turned a flush draw and knew I was splitting the pt at the moment but 1 player called 1200 more with nothing invested in the pot with trips wanting to see the turn which was a blank. The turn he only had to pay about 700 more but of course hit the river and scooped the pot.
I also made a calculated decision to fold a big hand on this day which most people would put all there money in with. I was out of position and the flop was K82 with two diamonds. I had trip 8’s and also the bare Ace of diamonds. I bet the pot which was 40 there was 1 caller and then came a raise then a re-raise, it came to me and it was about 400 to call. I have to fold or stick it all in.
I thought for a minute I had about 900 in front of me and I knew that something as not right. What did these players have to raise and re-raise me? I know the players well as we have played for years together and there was 1 gambler in the pot who was not on tilt yet so playing fairly conservatively and the other player is a solid good player.
I had trips; I also had the bare A for the flush draw so someone else must have trips and the other player 2 pair and a flush draw?
So I needed to blanks to potentially win this pot if 1 of the players did not have trip Kings. If not I needed an 8 for quads and knowing a King would not help me and if it paired the 2 then the other player could make quads. Ok I could go for running pair but realistically I new I had to pass as the gamble was not in my favour. As it happened the pot got big and the turn and river bought no help and I was right 1 player had top 2 with flush draw and the solid player had trip 2’s with a higher flush draw.
Why could my A not have been suited???????????????????lol
I ended the day down 2K euro and not in a good mood. This was now beginning to get to me as it can’t happen everyday that the lucky fish always hit.

Though I do not like to admit it losing does effect how I live the rest of my life. It effects my relationships with friends, family and loved ones. It also effects how I go about my other business. NOT GOOD.

I relaxed at home with my friends then set myself up ready to smash it on Wednesday.
Wednesday. Well not too much to say about this day except the action was big and good in the game but I was unable to make it pay having what I only can say to myself as the worst every run I have experienced in 12 years of playing.
I know bad beats happen and the game is about maths and in the long run if you play your odds you will be a winner. I must say I don’t talk to much about bad beats anymore, everyone has them and that is poker but I was not sure how much more I was able to take!
I went n the evening to play in a NLH game as maybe I needed a change.
This proved to be more successful as the players are also weak and you can pick and chose your spots, though the players there some of them will but you to the test all of the time.
I played a solid game and was always ahead in the game but could not get passed the 750 mark even thought the game was a good size but every pot could commit your whole stack.
I decided to call it a night to change my frame of mind and leave a winner after a few hours of play which made me start to think.
Maybe I should be playing more hold’em, but the plo game is so good.
I was now about 8K down and it was going to be Thursday when I woke up.
System going well! Send more $$$$$$$$$$$$
Thursday I set up a friendly 50 euro re buy game for some friends and this would be followed by a cash game.
I managed to start wining my 50 50’s but as I said before when I am a 75% or higher favourite I manage not to win and this is not a good thing especially in Hold’em.
I did not do any good in the tourney and went out with AK v KT and the cash game to follow was so bad I resorted to getting drunk and waiting for good cards which never held up. I managed to lose another 2K on this night and decided to stop there.
I also played a few times online where I managed to spend what I had left in my accounts which was not so much but not the plan. I played HORSE on start and this was my only winning session but all the players left the game after a while but I am sure they will all be back.
The challenge of making 10K turned into a 10K deficit and started to make me think that I need to give this up and go back to working. Poker used to be fun for me but it has defiantly changed since it was my only form of income.
I think I will take a break and when I am all set up in a new business with time to spare I will return and hope my form has changed for the better.
I will be opening a poker school and I will get the enjoyment from teaching and playing will become fun again.
I am off to the UK for 2 months to set up some other bits and get away from Marbella for the summer. More importantly I have 2 of my best friend’s stag nights and weddings which will keep me in the UK till mid September.

I will keep writing about what I am up to and keep you informed about the seminars I will be holding.
Be lucky!