PS a nice thankyou and lots of yummy kudos goes to PokerStars, who (I notice this month) allow you to withdraw by check in £ sterling. This prevents me getting caned again by neteller to convert my withdrawn money from $ to £, and better yet they do it at a no-commission exchange rate! I cashed $3000 this month and am currently awaiting a £1600 check. Good work fellas!

OK, a quick update seeing as I have tons to do this afternoon...

I played a two hour session last night, cold cards mostly though I made a few hands at Stars again, and crypto. Had one yucky hand where a goon called a big raise with nothing but top pair, hit his second pair to all-in on the turn, I called with an overpair and big draw, and he finished his boat on the river. He played awfully of course, but still cost me a $150 pot, thus finished only $40 up for the session.

Anyways, I was back on the tables today and had a phenomenal session. The poker gods were with me 100% today, although I lost a couple of little pots to garbage and tilted off a big chunk early on (in fact at one stage I think I was well over $150 down) when my two pair got trampled on by a gutshot, all my big hands after that held up, and there were many of them.

After the shaky start I played some fine poker (bizarrely, the catalyst for this was a very dodgy call when I could easily have been drawing dead, I only made it because it was $70 into a $150 pot from a guy who had been betting and raising crazily; I held the best straight with a K-high flush redraw but the board had just paired. I quite possibly should've folded but this guy was a nut and it turned out he had the nut flush draw, my straight held up and I drained a huge pot. That got me started). Had some luck on Stars, after a very, very long cold run, someone gave me a decent sized pot with a horrible river bet (and then a call of my raise) when I had an obvious nut straight. That netter me a $100 pot, I followed up with a big starter - QJT9ds, one of the best omaha high hands there is, there was a raise early and a call, with two players in I figured to have the best hand and could raise it big (up to $40 or so) and at this point I can't put either on AAxx. At this stage there's still fold equity, and if both call then my hand will be superbly disguised as they'll both put me on AA. Although there wouldnt be much to bet on the flop, I still like this play. However, the original raiser moved another max raise over the top, seems 95% sure he has AAxx now, my hand is around a cointoss (slightly worse, depending) against his AA, but there's always the chance the other guy (who folded) had an ace or something, and I'm not laying down here so I moved in for the guy's last $19. Fortune smiled on me again as I made a flush to derail is AA42ss. He was a marginal favourite but only by a couple of %.

A couple more big hands came my way, and though I got paid in several small pots I seemed to hit a LOT of monsters without winning any more biggies myself. However, from that point in I played very solid poker, made some decent decisions and, as I said, was helped greatly by some friendly flops. I hit a big boat about 3 times (for instance KK on a K77 flop) and each time nobody had enough to pay me off, which was rather annoying - that is simply the best spot in PLO, especially if you hold KK or AA for the big boat; you can bide your time and hope someone else boats up a big pair (or catches a boat from their low trips) to give you a stack. Didn't come off today but a succession of $30 and $40 pots is not to be sniffed at and that, combined with my £25 bonus from william hill (I have two more sets of £25 bonuses to clear from crypto sites now) put me well up for the 3 1/2 hour session.

I have now passed £1000 for the month! Woo-hoo! Only been playing since the 8th as well, and I am just $50 away from my usual monthly $2000 target. If I can make that in a fortnight then it will have been a spectacular effort. Even if I merely stay level for the next few days and clear off my pending bonuses, I'll get there. Very tasty.

Today I made just over $440 in my afternoon session. Monthly hourly rate is getting better and better; beyond $50 now!!!

Total monthly profits: ~$1950
Real hours played: 37/38 or so
Hourly rate: $51 per hour!!!!!

I don't think I'll have much chance to play tonight, if I do it'll be to release the remaining crypto bonuses. Hopeful of getting up over $2000 this next coupla days, and if so I will retire from PLO briefly to have a change of pace at O8 on UB.

I checked my bank account the other day and I don't have quite as much in it as I thought, so every little bit right at the moment helps. My hope is to have enough to be able to look into purchasing a house at the end of the year, and perhaps have something for buying a posher car and maybe a little bit squirreled away for a rainy day or a possible pro move in the next 18 months. Will have to see how things go, to do that I want a) some money in the bank and b) a steady income stream each month that can virtually cover my living expenses. I think the best way to do that will be to get some money outside of poker (affiliating perhaps, or maybe consider some offers I have had to give lessons etc) and perhaps to buy a decent sized house which will allow me to rent some space to some young professional types. All very much pie in the sky of course, but it's a nice idea....

Monk
xxxxx

Well, had a quick session tonight of roughly two hours, cleared some bonuses on another crypto site, lost one pot on stars that put me down about $80 there, won about $20 at gaming club (with a bit of a suckout to be honest!) and won one big pot over at crypto as I got my KK on a K35 flop all in against two opponents on draws. The pot I lost at stars is detailed in the briachek thread from today (20th).

Anyways, upshot of that is, I'm now over $2000 for the month hurrah! That didn't take long ... Anyways, time for bed...

Monthly profits: ~$2030
Real hours played: 39 (maybe 40 but I'm sticking with 39 lol)
Hourly rate: $52

Going to keep pressing on with the PLO whilst I feel like it, though a bit of a run at UB on the O8 is tempting too.

Monk
xxxxx

Boy, am I on a rush!

One more session on, just under two hours of real-time play and my $2000 month has surpassed $2500. Played pretty faultlessly tonight and was helped by a ton of luck as every big hand and big draw seemed to hold up.

No full handed tables at Gaming Club tonight (very odd, there's usually 2) so I stuck with Cryptologic, which has been great for me on my triumphant return to those sites this month, and Stars. After a dodgy run it was nice to make some money again at Stars (although it was only just over $50 on my one table for a two hour session), the product of one hand when a $60-odd stack raised preflop, one caller to me, and I decided to fire it up to $35 odd with AA57ss as I had position on both players and I suspected no-one downwind of me could call. Both players called me. The flop brought something like Q97 with two of my suit, the preflop raiser pushed in the rest of his stack, and I called with an overpair and nut flush draw (it was $30-odd into a pot of well over 100 so easy call even without the aces). The guy had a pair and a straight draw of some sort; I didn't take much note of the hand because two bricks meant my aces held without improvement.

Meanwhile, over at Crypto, after a slow-ish start all Hell broke loose. My new UKBetting "persona" (errrr username) was a lucky charm for me and he did the business tonight, picking off some big flops left right and centre in a short but very sweet session. I played 5 tables at various points of the two hours, quitting each one up and finishing with over $200 on four of them. I won numerous big hands, mostly of large flops.

Hand 1: I hold KKxx in the SB. It's called round to me by numerous limpers, I take the cheap flop. It brings KT4 with two spades. With so many draws on these loose tables someone is very likely to bet in a large field so I check this (my stack is very deep compared to the money in the pot at this point). Short-stack MP bets the pot, the button (large stack) calls. I bump it up hard to about $50-odd, the maximum. This puts the short stack effectively all in. He folds, but the large stacked button moves over the top of me (?)... I'm assuming he has a monster wrap with a flush draw, as I push my chips in, but no! He had a woefully messed up TTAQ for second set; played horribly on every street. Luckily no gutshot hit the board and I won a biggie.

Hand 2: I hold a lot of hearts, including the ace. I take a look at the flop from the button (my hand was callable but I forget exactly what). Flop brings K high all hearts. Nice. Thankfully, I don't have the conundrum of trying to make some money out of this because an MP player kindly bets the pot for me. I raise it up about 2/3 pot when it gets round to me. The SB calls, and the MP player mucks after some thought. Turn is a brick, I put SB all in and he misses his boat on the river. Took a bit of a risk not betting harder on the flop but I was sure MP had a flush of some sort and if I picked up a call anywhere else at least I'd know they were on a boat draw, so I had control all the way.

Hand 3: Jeez my memory is bad! I wish I took note of this because I made a lovely ballsy bluff into two opponents on the river for about $70 when all my big draws missed but I had played aggressively on the turn (representing a set) and the river brought a Q which I assumed had missed and gone over the top of anyone on a low two pair. Both players mucked after a bit of thought and my pair of 5s won the day for a $120 pot. I suspect one probably folded something involving two pair.

Hand 4: This was my toughest hand of the night, and also my biggest net win. It turned out I was looking great on the turn (unbeknownst to me) and the two guys pushing in their chips were both playing it pretty dreadfully (I have no doubt the two pair guy was merely clueless, rather than making the brilliant deduction I was on a big draw). I am still rather torn about my turn lead. I think it was enterprising but perhaps rather foolish. I do have a lot of drawing outs but if I get a call in position (which I did) from one of the two or three big stacks behind me, and hit a non-nut draw, I could be in trouble. At least most of these guys were loose-passive rather than aggressive enough to force me off a winner, and the all-in check-raiser with his garbage two pair took the decision out of my hands. I thought there was a very real possibility my flush draw wasn't good at this point but I'm reckoning if I hit my straight I will likely be good for the whole thing, and there was always a chance my J-high flush had some equity (which indeed it did!). Any case, I felt it was still a fairly easy call even if I'm only on the straight draw; the river was, for once, the perfect card, though!

------HAND 1------
Game #353374983: Omaha High Pot Limit ($0.50/$1) - 2005/02/21 - 22:34:48 (GMT)
Table "Margate" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 1: Threeball ($56.14 in chips)
Seat 2: k_dawg ($93.75 in chips)
Seat 3: kickabuck ($93 in chips)
Seat 4: Robbridge ($259.78 in chips)
Seat 5: HERO ($90 in chips)
Seat 6: Dazzle001 ($422.17 in chips)
Seat 7: keren2 ($283.81 in chips)
Seat 8: cochim sits out
Seat 10: thedogs ($58.50 in chips)
thedogs: posts small blind $0.50
Threeball: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to HERO [Qh 8h Js Ts]
k_dawg: calls $1
kickabuck: folds
Robbridge: folds
HERO: raises to $4.50
Dazzle001: calls $4.50
keren2: calls $4.50
thedogs: calls $4
Threeball: folds
k_dawg: calls $3.50
----- FLOP ----- [7d Kh As]
thedogs: checks
k_dawg: checks
HERO: checks
Dazzle001: checks
keren2: checks
----- TURN ----- [7d Kh As][8s]
thedogs: checks
k_dawg: checks
HERO: bets $23.50
Dazzle001: calls $23.50
keren2: folds
thedogs: raises to $54 and is all-in
k_dawg: folds
HERO: calls $30.50
Dazzle001: calls $30.50
----- RIVER ----- [7d Kh As 8s][Tc]
HERO: bets $31.50 and is all-in
Dazzle001: calls $31.50
----- SHOW DOWN -----
HERO: shows [Qh 8h Js Ts] (A Straight, Ace high)
Dazzle001: shows [4c 9s Ad 6d] (A Straight, Ten high)
thedogs: shows [6s 8c 7h Ac] (Two Pairs, Aces and Eights, King high)
HERO collected $63 from Side pot #1
HERO collected $182.50 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $248.50 Main pot $182.50 Side pot #1 $63 | Rake $3
Board [7d Kh As 8s Tc]
Seat 1: Threeball (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: k_dawg folded on the Turn
Seat 3: kickabuck folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Robbridge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: HERO showed [Qh 8h Js Ts] and won ($245.50) with A Straight, Ace high
Seat 6: Dazzle001 lost
Seat 7: keren2 folded on the Turn
Seat 10: thedogs (small blind) lost

Anyway, I'm kinda forgetting hands now!

Oh one last one.... I made a very nice over the top move preflop against a short stack with KKQA; he had QQA5 and my hand held up for his stack. I shan't bore you with the details, suffice to say the dead money in the pot from a big stack I knew would either fold or put a massive chunk of chips in with a weaker hand, plus the likelihood I was either well ahead or in a close-run thing for the main pot, made it a good, if unusual play.

Right, time I got some much needed sleep!

Monthly winnings: $2550
Real hours played: 42 (might be 41 but i'll suck it up now and take the extra hour when I'm running bad OK... maybe just me who does that...)
Hourly rate: $61 ! ! ! ! I'M COMING TO GET YOU TUP!

Monk
xxxxx

Well well well. My run of good play ended in a hurry today - I played like an utter goon in this afternoon's near 4-hour session, making a run of rudimentary mistakes and seemingly not being anywhere near my A-game, at least at the beginning. Yet still, in 4 hours whilst I was IRONING MY BOXERS I won close to $400. How??? Well, my friends, the route of all poker.... LUCK. Yep, I admit it, I got lucky today, I sucked out a couple of times and, although I was outplaying most of my opponents, the cards landed in my lap yet again and I delivered a big session. Recognising the times when you did NOT play well yet not deluding yourself that your profit came from some great maneuvres is a key to having a realistic and objective view of your game, IMO.

Anyway, finished my monthly bonuses today by playing out on totalbet, my last Crypto site. PLO didn't go so great on here, though I did ultimately finish $2 up (woo-hoo) after a few hours on a coupla tables. Made a few badly times plays into made hands, though I did win a couple of big pots. Most notably, QQ9Ads, I raised preflop witha couple of callers. The flop brought A96 with a Q-high flush draw (A on board was suited). A small stack made a bit maximum bet preflop, and I was a little torn with my hand. This guy was NOT loose aggressive, so his bet is representing a big hand. In the end I decided my hand was strong enough for a call (proportionally, the lowest set is the most likely, giving me more outs). Another LP player came in for a call too, suggesting he might've had a K high flush draw (table was quite tight). Oh well. Anyhow, the queen on the turn gave me 2nd set, top two pair and 2nd nut flush draw. The short stack moved nearly all-in with a pot bet, I decide if he DOES have AA (less likely as he didn't raise preflop) I still have the flush as outs and I can get my profit out of a sidepot with my newly made 2nd set if the LP player calls and misses a higher flush draw. Although my hand is not best as a made hand or a draw this is a clear raise for me, as I can set the LP all in. I do so, LP folds and my opponent turns over 66 and a lower flush draw for the bottom set. I take it down as he doesnt find his miracle 6.

Also played some PLO8 on crypto... Again, my inability to win in this game was worrying. At one point, I was well up on PLO at stars and a nice bit up on PLO8 at crypto ($170 in the $100 buyin, though I rebought about $30) and then promptly lost the lot to the biggest fish on the table with my AA3Jds. I flopped a nice uncoordinated one with backdoor low and both flush draws, and check-raised the poor fish (who called with bottom pair, deuces).... when the turn came somewhat horrible (a 3 that put out a low draw, counterfeited mine and only gave me aces with a single flush draw for high) I made the abysmal choice to dump my last $100 in on it; I knew he was weak on this hand, but I also knew he wouldn't fold a bare nut low draw in this spot so betting here was close to abysmal. I was pissed off as the river missed and he scooped with two low pair, though I guess I only had my own dreadful play to blame.

Anyway, onto the good stuff.... First of all, I sucked out bigtime for a $220 pot on Stars in the PLO as my aces setted up on the flop, I failed to recognise an obvious wheel from a player I had notes on as being "solid", and re-raised him when he could only call with a hand which was beating mine. D'Oh. At least I knew I wasn't far off 40% equity on the pot with my top set and backdoor draws, but it was still a very weak move. In any case, in this hand the fish was rewarded as the big fat ace on the turn gave me quads. I did apologise to my solid opponent, but then gave him (at the time I guess he was slightly on tilt) a severe lesson on the game a few hands later as I got his stack in with a garbage draw which he played dreadfully and won a big pot.

In the following hand I pick up a good starter and pump it up preflop. Conik pushes it back, suggesting AA. I do like it when people reveal 50% of their hand preflop when the stacks are deep, so even though I'm behind I call. I flop a relative monster, open ender with an overpair and 3rd nut flush draw. The reason I bet out here is because the pot is big, I KNOW the raiser had AA and thus cannot call without the nut flush draw (which statistically is less than a 30% chance) and thus I can win the pot outright. If the other player (BlunderLAFF) has a set, he will put me all in and he'll be favourite to win it. BUT, if he has a draw, then my overpair is winning. I'll take those odds any day; as long as the preflop re-raiser doesn't have a flush draw my best action in money terms is to bet, even if he does at least I have 8 clean outs. I play aggressively, as is my natural style, and get it heads up with the tilting guy with the weak draw. Game over and his stack is mine.

*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #1258004600: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2005/02/23 - 10:25:40 (ET)
Table 'Alcyone' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Eegs ($82.10 in chips)
Seat 2: FelonusMonk ($98 in chips)
Seat 3: FirstAlt ($46.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Ettan ($43.45 in chips)
Seat 5: BlunderLAFF7 ($115.65 in chips)
Seat 6: Conik ($628.95 in chips)
Seat 7: Mr. Brian 07 ($15 in chips)
Mr. Brian 07: posts small blind $0.50
Eegs: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FelonusMonk [9s Tc Qs Qc]
840MD joins the table at seat #8
FelonusMonk: raises $2.50 to $3.50
FirstAlt: calls $3.50
Ettan: folds
BlunderLAFF7: calls $3.50
Conik: raises $15 to $18.50
Mr. Brian 07: folds
Eegs: folds
FelonusMonk: calls $15
FirstAlt: folds
BlunderLAFF7: calls $15
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9c 2d]
FelonusMonk: bets $57.50
BlunderLAFF7: calls $57.50
Conik: folds
*** TURN *** [Jc 9c 2d]
FelonusMonk: bets $22 and is all-in
BlunderLAFF7: calls $22
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9c 2d 6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FelonusMonk: shows [9s Tc Qs Qc] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
BlunderLAFF7: mucks hand
FelonusMonk collected $216.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $219.50 | Rake $3
Board [Jc 9c 2d 6d Jd]
Seat 1: Eegs (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: FelonusMonk showed [9s Tc Qs Qc] and won ($216.50) with two pair, Queens and Jacks
Seat 3: FirstAlt folded before Flop
Seat 4: Ettan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: BlunderLAFF7 mucked [Ts 2h 5h 8s]
Seat 6: Conik (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Mr. Brian 07 (small blind) folded before Flop

And hurray!!!! As I started to pick up some pots at PLO, I got "up" by a good amount with this hand, then all of a sudden PLO8 started to come good. One big pot won with drive bluffs, an AA hand holds up, then all of a sudden I win a big $300 pot. I find AKK3ds on the button. The table limps to me with one min raise and I decide to raise it up 5x BB with my position being so strong. 5 calls, and the flop comes a gorgeous KJ4. There is a club draw, though. It's checked to an apparently solid MP player (the min raiser) who leads $5 into the $40 odd pot. Not having any of this, and fire a pot raise back. He thinks a long time and then calls. Turn brings an 8 and I still have the nuts, but at least my 2nd nut low draw might be good. Pot bet again. He calls the bet which is $100+. River brings a 5c DAMN and the flush draw that I'm sure he has just hit. But what's this, he checks to me? Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I show down and my 2nd nut low and top set scoops the $300 pot. You don't want to know what he had but suffice to say his "solid" note has since been downgraded to "clueless".

Nice to see PLO8 winning for me again; if I hadn't made a total prat of myself on a couple of hands early on I'd have finished about $400 up on this $100 table, although again, I have lady luck to thank for a lot of my winnings. If only I could bottle this rush, eh...

Anyways, another day, another dollar. Or $380 of them in fact. I'm beginning to like this poker thing, I can play like crap and still make a fat wad of cash whilst I iron my socks. Nice.

Monthly winnings: $2920
Hours played: 45.5 (gonna start using half hours now, as the integer thing is becoming annoying)
Hourly rate: $64.... I actually wasn't joking TUP, I AM coming to get you

Monk
xxxxx

Hey there!

Well, been a while since I updated this (though only really a couple of sessions). After messing around with my BR, doing a few withdrawls and stuff in the last few days, I decided to finish the month by grabbing the latest Party reload and maybe playing a little limit O8 over at UB, where I have about $200 bonuses to free.

Anyways, a couple of horrible sessions at UB saw me drop $270 (even with the $35 or so of bonus I released). Primarily I played 2/4 kill and 3/6 O8, losing my shirt in a couple of short sessions of both games (very cold cards really, mixed in with some stupid plays) and then in PLO I put my money in on a big draw, missed, and lost about a buyin and a half in an hour long session at PLO100. Well, at least Party (for once) worked out for me and I freed the bonus, plus change, in a couple of sessions this weekend and pushed my monthly winnings up over $3000 by picking up $365 on this site (including the bonus). Played some very ABC 2/4 O8 and $25 PLO8, games I beat without much trouble over at PP. Had an annoying finish to the session today when the last 100 hands cost me the best part of 3 buyins in the $25 game but hey, shit happens, and it's not even one buyin (or half a buyin) in my usual $100 and $200 games. Anyway, here's my figures.... this could be the final total for the month although I might fit in a couple of hours PLO tomorrow if I get round to it.... ANyhow, switching to UB and Party was a nice change of pace but, as usual, leaving my "meal ticket" PLO games has cost me in hourly rate terms. At least I pushed my winnings up over $3000!

Monthly winnings: $3020
Hours played: 54 (give or take... kinda lost exact count in the last coupla days)
Hourly rate: $56... OK I'm not coming to get TUP anymore but it's still a good month in terms of my hourly rate (note this is bolstered by plenty of bonuses and stuff, but still it's effectively my hourly "earnings" from playing poker so I think it's a sensible figure to use).

Well, unless I hit the tables tomorrow.... See you in my March journal! Hope you enjoyed a month in the life of your friendly neighbourhood monk....

Monk
xxxxx

OK.... so a quick BR update, since I'm on the whole "taking stock" schtick at the moment.

I've just withdrawn $1500 (most of my Stars roll) from PokerStars (I still have 400FPPs to go to get the bonus there, but I'm leaving 400 for that and for occasional play in BTP tourneys etc, because I've barely played there in the last month and would rather have the rest in my bank) and $1030 from Empire (to leave $1k in that account, which is a decent float for the $100 and $200 PLO given I can easily add more if need be; given my fairly low variance a $1k downswing there would probably induce another Party/Empire site quittage!).

This leaves me with a float of $400 at Stars, just over $600 at UB, $1k at empire, just under $1.5k at Gaming Club (though I can't access that account right now, grrrrr poker fascists), about $3.5k at interpoker (which I REALLY need to knock down to ~$1k but havent got round to yet) and an online banking float in GB£ which I tend to move around £300 at a time through the crypto poker rooms to harvest the £100 of monthly bonuses whilst I play PLO there. Obviously the BR I have available to play poker is a lot more than this but I don't like to keep much in the sites if possible (why have a couple of k sitting in an account when it could be languishing in my bank earning a little bit of interest?). Also, I'm anally retentive when it comes to financial issues and like to have all my "assets" (cue lame Tightwad joke) all in one place so I can see how I'm getting on.

So I'm looking at keeping my UB BR, 400-odd at stars, $1k at interpoker and $1k at empire as my online BR basic. Puts me on about $3k which is a good figure. Depending on how GCP sort out my problem, I might consider keeping 500 or so in there to play a bit of 100 and 200 PLO. Would be where I'd go if I wanted to play some NLHE again, too, I guess.

So far this year, after 3 months and a week, just over quarter of the way through, here's my figures (pretty rough ones!):

Winnings total: £4800 = $9060
Hours played: 204 (this is a very approximate figure, probably -+10 hrs or so because I didn't make note of my real hours played in January, I am assuming 65 which is about average for a long month for me)

HOURLY RATE: $44.40/hr (£23.50 per hour)

This is above my required desired minimum of $40, although I'm a little disappointed that it's been a good year so far yet I'm not beyond $50/hr. At least I'm doing better than I managed in 2004, which represents progess. If I can retain $44/hr, I'll need 60 hours or so a month to hit my yearly target of $30k. This is definitely achievable, although given I'm likely to be busy with other things it'll be more challenging than I thought. Obviously playing full time I could easily be at 100-150 hrs per month, but with my job running as well it's hard to grab any more than 2 hours a night, along with the odd weekend session. If I move from 100 to 200 PLO for ALL rather than just some of my tables, it'll make a bit of difference, but Cryptologic (where I play 50%+ of my poker) doesn't regularly have 200 games going, so it might just have to be at empire and gaming club, if I stay there. I am hoping to be grabbing $150/month on my rake rebate at empire, which so far i haven't seen much of because I haven't played much until this last month or so. The only other way I can see of making the "extra" money I was thinking about at the start of this year is to start running some affiliate schemes myself, which so far I've done a little bit but without much happening, really. The other long-term possibility is to take advantage of my BR and PLO success to move up the levels at Empire, though I must admit I do have a psychological problem with making the moves up to the real high-roller games where $1k can change hands in one pot (although I've won $800 pots at 100 and 200 PLO before!). I have dabbled in the 400 game at UB on occasions, but so far 100 and 200 has been my limit. If I am to become a real top poker player, perhaps that has to change...

Anyhow, it's been good to me so far this year, and I'm happy with my game. I do want to branch out into some other games (limit stud8 has a certain appeal, and I do keep saying I'm going to start playing some MTTs, perhaps get broadband before that though!).

So, how've I made my money? Well, firstly, it has to be said that other than PLO it's been a dreadful year! I'll break it down game by game:

Note the hours here refer to TABLE hours - I usually play 5 tables or so at once. Therefore for every real hour at a limit, I'm playing 5 or so "table" hours. I don't count hands, so the BB/100 figure comes from multiplying my hourly BB by 2.6 - I assume that an average for PLO is just over 35 hands per hour (I used to go for 40 hands per hour but thats maybe a slight exaggeration)

200 PLO

Finished 2004 with this as my main game. A bit embarassing I've played so few hours in 2005, was a bit surprised to be honest as I thought I'd played quite a lot of this at Stars... Perhaps I was thinking about last year. Anyhow, haven't played enough to make these representative, one big hand either way can make a difference with such a tiny sample.

20 table hours
+$556
$27.80/hr
14BB/hr
36.4BB/100

100 PLO

By far my main game. Mainly because at cryptologic it's usually about the only game available and the games are almost always pretty good. I play probably 80-90% of my poker in these games this year. Includes results from all sites, crypto, empire/party, UB, stars etc...

I am happy with my BB/100 figure here, though I feel I would be closer to 30+ if I played fewer tables. Also, because I play here all the time, the hours aren't all at peak. At the right table, playing and concentrating on a fewer number of games, I think i am capable of 30-35BB/100. Still, playing 5 at once, $9.40 per hour, if you throw in the bonuses I make, my total hourly rate would be up above $50 per hour if I'd ONLY played 100 PLO this year.

611 table hours
+$5740
$9.40 per hour
9.4BB/hour
25.4BB/100

50 PLO

This was a few games at Gaming Club when a good 100 or 200 game wasnt available, and one session at party to free up a bonus when I wasn't bothered about concentrating so played a lower game.

30 table hours
+299
$10/hour
20BB/hour
51BB/100

OK, onto non-PLO games, and it's a bit of a trainwreck ... Haven't played much hours in some of these games though, and they're mostly just for fun or a change of pace, except O8 which has been really disappointing this year and hence I haven't played much after some really rough luck and stupid plays on my part. I lost the appetite for NL a little bit, I find it more grindy than most other games and had a bad run at the end of 2004 at it so hence I've not played a hand of NL since the BTP tourney before last...

NL - I played 70 odd table hours of this in January and lost about $50. No biggie, probably had some bad beats. Played a bit at Party and Empire to free up the bonus before they sorted out the stupid blinds.

SNG's - Played 15 of these for the hell of it at party/empire in January. I hate the bad blind/stack ratio at $30, though I played 13 of those, basically level after 13 SNGs with an ITM of 46% (good figure) but a ROI that was terrible because I kept finishing 3rd and 2nd. Didn't have a single win after 6 ITMs. Only finished outside the top 5 once. That's the way it often seems to go for me in SNGs lol, though I might play some later this year, as I quite enjoy em. The two $50+5's I played I screwed up. Total I lost was -$110.

MTTs - Haven't played any except for the BTPs, where I havent made a final table in my two games so far. No cards really. I might play some MTTs at some point as I think there's good money in them, but I don't know enough about the online MTT scene to know where the money is, so for now I'll stay away from these I think, except for the BTPs.

3/6 limit holdem - I played I would estimate maybe 70 table hours of this in the last fortnight for a change of pace. After a good start I ultimately lost $215, -1.38BB/100.

Limit O8 - This is one of my very favourite games, though a poor run and my success at PLO has meant I've barely played this year. Overall, I am down about -$280 at 3/6, 2/4 and 4/8, including some kill games, but I've only played maybe 50 table hours or so. Should play some more but it seems hard to find good games at the moment, UB is usually my home for limit O8, but I guess with my rake rebate I should check out empire some time in more detail, but a bad run last year put me off their O8 games...

PLO8 - Pretty sick to be the omaha forum moderator and be break even overall at O8 in 2005 lol.... I haven't really played enough hours, however. I'm basically break even after 60 table hours of 100PLO, mostly january at Stars and Gaming Club, I am a few bucks up after hardly any time at 50PLO8 at Gaming Club, and played 10 hours for a small loss at 200PLO8 at stars in january. I've put in the most hours (88) at 25PLO8 as a low-concentration change of pace at party/empire, where I sometimes used the game on 4 tables to free my bonuses before they sorted out the blind/stack ratios lately. I won $120 over this time, about 2.8BB/hr or 7BB/100. Overall with PLO8 and limit O8 i'm guessing I've played 150-200 table hours and I'm about even. With the money I make at PLO, even though I think I'm a decent O8 player, I reckon my skill gap over the poor players is MUCH greater at omaha hi than hi/lo, so it's hard to justify playing a lot of O8 at the moment. With the new blinds, I might try some 100PLO8 at empire soon, or perhaps some 3/6 limit. We'll see.

So, in case anyone was interested in my figures, there they are! I'm off to watch the grand national now then get my hair cut, might fit a few hours of PLO in tonight to push my april onwards a bit..... Tally ho!

Monk
xxxxx