November Review & Playing Live

I played in my first live tournament last weekend (the main event at the Killarney Poker festival) and although I didn't make it into the money I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The winner pocketed a cool 9 grand. A good friend of mine did min cash for €200 though - Well done Sean!

Online
My online results for the month looked to be heading towards another loss until I won the 3-2-1 Jackpot tourney on Ladbrokes for a payout of €320. I beat a field of 224 entrants. Unfortunately I couldn't win the 1-2-3 Jackpot event as well as I would have been inline for a €20k bonus.

Sharkscope Stats for November

The Rush is Back!
Last month also saw the return of Full Tilt Poker after a break of about 18 months. I could not include my full tilt stats though as Sharkscope doesn't cover all their results but I made a profit of $32 on the site for the month.





It's time to say Adios again. So, until next time.
Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

October Review Tweet Tweet

I made a small loss this month although I did win a 180 man Sit & Go and cashed a total of $584 for the month. I must admit I made too many mistakes in key areas and probably played too much when I was tired and possibly on tilt. My YTD profit is still in excess of $1.5k so things aren't all bad and my winnings now total over $6k for the year.

Sharkscope Stats for October

I have added a few items to my Amazon wish list which will hopefully help me overcome some issues and help me with the psychology side of poker.

• The Mental Game of Poker book by Jared Tendler & Barry Carter
• Laptop Desk/Tray with USB Cool Pad
• Sennheiser Headphones

I've also opened a Twitter account so I can make brief updates on my progress without having to write a full blog. I will still try to update this blog at least once a month. My twitter updates are at the side of this blog so watch out for my tweets!

Until next time, Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

September Review and the Ryder Cup

Sorry it's been a while since my last post but I just didn't have the motivation while I was on a break-even run. I haven't been playing that badly to be honest but I must admit I've probably made some bad decisions in a few key spots.

Sharkscope Stats for September

Even though September wasn't a good month in terms of profit, the previous two months more than made up for it and I'm more than pleased with my YTD figures.

Sharkscope Stats for 2012

I haven't played poker for a few days as I was glued to the TV screen watching the Ryder Cup. What an unbelievable comeback by Team Europe from being 10-4 down at one stage to winning the cup 14.5-13.5. Well done to every member of the European team and captain Jose Maria Olazabel - a fitting tribute to the late great Seve Ballesteros.

The victorious European team

Hopefully I can take some inspiration from the events at the weekend and produce the goods on the poker table in October!

Until next time, Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

August Review

Overall, this has been another good month for me with profits in excess of $800. Again, my volume is down from the previous month due to me playing larger MTT's now. I had my largest ever cash online this month so I can't complain. My next goal is to get a four figure cash and possibly even win one of these larger tournaments. I'm reasonably happy with the way I've played in August but I'm always striving to improve my game.

Sharkscope Stats for August

I've set one of my goals for September to qualify (via a satellite) for one or two of the events in the World Championships Of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars - wish me luck! Talking of luck, poker has now been officially declared a game of predominately skill by a judge in America. Hopefully, this will set some sort of precedent and speed the process up of allowing players from the US to play online poker again.

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

The Heat Is On!

Three weeks into the month of August and my run good from last month has carried over into this month. I've had my biggest monetary cash to date on Friday of $891 on PokerStars in the $5.50+R NL Hold'em [$15K Gtd] tournament finishing in 5th position in a field of 1,053 players (see screenshot below - note: my screen name for PokerStars is CelticMist07). At the moment I'm on a bit of a heater but I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground and staying with my bankroll management strategy as variance can soon come up and bite you in the ass!

5th of 1053 entrants!

I'll be back at the end of the month to bring you my review of August.

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

July Review

July has been a successful month for me with profits exceeding $700. My volume was lower than normal but this is because I am playing more MTT's with larger fields and satellite tournaments. I feel I've been playing well in tournaments this month and my confidence is high at the moment but I know all too well that this can change very quickly due to variance.

Sharkscope Stats for July

I'm currently on holiday with my family in the UK so I won't be able to play much poker this week.

Hopefully I can be even more successful in August so until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

Another Day....Another MTT Win!

Just a quick update to let you know that last night I managed to take down another MTT on Sky Poker - the £1k GTD Mini Open. I'm on a bit of a heater the last couple of weeks and I'm happy where my game is right now.

1st of 311 entrants!

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

Mixed Bag

Last week was a bit of a mixed bag for me in terms of results but I felt I played fairly well all week and I'm not too concerned of the results as we all know we shouldn't be results orientated.

My results from last week are:-

• Cashed in 1 out of 4 satellites
• Cashed in 3 out of 11 MTT's

Some good news though....last night I decided to take a rest from the Merge network and play a £2 bounty tournament on another of my poker sites (Sky Poker) and took down the tournament which had 104 entrants. Figures below include the bounties collected.

1st of 104 Entrants!

It's less than a week now before I go and visit my family over in the UK so I'll be trying to jam in as much poker as I can this week.

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

WSOP Update....

Unfortunately, Sam Holden, crashed out of the WSOP Main Event in 55th place but still takes home a nice pay cheque of $128,384 to soften the blow!

Four Cashes & A Crash!

The last week has seen me cash 4 times and it could have been 5 if the Merge network hadn't crashed while I was on the final table of a satellite for the $109 tourney ticket. I did get refunded though and received a cash amount according to my position in the tournament. So, not including that tournament, my results for the week for MTT's are as follows:-

• Cashed in 2 out of 10 tournaments
• Cashed in 2 out of 4 satellites

I also played several Single-Table Sit & Go's which I made a small profit from. All in all, I'm satisfied with the way I played this week but there's always room for improvement. Obviously, I would like to increase the volume of games I play and I will endeavor to do this but I can only dedicate 3-4 nights per week to poker.

WSOP

Sam Holden

At the time of writing this, there is only one Brit left in the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and that is Sam Holden. After his 9th place finish last year he is one of 97 remaining entrants left in the tournament from a starting field of 6,598. The winner will receive the WSOP Main Event Bracelet and a cool $8.5 million in prize money. Good luck Sam and bring that bracelet home to blighty!







Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

Nice One!

Told you it wouldn't be long before my next post ;-)

Entered a satellite tourney on friday for $5 and won a $109 tourney ticket. Used the ticket for an MTT last night and managed to cash in 8th place out of 122 entrants for $390 :-)

It's been way too long....

I've been neglecting my blog for the last two months. This is partly due to the fact that I've been running bad (a mixture of playing bad and variance) and I didn't want to update this blog showing my poor results. Also, the amount of volume I've been able to put in has been pretty thin over this time for one thing and another. Since my last blog I've joined pocketfives.com - a poker forum and ranking site. Hopefully, this will help me to improve my game as I will be able to get some advice from more experienced poker players. I've also started playing a bit more on the Merge network and less on PokerStars as I have a good rakeback deal on Merge and I want to clear my initial deposit bonus.

New goal added:-

• Enter more satelite tournaments with the aim to win tickets for the bigger tournaments with bigger prize money :-)

FOUR!
I managed to get 9 holes of golf in last month too through the golf society at work. I was pleased with my game (considering I hadn't played for about a year) and the team I was in binked a second place prize! Will need to fit another 5 golf outings in if I'm to reach my goal for the year though.

I will keep you posted of my progress and maybe I'll include a screenshot of a tournament win or two. Hopefully you won't have too long to wait for my next post!

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC

April Review

Following on from my last post, the first half of the month went pretty well but the second half I was just about break-even but making a total profit for the month of $130 is not too shabby! I managed to smash my volume goal of 200 games by 50 and all the sessions I played I was multi-tabling 4 tables at a time so I'm well pleased with that. Hopefully, next month I can build my bankroll up enough and move up from $1.50 to $3.50 45-man Turbo SNG's.

Sharkscope Stats for April

Sharkscope Graph for April

Overall, I'm satisfied with the way I've played the 45-man Turbo Sit & Go's and I'll continue with the same goals for May with the exception of increasing my volume goal up to 250 games for the month.

On a side note, I'd like to congratulate my hometown football club (Shrewsbury Town) on gaining promotion from League Two to League One.

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!

SNG's - The 45-man Variety & Beyond!

The first half of this month has gone pretty well. I'm on target to meet my goal of reaching 200 45-man Turbo Sit & Go's this month. I've also purchased Table Ninja which is helping me with my multi-tabling capabilities (currently 4 tabling on my laptop with no problems). As you can see from the Sharkscope stats below, I've been running good for the first half of April but as we all know that could change very quickly!

It's nice to run good!

Let's hope I can keep the form going for the rest of the month. At this rate I should easily reach my volume target of 200 games and a profit in excess of $200 too.

Until next time - Good Luck at the Tables!

Pump up the Volume

While I was on my enforced lay-off from poker I found it a good opportunity to study poker articles/forums and watch some strategy videos to improve my game as mentioned in my previous post. Also, using up my first month's free trial of Netflix by watching '24' from the very first series (currently on Season 2 Episode 19).

Poker is a never-ending game!

Anyway, now that I'm back it's time to increase the volume of tournaments that I play. My target volume (see goals below) per month may seem low to most of you poker regs but when you have a full-time job and a girlfriend to keep happy it's hard to put in the hours. I manage to play for a few hours every other night on weekdays and a few extra hours either on a Saturday or Sunday.

Poker Goals for April

1. Play at least 200 45-man Turbo Sit & Go's on Stars (approx 50 hours).
2. Multi-table 4 tables at a time.
3. Move up to the next level when my bankroll reaches 25BI for that level.
4. Devote some time to go over hand histories.

I'll update my progress in my next blog but for now....GL at the Tables!

It's been a while....

Last time I blogged I was feeling pretty rotten with the flu. Things then got from bad to worse as the hard disk on my laptop died and I hadn't backed it up. Doh! I lost all my data from Hold'em Manager and any other poker related stats I had been compiling. I managed to get a new hard disk and installed it so I'm back playing now.

While I was on my enforced lay-off from poker it was a good opportunity to study poker articles/forums and watch some strategy videos. I've decided to knock cash games on the head for the time being and concentrate on playing the $1.50 45-man Turbo Sit & Go's on PokerStars. My goal is to play at least 200 of these tournaments each month for the next few months. I've been playing a few of these (on and off) over the last couple of weeks and I like the structure of these small tournaments.

Sharkscope stats for $1.50 45-man Turbo SNG's for the last few weeks

I'll outline my goals for April in more detail in my next blog but for now.....Good Luck at the Tables!

Under the weather

I haven't had much chance to play poker this last week as I've been feeling a bit under the weather. First, I had a migraine then managed to be laid low with a sore throat and cough. Couple that together with a severe lack of sleep, I've been feeling pretty rotten.

Hopefully, I've got over the worst of it now and I can pick up the volume again. Even when I have played poker this last week I probably haven't played my 'A' game so I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Break-even so far this month but still in profit YTD so I can't complain and I'm still on course to meet my goal for the month of 7,500 hands.

Until next time....GL at the Tables!
TC

Roller Coaster

Life is a roller coaster.

Poker life at the start of this month has been a bit of a roller coaster but as Carlo Citrone once said as his Hot Tip on the Sky Poker channel "Poker is a never ending game!". Luckily, I've never been on a major downswing so far but, there and then, I don't put the huge amount of volume in to demonstrate this. Variance is part of poker which I accept now and effects every poker player no matter how good they are.

Another roller coaster ride!

The biggest dip on my giraffe was when I was in the BB with AA and there was an UTG raiser. So, naturally I 3-bet him and got 4-bet so I raised all-in and was called by my opponent who had KK. He hit his King on the flop and the rest were bricks. Pretty standard play really but it just goes to show that you can loose all your buy-in quite easily with just one hand.

I'm happy with the volume I've put in this month so far (almost 2000 hands) and I've managed to get back into profit for the month after a poor start.

Ok folks that's all for now.
GL at the Tables!
TC

Moving Day

So the move went fairly smoothly last weekend, just a few teething problems need sorting out with the landlord. The place is already starting to feel homely :-)

My broadband is back online again now so the disruption to my poker schedule was kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, there's still a fair bit of unpacking to do so it will be a slow start to the month which will have a baring on my poker goals. I'm still determined to increase the volume from last month though!

Poker Goals for February

1. Play at least 7,500 hands of 6-max cash games.
2. Add one more table to my multi-tabling capabilities.
3. Move up to 10NL when my bankroll reaches $250 (currently at $145).

My main focus is on cash games played on PokerStars and that's what the above goals is based on but I'll probably play the odd SNG or MTT on my other poker sites aswell.

Work Hard, Train Hard & Play Hard

I've neglected to go to the gym over the past few weeks with the move and everything so will have to get back on track with that next week although I signed up to do some circuit training through the social club at work starting today and running for one day a week for the next four weeks.

A very busy month is in store!

Until next time....GL at the Tables!

TC

January Review

This will have to be my last post of the month as I will be moving house this weekend. That means I will have to take a small break from poker until I'm hooked up with broadband again (hopefully only about a week).

Well, I met my January target of playing at least 5,000 hands of 5NL 6-max cash games and a small profit to boot :-)  but I failed in my goal to multi-table more than two tables at a time. Will have to attempt that goal next month!

Stats for the month and graph....

Hands: 5,014
Hours: 33.07
Per Hour: 152

Profit/Loss: $37.48
Per Hour: $1.13

The ups and downs of poker!

I'm satisfied with my months work as this is the first time I've focused completely on cash games. I'll be back early in February to set out my goals for the month.

Until next time, GL at the Tables!
TC

Looking Forward

As promised in my last post, I've set out my goals and objectives for 2012 below. As you will notice I have not set any monetary goals as I don't want to be results orientated.

Poker Goals for 2012

1. Spend at least a third of my poker time reviewing my hand histories, studying strategy books/videos/articles/forums etc. (approx. 40 hours playing poker, 20 hours studying/reviewing poker per month).
2. Upgrade my setup (I currently only have one laptop which I have to share with my girlfriend).
3. Practice my multi-tabling skills (might invest in Table Ninja or equivalent software).
4. Continue with bankroll management strategy (currently 20BI for cash, 25BI for STT’s and 50BI for MTT’s).
5. Make my debut in a live multi-table tournament.

Other Goals for 2012

1. Change my diet to a healthier, balanced diet.
2. Go to the gym at least 3 times a week.
3. Keep in contact with family on a weekly basis.
4. Play at least 6 rounds of golf.
5. Go on a well-earned holiday abroad.

Poker Goals for January

1. Focus on playing 6-max cash games.
2. Play at least 5,000 hands at 5NL 6-max cash games.
3. Practice my multi-tabling skills to increase from 2 tables to 4 tables.

My tourney stats for last year excluding satellites and Full Tilt results (due to Black Friday and not all results tracked):-

Sharkscope Stats - 1274 games played with a total profit of $346

Until next time, good luck at the tables!
TC

P.S. Don't forget to feed the fish at the bottom of the screen ;-)

Introducing TigerChips....

Welcome to my blog!

Firstly, a little introduction to my poker career so far....

My name is Mark and I started playing poker in the summer of 2009 after being introduced to online poker by a friend of mine and watching countless hours of poker on the Sky Poker channel. I would say that I'm only a recreational player as I have a full-time job (and a girlfriend to keep happy!) and can only dedicate about 60 hours per month to the game. I play micro-stakes NLHE cash, SNG's and the odd MTT. The poker sites I play on are:-

• PokerStars
• Ladbrokes
• PDC Poker
• Sky Poker

I started off like most people as a losing player but after hours and hours of studying strategy books, articles, videos and forums I've become a better than break-even player but still a bit of a fish :-)

That's enough of the introductions.
Next up in my blog I'll be discussing my goals and objectives for 2012.

Until next time....Good Luck at the Tables!
TC