Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock

Well, I got up this morning at 4.30 without any trouble, raring to go on the new Asian newsletter. Unfortunately, I achieved this through gong to bed at 6.30 yesterday evening, planning on a nap for a couple of hours, and not getting up again. This is not, therefore, a permanent solution. At least, I hope that it isn't.

And then I arrive at Charing Cross to be met by what can only be described as a wind of arctic ferocity. Bloody hell it was cold. Windchill factor, minus 10, mate.

Right, I've work to do.

(no subject)

The month was a struggle. This might seem strange since it was only just over 18 months ago that I first won $1,000 in a single month. By those parameters, this kind of win at $2-$4 is highly satistfactory. But it felt like a struggle. The fact that the bonus contributed more than 50% is the key figure. I got $200 from Empire, but I have to give up money coming in next month as a result. Apart from that, not much to say. I continued to generate $10 an hour at $2-$4 (before bonuses), but this month I three-tabled much more. I played 14,300 hands, more than in January, in 16 fewer hours. I suppose that I should allow for the fact that I am still a novice at $2-$4 three-tabling, so it would be a bit harsh on myself to expect a win rate the equivalent of two-tabling.

I also had quite a few stinkingly bad sessions: I count nine of more than minus $100, compared with only seven wins of more than $100. Mind you, one of those wins was $290 and another was $330, which shows that I am pushing my winning sessions and cutting back when I am losing -- a good habit.

The serious irritant is that I had a bad month on Party, which leaves me (still) light of a bankroll to play $3-$6 there. I've been 2-tabling at $5-$10 on Ultimate when I have the time (unfortunately the time-sensitive bonus rules on Empire mitigated against too much of this in the later part of the month). If only Stars would come out with a deposit bonus then I am plenty staked there to play $3-$6 or $5-$10.

My average stats at the moment seem to be something along the lines of 17.7% VPIP, 11.8% raises, and 37.5% winning the pot when I see the flop. This makes me feel that my major weakness at the moment is not knowing when to build the pot rather than take it down there and then.

There's no easy formula for this. Both Sklansky and Miller are particularly vague -- Sklansky's line is "often the pot is large enough for you to want to take it down there and then". Yeah, well, thanks a lot, Dave. How long is a piece of fucking string?

I've consciously been looking for heads-up situations where I think that I am way ahead or way behind (i.e., if I am in front, opponent has four outs or less, while if I am behind, I have four outs or less). If I think I am probably way ahead (even if I only make it a marginal favourite that I am so) and I have position, I have been calling it down rather than raising. If I think it seriously likely that I am way ahead (say, more than 60/40), then I am trying to summon up the courage to value raise the river more often.

A typical example of this is when you raise with AQ and are called just by the big blind. Flop comes Axx and Big blind either bets out or check-raises you on the flop. You are almost certainly way ahead or way behind, so you call it down to the river and then decide whether to value raise (if opponent checks the river, you bet, obviously).

Anyway, the figures:

	$3-$6	$2-$4	Bonus	$5-$10	$1-$2	£1-£2	Total
PTY	-$144	-$111	$138				-$117
UB	-$106	$209	$100	$47			$250
Virgin	-$12	-$163	$20	-$123	$2		-$276
Paradise	$19	$272	$100	-$8			$383
Empire	-$8	$368	$210		$35		$605
Betfair						$79	$79
Total	-$251	$575	$568	-$84	$37	$79	$924
Total Hrs	18	52	0	3	2	1	83