Stephen Groom Music Producer? Poker Pro? Sports Bettor? Tune in next post to find out

TL;DR

I am going to skip over the mandatory apology about how long it has been since I last blogged because I'm not sorry.  And you wouldn't believe me even if I was.

So what have I been upto for the last 2 months then?

Dossing would be a good word.
I have spend the last 2 months, moving into my new flat.  I say that I have spent this time as this is the only constructive thing that I can remember doing since my last blog post and I'm still not even finished yet.

College

I seemed to have forgotten that I was studying for the last few weeks, and maybe even months.  I have not spent any time doing work; I have done no research and I haven't attended any tutorials with my lecturers.  It is very easy to place the blame on outside factors and make excuses for this and that is exactly what I am going to do.

The course leader who has been absent for the last 6 months (70% of the course) has returned to work in the last 2 weeks, and after a series of conversations with my peers and the course leader himself it has arisen that:

• The course has been ran extremely poorly (we already figured this one out)
• The stand-in course leader had "dropped in" and had no prior knowledge of how the course was supposed to be taught
• He wasn't very good at interpreting whatever inferior information he was given
• Alot of the work which has already been done (15,000 word portfolios for some people) was either wrong, or unneccesary
• I am very good at placing blame on others

So overall, I had lost my motivation for the 3rd year running at the final hurdle of my degree.  I have however set myself a resolution that in the final few weeks of this course, I am going to put in as much effort and time as I can to ensure that the last 5 years & a HUGE amount of student debt isn't put to waste and that I atleast get a pretty certificate.  It is also very important for me to allow my parents see me graduate.  I would imagine the pride that this would allow them would more than make up for any sacrifices I have to make in the coming month.

My new life

I have underwent a few major lifestyle changes in the last year, and it seems that I have finally settled down as I have most of the stuff which I want and need at the moment.

My new flat I must say is incredible, much better than any I've lived in yet and I feel like the whole situation is completely ideal.  Even the two rabbits I took custody of have a new home in their run + hutch outside in the back yard; which is better for both them and me.  At first I was very reluctant to demote them from indoor rabbits to the yard but I think it has worked out OK and they seem just as happy, if not happier, and it is definately better for their health (and mine).

The car I bought in February has done over 1,000 miles since it was purchased and every new mile that I do is more enjoyable than the last.  The reality still hasn't set in that I own such a (in my opinion) desirable car and every time I sit inside to drive it, a great smile grows on my face.

Employment

It is crunch time at the moment and after almost 5 years of studying, it is now time to start working towards the job which I will be working in for the rest of my adult life.  I have a part-time job at the moment which I have been promised will instantly turn into a full-time one when I have finished studying.  I have no intention of this being a long-term employment, but it is great for me as it gives me plenty of options financialy.

The plan when I am finished my studies is to pester all of my friends and contacts which I gained throughout college; while also working full time.  I will be trying to get some work-experience and gain a decent pool of references and testemonials which are vital in the music industry.  The long-term goal is to move up to being able to do live-sound events/gigs as my sole source of employment and be able to earn a living wage from this.

Poker

Live

The last time I looked at my PokerJournal on my iPhone I was consistenly winning money.  The last few times I have played live Hold'em however, I have had some disgusting sessions.  I know nobody likes hearing bad beats but I also know that everybody who says that likes telling them about theirs so here are mine.  This is likely to be TL;DR so I will try to keep this short.

Total Won: £524.75
Game Count: 28

Cash games

Total Won: £859.25
Time Played: 46 hours 33 minutes
Winrate: £18.46/hr

This winrate looks pretty sick for somebody who is playing low and micro stakes live cashgames, and I agree that it is high.  Like everybody else, I overlook the positive sessions when I look back through my memory and only remember the crippling sessions which I am having of late; the type of session where you play 4 big pots in 10 hours, get it in in fantastic shape each time and have the deck deliver perfect-perfect for your opponent to make his hand.  I am learning more and more to deal with this, and if I wasn't playing beyond my means alot of the time, I would be able to cope with this alot more.

Tournaments

Total Won: -£364
Game Count: 12
ABI: £39
ITM: 2/12 (16.7%)

For some reason I am alot less confident in my tournament game live than online, and moreso compared to my live cash game.  I am not sure why this is but I believe that despite this, I am still profitable in the games that I am playing, and that a 1st place finish is just around the corner which will put everything right again and restore my confidence in my game.

This should have been last friday when 4.5 hours into a £32 tournament at the G newcastle, which had £440 for the win, I arrive to the final 9, with 6 paid, with a very comfortable chip stack of around 20bb.  This all went a little bit wrong in the first hand when the following happens:

I am UTG+2 and UTG opens to 2.5x the BB.  UTG+1 makes a 3bet shove for about 19bb and I look down at .  I make the mandatory re-shove and the rest of the table folds.  The BB then snapcalls revealing and UTG shows .  on the flop and no improvement sends me over to the cash tables bitter about what could have been.

This type of cooler hits you so much harder when you are playing live as the amount of hands you play make it seem a lifetime away until the next time you are involved in this hand.  The time you are the unfortunate one with but find gin to go on and win the tournament.  Complaining doesn't help however and it is up to me to move on and not let it affect my confidence and continue to play the same, profitable style.

Summary

I believe that I am playing the best I ever have, and that I am definately profitable in all of the games I sit in, or at the very worst breakeven in some of the games where I am sat with 4+ of my poker playing peers.

If this is the case, it is only now a matter of bankroll management and volume if I am going to win money playing live poker.  It is however important that I continue to work on my game and do my best not to become complacent and arrogant thinking that I am god's gift to poker and that I don't need to learn any more.

Online

The theme for this period has been shot taking.  I have played some of the biggest buy-in games I have played online, under no illusions that I am probably making a losing decision when I enter these big games, but chasing that big 5 or 6 figure score.

I took a total of 5 big shots in this period and this accounts for $1,012 worth of losses since Feb 1st.  I played:

• $216 FTOPS #1
• $215 sunday million $1.5m gtd
• $215 sunday million $5m gtd
• $216 miniFTOPS 2-day
• $75 miniFTOPS main event (x2 multi-entries)

I played all of these bigger buy-in games without cashing in a single one which basically turned a breakeven period into a large losing one, but I have no regrets.

Since 1st Feb, I have played 348 tournaments across full-tilt and pokerstars.  This includes SNGs as I do not think I can filter these out with HEM.  I have been ITM 18.9% but performed at a -34.9% roi totaling a loss of $1374.75.   This isn't ever nice to see but given the amount of money that I have wagered, and amount of games I have played, I think that this is an OK result.

I am making the money more than enough to be profitable in these games, the trick now is to work out how to get the all important 1st place finish.  I have made a few final table runs in the last 2 months, and believe that if I keep going deep in my games, a decent win is only a matter of time.  I may need to work on my endgame strategy a little however as I am still finding myself in spots where I am not sure what is profitable, and often feel like I am just pushing buttons and acting without thinking.

Overall

Overall, I am happy with my poker game.  I am playing better than I ever have and believe that I can only get better from here.  I attribute this confidence in my game to spending alot of my time surrounded by the best players that I know.  Spending time sweating games and playing sessions together gives me a great opportunity to learn and improve my game.

I cannot stress enough that I will not become complacent and overconfident in my skills.  I will take every opportunity that presents it'sself to improve my game.  The reason I am so happy with my game at the moment was due to the realisation that I wasn't a particularly good player, and erasing all of the arrogance and ego from my personality.  It allowed me to be able to learn, and better equiped me to take advice from others which in turn has made me a far better player, even in the space of 4 months.

Poker is now taking up the majority of my down-time, aswell as my up-time and pretty much everything.  Poker is like a drug, and it is one that I have chose to spend the rest of my life living with.  I will not be able to quit playing poker as I have become so engrossed in it's marvels and have fallen in love with the game.  This is not a bad thing though, it just needs to be managed so that it doesn't impede on other elements of my life.

It is vital for me to get this balance correct and as such, I will be taking a hiatus from playing any sort of volume this month, playing only a few selected local tournaments and maybe 1 or 2 sessions online with friends. Tommy Angelo would refer to this as "quitting practise" and I am doing this to ensure that in the future; time spent playing poker does not impact time that could be better spent elsewhere.  It will also allow me to better dedicate time to my studies, and allow me to put aside some money in preperation for graduating later this year.

Business

As mentioned in my last blog, I have put my business idea Rent a Producer on hiatus until I have more time later in the summer.  I have also became sidetracked with another idea for a business in the future which I cannot reveal too much about at the moment.  I am confident in both of my ideas and remain optimistic about their money making potential in the future.  It should only be a matter of time now until I can say that I am self-employed and be able to get by on my own two feet, but that will become apparent in the future.

 

 

I would appreciate any feedback from this blog, as it is very rare that I type 2,000 words in any format, nevermind a first-person narrative on my own life.  Please give any feedback you may have, and I will endeavour to blog more in the future.

Cheers
Stephen