Got My Feet Wet

It's 5am and I just finished a session of grinding. Took my first dip at NL10 (0.05/0.10) and it looks like this:

Stacked two players a few hands after I started hence the steep climb then made a couple of "bobo moves." Took a break for a few hours and then grinded again. The first hour felt like I was re-learning how to play with a big stack. I did not have any groove whatsoever. Thankfully, that wasn't the case a few hours later. :D I'm hoping to keep that steady climb. UP UP and away...!

Note: Stacked = took all my oponents chips. (tama ba coach?)
Addional Note: LOL!  updated my graph because I'm so happy and proud of my progress. :)

Grinding Halt

I did not finish my 5k hands this week. Short by a hundred hands or so... But overall I think it was a good week. I'm getting the hang of my GoalWin set-up and I'm getting used to playing with a big stack. My stats have improved a little bit and finished the week on the positive side.

My excuse for not finishing my 5k hands is that I was busy playing tournaments. I finished 62nd in the Metro Triple Treat Freeroll out of 150+ players. Took down 5th place out of 17 players in Metro's Media Event. And lastly, I won a seat from PokerManila's satellite to the Metro Bacolod's 1M Tourney. What a sweet way to end the week.

FIRST WEEK

The first week of our APA training is officially over. It was a rough week. I am still learning how to use the poker tracker and still learning how to play with a big stack. Buti na lang I have friends like StAlbert and Zaai that gives me pointers and advice. At sa mga tao that are telling me I can't do sh*t. Okay lang. You guys give fuel to my burning desire.  

Anyway, it's tourney week (Triple Treat Freeroll and Media Event Freeroll at The Metro) this week and I don't how I'm going to finish my 5k hands for the week. I know I'm going to get it done I just don't know how. Haha!

Back to the topic! :D

Last week I learned to configure my Heads-Up Display (HUD) with the help of Zaai. StAlbert gave me a few pointers on how to use the HUD. I learned to never play when on tilt because if I didn't I would have made money this week. HAHAHA! And lastly, I was reminded that this life I chose to live is not easy and I'm already face down on the ground so there's nowhere to go but up. It is up to me how fast and how far I go up. So bring on Week #2 because I'm ready.

Very Intense Program(VIP)

Our VIP training officially kicked off last Monday. I was so damn excited that I left the house at around 1pm for an 8pm meeting. Anyway, I went to The Metro Card Club and waited for my classmate Ian. Off to The Midas Touch (a poker room near Ultra where the Wowowee stampede happened) for our first meeting.

When Ian and I arrived at The Midas Touch, our classmates, Gwyn, Rene, Jonathan, Erwin and Bordzter, and Coach Red were already busy installing softwares that we'll be using for the training. A few minutes later Coach Red gathered us and started a power point presentation of what we're about to enter. The next 10-16 weeks of our lives.

After that, Coach gave us our first assignment. We have to make a recording of ourselves playing poker while thinking out loud. To give us a clue of how we're supposed to do that, we played a 9-handed game of 10/20 where Mark Anthony (not the actor) AKA Mr. Sit In AKA MotoLGXDA joined us. In that 10/20 game, we were asked to say out loud why we're folding, making a call, checking or raising and what were our intentions in doing so.

We were also introduced first hand to one of the basic Poker Tracker 3 statistics. The VP$IP, which means Voluntarily Put Money In the Pot. Ian was a standout here because he had a VP$IP of more than 60 in more or less 30 hands. This means Ian more or less played around 18 hands. It was fun. I got to see what my classmates tendencies were. I was particularly surprised to Jonathan's tendency to limp with trash cards in the late position when the action is folded to him. (see poker positions here)

Our training ended around 11pm. We capped the night by going to a persian restaurant a few minutes away from The Midas Touch. Albert, a graduate of the APA VIP training, joined us. After having a late night meal and an exchange of words, we all went home.

Kamikazee - First Day High

Poker School

I enrolled myself in Asia Poker Academy's (APA) VIP training and we had our introductions to the program yesterday. I learned a lot! I think the most important thing I learned was, and I'll quote the sentences from my program, "Poker is not about the money. Yes, we measure ourselves by that bottom line, but poker is all about making the right decisions - the best possible decision with regards to that bottom line."

I've been playing online poker religiously for about 6 months now. And since that day in march 2010, I've been playing for the money.

Anyway, woke up early today and re-read my training program. Our training will officially kick off tomorrow and I can't wait for it to start.

Intro

I've been thinking of starting a blog, a blog not just about my poker life but my life in general, for quite some time now. I've been going through this site and that but couldn't decide where to start a blog. I have a thread in pilipinaspoker.com (PP) which I started a couple of months after the PP-PM (pokermanila.com) split. I wanted to make the same thread here but was too lazy to copy/paste the same posts.

I did a little soul searching and, with 11Finger's help, found the answer to my dilemma -- pokermanila. If I'm going to start a blog why not here where it all started?

Why against the tide? On July 28, 2010, it'll be officially my one anniversary since running away from home to play poker here in manila.  The journey from that day in 2009 to July 28 of 2010 can be described in one line -- against the tide.

This blog was originally started in pokermanila.com.