Let me start by apologising for my third consecutive poker-related post in a row. Crazy. You’d think this was a poker blog or something. Given my life this month though there really is nothing else to report on. This month has been nothing. but. poker.

Nine days ago I was a fifth of the way through my 150k hand goal and eager for the upcoming SCOOP events. I have now just passed the halfway mark of my goal and have played in a bunch of SCOOPs, with mixed results. I’ve mostly stuck to playing the non-hold’em events and managed a few deep runs including 39th in #11-M (6max PLO8 hi/lo), 104th in #18-M (6max PLO 1r1a), 35th in #28-L (Razz) and 67th in #31-L (8-game). Annoyingly all my runs in the high events have been thus far unfruitful but hopefully that can change with #35 NLO8, a tourney I got 2nd in two years ago. I’m also very much looking forward to the 6max PLO the next day, which I will also be hosting.

Playing the SCOOP as an Aussie basically requires the lifestyle of a vampire with most events starting at 1am, 4am and 7am local time. It’s all about sleeping through the day and staying awake at night. Fortunately as a former avid gamer and protester to the “go outside and get some fresh air” campaign, I am well equipped to handle such a lifestyle.

Funny story about the Razz event I went deep in actually. It started at 1am and I had been awake all day, and decided to stay awake at night to play. I busted the medium at around 4am and was playing/running bad in some mediocre cash games so with just the low left all I wanted to do was bust and get some sleep. I think I had an average stack or so. I decided to start playing like a complete maniac and must have seen 4th 16 out of 20 hands in a row. I ran like a god and people folded way too much and I soon found myself with 2-3x an average stack. Sigh, right (#firstworldproblems?). My head was doing that thing where it slowly drops forward then snaps back as you realise you’re nodding off. Then I had a stroke of brilliance. I grabbed my laptop, logged onto stars and turned the sound on loud, jumped into bed and proceeded to get as much shuteye as I could in-between hands and in the breaks. I was still playing crazy but toned it down a little. This went on until around 7am when I realised, by some absurd miracle, I was 3rd in chips with not that many people left. That was enough to give me my 2nd wind and with an extra strong coffee I returned to my PC and powered through (only to bust in 35th!) – ah but it was worth it.

Returning to cash games – it has definitely been my best month of the year so far. I’m playing my best, putting in the most volume and despite running a bit under EV, after the day I had today I gotta say I’m running pretttttty good too. All 2/4 – 3/6.

With 14 days left of the month and a bit under 75k hands to go, my pace is still around the 5k/day mark (slightly over). I’m still feeling great – not burnt out – and with the way i’m running/playing should have no problem knocking out the rest of the hands. I’m only averaging around 500 hands/hr which equates to 70hrs/week, definitely the most I have ever played in my life.

In other news Puneet and I have booked another trip to Queenstown for the end of July. I will be heading down a few days early to hit up the ANZPT – Queenstown. Everyone knows how much I love that place, I can’t wait! After that my next series will likely be the ANZPT Grand Final in Melbourne at the end of August.

P.s hope everyone likes the new site makeover! There are still a few bits and pieces to be touched up / filled out but i’m happy with how it has turned out