Australian Poker Tour March 2021

 

I've really enjoyed my time here at the Gold Coast Australian Poker Tour. While I've been here I have met some great people, ate some great food and of course played some Poker! In the end I played 4 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $120 - $1,200 AUD. Despite making two day twos in the $1k "Player's Champs" and in the $1.2k "The Grind" I did not cash in any of them. This did not detract from the experience however, as I feel it has been very beneficial for the future. This series included two of the biggest buy-in tournaments I've ever played and I'm very grateful for having been given that opportunity by my Stakers. As this series draws to a close I am looking forward to getting back to my usual grinding routine and who knows maybe another APT will be on the horizon for me...

Fresh Opportunities

Two months into 2021 and some things have changed. First of all I am now part of a different stable called Standard Backing. 

The transition so far has been smooth. I like the extra coaching and the the community seems pretty cool too! I am playing similar stakes online, however in addition to this I have been given an oppurtunity to play a live series in 2 weeks time. The series is called the Australian Poker Tour and I will be playing tournaments ranging form $120 AUD to $1,200 AUD buy-ins. I am very excited about this event and I am looking forward to giving it my best shot!

2020

 Here's my 2020 graphs:

It's been a good year, but I want more! Bring on 2021!

Some goals:

• Double my volume
• Double my winrate

How am I going to do this? 

The first one is simple (in theory). If I can double my table count from 6 to 12 then I can potentially play 1,000,000 hands next year. However, it's not so easy (in practice) because I currently only play on 2 sites and their schedules don't line up very well. This means that to achieve this I would have to put in some serious hours. Food for thought... Another option is to add a 3rd site, which I will look into, to see if that helps.

The second one is theoretically achievable because I'm told that the best regs at my stakes are winning at a rate of 10-15bbs/100hands. How can I better myself though? More theoretical study! I'm in the process of arranging a study group that will meet weekly with other members of my stable to add to the sessions that we take part in with our stakers. On top of this I will try and study by myself for an hour a day.

If I could achieve both of these goals in 2021 then presumably a doubled winrate could translate to a doubling of this year's total ROI (16.6%). So, twice as many hands and twice the winrate means that I could break the 6 figures profit threshold and make $100k+ without changing stakes (this year's ABI was $37.44). But with MTT's you never know!

Curveball

 

This graph shows my Big Blinds won over the last month against the hands I've played:

Covid-19 meant I could not go to Costa Rica for the Live Cage event which has been postponed indefinately. In fact I cancelled my flights ( I was given credit with the airlines) two days before departure! And I was lucky too, because I would have been stuck somewhere along this route:

Australia - UK - USA - Costa Rica - USA - UK - Australia

The most likely place I would be right now is the UK as the various border laws changed shortly after I cancelled my flights.

So instead I'm here in Australia, where about a month ago I signed a new staking deal with a couple of very strong players, that includes coaching, both in a group and privately. The deal is structured to be a longterm one and I anticipate it will be beneficial to all parties. This deal has freed up some funds for pimping my grind-station which now includes a treadmill desk with a 24" monitor as well a 30" & a 27" monitor with a beast of a PC (inc. 64gb of RAM and an SSD HD).

So far I'm in profit and I'm happy! So I'm looking to build on this. At the moment I'm 6 tabling on one monitor but a.s.a.p I hope to be able to play 10-12 on two monitors without sacraficing too much of my winrate. If I can do this, and it remains to be seen, then I estimate I can play 1 million hands in a year. My coaches and I are aiming for a winrate of 15bb/100 hands at low to mid stakes. Aim high! What this translates to in ROI I am, as yet unsure, but my coaches think $100k / year USD is a realistic target. I'll take that!

I'm going to Costa Rica!!!!!!!!

I won a package worth $8.3k to travel to Costa Rica and play in the $5k live Cage event run by WPN. This will be my first ever trip to Central America and I am really looking forward to it! The package covers all expenses inc. hotel, flights etc. as well as the Buy-in for the event which should be a very interesting 12 hours of Poker (if I last that long). 

The event is a hybrid of cash and tournament Poker where your chips have a real monetary value and can be cashed out after two six hour days of play IF you have any left. However, only 25% of the field usually make it to the end of day two because the blinds rise as the event progresses much like in a tournament. Also the tables are 6 max and there is a Button Ante and these factors will of course induce more action.

Whether I win or lose though I'm getting a free trip to one of the world's most naturally beautiful places. Costa Rica here I come!

My Biggest Live Score

I finished 2nd out of 251 entrants for $6,500 Australian Dollars on Sunday 3rd November 2019. This was my biggest live score to date. It was a 2 day (3 venue) pub tournament that "Shark Poker" runs a version of once a quarter. I always make an effort to play these events as they offer an excellent structure for an affordable buy-in.

This tournament was an accumulator with four day 1's and the option to re-enter twice on each day. The idea is you can add your stacks together from each day 1 that you play ($180 per entry) and move them forward to day 2. I played only one day 1 (the one easiest for me to get to) and had 1 re-entry so was in for $360 all-up.

Day 2 was played across 2 venues, the first was a Bowls club and the second a pub. The event was really well run overall and had a good atmosphere. I made day 2 with a below average stack but managed to luckbox my way into the chiplead by the time the final table came around! The structure made for a fairly fast final table with several out busting early in this top heavy event. When we got to 3-handed play though it seemed to go on forever with me surviving on ~20bbs by reshoving and open jamming a lot (to avoid being put in tough ICM spots). The payouts were:

1st: $11,000
2nd: $6,500
3rd: $4,000

The player who finished 3rd refused to deal. Eventually a 3-way hand developed on a paired board where I bluffed the turn and both players called. At this point I gave up with 6 high and the two big stacks collided (full house vs trips with A kicker) leaving one crippled. The next hand I busted the other shorty and was HU vs the other player pictured (left) who had a huge chiplead. After taking down a few pots with shoves pre-flop I had 10bbs but that soon halved as I lost a pot with 2nd pair vs top set. The next hand was to be the last as I ripped 5bbs in pre from the button with T7o and was called by ATs and that was all she wrote! GG.

I'm on TV

Yo! I'm on Twitch.

First ever bounty tournament win!

I won the $27 turbo 6 max progressive Knockout outright for $2.2k including bounties besting a field of 568 players! The difference between 1st and 2nd in a PKO tournament is massive due to fact that you win your own bounty if you win as well so I'm super chuffed to win this one. A key hand Heads Up happened when I got AQo in against JJ preflop and scooped the pot for a 4:1 chip lead. NICE.  

Five Figure Shippage

Just a quick post to announce my first ever five figure score! I finished 2nd out of 5,409 players in the Big $22 $80k GTD for $10,257.28. Well chuffed, despite being owned in the second half of the heads up battle, with this win :-D But how should I celebrate?

On a heater

I chopped the Big $44 25k GTD on Pokerstars this morning for $4k heads up. The tournament had 730 runners and a prizepool of $29,200. Coming onto the Final Table as the short stack I did not fancy my chances too much. David Vamplew was the runnaway chip leader and set about opening every pot he could only to have to fold to multiple rejams once it became clear what he was doing. I doubled through him more than once including a pot for the chiplead where my AKs beat his 99 AIPF and his bust hand where he open limped A7o in the SB and I shoved 20bbs with 33 which won.

He's Back!!!

It's been a long time coming... I haven't had a 4 figure score in years (partially due to not playing a lot) but my second biggest ever makes up for it :) Today I finished 4th out of 10,000+ runners in a SCOOP $5 rebuy event for $8k. Of course I wanted that bracelet but I played my best game and thoroughly enjoyed this tourney which ran over 2 days. The final hand for me saw my ATo lose to AKo AIPF but I can't say I wasn't lucky throughout this monster of a field. A special shoutout to Darren Knaggs who railed me on the FT after busting somewhere in the top 100 finishers on day 2. BOOOYAKASHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to crush!

I've quit my job, after working for 6 months as a 'Consultant Electrical Engineer'. I handed in my notice on the last day of my probation period so I could give one weeks notice rather than 4, tbh I was that desperate to get outta there! It was a pretty tough decision as my life roll is low and my bankroll non-existent (i'm staked atm) but for various reasons I felt it had to be done.

I have about enough of a life roll to survive on til the end of the year, and if I haven't banked any profit from playing low-mid stakes mtt's for my backer by then I will be looking for another job. So not the best of circumstances under which to 'go pro' obviously but that's the way it's presented itself and I see it as an opportunity rather than anything else.

I knew early on in the job that I could either be a very good engineer or a very good poker player and that if I tried to be both I would likely be a mediocre version of both (or have no life at all!). So I knew I had to choose.

You might ask why didn't I stick at the job until I'd built up a bigger life roll through saving wages and or poker. I considered that but I didn't choose to because basically I couldn't hack it any longer, the combination of working 37.5 hrs a week in front of a screen doing mentally challenging things at work and then spending 20+ hrs a week doing the same at home playing mtt's til the early hrs was becoming increasingly unhealthy and the two were affecting each other negatively. My work was suffering as I dragged myself in after late nights playing mtts and my game was suffering as I was tilting easier and blowing off steam when I came in from work. In recent weeks I had decided to keep my sessions to the weekends but that tilted me more, because I was having no social life at all!

Despite all this I've managed to turn a profit of around $3k (b4 split) in my staking deal which has been going for 2 months now. Which is a decent start but I feel I can do a lot better under different circumstances and with more volume. So at the end of the day I decided although not the best timing it was right for me to leave the job a.s.a.p. to concentrate on poker full-time. What will I do if I run out of life funds and the results don't come, we'll see... but whilst I hope it doesn't come to that I am not averse to working in any job I can find, if I have to.

That's my jacking in a good job justification rant over! In other news I'm in Ireland, near Cork, atm with my Aussie family who are over for a visit. Just arrived today but it's been nice catching up with them so far :) They've been trying to persuade me to move back over to Oz and I'm considering it but I need to think about it carefully first. Future blog posts about that decision I'm sure.

For now I'm gunna enjoy a week away from the tables to reset my body clock a bit and enjoy spending time with the 'rellies'. When I get back it'll be time to crush!

Time for a change!

Since I last posted I've started a new staking deal with a Canadian 2+2er. I've been part his stable for about a month now and have had 2 FT's. One of those was a $3k score for 1st in the $11 1r/1a. Overall however I don't think I'm playing my best poker which I feel is largely due to the fact I'm struggling to balance working full time, play some decent volume and have a social life!

In fact I am noticing that when I start a session the idea that I'm using my rare free time to play is tilting me. So I've decided to look for a part time job and if/when I find one, hand in my notice at work. This has not been an easy decision by any means as it is a good job and pays well. But my enthusiasm for it from day 1 has been low and I don't think that's changing any time soon.

So my plan is to find a 16-30hr part time job to pay the bills and continue playing for my staker on the side. I have worked out I can survive doing this for 6 months whether or not I manage to cash out anything from my staking deal. If all goes well however and I manage to cash out a few times then I can consider using that money to go travelling again.

At the end of the day I have realised that a full time professional job does not combine well with an mtt career and I really need to do one or the other to be sucessful, and reamin sane! GL me!

UKIPT day 2

After settling in at my first table and chipping up to 46k I was promptly moved to another. On the second hand I played I raised the button with K7o and was flatted by the SB. On a flop of Axx rainbow the SB donk lead into me for around 3/4 pot, which in my experience is usually weakness trying to prevent a c-bet. So I raise and he promptly sets me all-in... sigh insta-muck.

A couple of rounds after the blinds are up to 500/1000/100 and I have 28k. I pick up AKs in ep and raise to 2.3x, a young player who seems pretty aggro pre 3-bets me from MP. It folds to me and he has about 18bbs behind so I realise he isn't folding and know it's going in - I shove and he calls off with TT, no help. My last 3bbs goes in with KQo vs A3o and again no help, so I'm sent to the rail within 2hrs of day 2.

Thanks to all my backers and well played to all those who made the money from the NPF.

UKIPT day 1

Got a mention on the Pokerstars UKIPT blog:

"A special mention should go out to William Poulsen who made our call of the day with queen-high on a A♦3♣4♣4♥4♦ board after Alan Corrigan tried to bluff the river. Poulsen made Day 2 and will be a player that we'll be keeping an eye on."



"William Poulsen, the bluff catcher"



Finished day 1 with 33.3k (about average for day 1a). Day 2 starts in 3 hours, blinds at 400/800/100 and 1 hour levels all the way through, so plenty to work with :)

Bet your all wondering if your gunna get nit-rolled here? Will 'dapperdan' Poulsen playin a £550 LIVE event?? Have they stopped holdin $26f's on tilt??

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Official nit-roll:



To cut a long story short I've been thinking for some time about takin a live shot and what better oppurtunity than the UKIPT comin right to my doorstep?

So I've decided to prepare by playin as much live poker as possible b4 Thursday 16th June when I'll be playing day 1a. The things I want to focus on over the next cupl of weeks are mainly learning to judge peoples stack sizes without having to ask! As well as remembering what has gone into the pot before the action is back on me so I don't have to try and count it.

If I can get a handle on that and generally get a bit more comfortable in a live setting, I will feel ready to take on this 4 day marathon, the biggest BI trny I've ever played.

Watch this space for an update on how the prep is going and then twitter (see right >>) for live updates from 16th June 2pm. GL :)

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!! $6k GTD shipped :D

1st 4 figure score in what feels like ages and to top it off it was a 1st :D GET IINNNNN!!!

All Change

Hi all,

In the world of Pokerz:

• Online poker banned in USA - Although I feel sympathetic to the large amount of grinders out there who’ve had their livelihoods taken from them, a part of me is pleased to see those regs leave my tables. Selfish I know, but poker never was the most altruistic game.

There’s a lot of debate about whether this will make the games softer or not, but I don’t read too much into the speculation personally. As far as I’m concerned the key is to analyze the differences at the tables, not on the forums. That said, my feeling so far is the games are softer if you can adjust to the wilder European style. Regs also seem easier to identify (in MTT’s) because there’s a smaller pool of them now so you can remember who they are easier (not easy while playing low volume at low-mid stakes MTT’s where fields are large).

• NPF is no more – My local poker forum (Newcastle Poker Forum) recently closed it’s doors. I’ve been a member there for about 2 years now I think and have come to know many of the regular posters both online and in person. I also recently received their ‘online player of the year award’ something I was very proud to be presented with. I don’t understand the reasons behind it personally as I’m not one to keep up with internal politics but either way it’s a shame.

On the bright side a new forum has sprung up almost immeadiately called North East Poker Forum - www.nepoker.co.uk

Despite all this I’ve been playing a bit more recently as I settle into the routine at work, I’m able to have a few late nights here and there playing mainly turbo MTT’s. No binks since I started the job over a month ago but a few near misses. I’m also completing a stake from a few players on the NPF to play 3 multi-entry MiniFTOPS events on consecutive Sundays. The stake amounted to $520 and allows me to play events: #1, #24 and the Main Event. So far I’ve played Event #1 and didn’t cash, in part thanks to losing a big pot with AK vs AQ AIPF near the bubble.

Will keep y’all updated with my MiniFTOPS results etc, GL!

Where's my head at?

I'm now 1 month into my new job and tbh I'm not sure whether it's workin out 4 me yet. Working as a 'consultant engineer' is very different to any job I've done b4 with the main difference being the level of professionalism required. Rockin up half cut or tired from a night spent online chasing 5 figure scores is just not acceptable and sumthin I just can't pull off.

It's got 2 major things goin for it tho that I wouldn't get in any other job and that's a decent salary (low varience 2) and it's the start of a career path. However these 2 things aren't necessarily what I'm after just now. Because last year I made a similar amount playing mtt's at fairly low volume compared to most pros. Secondly I'm really not sure if I'm ready for this career path thing. But that's another issue.

Other than that life's ok, I've been cycling to work and in general the structure is doing me good, as is having a garunteed amount of money in my account each month tbh.

What about poker though??? Well, I don't think I'm playing my best just now. I was reflecting last night on this after busting a 250 man $55f in 18th when I called a reg's 1.5x pot overshove on the turn with 2nd pair, 3rd kicker - he had top 2 btw. I came to the conclusion I'm suffering from self inflicted burn out. It's not so much that I've been playing daft amounts of volume or even running bad, it's basically because I've been neglecting other things and as such I'm blaming poker rather than myself.

I forsee this continuing for awhile and my play being affected too, so I need some kind of damage limitation measures in place:

1. Be aware of this attitude and it's causes.
2. Make time for the things I've neglected e.g. fitness + enjoyin the nice weather.
3. Set a monthly stop loss limit for poker from wages. To prevent any tilt snowball effects.
4. Consider giving online a break and playing solely live in preperation for UKIPT Newcastle.

In terms of number 2 I'm seeing a personal trainer on Thursday for an introductory session. If that goes well I will make the +ev investment of employing him for 6 weeks to kick start me getting back into the gym & eating right etc.

As for 3 & 4 I'm seriously considering setting a £200 stop loss per week for playing live cash games and giving online a rest. The idea would be to play £50NL a few nights a week, more on whether I decide to do this later.

Anyways I think I've made your ears bleed enuf for now if u've got this far!!! Thanks for listening and as ever your opinions are appreciated. see you on the tables soon! GL :)

Yesterday was the the NPF 3rd Anniversary trny and awards. It was a very proud moment for me as I received the award for 'online player of the year' :)

As I discussed with 'Apokerlypse' after he received his award for 'live player of the year' recognition becomes more important in poker the more you detach yourself from the money. Peronally I almost take greater satisfaction from 'bragging' about my wins to a couple of trusted mates and the online poker community than the cash itself. Which is represented by numbers on a screen that never tell the full story as they're constantly changing.

Today I also played 17 mtt's staked by 'Stumpy' on the NPF. It was decent session lasting 8 hrs but despite cashing four times I didn't manage to break even, such is poker though :)

That's all for now, will post up when I have more to say. GL.