This next bankroll challenge thing is really starting to grab my attention. In fact I am still open as to what to actually call it. What I do know is that it will start on the 1st September, It will be on Cake Poker and I will start off playing either 100NL or 200NL. I really couldnt motivate myself to play any lower than that.

I had intended to play limit holdem but after having a bad warm up I have shelved that idea. I just dont think that I could handle a bad run in a card holding contest without it effecting me mentally. The only levels in which I can play limit hold’em without getting frustrated is at 10-20 and upwards but the bankroll for that would probably start at 300BB as a minimum and that means $6000 and probably $10,000 would be needed if your edge was small enough.

The vast majority of players either havent got that kind of money or are never gonna be prepared to lose that kind of money. But 100NL is a different story and you can possibly start with as little as $1000 if you run good and accept some risk of going bust. When you factor in rakeback which on Cake Poker is an absolutely excellent 33% and sign up bonuses too then you dont have to have that much money behind you in which to speculate with.

So no limit hold’em it is then and the only thing left to be seen now is in whether or not I can actually pull this off. Firstly I know it can be done because I have done it before and I successfully did it last year or was in the process of doing it before committements forced me to jack it in.

But I dont think calling it the $100,000 challenge like I did before is right. Firstly I may not have the time to play enough in order to make 100k in a year. But I want a challenge of a different kind and I need to be doing something where my poker actually means something and isnt just playing poker for the sake of it.

Also I am thinking of making this a two year thing……..can I go from 100NL to the biggest games on the net in two years. Now that would be a goal seeing as I have never played higher than 5000NL or 25-50 in laymans terms. But I would love to play 200-400 or 300-600 or to put it into buy in terms 60,000NL…..now that would be a game.

But to play at that level requires more than just money, it requires a totally different mindset to the one that I currently have with regards the maximum amount of money that I am willing to risk…..but I really would like to turn around in two years time and say that I pulled this off……now that would be one hell of a book.

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The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at the WPT, Poker Pro, 2+2, Part Time Poker, Poker News, Blonde Poker, The Hendon Mob

This week has seen some pivotal things happen to the way that I am thinking about my poker. I am railing the high-stakes NLHE games more than I used to as I am writing reports on them for Poker News. But I have had some bad results lately in the $25-$50, so much that it has actually put me down for the last quarter.

But my poker playing is now starting to come second best to my writing and the balance that I craved a couple of years ago is now an imbalance again but this time too far the other way. To be on top of your game then you need to be playing constantly and at a level like $25-$50 then I really dont think that you can just dip in and out when you feel like it.

But as my circumstances have changed then it has become apparent that my concentration levels have dropped substantially and I really need to correct this flaw. Some of my friends who know me well think that I dont have the patience or the discipline anymore to beat lower stakes NLHE games.

So I intend to prove them wrong, you know that I have been looking to do this bankroll challenge on Cake Poker for quite some time. Well starting on the 1st September I will be starting with a bankroll of $5000 and playing 200NL and try to be playing highstakes poker within 12 months using Kelly Criterion.

I will start with 25 buy-ins and whenever I have 25 buys in for the next level which is 400NL then I will move up so I will move up at $10,000 and likewise move down at $2500. To speed this process up then I will be looking to add to my bankroll by way of rakeback payments and other gambling income but I will only do this if I am being successful.

What I want to do is to be playing hopefully 600NL within a very short space of time and 1000NL by early in the new year. But I am going to have to remain disciplined and focused at the early levels. If I try and do a Chris Ferguson and start with nothing or with a very small amount of money then it isnt going to work.I just know that I will implode at some stage through boredom.

Also playing too low will do my head in and is why I will be adding money to the bankroll in careful increments. I have had some sick beats lately despite playing well but I have been playing in a couple of games that were far higher than my bankroll allows for. This is the cardinal sin and I was duly punished and to be honest…..I am not sorry now because you need to learn lessons in poker.

But poker is about human beings and we humans are not perfect and when we fall from grace while playing poker then our bankroll falls with it. Without going into details, I have been taking shots in games that my bankroll had no right being in. I got sucked out on with a crippling river card twice which was absolutely gut wrenching but this within the confines of my bankroll would have been a mere annoyance.

But when you are stretched then the impact of flukey river cards magnifies in importance. But with Project Pokerquest being dead in the water then I am about to rekindle it……..ON MYSELF!! I was thinking about doing this on limit hold’em but I dont think that I have the stomach for low stakes limit holdem anymore to be quite frank.

Anyway I will keep you informed.

CAKE POKER…..WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME EVERY WEEK TO AVOID YOUR SAVVY OPPONENTS.

STOX POKER (www.stoxpoker.com) has the finest collection of poker coaches and videos on the web.

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at 2+2, The Hendon Mob, WPT, Part Time Poker, Blonde Poker, Poker News, Poker Pro.

Anyone who knows me knows full well that I cut my teeth playing limit hold’em online for years and especially at the lower levels. So when I started playing limit hold’em at 1-2, 2-4 and 3-6 over the past week and a half then you would have thought that I would have taken to it like a duck to water even after a few years…..not so.

I once wrote an article some time ago about the subject of higher stakes players beating low stakes games and that it wasnt always possible. Well while I am behind, I am not behind all that much. Could it be variance??? Possibly but when I do badly at something then I look at my game first and foremost as being the reason for the losses and not variance. You should only look at variance if you cannot see anything wrong and if you cannot see anything wrong then you should look again because you may not be looking hard enough.

Well it didnt take me long to flick through one of my old theory books on low stakes limit hold’em for me to realise that I hadnt been on the wrong side of variance at all but had in fact been playing badly. I have still been unlucky but I reckon that I could have broken even by playing better.

But I have been using too many high limit strategies in low stakes games simply because they have taken over my mindset. I should know better than this but how many times do we fail to do the obvious. So I have been going back to school with regards low stakes hold’em…..yeah I know. But something else that it shows is that all games at all levels play differently and if you dont identify the proper way to play then you aint going to make money its that simple.

But the lowstakes games have changed too over the years so I am going to have to adjust to that as well so we will just have to wait and see how that goes. This bankroll challenge may not happen and I am waiting for the go ahead from Cake Poker over the next week or two but if it does then September 1st sounds good. But anyway take care and stay tuned.

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STOX POKER…….ONE OF THE GREATEST COLLECTIONS OF POKER THEORISTS AND TUTORIAL VIDEOS ON THE PLANET….WWW.STOXPOKER.COM

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at 2+2, WPT, Poker Pro, Part Time Poker, Blonde Poker, Poker News, The Hendon Mob,

I have had many projects in the past and Project Pokerquest was going to be one of my all time favourites. But things dont always work out the way that you plan them and so this is something else that has bit the dust and with it the subsequent book deal.

But my new sponsorship with Cake Poker is demanding far more of my time and this proved to be the final nail in the coffin for PP……sad but something that had to be done. At least I can take solace in the fact that the people who were involved have dramatically improved their poker knowledge as a result of working with me so I can rest easy on that score.

Speaking of projects, have been playing some low-stakes limit games on Cake Poker this week and things havent been going well. I am losing slightly but I cant seem to get a grip on the games although the variance in limit can be murderous. I am doing this in preparation for another bankroll challenge. My sponsor hasn’t agreed to this yet and I have been trying to ween my way off limit hold’em so am not overly sure if its going to happen.

But I am putting a lot of effort into making this deal with Cake Poker work and so other things have had to be chopped. Speaking of chopping things, regular readers of the WPT magazine who read my piece on SNG’s will be disappointed as this is getting chopped also.

Its getting difficult after a year of doing this to write a 3500 word article on something that is only 45 minutes long. So there are changes afoot these days.

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The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at 2+2, The Hendon Mob, Blonde Poker, Poker News, Poker Pro, WPT and Part Time Poker.

After my good win the other day then I might have known that I would have done my brains in…..so bad in fact I actually didnt want to write about it. But its a long time since I had a deck like that and $21k went winging across the table last night…..my head was spinning by the beats. Every time bar one I get some dummy to try and push me from the bees knees and they hit some hand against me…..runner runner trips, flush, backdoor boat you name it.

Sick the way poker goes sometimes. Meanwhile back on planet earth, I have been playing several tables at lowstakes limit games on Cake Poker in preparation for what may be another bankroll assault and I havent been doing well. Spewing too much money post-flop……lesson number one……dont mix your games because you can find that it can take you a while to mentally shift from playing high stakes NLHE to low stakes limit.

Well the football season is almost upon us and I have been having withdrawel symptoms since the end of Euro 2008. Who will win the league? Man Utd or Chelsea…….what a surprise….who else is good enough? Arsenal got close last season so they have a chance but I feel that they need a couple of players and Liverpool are not there yet.

CAKE POKER……THE POKER SITE WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR IDENTITY EVERY WEEK AND OUT FOX YOUR NOTE TAKING OPPONENTS……LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!!

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at 2+2, The Hendon Mob, Part Time Poker, Blonde Poker, WPT, Poker Pro and Poker News

Had a good win at NLHE on Sunday with a little over $10k during a very nice session of around an hour and a half. Felt weird to be play 25-50 again after a while and it took me some time to find my feet but I sure as hell did run good but I aint complaining.

For anyone who has been following Project Pokerquest then it is a non starter. Most of the people failed to match the criteria that I was looking for and one of them has dropped out due to personal problems. This leaves just one person left who I am helping independently and it would be incorrect to call this PP because that was all about taking a series of players and trying to turn them into highstakes players.

I have many such dreams and projects like this and I sometimes wonder that keeping them in my head should be where they should stay and remain because they sure as hell dont work in theory.

I am really enjoying working with Cake Poker and the professionalism of the people there has really surprised me. You may have noticed a few new adverts today and also some of the parts of the site that are not working properly. We are in the process of transferring things across to the blog which should hopefully make the site better for the viewers and also for us.

So take care for now and see you all soon

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at 2+2, Poker Pro, The Hendon Mob, WPT, Poker News, Part Time Poker and Blonde Poker.

The 1st of August represents a new month and it also represents something else that is also new……my sponsor. I am no longer sponsored by Pokerheaven and am now sponsored by Cake Poker. What this means is that the bankroll challenge has been put on hold again as regular readers will recall that I was going to try and do a “Chris Ferguson” although he started from nothing and I really dont think that I have the mental fortutude for that.

But anyway, things change quickly in my world and what may be happening one day isnt the next. But one of the great features of Cake Poker is that it allows players to change their screen name every week. Now I believe that this is a fantastic feature that should be promoted as much as possible.

I have championed the cause of being able to conceal your identity online in the past and especially now that we have so many people using tracking software. Dont get me wrong here, I use these items myself in various capacities and being that I coach people then players come to me with PT data that needs to be analysed so I must know how to operate it and interpret the data.

But maybe I am just old fashioned but I believe that poker should be a gladatorial contest and not down to who has the biggest hard drive or the best software or who can understand it the best. But I am very excited to be associated with a poker room like Cake Poker and am really looking forward to working with them.

I know that there are millions of players out there who either do not use tracking software or are put off by it or fear it……well Cake Poker is the answer. If you are one of those players who gets your edge by using such software, then I really feel that it is in your best interests to prove to yourself that you can beat the game without using it as well.

If there is one thing that is certain in the poker world and this is that things change and sometimes very quickly. There really is no telling just how effective tracking software will remain in the future and even if sites will continue to allow it. I never like putting all my eggs into one basket and I wouldnt like to depend on it too much……but thats just me.

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can also be seen at 2+2, The Hendon Mob, Part Time Poker, Blonde Poker, Poker Pro, WPT and Poker News

There are a few things that happen to you in life that make you feel really honoured and one such thing happened to be yesterday. I was invited to become a member of the world famous “Stox Poker” coaching team which is one of the greatest honours that has happened to me in poker since I started.

I dont rank achievements or money won because that is merely down to my own efforts and hard work but it really is a great honour when other people recognise you. But the tutors on that team are some of the best poker theoreticians in the world, people like Bryce Paradis, Collin Moshman, Nick Grudzien to name but a few.

It really is such an honour to be compared with these people and asked to join them. In the same way that I was asked to compile high limit theory for 2+2 a few weeks back which goes alongside theory from non other than David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth of all people……need I say more.

The bad news is that I had to turn the offer down for numerous reasons. The main one is that I have tried to make promotional videos before and they are a lot harder than what they look. Talking constantly for 30-40 minutes isnt easy or at least it wasnt for me. Plus my broad northern accent didnt sound too well either and was why I removed my videos from Youtube…..they just sounded so duff and I am not a fluid and snappy talker.

Presentation is everything with these things and I was really sorry to have to turn this down. Speaking of turning things down, this was not all that I was forced to turn down this week. The world famous Gamblers Book Shop in Las Vegas requested an interview with me about my new book on Roulette called “Killer Roulette”. This book is pretty explosive as it delves into the seedier side of the game and cheating and advantage play…..not to mention downright theft.

In fairness to some of the people who were in that book who were also non too happy to be in it despite me using aliases then I declined the interview as there would have been too many questions that I would either have had to answer wrongly on purpose or declined….which wouldnt be fair to them.

But despite me turning down both offers, I still have a nice feeling today.

The Dean can be seen at 2+2, The Hendon Mob, Part Time Poker, WPT, Blonde Poker, Poker Pro, Poker News

Last night felt pretty weird, I was actually sitting next to a friend of mine, well actually he isnt quite a friend…..more of a professional acquaintance and I was watching him play high-stakes poker. I wont go into the details about the site but this guy is good. What surprised me was the fact that his game mirrored my own which I found quite disconcerting to be honest.

But talk about fearless, he made a few moves that I wouldnt have made and got stacked a couple of times but he did end the evening up by $37,000 and its a long time since I have clocked that kind of session if at all. We actually met purely by chance when I visited Dusk Till Dawn for the first time in April. Well we have swapped phone numbers and really got to know each other really well over the past few weeks and we often call each other now to discuss poker and online tactics.

He went to LV for the series a few weeks back but couldnt play in the main event as he had family committments. But I always like to stay one step ahead of everyone else and if that means getting information from wherever then I will do it. When it comes to gambling then I am a survivor and self preservation runs very deeply through my MO or at least in a financial sense.

The bottom line is that you get the money as long as it doent stray into cheating of course which I would never do even though I probably know more than most when it comes to that area. But anyway, it is proving to be a nice successful relationship and long may it continue.

The Dean is sponsored by Pokerheaven and can also be seen at WPT, 2+2, Blonde Poker, Poker Pro, Part Time Poker, Poker News and The Hendon Mob

“I only play these because my son’s birthday is on the twenty fourth”

That was the excuse put to me for why the large round portly lady in the red blouse sitting to my immediate right had just player the 4c-2d and flopped the nut straight and cracked my pocket kings. That sure as hell did not make me feel any better and before I knew what was happening, my hand was reaching into my inside pocket to gather another twenty with the words….. “buy in”….coming sharply from my mouth in the direction of the card room supervisor.

I do not know why I bother myself with these bloody small £20 re-buy tournaments. They cram the players in and there were twelve on our table alone. What made it worse was that this was the fourth time that I had been outdrawn whilst holding a powerful hand. But the initial ninety minute re-buy period was like a free for all here but I must have been perhaps the only serious cash game player who was sitting in this god damn tournament. More on Poker In the Gutter 3