The life and times of a poker pro

Hey, guys. It's been a very busy couple of months...lots to update!

At the start of June I flew out to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a holiday with my girlfriend - it was our first time there and we had an amazing trip - really beautiful place.

It was great to spend some time relaxing on the beach and totally unwinding after a hectic six months online - and a nice way to celebrate my success in SCOOP. I also got to try out parasailing, which was super cool...nice warm-up for a potential sky dive sometime in the future!

Apres Mexico, it was time to head back out to Sin City. First stop was the Vdara hotel, City Centre, which was my home for 25 nights.

The first few nights were really nice as my girlfriend was there and we went shopping, had great food, went to a Cirque du Soleil show and clubbing with friends. After my girlfriend flew back to Europe, it was time to get down to the serious business of playing poker. It turned out to be a mixed Series - the tournaments were frustrating but I made up for it by doing well in the cash games.

Since I got back I have moved into a new flat in Edinburgh and got back into the swing of playing online. I also took a trip out to Zurich, where my girlfriend is now living - so it was great to spend some time out there with her. I even managed two final tables in my Sunday grind out there. Here's a pic to give you idea of how Zurich looks.

I have now started listing as a poker coach on 2+2 and anyone interested should check this out and contact me: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/187/tournament-sng-poker-coach-listings/mtt-sng-coaching-omaha-hold-em-giffordonian-1221518/

I am also selling action for my largest ever online MTT package so far - it starts Monday: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/163/staking-selling-shares-online/giffordonian-stars-com-stars-fr-one-week-package-all-action-99-97-opr-1227093/

Sunday is my birthday so I'll be celebrating with friends Saturday night and then hitting the tables Sunday afternoon.

Poker Stars SCOOP 2012

And so the annual SCOOP championships on Poker Stars reached its conclusion this past week. Although I played a relatively light schedule, it turned out to be a really successful series for me. I made two final tables - taking 5th in the $109 1r1a PLO turbo and 3rd in the $2100 NLO8 - and had a number of other deep runs.

My recent success underlines the importance of remaining positive even when things aren't going your way. I was actually in the midst of a downswing until SCOOP came around - now my MTT stats are the best they've ever been. I'm ranked inside the top 500 (from over 1 million players).

The online grind will take a back seat soon. I'm flying out to Vegas, then on to Mexico for a beach holiday with my girlfriend, before returning to LV to hit up some tournaments. It will be great to go back to one of my favourite cities in the world - but definitely need that beach time first!

I will leave you with my new MTT stats (next stop 99.99%!!!)

It feels like a good time to make a comeback on the blogging scene. 2012 has been an exciting year and a lot has been going on. At the outset of the year I set myself a lofty goal of making $100,000 - I feel like it's good to have goals to work towards and to set high standards.

January was a great month. In the space of a week I had three $6k+ MTT scores - getting 2012 off to a flying start! Bearing in mind that I sell a lot of my action, I didn't get to reap the full rewards of these profits but still enough to make it - by far - the best month of my poker career. I also had the satisfaction of knowing that I had made my friends and investors a lot of money too.

My MTT results have been improving all the time and I think that's in no small part down to the fact that I've worked really hard on my game, putting in a ton of hours playing tournaments. I've also spent a lot of time discussing hands/strategy, etc with my buddies in our Skype group. We have a select group of pro and semi-pro players, who are all working together to improve their games and it's just nice to have people to talk to and share things with as poker can be a stressful and challenging enterprise. My top five MTT results have all come in 2012 so I know I'm heading in the right direction. The next step is to have a five figure score - I know it's only a matter of time.

The tournament scene is buzzing right now, with SCOOP.fr and Winamax events on going. I'm hoping to have a great couple of months before the WSOP in June. SCOOP in May will obviously be a big deal for everyone and I'm excited to see the final schedule for it. I'm also looking to get in some good volume at the cash games tables. I played 10/20 PLO8 for the first time at the weekend and enjoyed a good session. Just gotta stay focused and disciplined and the results will keep coming :)

Next week I'm off to Nottingham for the £1m guaranteed UKIPT event. I'm looking forward to playing a big live event again - it's been a while. There's a good schedule of events so will be starting up with a turbo on Thursday night, nice warm up for Day 1C on the Friday. Hopefully I'll get a big stack going and go on a hot streak.

That's it for now. Ciao folks.