The February ride so far

Well this is for Jesus - imjeeesus, that is...he quite correctly pointed out that I hadn't updated my blog in a while. But, alas, here I am and that is all about to change.

As I mentioned in my first post, 2011 will be a lot about poker - 'the business.' I took over the management of Sharkstaking earlier this month - and it's been a fascinating ride so far. One of the first things I did when I assumed the helm, was a review of our players' performances - this led to some tough decisions. Some of our guys were simply not good enough - quite frankly, it amazes me that they were still involved in the company. Losing players are not profitable for a poker staking business - so it was time to say 'adieu' to a certain few.

At Sharkstaking, we have a relatively small but very solid group of guys who are all have the ability to produce really good results. It's my job to help get the best out of them and make sure they are confident and in the right frame of mind to play winning poker. Another fun part of the job is player recruitment and our vision is to expland the company considerably with talented and motivated sharks - cause there's a whole lotta fish out there ready to ship it.

The last couple weeks I've also been hunting down some ace coaches and recently added three NLHE MTT 'supastas;' aka 'Betgo,' 'BigDShaggyJ' and 'mlagoo.' Search any of these tournament beasts on OPR and you will see some pretty sick stats. I'm delighted to have added such a high calibre of player to our coaching staff and, in doing so, I believe it shows the ambition I have to take Sharks to the next level. So for any of you poker stars out there who want financial backing and some top notch coaching to boot, drop me a line and you too could become part of the team.

On the playing front, I've been kinda quiet until recently. I have been devoting most of my time to the site and this has obviously impacted on my playing time. The past week or two, though, I've been back on it: I took a shot at FTOPS events 1 and 2; I ran my 5k starting stack up to 25k in the PL08 $200k GTD but my dreams were soon in tatters as I lost two huge pots with AK23 and AAQ4. It was really disappointing to bust this event without even cashing. I really felt like I was going to run super deep but sometimes the cards just don't fall your way - such is life.

Since then, my focus has continued to be on MTTs. I have been hitting up some pretty big NLHE tournies; the SM, nightly $162, etc. I feel like my Hold Em game is evolving and improving all the time. I'm becoming a more creater player and think really good things will start happening soon. I've also started working with a coach and look forward to progressing even further as he helps develop my game.

My Omaha Hi-Lo playing time has been reduced somewhat. I did take a 4th place finish in one of the $22 PL08 MTTs the other night - but have barely played SNGs this year. I did put in a few thousand hands at cash the past couple days though, which was fun once I cut out the mistakes and got really focused. I need to make sure I cut out these mistakes - cause just one or two bad decisions in big pots can be the difference between posting a winning/losing session. I'll get there.

Away from the table I'm currently nursing a nasty bout of tonsillitis; literally so sick. This is prolly going to put a dampner on my weekend as I try and rest up and get my body back somewhere close to 100%. I can't wait to feel good again - I miss working out and playing sports and these are things I'm excited to get back into soon.

I've also started thinking about travel plans for 2011. Dubai and Thailand are potential lads trips; I might do some more Euro-hopping in Summer and I'm still hopeful of making an appearance in Sin City come WSOP time. Also, given my boss is based in Frankfurt, I might have a little weekend trip to Germany on the horizon. Travelling FTW in my humble opinion.

So that's all for now, folks. Time to knock myself out with some more ibuprofen. You'll be hearing from me soon - promise. Ciao.