Blog Feed: James Atkin's Poker Blog

Here is Part 3 of my look at how the top 5 SNG players stack up for the first four months of 2012 in a variety of different formats on PokerStars. This part is focused on Multi-Table SNGs. Use the link below if you missed the earlier parts in the series. Part 1 - > read more

SNG Superstars 2012 (Part 2 - STTs)

Published on 2012-05-07 10:16:00

Welcome to Part 2 of my look at how the top 5 SNG players stack up for the first four months of 2012 in a variety of different formats. This time I'll be looking at Single Table Tournaments. Use the link below if you missed Part 1. Part 1 - HUSNGS Part 2 - STTs Part 3 - MTTSNGs Whilst the Turbo 9-man STT was probably the 'original' SNG many years ago, it is gradually dying, and has been for a while. It has become somewhat of a solved game, and under the current rake structure, is barely beatab [..] > read more

SNG Superstars 2012 (Part 1)

Published on 2012-05-02 05:36:00

Approximately at this time last year I did a blog post looking at how the Sharkscope leaderboards shaped up for each category of SNG on PokerStars. I thought I would do something similar this year, taking a look at > read more

Sickest Sunday ever?! (stpauli111 wins 4 tournaments)

Published on 2012-04-30 05:50:00

Scott Hall, better known as 'stpauli111', played 32 MTTs on PokerStars yesterday. He won four of them: The $215 Sunday Supersonic for $42k The Bigger $162 for $41k A $55 Rebuy for $24k A $200 Rebuy for $23k Scott Hall Hall is an American poker player from Arizona, currently residing in Spain. He has over $2.5 million in online winnings to his name, although I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb by saying this is the first time he (or possibly anyone else for that matter) has [..] > read more

The positive side of variance!

Published on 2012-04-29 05:39:00

Variance is a funny thing. I went through 4 or 5 months of what seemed like continuous pain with no sign of reprieve. But apparently I've paid my dues, and I'm running really well recently. Overall I'm probably running to expectation, it just took 6 or 7 months to even itself out. That is why getting frustrated with the short term in poker is so futile. Don't get me wrong, I get annoyed with the short term plenty (as you'll know if you read this blog regularly!), it's just generally a waste of [..] > read more

2+2 Hacked - Advice...

Published on 2012-04-27 05:07:00

I realise this is my second blog post that isn't really a blog post, and probably isn't giving you any new information. > read more

PokerStars to purchase Full Tilt Poker?!

Published on 2012-04-24 09:45:00

A thread was posted earlier today (at > read more

Team Online?

Published on 2012-04-19 05:41:00

Not a whole lot has > read more

First Quarter Review...

Published on 2012-04-03 11:57:00

January 1st - March 31st Things have finally started to turn around after a fair few months of treading water, and March turned out to be my best month at the tables since May 2011. It > read more

Lol (live) donkaments...

Published on 2012-03-16 11:01:00

In the last couple of weeks I took a shot at a couple of big live tournaments at my local cardroom, Dusk Till Dawn. I don't really get the chance to play big live tournaments very often, as I don't like to leave my wife and kids, so took the chance to play these two that were close-by, where I can sleep at home, and I happened to go deep in both of them. First off was the £500 Monthly Deepstack that this time around drew 643 entries for a ~£320,000 prize-pool. > read more

Volume fail, TV & taking a shot

Published on 2012-03-01 16:09:00

After more than 3 weeks off since my daughter was born, I've started to wean my way back into playing on-line. I'm struggling to find an exact routine that I want to play. I feel like I need to put in more full day sessions, after relying on just morning sessions for too long. Infact I just had a look at my volume since Black Friday, and it's rather pathetic. I've only played 15,000 SNGs and 2,000 MTTs since that fateful day over 10 months ago. ~1,500 games a month average just isn't sufficient [..] > read more

My second-born...

Published on 2012-02-19 16:59:00

I haven't blogged in a while as I have been busy taking some "paternity leave" over the last couple of weeks. My wife gave birth on February 2nd, 3 days overdue, to our beautiful baby daughter Alaina Julie Atkin. I was definitely less panicked this time around than I was with my son Clark. I heard Liz get out of bed at about 4am and I mumbled something along the lines of "you aren't going into labour are you?". She said "yes". I did the natural thing that you would expect in this situation, a [..] > read more

Week 4 review - "Confidence Boost"

Published on 2012-01-31 04:44:00

January 22nd - 28th I only put in a low volume week this week in SNGs, which was a result of me dabbling in the TCOOP, and taking a bit of time off to help my wife out who is now very heavily pregnant. I had some positive TCOOP results, which I will write about in my next blog post where I am going to review how MTTs went for me in January. After what feels like months and months of running bad, I am currently running really good. Dropping down in stakes, forgetting about SNE and avoiding STTs [..] > read more

Week 3 review - "Mini-Heater"

Published on 2012-01-22 06:00:00

January 15th - 21st I ended up being quite busy this week, and I only managed to put in about 2 and a half days work so my volume was rather pathetic. I switched from playing 6, 9, 18 and 45-mans to playing 18, 45 and 180-mans. I also dropped down in stakes, avoiding the $60 18-mans that I have been doing so terribly in, and playing $15 18-mans in their place. I felt a lot more comfortable, managing the number of tables better, and being a little more sure of my ranges. It felt kind of ironic [..] > read more

Week 2 review - "Epic Fail"

Published on 2012-01-15 06:00:00

January 8th - 14th This week essentially left me break-even after rake-back of hard grind which inevitably led me to quitting my SNE chase as I have already written about. Yes this could just have been variance, and in some ways it might have seemed a melodramatic decision, but I felt like I was going to find the grind required too difficult. With the games so full of regs, and my game seemingly not at it's best, I felt like game selecting and not having to play 6-mans and 9-man SNGs, (which I [..] > read more

To SNE or not to SNE?...

Published on 2012-01-12 13:11:00

I have been in a bit of a quandary over the last couple of days. I have been going all out for Supernova Elite this year, and as I type this I am on pace with 31,700 VPPs. Unfortunately though my results have been very poor. I'm actually losing over the games I've played so far. This might not be such a concern over as short a period as 11 days, but my results have now been poor for several months. Consequently I have been unsure what direction to take. My "SNE schedule" requires me to mix 6-ma [..] > read more

Week 1 review - "Not good enough"

Published on 2012-01-08 06:00:00

January 1st - 7th This first week was pretty disheartening, only just about managing to break-even after rakeback. I don't really want to be one of those guys who works their titties off to make Supernova Elite but only breaks even. Okay, it's still a lot of money, but I don't think the hourly rate I would be earning would be enough to warrant all that hard work. The only real positive to take away from this first week is that I managed to stay ahead of SNE pace and set-up a nice steady routine [..] > read more

2011 in review...

Published on 2011-12-31 17:30:00

2011 was a very good year for me all in all. In poker, I had my most profitable year so far, and in my personal life I moved to a much nicer house, got married and found out I would become a father for the second time. However I can't help but feel, poker-wise, it could have been even better than it was. Both my results and my volume in the second half of the year were very disappointing, and I am really motivated to make up for that in 2012. There were many stages I seemed to go through in 201 [..] > read more

(Another) one on the way!

Published on 2011-12-11 07:47:00

I've been keeping this under-wraps for quite a while, but think it's about time I mentioned it to everybody! Me and my wife are expecting our second child at the end of January. I'm not quite as terrified as I was the last time around, but there are a lot considerations I have right now. How will we cope with two children? (Considering how much of a handful just one is!) How will it affect our little boy Clark? Is it realistic to attempt to go for Supernova Elite in the same year as having a ne [..] > read more

Dear Father Christmas...

Published on 2011-11-25 13:51:00

It's been a while since I updated. About a month ago I decided to move over to 45-mans and 180-mans after having my soul crushed in 18-mans. I've gradually been weaning 18-mans back in for a number of reasons. I think they are my best game I am currently #1 in the 2011 Sharkscope leaderboard for "All games $16-$35", and would like to ensure I ship the platinum star I am at almost certain I am going to pursue Supernova Elite next year, with 18-mans being the main game I plan to play. I think dip [..] > read more

24,000 SNGs in one month?!!

Published on 2011-11-08 07:43:00

I belatedly came across a prop-bet that occurred in October where SNG grinder Martin Phalaz, from the Czech Republic, had a sick task on his hands. Under his PokerStars screename 'phasE89', he had to play a massive 24,000 SNGs in one month and make a net profit (not including rakeback) during that time. The odds were 3 to 1 in his favour (if he was successful he would win 3 times his bets) To date, I myself have played 23,000 SNGs in the whole of 2011, so playing this amount of SNGs in just one [..] > read more

A change of scenery...

Published on 2011-10-31 16:38:00

The last couple of months have been the most trying of the last couple of years. This is largely because I wasn't winning, and boy can poker be stressful when you aren't winning, especially over a long period of time. It is hard to put my finger on exactly what was going wrong, and this can largely be attributed to variance, as the variance in poker gives you such problems when analysing your results over a relatively short period of time. Was I playing bad? Was I running bad? To quote Grandpa [..] > read more

Vegas Trip report!

Published on 2011-06-30 15:11:00

My apologies for the big gap in time between blog posts, I went on a bit of hiatus after my trip to Vegas, and since getting back on the online-poker grind I've been super busy. I realise there's a lot going on in the poker world right now but I thin > read more

Vegas baby!

Published on 2011-06-08 10:50:00

I haven't got much time to write a full blog post as I'm leaving in a couple of hours, but I am going to Vegas to get a taste of the World Series of Poker. I haven't been since 2007, so I am rather excited! I am actually only going out there for 5 d > read more

Vegas baby!

Published on 2011-06-08 10:50:00

May Review & Full Tilt a sinking ship?

Published on 2011-06-02 11:30:00

May Review May turned out to be my second most profitable month ever on PokerStars, despite not putting in as much volume as I would have liked. I ended up missing a solid week and a half whilst they fixed the mistakes they made with SNGs towards the > read more

May Review & Full Tilt a sinking ship?

Published on 2011-06-02 11:30:00

Session on motivation & Poker for Heroes...

Published on 2011-05-27 10:28:00

Jared Tendler posted up the full audio for our session on motivation that I wrote about in March. If you have trouble with motivation, or if specifically you are going for Supernova Elite (or are thinking of doing so in the future), I'd say it's defi > read more

Session on motivation & Poker for Heroes...

Published on 2011-05-27 10:28:00

A summary of the finalised SNG changes on PokerStars

Published on 2011-05-24 15:17:00

The PokerStars SNG changes have been finalised over the last few days. It took a couple of weeks longer than both players and site would have liked, but it's a relief that it is all finished with after two weeks of contentious debate. I'm going to t > read more

A summary of the finalised SNG changes on PokerStars

Published on 2011-05-24 15:17:00

Joey Knish...

Published on 2011-05-17 15:41:00

I thought a non-ranting-at-PokerStars-SNG-changes post was in order. I'm getting a little sick and tired of all the changes and debating, and you're probably sick of me going on about it all. Listen in As I've mentioned before, I've had a couple of s > read more

Joey Knish...

Published on 2011-05-17 15:41:00

My last post & current thoughts...

Published on 2011-05-13 17:41:00

So, Blogger (the platform this blog is published on) apparently had some major issues and had to remove any posts made in the last couple of days. Consequently my last blog post, in which I had a fair old rant at PokerStars, was removed. This mo > read more

My last post & current thoughts...

Published on 2011-05-13 17:41:00

Epic Fail Part II by PokerStars

Published on 2011-05-12 10:02:00

When PokerStars announced in February that they would be reviewing SNGs and potentially lowering rake, the worst scenario I was expecting was for there to be no real change, and everything would stay the same. I was wrong. They managed to make things > read more

Sorting it out?...

Published on 2011-05-10 07:51:00

It looks like PokerStars are responding to the uproar that has occurred because of the SNG changes that were initiated on Friday. So far the problematic increased time-banks have been reduced back to what they were in most games (most nota > read more

Sorting it out?...

Published on 2011-05-10 07:51:00

Epic fail by PokerStars: SNG Changes

Published on 2011-05-08 11:58:00

PokerStars made some big changes to SNGs over the last couple of days, announced here. By changes I mean they have fucked them up completely. For a site that is usually so good at making improvements for it's players, this is just an epic fail. A fe > read more

Epic fail by PokerStars: SNG Changes

Published on 2011-05-08 11:58:00

2nd session with Jared Tendler...

Published on 2011-05-05 12:20:00

I just finished my second session with Jared Tendler. If you don't know who Jared is, he is a very well respected mental game coach, and in our sessions so far he has been focusing on my motivational issues, as we highlighted this as one of the bigge > read more

2nd session with Jared Tendler...

Published on 2011-05-05 12:20:00

April review, $100k & EPT San Remo

Published on 2011-05-03 15:32:00

April Review By all accounts, April wasn't the best month. Although for the most part everything has turned out alright for non-Americans, Black Friday caused a fair amount of worry. Sadly, as a result of BF my hopes of gaining Supernova Elite have f > read more

April review, $100k & EPT San Remo

Published on 2011-05-03 15:32:00

Impending changes to SNGs on PokerStars

Published on 2011-04-29 03:59:00

PokerStars have released some information pertaining to the SNGs they run, following their teaser in February that they were "currently evaluating all SNG offerings, including rake". This original statement led me to write this post on SNG rake, and > read more

GG Supernova Elite

Published on 2011-04-22 15:21:00

The events of Black Friday have had a varying impact on the poker world. Obviously US Players have been the worst hit, as they currently can't play on any of the big sites. For the professionals, it must be so sick to just have your livelihood&n > read more

Black Friday

Published on 2011-04-16 03:00:00

I'm still trying to come to terms with the bombshell that occurred on 15.4.2011, putting online poker in the most jeopardy it's ever been in, all in one fell swoop. Here's some links if you need to catch up on the events of Black Friday: 2+2 Th > read more

Oh shit.

Published on 2011-04-15 14:35:00

Very worrying happenings in the poker world. If you haven't seen yet: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/reuters-full-tilt-poker-pokerstars-absolute-poker-charged-illegal-gambling-1020606/index4.html > read more

Rake review on PokerStars?

Published on 2011-04-07 15:43:00

There has been a lot of speculation as to a possible reduction of SNG rake on PokerStars after this statement was made (by 'PokerStars Steve', of 2+2 Pokercast fame) upon Double or Nothing tournaments being replaced: PokerStars is currently evaluatin > read more

Quick March Review

Published on 2011-04-07 13:49:00

I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if for some reason the games are harder at the beginning of the month, but I can't seem to win for the first week or two, then I have some kind of boom switch and do very well. That has been the pattern every mon > read more

SNG Stars in 2011 so far...

Published on 2011-04-01 16:38:00

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the top 5 winners from all the different types of SNGs on PokerStars so far this year. Clearly if you notice the fourth table down you could interpret this as a thinly veiled brag post, bu > read more

Colour coding in SNGs

Published on 2011-03-25 16:15:00

I was having trouble with picking a topic to write about for a blog entry, but I have been fiddling around with my colour coding scheme on PokerStars recently and thought I would share it with you. You get 8 colours to choose from, (I do try and add > read more

#HipHopPoker

Published on 2011-03-16 15:10:00

I was having a bit of fun on Twitter the other day (clearly I don't get out much at the moment!) after Team PokerStars: Online Pro Shane 'Shaniac' Schleger came up with a 'hashtag' whereby you had to infuse poker related things into hip-hop arti > read more

Motivation...

Published on 2011-03-13 16:50:00

My apologies for leaving it longer than usual between blog entries, sometimes it's hard to find the time to write one up when you're playing so much damned poker! I've been meaning to write about the session that I had with Jared Tendler last week, > read more

Jared Tendler & February Review...

Published on 2011-03-03 14:06:00

Recently I was approached by my friend, and the editor of my old column at UK PokerNews, Barry Carter about the chance to work with mental game coach Jared Tendler. They recently co-authored the book "The Mental Game of Poker" together, and I had off > read more

'azntracker' becomes quickest to achieve Supernova Elite

Published on 2011-03-01 05:00:00

Andrew 'azntracker' Li has become the fastest person to attain Supernova Elite status on PokerStars, after taking just 59 days to accumulate 1 million VPPs. By reaching this target on February 28th 2011, he broke the previous record of the 18th March > read more

Guessing game...

Published on 2011-02-22 14:13:00

In my last post I talked about how I was going to not look at my results, and I have definitely seen some benefits from this over the last week or so. I am getting much less stressed about how the games are going during play. If I'm going throug > read more

No peeking!

Published on 2011-02-17 03:50:00

After receiving a little deserved abuse from SNG whizzes Nick Rainey and PortlyPig for being too concerned with my short-term results, as I was in my last blog post, I have decided to take some affirmative action. I have always been p > read more

Getting destroyed right now...

Published on 2011-02-15 15:35:00

Well February so far has pretty much sucked. My 5th losing day out of the last 6 days has put paid to any profit I made in SNGs at the beginning of them month. Prolonged downswings like this are frustrating for obvious reasons, such as losing money, > read more

Supernova 2012 & No more DoNs!

Published on 2011-02-09 14:06:00

Today I surpassed the 100,000 VPP mark, and in doing so I locked up Supernova status until the end of February 2012. So even if this all goes tits up, at least I've got Supernova secure for the next year. It's kinda cool to have achieved something it > read more

Wrestling to stay on pace...

Published on 2011-02-03 05:42:00

I fell off Supernova Elite pace last week for the first time since January 3rd, largely thanks to a trip to London to go and watch the TNA Wrestling event there. It's still early days but the burn is starting to set in a little bit. I'm turning my al > read more

Pretentious, moi?

Published on 2011-01-26 00:57:00

This weekend I took my first real break from the Supernova Elite grind and went to Birmingham to watch the Aston Villa vs. Manchester City football match and have a night out on the town afterwards. It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition, almost > read more

5% complete & 1st Battle of the Planets cash...

Published on 2011-01-18 00:21:00

I think having some sort of target rather than just trying to make money here and there has had some positive effects on my poker play. It actually gives you some sense of achievement. Losing days in poker suck, but are of course inevitable. Whe > read more

___/‾‾‾‾ graph & WBCOOP

Published on 2011-01-15 00:19:00

I'm struggling a little with the emotional rollercoaster ride that is poker. A few days ago I thought I was King of SNGs, and that I was going to be rich by the end of the year. Now I feel like I've forgotten how to play the damn game! I'd love to kn > read more

Play while you're ahead...

Published on 2011-01-10 13:47:00

I have been guilty of taking the foot off the accelerator a little bit recently. In all that I've read about becoming Supernova Elite, the importance of staying ahead of pace is stressed. Although I am keeping ahead of pace, I feel I should be doing > read more

That's more like it!

Published on 2011-01-07 15:41:00

I have had a really good couple of days after that bad start. I feel a lot more confident in my game after doing a bit of study, switching it up a bit, and I seem to be doing well as a result. I also think I was trying to play too many tables the fir > read more

Ridonkulous start

Published on 2011-01-05 04:25:00

I feel like I couldn't have had a much worse start to my Supernova Elite Quest. Currently I am break even after rakeback, so have effectively worked my arse off for nothing so far. Obviously it could be worse, I could be losing even more. But it stil > read more

Going for Supernova Elite in 2011...

Published on 2011-01-03 14:49:00

I have decided to take a shot at making Supernova Elite status on PokerStars this year. This means I must make 1 million VPPs (which equates to raking a total of $181,181) this calendar year. This is a pretty hefty jump from the 100,000 VPPs I m > read more

2010 in review

Published on 2010-12-23 19:44:00

January I moved house at the beginning of January, and setting up the new place took up a fair amount of time, as did going through the process of installing Windows 7 on my computer! Consequently I played very little poker; only 4 days worth to > read more

Supernova Quest Completed!

Published on 2010-12-22 19:48:00

I actually completed my quest to become Supernova in 2010 in underwhelming fashion. I pretty much stopped grinding on December 7th, knowing I had it effectively locked up. I fancied playing the UKICOOP events which kind of distracted me into playing > read more

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