As the Grading draws to a close, I have to say what a valuable experience it's been. I've met a lot of nice people, and learned a lot about poker and myself. I think the workshops were really great, everybody was involved, and my only complaint would be there weren’t more, as I think they got better and better as the weeks wore on and we all got to know each other.
What did surprise me was how demanding the process is. It sounds so simple when you read it on the site, but doing it all is a different matter. I've found the last three weeks really tough, things haven't been going great, and there is simply nowhere to hide. You have to get the hours in, so you just have to suck it up and play. Bad beats, cold decks, bad play, etc all have to be coped with, and quickly, as you just don't have time to take a few days off to cool off / reassess. I think I've learned a lot about my game and more importantly my weaknesses through this process, and when this is all finished I will be taking a long hard look at my cash game to see how I can improve.
As someone who was not really a cash player I have been having stabs at it at various levels on and off for years, with mixed results, but the Grading has forced me to pick a level and prove to myself I can beat it, and that was one of my main goals coming in. I feel like I did that at $0.25/0.50, even though it was a small sample - I felt I knew where I was most of the time, and now I feel like I have a firm grounding from which to move up the levels, and I feel that is an important thing for all cash players to have. I really feel my future development as a cash player has solid foundations, and I can now start to try and grind my way through the levels with money and knowledge won the hard way, and the confidence to know that short term swings are just that.
Anyway, as it all draws to a close, I'd just like to thank all my fellow Graders for a great six weeks of poker, I hope you guys and gals enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm going to miss London Live unfortunately, I'm actually gutted at having to go to Madrid for a stag do, and I think that proves what a great experience this has been. Hopefully I'll see you all at the next one, where you can count me in as dead money for the last-longers. Might have a cheeky punt on Boyles, what with all my insider knowledge…