Going Live

[GR1ZZL3R]

   It's five years today since I joined the community, which I wholeheartedly embraced. I've joined many fun and occasionally profitable promotions and competitions, joined chats and discussions (and the odd argument) and generally enjoyed most aspects of the community. Sadly however it seems to be fading away, overtaken by a younger snappier dressing and cooler model, but one, no matter how attractive on the surface, I can't seem to fully embrace.

   However anniversaries, mostly, are not the time for doom and gloom, and despite the seeming lack of staying power for most blogs over the years I'm going to start another, maybe the last one, hopefully not.

   My original blog was about trying to win a ticket for a live event, a Unibet UK Tour stop  "Manchester or Bust." In these days of global travel that's almost next door, but the venue wasn't really the motivator, the journey and outcome were higher priorities. It was ultimately a failure, but on the way I luckboxed a package to a live event in Dublin, not a bad compensation. It could be argued that that was won by playing poker, but it was achieved only by playing small stakes and only doing enough to enter a raffle and win, so in my book it didn't really count, great experience though it was. 

   The next step was Malta or Bust. Having never been abroad before it was a double motivation, but somehow not quite strong enough. It was a fairly successful venture in building a pile of tickets of every denomination, over quite an extensive time, but again falling at the final hurdle on more than 1 or 2 frustrating occasions. Having got the chance to go to Malta through my friend and neighbour that sadly fell apart due to unfortunate covid related reasons. However a holiday is booked with my daughter and grandson, a celebration of a milestone birthday, so when that's finally ticked off maybe I can qualify for another venue and visit it due to my own poker related activities.

   To that purpose and following some motivational prompts, thanks for those, (VH and GG) I aim to play the Unibet Live, anytime anyplace anywhere, following the satellite trail once more. I was going to start tomorrow, aiming to conclude before 12 months and my next anniversary, and I was going to start at rock bottom in the freerolls and centrolls. However I've already shifted plans somewhat, maybe not a great motivational start, but a couple of reasons why sometimes plans have to be fluid. Firstly I'd like to see what sort of XP I can build up, and I have started yet another €4 cash ticket (300 flops) so want to clear (or lose) that before I begin from zero, so the new date is April 1st. Secondly I played a freeroll the other day, just to see. That made me decide to start at the €2 level.   

   I've started rereading "The Mental Game of Poker," I found it hard going the first time and only got about a quarter of the way through. I'm also watching quite a few motivational YT clips, always did to be fair, and am also rereading "Poker Satellite Strategy" (3rd time) this time more slowly and carefully. That one I recommend. 

   To anyone still blogging, please keep them going, I read them all whether good bad or indifferent, and I only hope the community survives long enough for us to complete our challenges. 

Good Luck All.

 

   

Edited March 8, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[GR1ZZL3R]

   No poker (qualifiers) played yet but to be fair I can't wait to get started. I'm going to have to be satisfied with keeping the one cash ticket I have alive, I'm determined if I lose it then it's complete cold turkey for the rest of the month. 

   It might be a combination of things urging me to start again but one of them is the mental aspect of the game. I resisted any sort of input on this part of the game for a long time, probably like some sort of addict not accepting they have a problem, "I do not have mental issues." Well they say the first step on the road to recovery is accepting that you do have a problem, so I finally, on the surface, accepted that I did, but deep down it was going to be a long struggle, was it really that bad. Some years ago, being a big fan of the writing of Tommy Angelo, "A Rubber Band Story" and "Elements of Poker" I bought "Painless Poker" thinking it would be more of the same, and was hugely disappointed after the opening when it descended into long discussions of the mental side of poker, I ended up not finishing it. Probably four years ago I bought "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler, after reading some articles about him and seeing his name touted elsewhere, but I never really got into it. Well second time around, maybe because I'm embracing the concept more, I'm thinking I should really have gone down this road a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... 

   I'm a mental game fish. There is a list of 17 signs that you may be a mental game fish, I ticked twelve. A long way to go. I'll take it steady, three weeks to read and digest, even reread and read more. 

Good Luck All.

 

 

 

[SShcherbyna]

12 minutes ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

There is a list of 17 signs that you may be a mental game fis

Interesting. Could you post this list? I wonder what percentage I am a mental fish. 🐠

Edited March 9, 2023 by SShcherbyna

[GR1ZZL3R]

Mental game fish checklist. 

 

Just for the record I ticked 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17. Some of the others I'm not sure about but one or two could possibly apply to some extent. Depressing isn't it?

 

[SShcherbyna]

20 hours ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

Sadly however it seems to be fading away, overtaken by a younger snappier dressing and cooler model, but one, no matter how attractive on the surface, I can't seem to fully embrace.

I also thought at first that "young attractive model" might hit the forum community hard. But now I have a different opinion. That "young attractive model" is not at all suitable for blogs and long discussions or discussions, but for communication in live mode it is the best option. Therefore, in my opinion, these two platforms do not compete, but complement each other.
And quite by chance, perhaps in order to make it easier for you to accept the "young attractive model", there appeared an emoji that is incredibly similar to your avatar.

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by SShcherbyna

[SShcherbyna]

22 minutes ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

Just for the record I ticked 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17. 

3,9,14,17(this option is more like fun). I'm almost a quarter of a fish, there's a lot to work on. 🐠

25 minutes ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

Depressing isn't it?

If you understand the problem, why does it bother you? It's good that you know what to work on. This should be turned into motivation. So that in a month there will be one less defect, then another, etc. 😉

[GR1ZZL3R]

I'm threequarters mental game fish so  a lot to work on but a lot of enthusiasm has returned.

43 minutes ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

Depressing isn't it?

Don't worry, it doesn't bother me, it was meant as a tongue in cheek throwaway line. 👍

[Samba]

When I first started playing again I would quit a session as soon as I was aware of a mistake I made.
It led to lots and lots of short sessions, and lots of improvement (mental game and strategy) and less big losses.

Also helps you stay present as you are reviewing your play very strictly.

Definitely not for everyone as it's a bit extreme but just throwing it out there as a way to tackle the mental game fish moves.

[GR1ZZL3R]

1 hour ago, Samba said:

When I first started playing again I would quit a session as soon as I was aware of a mistake I made.
It led to lots and lots of short sessions, and lots of improvement (mental game and strategy) and less big losses.

Also helps you stay present as you are reviewing your play very strictly.

Definitely not for everyone as it's a bit extreme but just throwing it out there as a way to tackle the mental game fish moves.

   I've done that quite often in the past, quitting before I tilt but also quitting as soon as I think I'm far enough ahead. The problem is that poker is supposed to be one long session no matter how the number or length of sessions is broken down. I was quite happy dragging the profits on a steady upward curve, booking a win day after day, but does it ever last. I've literally come off the table as the ticket disappeared in a very short order. One of the mental fish signs is "do you tell bad beat stories to anyone who will listen? and to be fair I don't think I do. I show my bad beat hands, my lucky suck outs, badly played hands and all varieties in between, but... there's still the nagging question of "Do you feel lucky?" 

   This one's just unlucky. I raised, villain went all in, I called. 

That was sandwiched by two very similar hands. 

I raised pre, bet flop turn and river and was called each time.

 

Next I raise pre, villain calls and checks flop turn and river, all of which I bet and get called. 

 

In both cases I bet aggressively, not giving either pot odds to call but both did. After both turns I'm guessing each one would probably have called a shove but my point is that they both outdrew me without the odds to do so, something I don't chase. Is that why I never outdraw others, because I won't take the wrong odds, should I draw more, am I simply unlucky or on the wrong side of variance. I don't know, and that nags at me. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[HardGain]

Looks that they are doing it all the time: call, call, call or even bomb the river. No mather how big you bet they always call it. Im sure they dont give a damn off pot odds and other things, so thinking on a higher level is obsolete. 

For sure you have to bet , if not  they are takung action, but i found out just dont know how to adjust to these stations whi wants to see the last card no matter the price

[GR1ZZL3R]

   It's still a few days to go before the new quarter and a reset, so I've been passing my time mainly by checking out the live qualifying route. I've played a few freerolls and centrolls, mainly to get a feel for them and see whether they are actually worth the time and effort. I've been so undecided between starting on the lowest rung (freerolls 🤢) or maybe at  €2 or even €10, the latter only 3 steps from a live ticket, quite appealing as the bonus points bankroll is very healthy, but ultimately I'm going for the "rags to riches" route. That means nothing but freerolls and centrolls for at least the first two weeks, the €0.40 tickets have 14 days grace on them, hopefully winning enough to move up a level after that, and I think they're going to be the ultimate cheap source of starting material. 

   I've done (for me anyway) a fair bit of research before starting, and although this is definitely going to be a slow burner I have been playing around with timings, win rates, stack size buy ins and a few more parameters. On average I reckon the €0.40 tickets in the centrolls are going to cost less than 10c each, possibly going down to 8c each or even lower, and the odd ticket won in freerolls lowering the price even further, so less than 20% of actual cost. I'm hoping once I reach the €2 and €10 levels the tickets will pay for themselves with some exchanging and once the seed money is spent  there will be no further outlay. So with all the spreadsheets set up and the schedule laid out and using some of my own "gorilla maths" (Poker Satellite Strategy) I'm going to set the target date for the end of the year, 275 days, and less than €100, but I hope to beat both these  forecasts by some way. Time isn't the issue, (except I'm getting older) nor is the hourly or bankroll, but I'm determined to play far more of these qualifiers than I have done in the past, and starting at the bottom making it a "proper" challenge. The countdown continues.      

                         

                         

Edited March 27, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[HardGain]

with your experience and time in poker world I dare to say the freerolls and centrolls are a total waste of time. There's so much value you can turn into your advantage, its a shame to let it go. 

On the other side I can understand it from a perspective of a challenge "from zero to hero", but I still think you are going backward instead of progressing and going for higher stakes. The players are bad (even they are damn lucky). 

It will be interesting to follow you anyway, I jjust have my doubts it will be still a challenge for you after a month or so. Running around the same old place over and over again is not that appealing 🙂

[GR1ZZL3R]

Thanks for the input.

    Freerolls and centrolls may be a waste of time but I see them as part of the challenge. I have €800 worth of BP's so I could but quite a few higher priced tickets but would have far less play. If I bought 3 x €250 tickets I'd have 3 chances of winning the live ticket at a cost of 50%, not very appealing to me, or a few more at €50, but that's not really the point. I only intend to stay in the freeroll/centroll streets for as short a time as possible, the same with the €0.40 and once reaching the exchanger level the tickets becoming self funding. With normal running I really hope to be playing at the €10 level within 50 days, each €10 ticket costing around €2 up till then, a big discount and, I think, a big incentive to plumb the depths. It may be really worth it or be a spectacular flop, that's the appeal of the challenge.

                                        

[GR1ZZL3R]

DAY 1 PREVIEW.

Today's the day going live begins. The decks are cleared, zero XP points, zero money in the account, 81,675 BPs, the first batch of tickets bought, and the schedule set up. I've added the 3 major centrolls played every day, thinking I might as well start a second path of play, whether I stick with them could be another matter. The intention is to start with 3 majors freerolls, three live freerolls and three live centrolls, how long for I've no idea. Actually I'm guessing 20-30 days but that could hopefully be a bit of a  conservative guess. Here's hoping.

 

                           

                           

 

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

DAY 1 UPDATE!   😭

Two hands in less than two minutes. I raise, V1 calls, shorty shoves, I call, V1 calls, I bet half stack on flop, V1 shoves, I call, easy game! 🤣

Edited April 1, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[FreedoM]

45 minutes ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

81,675 BPs = €816.75

👆 You playing Centrolls is a waste of your Time!

You don't need to play the €10 Qual but at least start at the €2 Qual, and the reason I'm saying this you have the Bankroll, and your time will be better spent.

Also if you don't feel comfortable you can invest the time you would have spent playing the Centrolls in improving your game, this will for sure help you achieve your long-term goals.

[GR1ZZL3R]

   I'm happy to see that some think i'm wasting my time playing the freerolls, especially when I have the roll (maybe not the skill) to start much higher, but that isn't really the point. My intention is to show what could possibly be done by someone on an extremely tight budget, starting at the absolute bottom. If I wanted to climb Mount Everest (I don't )  but could afford to fly a team and equipment to a ledge halfway up then it simply would not be the same challenge as starting at the base camp and working my way up to a position where I could push for the top. Time isn't the issue, bankroll isn't the issue, skill level certainly is, so I have to make it a proper challenge somehow. It is slightly different inasmuch if I got bored with the basics I could jump up some levels, but again I'm doing it as though the bankroll was a main concern, and one of the reasons for making it a challenge is so that I don't cheat, especially myself. I used to be a bit slapdash concerning stats and results (think the Trumpmeister) but am now determined to have the whole record on display. It's going to be slow going at the beginning, but the challenge is to test my mental capacity, maybe more so than anything else. 

   To be clear I do think the freerolls will be a waste of time, playing an hour or so to get a 0.40c ticket possibly only a few times a week (if that) seems to really be masochistic, I may rethink that, but the centrolls remain till I break through them. It's a challenge. 😉

[GR1ZZL3R]

   I'm not going to update tourney by tourney or even day by day, I'm guessing that would be quite boring, but the first centroll deserves some sort of recognition.

   I wasn't going to play any this first weekend but that's been the problem in the past, putting things off again and again until in the end all motivation and get up and go has got up and gone. As it happens the first centroll was at the same time as the little matter of City v Pool, but commitment is commitment, not something that can be switched off and on at will.

   City go a goal down, the centroll starts so I pause the football. The fact that there is now a first prize of a €2 ticket has slightly altered the dynamics of play, but my main aim is still to get in as late as possible, take no risks, bag a ticket and get out.

   Half time reached with a great equaliser so all to play for and I pause the action. Sixteen minutes into the centroll a few at the bottom drop out rapidly and rather than risking the tourney closing I jump in and register. Maybe I shouldn't have panicked ,there must have been 4 or 5 others doing exactly the same thing. Torn between wanting a ticket and getting back to the match I risked the first hand and thankfully won it, 1800 chips so on my way. Late reg closed, I was about 7th with only 4-5 outside the ticket zone, so very safe. Meanwhile my phone had pinged a goal alert, and around the time the bubble burst pinged again. Normally winning a ticket I'd probably be a bit too far behind in chips to make a serious attempt at 1st place for the €2 ticket, but I was quite well placed so decided to carry on. The break came and went with another ping from the phone, so were we 4-1 ahead, 4-1 behind, 2-3, 3-2, who knew. 

   I shoved a few hands after the break and won one or two uncontested, and before I knew it was heads up, about 2-1 down in chips, but still with a playable stack. A 14 minute battle later and I'd somehow won a €2 ticket on the first centroll from 100 entries, played back the match and City had won 4-1 (was it ever in doubt?)  a great start so far. 🤣 Happy Days. 🎟️

Edited April 1, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[GR1ZZL3R]

 

The thing is I'm not wanting to play so long but when you're running good don't you have to continue? The trouble is I could have stopped playing with 3,000 chips versus chip leaders, 46,000 stack and still got what I did, a 40c 🎟️

[GR1ZZL3R]

UPDATE: 2 DAYS IN

   The weekend went a bit better than expected with 6 tickets won, one of them being for €2, a nice bonus, so I can only be pleased so far. At the same time congratulations must go to Iceman who I see won a €50 flip then the €250 qualifier, slightly faster than my challenge but starting somewhat higher up the road.  I'll just keep plodding along. 🙂

           As all good battle plans or strategy campaigns ought to be fluid and adaptable I've decided to drop the freerolls, partly due to comments here, partly because they take far longer to play, partly because they don't play like satellites, so I feel sticking with the same type of tourneys is more important. I'm sticking with the centrolls though, I'm convinced they really are the base of a cheap entry point to build up from.

   As I'm only playing the three live centrolls for now, and the next level, 0.40c, don't start while the afternoon, I've going to have plenty of time to spare. Dara recommends Double or Nothings as good practice of the concepts of satellite strategy but unfortunately UB don't offer them, so I'm back to playing a little on Sky. I used to play them years ago and having played around 25 now I can see little has changed, except in one major way. They are much much tighter than they used to be. You could always expect at least one player to go out in the first level , sometimes even two, and they wouldn't usually last more than 6 levels, about half an hour. These days it seems everyone is hanging limpet like to their stack, unwilling to go to showdown in the majority of cases, and half an hour is the absolute minimum, often with 5 or even 6 players left. They are like the satellite bubbles right from level one, not really recommended for those wanting to splash around and have a bit of fun, and they won't make me rich, but I have to agree they are seriously good practice anyway.  

 

 

   Good Luck with all your grinding, no matter how long or short they may be. 🍀

 

 

I should've folded those Aces!

Edited April 3, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[GR1ZZL3R]

UPDATE 10 DAYS

   I'm fairly happy with the progress so far although being restricted to only 3 centrolls a day is pretty slow going. This is amplified as well by being too late to register in some, so missing an opportunity to grow the basic bankroll of tickets. With 30 minutes late reg I found myself watching the lobby too much and still missing an entry point here and there, so now I'm only opening the lobby with less than 6 minutes of late reg left, and if the tourney has closed due to there only being 26 left (26 🎟️ available,) then it's too bad and I've missed one. This is becoming more common recently,however I hope to be leaving the centrolls before too long anyway.  

                 

 

    The strike rate of those I am managing to get into remains high, only missing out on one, the tenth, due to ego. I was comfortably inside the prizes when I decided to punish an annoying 100% raiser on my right. I shoved a pair, he called with AT, bye bye ticket.  👋🎟️😭 The rest have been 🎟️ won without fuss. As soon as the 40c is locked up I just start shoving, not prepared to actually play up to an hour longer for the €2 prize. Buying in for smaller amounts has been working but some of the 1c tickets might expire before I use them, I was buying 100 at a time and now not using enough, I may have to play the next 3 or 4 from the start at full price, another lesson learned. 

   I've only played a few double or nothings on Sky and Party, they seem very slow these days and not a huge amount of traffic, so whether I'll ever get enough relevant data is doubtful. Now that I'm in a reasonable sort of routine the numbers might increase, but not very quickly. 

 

                   

 

    My other main focus has been largely on health., one or two other blogs have been mentioning it so I thought I'd chip in. I've never been into dieting but my daughter has inspired me hugely over the last year or so. Always struggling with her weight and trying diet after diet without great success she has finally gone for life changing rather than diet changing, with huge success. I have put weight on over the last few years and with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and exercise has been my biggest problem, so I'm going for a two pronged solution. It's more a health regime rather than dietary so I'm not counting calories, it's more that I'm simply cutting down on sugar and starch, replacing them with more plants but keeping the meat in, and while I'm never going to be a gym freak the more I watch and read the more I see walking as a solution. I've started slowly and intend to increase gradually, distance rather than speed, four days in a row now and I've lost a whole pound. 👍

   I'm tracking time, number of steps and distance covered, it's not going to take the weight off but will hopefully help my health, along with a series of stretching exercises to help with the elasticity, lost with probably ten years of busy doing nothing.

                         

  

 That's it for the time being, the next update probably after next weekend when I'm hopefully up to the second stage of the challenge and regularly walking greater distances.

Good Luck with all the challenges.

 

👍

Edited April 10, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[GR1ZZL3R]

UPDATE DAY 17   

   All screenshots and figures are yesterday's due to the small glitch suffered.  😱

   I've moved up a step on the live trail and started playing the 40c level, not spending masses of time in them by late regging and waiting for spots, a decent enough start, 3/6 won. 

 

                          

   This leaves the overall games looking ok as well.

                         

   I'm still playing the centrolls but only if I'm in  a 40c tourney while one's running, and only if I can max late reg as cheaply as possible. The aim is to leave these lower ones behind but as I've no predetermined target dates I'm not in a rush, currently only playing 2 or 3 per day. Ideally I'd play as many as there are but there's a lot of football, cricket and snooker to watch now and I try not to play while being distracted by anything else.

   I'm gradually increasing the walking programme, although I nearly abandoned it one day last week from sheer boredom. I live at the top of a hill and it's a fair walk before reaching anywhere interesting, by which time I'm ready for home. Audiobooks are the solution, so after reading many of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett I've started the series at the beginning. Time passes much more quickly but I've got one or two funny looks while shuffling along and laughing to myself. 🤣

   The averages are going up but I think 3 miles at a time could be my limit, the longer I'm walking the slower I go. 

             

 

   

[SShcherbyna]

19 hours ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

I've moved up a step on the live trail and started playing the 40c level

Things should go faster now. 

In general, I agree with the comments above, where you are recommended to start immediately with slightly higher limits. But at the same time, I myself like to "rise from scratch", even if it is not very rational from the point of view of Euros/hour, but it gives pleasure and a good mental training for bankroll management for the future.

[GR1ZZL3R]

53 minutes ago, SShcherbyna said:

In general, I agree with the comments above, where you are recommended to start immediately with slightly higher limits.

   I totally agree with all the comments about starting higher, I could have jumped in at the €10 level, but that wasn't the point. Some players won't have that option and so far I've shown that a couple of weeks in the centrolls can start a bankroll of sorts, made from 🎟️🎫.  I actually made my first cash yesterday. Forty cents might not sound like a lot but it's certainly a few centrolls, and any cash won will be subtracted from my entry fees.     

   Nine left, the minor bubble had just burst, 5 x €2 tickets left, and 4 x 40c, I was eighth. Small stack shoves, I just call, big stack to my left calls and a medium stack opposite calls. 

   I shove the flop, and big stack calls with bottom pair, you know how the rest goes! 😱

I thought it was a bad call, I wouldn't have done, I wouldn't even have been in the hand, but this is the microcosm of micro stakes,   Maybe if I'd re-shoved instead of calling the big stack would have folded, maybe not. Maybe I should have treated it as still on the bubble and even folded, maybe not. 🤔 As they used to say at the beginning of Stingray,

   The bankroll is building.🤣

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by GR1ZZL3R

[GR1ZZL3R]

UPDATE DAY 24

   "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

   

I seriously thought I was seeing double or there was a glitch in the matrix.

    Then I noticed I was sat opposite myself.

    Then I was literally beside myself. 🤓

    We both won a ticket and didn't play a single hand against each other. I suspect I know who this is/was, ( to be seen whether they're back today) not necessarily the real identity, but one particular player who I've knocked out a few times and has knocked me out a few times was noticeably missing yesterday. 

 

 

   The 40c stage is going reasonably well. I'm still only playing 2-3 per day and the odd centroll but maintaining a decent strike rate. When I say playing I mean regging as late as possible and sitting waiting patiently for opportunities. I have about 12 x 40c left, will play them over the next few days then step up to the €2.00 level. I'll then have to be careful about expiry dates as I'm on holiday in a couple of weeks, and there will definitely be even less poker (none) for 7 days, ( unless I sneak off to the casino). 😱

Keep all those challenges going. 💰