GR1ZZL3R

After weeks days hours a couple of minutes negotiations with a deep undercover contact in the back office, henceforth to be known only as S, the X-Files, those highly prized personal statistics, were released. The negotiations were all about how this extremely sensitive information would be used, the files falling into the wrong hands could be disastrous, not only on a personal level but for the very foundations of the Microverse. Well, maybe a bit of exaggeration there but it could severely bruise a sensitive soul's ego, especially someone masquerading under the assumption that they might, maybe, possibly could be a winning player, however unlikely that seems. The file came as bare figures, a quick perusal and hope surged briefly as some weeks showed some good gains. However it soon became apparent as the totals were transferred onto an excel sheet and a graph showed a baseline only going one way, that harsh reality was beginning to bite, and each new row brought more unanswered questions. Could it really be that bad, was I really a wreck of a rec, why is a best run ever immediately followed by a worse run ever, and if I put my right sock on first instead of the left could it really change my luck? For four glorious weeks I was making profit, admittedly on a very small sample size, but who cares when you're winning? But then the downturn hit, and hit hard, and despite some all too brief respites the slide continued. THE GOOD... THE BAD... AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY. AND THE RUNNING TOTAL Not a pretty sight, the figures for €10 don't look much different but I'll come back to those much later, and it's hard to find anything positive to say. Except... I can win sometimes. My worst losing week was €45 but my best winning week was exactly the same, and it's only €300 and I've made far more than that back on the few lucky tourneys I've somehow managed to cash, despite that formula not being my favourite. Anyway that's all irrelevant, it turns out I'm losing about 4.33 BB/100, by no means as bad as some, but I don't want to be not as bad as some, I'd prefer to win. There was one period in 2023 where I went 15 weeks without playing a single hand of poker, after a sustained bout of getting my Aces cracked 43 times in a row (what's the record for this sort of claim anyway?) That maybe a slight exaggeration but sometimes that is what it truly feels like, a dread of turning up to play and the first big pot your flopped set gets beaten by runner runner flush, your KK is out flopped by 22, your flopped OESD and nut FD never ever gets there, and the bank roll just withers and dies. All these years playing poker and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the basics, but undoubtedly my biggest drawback is on the mental side of things. When things go well everything is sunny and rosy in the garden, but when I'm running bad, or more precisely everyone else on the table is running good, then the demons force their way in and compound the misery. To become a winning poker player, over a reasonable sample size, no matter how small the stakes, my mental habits have to change. I've known this for a few years now but never really done anything about it, a swift reading of didn't really help basically because I didn't take it in properly and never really tried to put any of it into practice. Also being a big fan of Tommy Angelo I'd bought his "Elements of Poker" and "A Rubber Band Story" both highly recommended, so eagerly looked forward to the publication of his latest, I was disappointed but the fault was entirely mine, the subject matter was not what I was expecting or wanted. Going back to revisit it however I found it had somehow disappeared off my Playbooks app, so I contacted Tommy and explained the situation. Almost immediately he sent me another copy and also a copy of asking only that I might review his books on Amazon, which of course I was happy to do. Top man that Tommy. ❤️ So that's my reading list for a while, in an effort to get the mental game back into some sort of working order. Sadly neglected though it has been I still have hope some of it may be recovered. I'm not one for setting targets, they tend to be harder than first imagined leading to disappointment and neglect, or maybe too easy leaving to undeserved feelings of achievement, but this exercise has led to a somewhat obvious target for the time being, namely win €300 at NLHE €4 cash games. The time frame is unspecified but seeing as I've lost that amount over four and a bit years and this is a Blogger of the Year thread I suppose by the end of the year if I'm not in the black I'll have to consider it a failure. Here's hoping Tommy and Jared can help to finally turn things around. And as I write and click around Tommy's website a new article has appeared. It may be fate, I'd better start now. 🤔 🍻

Ow do. 👋 The jet washing is more or less complete but my grandson wants his gear back so minor parts will have to wait a while. One more tip, when it's windy try to avoid standing downwind while spraying. One thing that really pleased me, though I thought the Fuchsias had not survived the winter I spotted this. A touch of green has appeared. Actually I was focusing too much on the minutiae and not on the whole picture, zooming out revealed it was even better. Cut all the deadwood out (like 93o and 82o) and prune it back a bit with a little trim here and there (along with my pre flop ranges) and it may well become a feature along with the Scarborough Lillies that are all being repotted today. As for the poker, I haven't played any more this week but managed to get my playing stats from as far back as possible. I'm working on converting the data to some sort of graph, which to be honest is going to look pretty bad, (probably even worse than even my most pessimistic guess) but I've already decided to embrace the negatives and make them part of the future positives, so a busy weekend ahead, digging both through the dirt and the data. It could get messy. 🤓 A'hll si'thee. 👋

Ey up. I thought ours was a very nice pissmobile, except it wasn't very mobile. 😀 Maybe size does matter. 😉 In those days the site was privately owned, by a typical tight fisted unwilling to spend grumpy old Yorkshireman (reminds me vaguely of someone 🤔.) I've read a few reviews just now, some not very flattering and it both amazes and saddens me how the site has changed, much larger and far more facilities but seemingly a little dilapidated and below par for cleanliness etc. As it happens Mum bought a proper static after two or three years of mobile holidays with her second husband, firstly in a "proper" caravan then a mobile camper, a Winnebago, I don't have any original photos of that, it's sad how many photos get lost over the years, but this is a 1976 version which I drove and would do so again today given the chance. My mates and I had 2 distinct great adventures in that, but once started the memories come flooding back and there are just so many tangents I could go off on. Anyway Mum eventually put her foot down after a close call by the roadside involving a flat tyre, deciding touring was not the life for her, so statics were decided on as a viable compromise. Nearly every site on the east coast of Yorkshire was checked before Sand-Le-Mere was settled on, a plot next to the duck pond (fishing lake) becoming available probably sealing the deal. Mum not being one for half measures chose a static that had everything going and about 3 years later another plot next to it came up and she bought another. These were strictly for family and close friends use, privately owned and not hired out as many were and I do remember many happy family times there, with aunts and uncles and various cousins in one and us in the other, most major holidays and some long weekends or even weeks spent there. I'm finishing each thread with a teaser for the next but somehow diversions crop up and another memory seems to hit the override button. I love a long read, that probably being my favourite hobby or pastime, but it seems these days attention spans are becoming noticeably shorter and shorter, so not knowing when to stop once I get started is going to take some trial and error, therefore I'll wrap up for now with some basic poker stuff. Having had a rough couple of days on the tables(mostly self inflicted) I once again (how many times now?) decided to go back to one at a time. One single ticket, one single table, no topping up, survive or die. I had a steady time of it, over €10 on the ticket, only 7 flops to see and I still somehow managed to blow it, losing a buy in (self inflicted bad bluff) before cashing out. Will I ever learn? This and other pressing issues will (maybe) addressed tomorrow. Ta-ra for a bit. 👋

If a picture paints a thousand words...

GREAT EXPECTATIONS I was going to say it all started with Red Rum, one of the most famous names in British horse racing, but thinking back it actually started a few years earlier. My mum had a caravan, in reality a fixed almost bungalow sized static caravan, right on the edge of the duck pond, at an almost exotic sounding little place on the coast of East Yorkshire, called Sand-Le-Mere. Many happy family holidays were spent there, and exploring the small villages and smaller pubs were part of the adventures. I wasn't old enough to drink alcohol legally but there were many a blind eye turned, that was all part of the charm Apparently one of the local pubs had been built with the proceeds of a terrific gamble on the Grand National and named after the horse. Whether all that was part of the local tourist trade build up or some flight of fancy I don't know, but over an hour's online search has not confirmed my memories, (we didn't have Google back in those days.) However it was a nice story, despite not knowing what gambling or the Grand National were, that's stuck with me all these years. My introduction to the actual Grand National was in 1967, the year of Foinavon, quite an eventful race for my first foray into gambling. I'd backed Bob-A-Job, Leedsy and one more I simply can't remember, despite looking through the list of runners, and thought it was so unfair that mine didn't win, little realising how unfair gambling could be. Anyway it was a few years later before I picked my first winner, 1974 and Red Rum's second victory. It would be nice to say I backed him every time he won but it was not to be. Because he'd won for a second year and provided me with my first ever win on the horses (it was simply a once a year plunge) I had to back him again the next year going for the record but his second place wasn't quite good enough. I did however always bet each way, two bob at a time in old money, so it wasn't a disaster monetary wise however much it felt like it was. I abandoned Rummy the next year and wasn't on his side the one after where he of course won again for the record third time, what a horse. I've been reasonably lucky over the years in the National, many years picking horses because of a name or colour or even something else. Aldaniti in 1981, because he'd survived a career threatening injury and his jockey Bob Champion had survived cancer, if in doubt go for the most appealing back story. 😀 Corbiere two years later because I'd seen the trainer Jenny Pitman interviewed and knew she was attempting to be the first female trainer to win the race, always look for the best headline generating story. Since then I've moved on to less fanciful ways of picking winners, but there have been some great memories. Looking back purely at the winners over the years if I'd only backed that one horse each time I'd have made a decent profit, but some of those winners weren't my first choice. I always backed 3, all each way, sometimes more than two bob, 🤣 and although I haven't done the calculations, some I can't even remember the names, I'm sure I'm a loser overall. 🥲 It wasn't until 1987 that I branched out from the National and became a more regular punter, Reference Point in the Derby being the catalyst. I won on that race, my first ever bet on anything but the National. Top trainer, top jockey, top horse, favourite, gambling was easy wasn't it, but the great expectations of fame and fortune somehow never quite materialised. For what it's worth and for whatever reason I've picked them, these are the three I'm on today. 10 Mahler Mission 15.00 22 Adamantly Chosen 51.00 25 Limerick Lace 11.00 Good Luck whatever your fancy. 🍀🏇 Next time: "Just back the favourite"

Two reasons for a slight change of plans. The first was that I bought another ticket on Wednesday after completing the second, and despite all the warning signs, tiredness, lack of concentration, not really bothered about playing more, I proceeded to blast it off in a totally A1 Rec Whale manner and killed it pretty quickly. I could say I ran badly, I did, but that is a pretty poor excuse, I could have stopped at any time but the red mist and obstinacy took over. I've said it before but it bears repeating, I think my mental game is by far my biggest worry, so more steps need to be taken as a priority. The weekend off might help a bit, as other parts of the blog will come into focus. The second reason for a break was that my daughter has a pressure washer she thought I couldn't use because I have no outside tap, but a quick scan of Amazon (other suppliers are available) for the correct connector came up with an answer, only a fiver, as I have a washing machine plumbed in in the porch. Who knew that certain types of plastic are not frost resistant and, a bit like me, are prone to crack under pressure? Not quite finished yet but a good day's work. 2024-04-12 10-07-44.mp4 Mr and Mrs came visiting, I think the same ones from last year. Mr shot off before I could snap him but Mrs enjoyed some worms I'd uncovered. And if your grandson offers some advice based on his experiences, such as "You'll need some Wellies," then listen and take it. Tomorrow is Grand National day, so as promised, hopefully, "Great Expectations" will begin.

2024-04-12 09-52-02.mp4 As mentioned elsewhere Unibet is the only log in where the back space causes the last 2 characters to be scrubbed. Mac mini with Magic Keyboard. 09:53 UK time.

Second ticket finished. (I'm dismissing the first ticket but it's sad demise is included in the stats 🥲) This one was a touch disappointing after a good start, the dreaded downswing looked about to get into operation, who knows whether it will continue. Only €7.65 made over roughly the same time and number of hands, but at least I pulled back from the brink and profit is profit. 😬 Twelve winning periods in a row before a big stumble, doing nothing different but variance can be a b*tch when it grabs hold. Session fifteen was very short, a swift termination as soon as profit was hit, just to start the line back upwards. 🥴 The last 13 flops were seen in the early hours of this morning, not a time I usually play. Nearly 04:00 UK time but I was having one of those not getting back to sleep periods so decided to get up. There were only 12 on the €4 tables and some forbidding looking big stacks, but I managed to sit on 3 tables and begin. I'd only played for a few minutes and got no reads on all unfamiliar names, but after a pretty bad morning stint I pulled some good hands, two biggies in a row on the same table. 2024-04-10 05-14-06.mp4 At that stage I only need one more flop, provided by an AA deal and losing half a stack to a short stacker flopping a set of fours, so that was me done and time to quit. 😒 I haven't room for complaints really, I've had my share of run good recently, I'm just hoping for a bit more. As mentioned the morning shift was not very good but it did show a very rare situation. Someone was running far better than I usually do! I lost half a stack to a straight flush to a new short stacked arrival. Less than 10 minutes later the same player really cooled off someone else that had been running well, how quickly things can change. Ouch! That's me up to date for the time being, I'll start the third run today and tomorrow go back some distance into the mists of time and give some idea of how it all began. Great expectations. 🍻

But the point is that you've shown 3 hands where someone has got lucky in a very short space of time, and not 15 all ins with "trash" spread out over 90 hands, and then villain leaving with big profits. Did that actually happen, or as in many instances I've seen, villain gets lucky very quickly then leaves, or even settles down with a bigger stack to play "correct" poker. If you can show more over an extended period that would be more valid, as in many of these cases sample size can be hugely significant or totally meaningless. I suggest 3 hands in 5 minutes is the latter. I'm by no means knocking your suspicions but a lot more info would help.

Why would someone go all in 15 times in a row and win "only" 9 out of 15. iI he knew what was going to win the hand he would have only gone all in 9 times in those 15 hands. All in 15 times in a row suggests incompetence, drunkenness, couldn't care less attitude, or similar, unlikely to be anything sinister. 🤔

I saw the JJ hand yesterday morning ( I wasn't the villain) and guessed from the alias it might be you ( I won't reveal it here as you haven't ) but I don't think I played a hand against you. I was having just as bad a time on 2 other tables, (my first bad session) and it's times like this that are going to sort out the mentally strong from the weak ( my main problem in this game.) Remember what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so back today and carry on regardless. 🍀

You too can have a garden like mine. All it takes is a lack of desire, no forethought planning or work, and sheer laziness. BEFORE AFTER 2024-04-04 20-23-01.mp4 A lot of work to be done.

That's what I figured Yoda! 💯

So we find ourselves at DAY #5 already, it really doesn't seem 2 minutes since the start of this blog, but doesn't time fly when you're having fun? An update and a few stats. The first ticket was completed without too much drama but I did find myself having to rein in on a couple of occasions, something I've not done too well in the past, which has led to more heartache and self recrimination than I care to discuss. However... Cash in the bank 💵 is always nice, 2nd ticket starts tomorrow. Basically after the first moments of madness I've settled into what I feel most comfortable at, 3 tables with all the replayers stacked on top of each other, taking up all of one screen. I don't want to bore anyone with too many stats, I've only played a tiny amount so far and what there are are fairly irrelevant but I do want to pose the odd question here and there, so here goes. To be fair I don't always want to wade through figures and sometimes prefer a pictorial representation, so both together. But, as you may see from the graph, after a few sessions of 1 hour I started going into what I call "The Lockdown Mode." Session 6 I loaded three tables, won an all in very quickly, won another smaller stack almost immediately, decided things could only get worse and decided to skip out and "protect" my profits. Similar situations happened the next few sessions, ( I was running pretty hot 🥵 ) a couple later in the same day and some the next day. Now I know poker should be regarded as one long session, it makes no difference whether you play 10 sessions of 100 hands or one of 1,000 hands, but it's hard to shift from my mind that some players target you immediately if you've bad beaten them or even outplayed them. If they're raising every hand after, 3 betting you all the time, and generally being loose and aggressive I know I should stay and fight, possibly a good situation to make more money, but I don't want them to get lucky. It's the fight or flight kicking in but too often I've stayed and fought and left with my tail between my legs, 3 or 4 buy ins down when I've been 2 or 3 up. I also get too defensive if I'm ahead but determined to see out the hour of the time I've allowed, and also don't want to play very deep stacks, so end up running for cover or playing sub optimally. The big takeaway is that the more you play the more you see how a good mental approach can be so vital, I may be getting there but it's a long hard slow process. So that's it for the time being, I'm going to venture out into the garden now, not a pretty sight at the moment, and update that project next. Have Fun Coming next. Did it survive the move and winter or is it just sleeping?

Let's face it Hardgain, me and the rest face a pretty stiff task competing with an X factor style back story, adventures in Vegas Prague Montreal et al, and an Ayahuasca ceremony. It's already looking like a great read so I suggest Stubbe opens the competition to 4 finalist places and awards the winner right now.

I checked back for exactly the reasons stated.

Well, how often do you go into a new project with high hopes, enthusiasm, optimism, a keenness to get off to a good start? Yes, me too, but I made some horrible rookie mistakes and paid the price. I was dithering about still trying to decide how to approach this, I was hungry and annoyed to be running behind schedule, even after planning for the last couple of weeks, so knowing I was going to play at least an hour I dived in and bought one €4 cash ticket. Yeah, pretty dumb, no choice of table to pick and no topping up if getting off to a bad start. Which it did. Eleven minutes, 23 hands, only the second flop I'd seen and a very badly judged attempt at a bluff saw ticket #1 bite the dust. When will I ever learn? (There's a song in there somewhere, surely.) I calmed down and did what I should have from the start and bought a €20 ticket. Intending to play 3 tables, my comfort zone, I can open 5 tables (pressing the sit out button immediately on the first one) then take my time picking which 3 to play and discarding the other 2. Short stacks are better, seeing limping is better, seeing stacks not topped up is better, so many better choices. I can also stay topped up as the ticket gives me €8 spare to do so, also a much better choice I think. The second session, an hour, went much more sedately, no big hands, no dramas, no bad bluffs, and a couple of euros taken back. By that time I'd had enough for the day, went and made some tea and settled down for a chill. I will play, probably, 2 or 3 sessions a day but an hour at a time before a break seems sensible. The steadiness continued today and I had a good session, (I'm back in front) but I'm not going to update every day, that could get pretty boring, so the plan as it stands is to update after each ticket expires, by dying or seeing out its flops. How very dare you? 🤬 Thank you. 🙏 I used to study but these days, with it getting harder and harder and too much content to bother with I content myself with the thought that this is the Microverse. I may never beat it, I'm too old and set in my ways to be more than modestly ambitious, (€25 cash games look possible) and I do have a fairly busy life. Ten hours a day 10 tabling/and/or studying would not be my idea of fun, more like an absolute nightmare despite the amounts of money that could be won, so I'm quite happy to plod along. I'm not a fan of individual hand analysis, I get bored after 2 hours of hearing discussions of the 15 different ways it could be played and how the sims proceed, but much prefer general strategy (or tactical?) discussion. Having said all that, one hand did come up that I think poses both questions, the individual hand itself and the overall strategy. Villain had been limping most hands when suddenly the others left and one went to sleep leaving this the first hand of HU. I raised, he called, on the flop he bet his standard 1BB, I called. Then he bet 2.75BB on the turn, I "knew" he had a pair, which one I wasn't sure. Reckoning my K was good with a FD and OESD I raised, which he called. Of course with so many draws plus top pair I was never going to improve, was I? He checked, my immediate reaction was "not top pair!" Question: Should I bet for value thinking he has little to nothing, or is this turning my hand into a bluff. I haven't seen many showdowns from him but am convinced he would have bet anything decent, giving up leading with his small pair because of my raise. I'll be interested to hear any thoughts, especially why or why not? Thanks for reading (if you made it this far 🥂.)

At times it feels much longer but it is in fact 14 years since I started playing online poker. You'd think 14 years doing something would make anyone recognisable as a cut above the newbies, or fish, or recs, whatever's politically correct to call the newcomers these days, but sadly in my case time has not been so kind. Yes there have been some improvements, I actually call myself a winning player these days, albeit at a very small rate and amongst the lowest stakes it's possible to play at, but winning is winning. I've been a little over 6 years on Unibet, I never tracked my stats, deposited when losing and withdrew when winning, and although the figures are somewhat skewed to a small sample of mainly tournament wins, statistics don't lie, do they? A Little Housekeeping. 2024-04-01 15-11-08.mp4 The frustrating thing today, there always seems to be one, is that though I had the best intentions I'm already falling behind my schedule, loose and fluid though it is. I've not played a hand of poker today but I was playing for an unusually long time yesterday, (thin brag incoming) in the farewell to Ukranians and Bulgarians tourneys, one of which, the UAT version, I won, and cashing in the other, (brag over.) I've also started picking a few horses out here and there, posting them on YouTube, definitely NOT tipping them. That's it for now, updates as and when but hopefully regularly, and good luck all at the tables. Small update: Of course my number of hands played isn't for the full 6 years, only since the Game Lab came in, still a very small amount though.

You of all people, (VooDoo) being a poker player, should know that when looking at stats sample size does matter. Looking at one game from a full season is pathetic even by your lowly standards, when the season's over you may well gloat to your heart's content but try and grow up with the pathetic name calling, please. It makes the Premier League (note the name) far more worth watching (3 teams still in with a very real shout) than a league where your team has beaten the champions of the last 436 seasons yet still can't compete at the top.

I'm not sure if these are the same problem but they all happen while waiting for table changes. 2024-03-30 12-13-53.mp4 The gif shows at a different player, not me, but reverts to normal when the new table is set up 2024-03-30 12-20-17.mp4 Same with this one. 2024-03-30 12-23-05.mp4 And this one completely disappears, but when I've been observing other tables I think I've seen them on another player.

@Pokerist_LV Previously each buy in for cash games had to generate 300 flops to cash the ticket ( 300 for 1 x €400, 600 for 2 x €400 etc) but these were reduced to 50 flops per buy in when it was pointed out that a fair bit of rake would have to be paid to cash out the ticket when rake had already been paid to receive the bonus points, a sort of double rake. However the last level of 10 buy is was left the same at 3,000 flops for some players (my name was mentioned 🤓) who like to keep track of how many flops they've seen. I don't buy the top tier now as you can see the number of flops if you ask for a report from CS. 😬

THE FINAL FREEROLL It seems like a long time after the missions finished until the Anniversary Missions Special, 7 days, but eventually it turned up last night. There were 255 players at the off, late reg for 8 x 5min levels, dragging another 19 in. One hundred places paid, so a healthy 34.5%, as Stubbe kept saying, "Great value." Looking at those figures my main objective was to reach the money, min payout €10, not very lofty but quite possibly achievable. In the end I limped through the bubble, one winning all in being enough, and every few minutes after managing to find another winning hand, eventually... ... far better than I hoped for. I've used all the tickets gained from the missions but not kept track of how well I've done with them (not very to be fair) however I'm calling them very successful from my point of view. Fun Factor: 10/10 obviously 🥳🥳🥳