GR1ZZL3R

   👋 and thanks for the feedback. 

22 hours ago, Estzen said:

The key of improvement is progession. How would you answer this question: 

What is the difference between you playng poker right now vs one year ago? 

   I think there's been a lot of differences in the last year but I'll restrict it to what I feel is the main one. "Tight is right" is the mantra you hear all over the place but I got sick and tired of playing tighter and tighter and still losing. I had a "Eureka" moment when I realised it was not being tighter and tighter that harmed my game but the way I played the few hands I did. At one stage I was down to playing less than 10% of hands but still losing. Not playing a hand for 20 minutes and then getting stacked with KK was not because I was not tight enough, it was because I wouldn't lay down KK under any circumstances, even the worst possible run outs imaginable and the most aggressive betting against me. A widening of my pre flop raising, indeed a tightening of 3 bet calling, especially OOP, but basically trying to get to the flop in the most favourable circumstances, HU, in position and with the betting lead. A huge change. 

22 hours ago, Estzen said:

As right of right now, having a losing winrate its comforting to see that you are about €200 euros in with BP+money.

   It just happens to be what it is, you're right that to a losing player br management is meaningless, 1,000 buy ins wouldn't be enough in the long run. I happen to have +25 buy ins right now for €4 but if I lost it all today* I could top up and go again. The BP's are a reserve now to be used for special events, maybe community stuff.

22 hours ago, Estzen said:

Btw, proabably feels really shity to get 10buyins a win and then see it all going away.

   It does.🥴

   I've ditched the blind hope but the validation (graphs, win rates etc) are on the back burner, at least in the short term. What does anyone think about watching their bankroll, how often does anyone check or update? I've played 2 days without checking flops, hands played or profit and loss, (except for a vague feeling, only clocking time spent) intending to ask for my stats on a weekly basis when everything will be updated.

   * Maybe back in the bad old days (last month.). I've played today nearly 2 hours, about 60BBs up after 20 minutes. That's usually enough for me to call time and lock up a win but the new me decided to carry on. Ten minutes later I was back to moaning, after 3 quick suckouts.  "I knew I should have stopped, how could that moron call with 3rd pair then hit his second pair on the river? This always happens, every time, how do they hit the flop every time, why do they draw and always get there and my draws never do, it's ridiculous."  These and other rants could sometimes produce the dreaded tilt monster and lead to more and more damage, but today I was just determined to get at least an hour's play in. I guessed at this stage I was about 2 buy ins down, probably wiping out any gains made yesterday, and eventually it took nearly another hour, but (I'm guessing again) I came out with a small but significant profit. Significant not because of the size but the fact I played on and didn't tilt (much.) One session is not a sample size and there is so far to go, but what I've learned today is "It's not bound to end badly." How I react when it does could be a long chapter. 

Flop of the day.

Only a small pot won but it looked pretty. 🙂

Turn of the day  

This led to an all in by villain on my right, bet, 3bet, 4bet, shove, with a bare J. I held.  😄

River of the day.

Again not a huge pot but still pretty. I hoped he had the flush but no. 😂

🍻

   Signs of growth. 

   From a distance there seems to be a lack of progress anywhere, either in the garden or on the felt.

A distinct lack of green...

...but closer inspection provides encouragement.

Repotting some old favourites...

...cutting out the deadwood...

... and tidying up round the Rocky 2 edges.

   The first four weeks on the felt have been similarly lacking in growth, a graph swinging up and down like a demented yo-yo on steroids, after a great start, reality biting once again.

   However after a little bit of reading, yet another reset on my playing set up, (three tables and auto top up) and 2 sessions of swingless poker there's cause for encouragement. ✅

Flop of the day.

Sometimes sadly they're not biting.

 🍻

    And down to the quarter finals we go. There have been a few shocks along the way but nothing seismic, and we still have 4 former champions in the line up. 

   There hasn't really been an outstanding performance this year yet, nobody setting things alight with sustained bouts of sublime snooker, more sputtering stuttering patchy performances. Ronnie looks good at times but is prone to missing the odd shot here and there that so far haven't been punished. I expect him to continue against Stuart Bingham who beat Jack Lisowski in a comedy of errors yesterday. 

   Stephen Maguire has had a mini revival reaching the quarters here, and though not having seen much of either player this year I think Dave Gilbert might just be too good in a closely priced up match, it could be a long game. 

   I have to go with Kyren Wilson even though John Higgins came through a terrific battle with Mark Allen yesterday, actually one who I thought might go much closer this time. Higgins will never give in but I see another close encounter on the cards, another possibly long game. 

   And Judd Trump has to be the big threat to Ronnie going for yet another title. On paper he has the easiest encounter with Jack Jones, and reflecting the odds I don't realistically see him being tested. 

   I have to stick with Ronnie overall this year. He hasn't had the best of seasons and looked below par in a few events, but has won 4 titles. There's something about the majors that seems to bring out his best, concentration, tactics and ability wise. He added an 8th UK title, an 8th Masters and I wouldn't be surprised to see him add his 8th World title.  I hope there's some more gripping battles ahead.

 I've just watched an absorbing entertaining encounter between two men confronting each other, a back and forth toe to toe encounter with neither willing to back down. The tension kept building and releasing, ebbing and flowing in a tension packed encounter culminating in a final battle of wills that was at times mesmerising. 

   Full marks to Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, highly watchable. 

   I've just watched an absorbing entertaining encounter between two men confronting each other, a back and forth toe to toe encounter with neither willing to back down. The tension kept building and releasing, ebbing and flowing in a tension packed encounter culminating in a final battle of wills that was at times mesmerising. 

   Full marks to Mark Allen and John Higgins, highly watchable. 

      It was only a matter of time and who was more patient.

All this from a ten minute 30 question assessment, remarkable!

   The question is now "Is 50% enough." 😂

   I wouldn't know these days with all this data protection stuff but in the old days all the bookies in one town would certainly pass details on, of winners or scammers, to each other. 

And better than your spellin! 😂

  I wonder how long it will be before they get so desperate for me to pay £13.99 to find out my I.Q rating that they'll start offering a discount? Or tell me my I.Q. is remarkable. Or exceptional. Or astounding. Or something. 

14 hours ago, KrustyTheClown said:

I think you kinda realize yourself that this type of thinking is very bad. 
Even apart from this TT hand in particular, you should always re-evaluate when you "get new info".
It's like going broke with AA in a 3bet pot no matter what happens.
Is it a cooler or is it misplayed?

   It is bad, I agree.

   I would always take AA all the way no matter what but I am learning not to be the guy I laugh at but still do the same. 

   I open to 4BB, get called. I bet 3/4 pot on the flop, 6BB and am called. On the turn I bet 3/4 pot again and am raised, a big warning sign. Back in the bad old days I would have shoved, mostly these days I would fold, this time I called. 

   I check the river and he effectively shoves, I fold. It's a horrible looking board but I see more and more when others call, even on less dangerous boards (not me these days) villain always has it. At least my AA was only partially cracked so does not count to the 43 times in a row claim. 😀

   Villain raises 3BB, two calls including me, because he was an over active short stack and I had position. If he'd have been a reg or I was OOP I would have folded or maybe raised, depending. Villain bets 5BB (1/2 pot) on the flop, we both call. On the turn he bets 7.5 BB into 25, 2nd shortie folds and I call again, I've added a gutter to my flush draw. The river brings the flush and he only bets 10BB into 40. My reasoning for re-raising is: Villain initially liked his hand but when met with resistance both on the flop and turn he begins to be unsure. The smaller bets indicate he's got a hand but not very good now, a flush or even a straight for him and he would have shoved, so I shoved. He thought quite a while and eventually called.

   I don't know whether I played either hand well or not, I'm fairly pleased with both, but my point is the difference a few mental exercises can make. A few months ago I would have lost my stack with the Aces and done the same as the villain with the AA.

   I know it's bad when you have a short stack, others simply target you more as I do to others, so I promise only to play when I can auto top up now.

14 hours ago, KrustyTheClown said:

But the thing is also that you have only 62bb.
You've pointed it out yourself. You can't be playing scared money. Let alone even having a full BI.
Anyone not playing a 100BB stack is always an immediate target.
No matter the stakes, I think having 25BI in your account is the bare minimum if you want to take things a bit more serious 🙂
If you don't, it will put you at a disadvantage, no matter how good or bad you are.
Even people that crush the game will have regular 10BI+ downswings and some 20BI+ downswings once in a while.
But looking critical at your game is essential to improving.
After every session I have at look at every pot I lost over 40BB.

     I know I'm a target with a short stack as I tend to target them myself. I have over €100 in my account, 25 buy ins, and €100 of BPs  now (after my latest winnings 🥳) so promise to always play with auto top up. 

14 hours ago, KrustyTheClown said:

But if I were "forced" to play only a single table, I'd probably be spazzing all over the place 😄
 

   The more I look at it the more convinced I am that the slow pace of 1 tabling is too slow. It's the twenty minutes of not playing a hand (genuinely card dead, not just too tight) that causes the "Come Hell or High water" attitude and self destruction. Three tables it is then, and auto top up, and many many buy ins.      

   Bye for now.

🫖

'Ow do.

    Before we go any further I feel I have to address the mental side of this game a bit more. I am truly grateful for comments on how to improve my actual game but unless I can start handling the pressure a bit more competently it's like 

On 22/04/2024 at 14:27, HardGain said:

 The mental part is for sure one of the key points. 

   I'm with you there.

On 23/04/2024 at 22:53, KrustyTheClown said:

I think improving your mental game is much tougher than improving your technical game.

     I totally agree.

On 24/04/2024 at 09:12, Samba said:

I feel like your mental was pretty strong, you seemed stoic.

   That pretty well sums me up but you've obviously never seen the stupid stuff I do, why oh why is poker the one thing guaranteed to tilt me sooner or later. 

On 24/04/2024 at 09:12, Samba said:

Tommy Angelo has advocated open folding AA as a mental experiment just to see if you can disconnect yourself from the game entirely. I've read some of his stuff a long time ago and have done it.

   I've done it as well but 1 hand out of hundreds of thousands hasn't helped. 🥴

On 24/04/2024 at 10:42, Estzen said:

150k hands is also showing, that right now you are just not beating that game. This is not varience.

   I'm not totally convinced on that argument. I enjoy Matt Berkley and crews discussions on variance and the fact that virtually every winning player is part of the survivorship bias. Very good players, I'm certainly not claiming to be one, can run horrendously for very long periods and eventually just give in, even a million hands is not necessarily a true reflection of variance. 

   As far as I can see the mental game is not just learning to accept the bad beats and suck outs that are part and parcel of the game, that's certainly part of it and I have to improve, if only to stop that sense of injustice or entitlement that can send  me down the slippery slope of ruin. Maybe it's something in me that's not wired correctly but I'll give a quick example of what I'm sometimes fighting against. 

   I've been playing a while, nothing really good or bad has happened but I'm on a single buy in ticket so can't top up ( currently on my last ticket so will not do that ever again 😒) and then I'm dealt TT, It's the best hand I've had in this session apart from a pair of Jacks which won me one and a half BB. I'm already over an hour in, and I decide then and there I'm going with it come what may. 

   A min raise is immediately discounted and I pause and 3 bet. There is a snap 4 bet and from all previous reads and actions I KNOW  immediately that I'm beaten. I can be as patient as the next guy, I built my reputation at snooker as being The Grinder, after Cliff Thorburn, giving nothing away, and  able to block one end at cricket when the wickets were tumbling by simply not playing a shot, even though I wasn't a very good batter, but protecting my wicket as though my life depended on it, yet poker brings out the worst in me. I snap all in, there's a snap call, and in one, I think, avoidable blip I lose another stack. All my experience, for what that's worth, table reads, villain reads, etc etc etc tell me to fold but I ignore them all and get shown QQ. 🤮   Should I ignore my reads and shove anyway, which I did,  should I call, should I fold, does it depend?  Am I making too much of this, even though it seems to happen so regularly? 

   Sometimes I do wonder if I'm making too much of a mental issue out of things like this, and I know these things happen to us all, but a bit more reading might give me some more insight. 

   Time for tea so ta-ra for a bit. 🥩

Side Note

   😎

    Ey up everyone 'ows tha doin'?

    Thanks for all the replies and comments, there's a fair bit to unpack here and as I feel there are some quite important points to answer I'll do my best, but over one or two threads. Who knows what the optimum thread length is, personally I don't mind a long read but these days it seems the shorter or quicker the better. 🥴

12 hours ago, KrustyTheClown said:

Kudos for sharing those results.

  Fair play, you showed yours so I showed mine 😀

1 hour ago, Stubbe-Unibet said:

Big 👍 for sharing that data! Obviously A LOT of players with far worse or similar data, but it's rare anyone will share it, as everyone wants to look like crusher 🙂

🍻       

This morning's session.

Half an hour later...

Proof that I'm a crusher? 🤔

 It's like the Hendon Mob data base, to be honest who knows whether the guy that's "won" $7,000,000 is a winner or not. I left the table with 214 BBs, how much did I win?   99.99% of poker players are "a bit up," "a bit down," "about even" or indeed "crushing."  

    Somewhat connected tangent.

   My mate M, (not James Bond's boss but he would have liked to have been) was an expert in everything gambling or betting related and could sum up any race card within seconds. "Favourite'll win" was his mantra and became somewhat of a catch phrase in those days, and indeed he was often correct, about a third of the time in fact. (Statistical joke.) The thing was though that despite the huge majority of favourite backers being losers M somehow bucked the trend and regularly declared a winning day, impressive to casual passers by but not quite so for the inner circle.

   I and most gamblers would tot up all outgoing, tot up all returns, subtract one from the other and declare profit or loss, but M had a slightly unorthodox accounting practice. Mine would go "Four bets at £5, outgoings £20, one winner at 4/1 returns £25, profit £5." M would be regularly heard in the background muttering ostensibly to himself. "Winner at 6/4 wins £12.50." "I won fifteen quid on that one, it was obvious." "Another £17.50, easy."  This would continue all afternoon until the last race was over and we retired to the pub (we had popped back and forth between the pub and bookies during the day, a not very arduous 15 yards between doors) then the totting up procedure would begin. I simply declared "about" (exactly) a fiver up, others would mutter "a bit down" or slightly louder "a bit up." M with great authority would declare "I've won £65" or other equally impressive amounts. It was sometimes a week or two before the casual members of the group would cotton on, that like the Hendon Mob results, only winnings were being added up, in M's world losers didn't count so were not included. He bet in 12 races at £5 a time, buy ins, and was in the money 3 or 4 times, collecting £65. In my book he'd won £5 and we were level, but in his own book he was a decent winner. He absolutely was not doing this to fool anybody, not even really fooling himself, he knew what he was doing, it was simply his way of accounting, and nobody called him to task because, "Well, it's just M." 

   Time to do some more potting (plants.)

   Ta-ra.

   🫖

   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.

On 13/04/2024 at 20:02, Livertool said:

To me most horrible memories of childhood were from this pissmobile.

    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. 

   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.

   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.

   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.

🍻

54 minutes ago, Vegan4life79 said:

That is exactly my point. A player who goes all in 15 times in a row and wins 9 and loses six is just lucky. But a player who goes all in preflop with trash 15 times in a span of lets say 90 hands - and for example wins 2 times then loses 1 not to be too obvious, then wins too again then loses 1 and summed up wins 10 out of those all ins and loses 5 and with this "strategy" builds up a stack of maybe 900 big blinds (cause sometimes he is gonna go all in for 250 big blinds wit J9o and cracks AA or KK) and then leaves a table with 800 big blinds profit - that player is suspici to me.

   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.

32 minutes ago, Vegan4life79 said:

if he knew that J9o wins  the hand.

   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.)

14 hours ago, HardGain said:

But, did I die? NO! SO, tomorrow we're battling again

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

A lot of work to be done.

1 hour ago, HardGain said:

If the game is good - leave you shuld not! 😉

   That's what I figured Yoda! 💯

1 hour ago, HardGain said:

You inspired me for cash tickets, for how much BP was that?

    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.