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Metalwolf's Poker Blog


MetalWolf

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Welcome to my world brother.

Fatherhood is going to destroy your ability to a) play MTT poker, and b) play it well when you get a chance. Hate to be miserable about it but I found transitioning from being able to play every night for long sessions to half paying attention on a Sunday for a few hours very difficult. Even now with MiniTBC going down at 7-8PM I still struggle to find things I want to play as far as MTTs go because I know they're going to run late and I need sleep! Also, at any moment she might wake up an I'll have to blind out for 20 minutes.

Weirdly, having said all that my drive to play and improve is at it's highest now. I'm at a point now where I'm fighting with myself every night over studying vs playing a because I know my game is slipping but I also just want to play. Transitioning into shorter formats (SNGs and cash) has been working for me to an extent although I hate cash and I still feel miserable sitting out in a SnG I think if it's at a buy-in you don't mind losing at it becomes less of an issue.

Babies are really boring in the first few months, parents don't like to admit it but you should see the relief on their faces when you say it. Change nappy, feed, sleep, repeat. They don't do or say much and it won't take long for the novelty of holding a 10lb sleeping blob that you can't interact with to wear off and you'll be keen to put them down as soon as they're sleeping. You're going to have these 3-4 hour blocks while they are asleep to get stuff done, whether it's sleep yourself, housework, eating or relaxing. Use this time to get a SnG or two in, watch a training video, review the last two SnGs you played. I did none of this stuff and blindly tried to play MTTs. It was a terrible decision :)

Also, play lower stakes, much lower. You need to go into anything you play fully comfortable that you've just potentially lit that buy-in on fire, regardless of how you actually play.

I could go on but this is turning into one of my blog posts :) If you need any more info on things not to do let me know and all the best with the baby.

 

P.S. Enjoy feeling like a completely useless human being for hours during the birth ;)

P.P.S. All newborn babies look like wrinkly big toes after you've been in the bath too long, anyone that suggests they are "cute" or "gorgeous" is lying and you should never trust them with your child.

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Have you read my blog HERE... It's long isn't it :)
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I feel for you @MoreTBC it must be tough, but... when she's all grown up & does something amazing & it feels like your heart wants to jump out of your chest with proudness, then it will all be worth while & you'll look back & laugh to yourself :atisfied:

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I get that feeling every day @Nestabear, don't worry :) I didn't mean to make is sound like I hate my daughter, just wanted to highlight that other than growing, babies don't do a lot in the first few months :)

After that you get rolling over, crawling, words, walking and everything else that's amazing on a daily basis.

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@MoreTBC It's been my world for a few years now with the 4 year I have but I absolutely understand what you mean. Thanks for the advice its much appreciated. My son doesn't need the 24/7 attention of a newborn and is happy to sit next to me playing Roblox and chilling on a night time before he goes to bed but obviously it is still impossible to play for hours without him having extra supervision, for instance when Charl is at work. Might be able to get a few Unibet challanges done and that's it. You're right that MTT schedules are very difficult to plan and this year I have struggled overall with time among other things. The amount of times ive said I will do something and then it just hasn't been able to happen. Summer Series being the latest example. It saddens me to see everyone on heres twitter posts of deep runs and I simply can't be involved. That will only get worse with a new born but in terms of transitioning to other games I have no desire to do that. I hate cash with a passion and am a losing player. I COULD go into SNG's but I experimented with that 2 years ago and got bored. I suspect that over the next 6 months my play will be limited a lot and though that gives me more time to learn i'm sure I won't be happy with my profit graphs and new years resolutions by the end. 

I should point out this is not moaning. I am absolutely thrilled to be having a baby, giving our son a little brother to play with and seeing them grow because as you say @MoreTBC they are amazing on a daily basis and when you're having a bad day nothing can make you smile more than them coming up and just saying something completely daft but so cute. If only I'd have been better at poker in the first place and didn't have to work!  

Theres nothing like the thrill of making it deep in an mtt, familiar names around you looking to get one over on you, money creeping up and the joy of coming first or getting a significant pay day out of X amount of players. Last year I enjoyed that feeling a lot. Glasgow, Dublin, UOS leaderboard win etc. I just hope I can get out to a UO or at least UK Manchester by the end of the year.

I don't find that I can ever move up levels either. It's a lifestyle choice I can't / won't break. I've always been sociable. I've always liked to travel. And love to do both of these things as much as possible. Even with kids we do this as a family a lot, which is an expensive game! I always find myself shaving off profits in poker and making that extra small withdrawal here and there just so we can have an 'extra day away' or 'upgrade to a better room / restaurant'. Throw in the fact I'm house hunting at the moment and there is no hope for testing myself at higher levels. I rarely play any main events because of this. It annoys me that this is what I'm like. I take my poker learning and 'reputation' really seriously. But I don't take bankroll management serious and without that good poker cannot exist. If I won the Supernova for example I would leave €500 in the account and withdraw the rest and go book a holiday. I suspect a lot of players would pay themself a small reward and otherwise keep the roll and move up in their respective games. I would love to do this, but then I also don't want to. 

I'm about €1200 up this year and am really disappointed. I feel like I've just trudged along at a modest +ROI and literally made no impact on anything major I've played. Perhaps it is time to go back to the drawing board and work out what I actually want out of poker. I will certainly have the time to do so. 

I wish every one the best during the Summer Series. I ain't going anywhere. You'll just see less of me at the tables, and not because I've changed my alias!

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  • 4 weeks later...

So many peoples blogs to read since I last posted here...

WHATS UP EVERYONE?! My new baby boy is a little over 2 weeks now and I'm so overtired I'm hyper. This means thats it's point reset day and I'm back to put in some volume and score some profit, a Manchester seat and hopefully a Paris seat too. Until I'm too tilted to carry on. So I should be good until at least about 8.27 tonight. 

I've been playing a little here and and there over the last few weeks and things aint been too bad so let's take a look at the latest data and then increase it x10 by the end of the year.

Tournaments played: 1070 (598 sats) 

ITM: 326 / 30.47%

Total buyin: €5107.35

Total Cashes: €6406.38

UNIBET Tournament Profit: +€1299.03

ROI: 25.43%

Tournament wins: 11

1x Galaxy Nano - 90 Runners

1x 1k Dark Matter - 103 Runners

3x Singularity - 87 / 128 / 37 Runners

1x 1k Moonwalk - 119 Runners

1x Deep Crazy Moon - 38 Runners

1x Zenith - 73 Runners

1x Shooting Star - 63 Runners

2x Community Game (€25), (€1)

 Hexapro

1: Played 383 won 131= +€79

2: Played 533 won 185 = -€35

5: Played 219 won 85 = -€22.5

10: Played 2 won 1 = -€5

50: Played 2 won 1 = -€25

Hexapro Profit: -€8.5

Cash

4NLH: 24 buyins +4.44 profit

4PLO: 33 buyins +21.87 profit

10NLH: 10 Buyins -17.27 profit

10PLO: 27 Buyins +54.19 profit

25PLO: 4 Buyin -32.67 Profit

Cash Profit: +30.56

Total Games Played: 2307

Total Profit: +€1321.09 on Unibet + 165.97 from other sites

 = +€1487.06

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Nice to have you back @MetalWolf in the blog and on the tables.

1953374796_Screenshot(4365).thumb.png.d6001dfe1ea2c878f54d246fbd0a80cb.png 

Sorry it was you going out on the bubble :Teardrop: but that was my first win of the day.:Happy:

The race for Manchester is on. :Thumbsup:

 

 

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"It turns out that 75% of all poker players think they play better than the other 75%."     image.png.99a4e82708d54abfc527324e8836768e.png

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Thanks @GR1ZZL3R its good to be back! Managed to get 7th in the Dwarf Star and 4th in the Gargle Blaster and got into both of them from small sats so it's been a pretty good night. I don't think I should of been pushing in that sat in that spot but glad you made it through!

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Glad you're winning something @MetalWolf  I was so fired up yesterday, keen to play as many as I could but ran so badly it really gets so frustrating. :teardrop: I go to bed in a foul mood 😠  but, hey, today's another day. Reset, restart, recoup. :cash:

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"It turns out that 75% of all poker players think they play better than the other 75%."     image.png.99a4e82708d54abfc527324e8836768e.png

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@GR1ZZL3R wrote:

Glad you're winning something @MetalWolf  I was so fired up yesterday, keen to play as many as I could but ran so badly it really gets so frustrating. :teardrop: I go to bed in a foul mood 😠  but, hey, today's another day. Reset, restart, recoup. :cash:


Amen to that Gr1z.  Glad to see @MetalWolf back at the tables earning the bread.

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Whole lotta work for a whole lotta nothing last night. Couple deep runs. Small final table or  two. Finished night slightly down and the trend continued this afternoon until I hit my first €2 Hexapro 25x and won it. Motivation is good to win some more tonight!

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Finished the day €20 down after some minor (could of been major..) tilt, but did get a couple tickets to make up for it. Ran pretty horrible in sats overall. The amount of people calling off super wide in sats at the moment makes me wonder if Daras book is of much relevance to Unibet at all. Nether the less I got a shot at the Manchester package for Saturday night so would be nice to ship that first time of asking. 

Might do a small session later. I have the bug for it.

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Saw you last night @MetalWolf , well done, I was the one running JJ into KK to go out in 6th :teardrop: after some pretty bad running. I will be playing the final tomorrow night so 👍 but please try to stay out of my way.:scared:

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"It turns out that 75% of all poker players think they play better than the other 75%."     image.png.99a4e82708d54abfc527324e8836768e.png

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@pinki Yep I think you can fire 2 bullets each start day for total of 4, so package and seat only could both be used at one event. 

@DoktorAvalanche I felt it did it just to mock me, especially because I paired the turn too! Ah well... calmer now. Congrats man. I got a lot of time before Manchester to get one. Hopefully have a few by then.

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Ok break time... things gone ok. final table the moonwalk and just... wow... 

I was picking up chips left right and center until taking a confidence knock QQ to A9 and then the invincibles appeared. 2 in particular. I mean, I’m thankful that there are players like this still in abundance that are happy to call flop bets with no hand, no draw, no plan and call raises out of position with 9 4, 10 5 and K 3 but damn does it leave such a sour taste in the mouth to stack off to them. AK to K3 in this case as I called river allin board Jx3Kx. Should of folded, meh.

Problem with me is, I will stack off more often to them than I should out of pure ego. A leak in my mental game.

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Right, picture the scene.

Your kids are going for a bath before bed and the missus says she will sort them out. You got 10 mins to spare so you jump in a few hexapros to pass the time. You get a 5x, 3x and a 1.5x and quickly lose them all. Annoyed, you look up to see everyone still in the bathroom. A few more mins before you put the kids to bed. More than enough time for a few more hexapros.

Not thinking anything of it you press register, but wait.... this isnt a hexapro table? And why has my balance just been depleted of €100???

YOUVE ONLY ACCIDENTALLY REGISTERED THE SUPERNOVA!!!!!!!

FFFFFFUUUUUUU!!!!!!

Cue the messages to @Brocky with some choice words and expletives about the software, responsible gaming and me just being a general idiot. 

Ok Andy... Don't panic. So what your bankroll on Unibet is only comfortable enough to play at €5 level. You've cashed bigger tournaments than this, in higher pressure situations, in strange places - you can do this.

Ah here we are first hand is AK. Just raise this up. Two callers, ok cool. Flop 6 J K, excellent. Bet, call. Turns a 3. Bet bigger... and the guy shoves. Wait, wut?

FFFFFFFFUUUUUU!!!!

Andddddd I fold. Scared money. Third of the stack gone. I've got no chance. What an idiot for misclicking the Supernova. What a waste of money.

'Night Daddy' - Oh yeah 'Goodnight son. Whats that? No I'm not crying at all I have something in my eye. Get yourself off to bed mommy will read you a story'

Back to the game. Head down. Concentrate on going into beast mode.

Several hours pass. MetalWolf is still alive and well. He breezes past the bubble with some run good hands in quick succession and breathes a big sigh of relief. I decide on a safety first approach. Ridicule me for a missed opportunity in trying to play for the win. I get it. In another time period of course I would. But life has took over poker and the bankroll just isn't there to take high variance risks... but it could be with a more cautious approach.

'Heh, knew I would make it. Never doubted me'.

@Charl_xoxox throws me a sarcastic glance but I can't help that smug look in my eyes. 

With the final 18 I start to go really card dead. I spend most of my time propping up the rest of the pile. But I stay disciplined. Patience personified. 

With 13 left and I am dead last but absolutely laughing at myself at the 'non-costly' error I made.

And still I continue to outlast people. A short stack ninja. Making those moves, using those spots, crushing those dreams. Letting whimsical poker flow through my mind and body.

I make the final table. I am still last. I am always last. Right the way through to when they finally manage to get rid of me in 5th for €1200. A player sitting out causes an ICM nightmare which leaves me too vulnerable to compete and I finally succumb AJ to J5.

Luckboxes.

It's 2.30am and I am congratulating myself on a masterclass of shortstack and disciplined play - even if its only this idiot that thinks so.

Satisfied, I lay my head down to sleep knowing my bankroll now allows me to step up that bit more after spending the year using poker for extra life funds. Thanks to @Brocky for the great rail.

'Daddyyyyy. Theres a monster in my room'.

'Ok son, the MetalWolf is coming to get it'.

Greatest. Misclick. Ever.

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