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Here we go again.  MONDAY ROUND 1.   ... View more

MONDAY MORNING BLUES. As others have mentioned elsewhere the frustration just builds and builds, and wether you let off steam by by by kicking the cat (don't ), breaking the mouse (don't ), or having a rant in the forum (by all means do ), not much seems to help.  There I am enjoying a nice steady 4 tabling session of relaxing poker, congratulating myself on how in control I am, when it hits the fan.  Unlike @Brocky my sessions always seem to start well and go downhill. I put him all in for his last 30c more in hope than expectation but get paid by Q high.  Why is it when I chase a flush or straight it never seems to come.................   ...............except when it does? Behind. Ahead. Behind.   Then another flopped set, but instead of winning small......................   ...............crushed!     Don't ever take things for granted, the sword of Damocles is always present. From cruise control and ahead I very suddenly went down and took the only available option.     ... View more

@Dennis_ wrote: There is a "am" missing in the second sentence. How embarassing Am not embarassed.  ... View more

@Dennis_ I played the first session and my KK got beaten by a flopped set of fours, nothing unusual there, it just seems I'm fated to run bad with big cards. I came off that table, reloaded under a different alias and found myself back on the same table in the same seat. I played for the next hour with nothing exciting happen except to say I was over €1 up, without going to showdown once.  When I see players insta-calling, insta-raising and insta-allins I'm pretty sure they are not thinking too deeply about their hands. I played slowly, not slow rolling. Any pair to some players is a raise, top pair is a re-raise, if the board's 3 to a flush and 3 or 4 to a straight and paired it doesn't seem to slow some players down. When I flopped top two pairs, J/10 on a J/10/4 mono board I'm quite happy to bet. When the river comes a 4 after all in on the turn and villain shows 6-4 I get upset. I'm not going to dwell on it, but it does make you shake your head at times, as @Brocky and others wonder, just what are they thinking? Are they thinking? I don't know but I never seem to catch them at the right time.  A newcomer had called a raise pre with 86o, called the flop c-bet, called the turn, and still called the river with exactly 8 high????  Next hand he shoved Q2s pre and got called by AA. €4 down in 2 hands, he left. Looking on the bright side my €4 lasted over an hour.        ... View more

    I feel your pain when you lose your "precious." What is the point of studying, playing carefully, not going down dark and murky paths that can only lead to misery, then being sucked out on by a hand that really has no right to be in the pot from the start? However, I know tomorrow, after a good steak dinner and 8 hours of blissful sleep, I'll feel differently, and I already have the masterplan ticking over.  ... View more

@Brocky It can be really weird and frustrating sometimes how any of these games play. I can raise with less than premiums and immediately get 3 and four bet, having to fold, fold, fold. There's at least one raise every hand for ten hands, then I'm sat in the BB with AA waiting for the action, and of course everyone folds. Same circuit there are three limps, I raise 3bb from the button with KJs, get a call, a raise and an all in. What do I do? Fold! Two hands later in the BB again with KK................everyone folds. I know my stakes are small but it does take some mental energy to keep going. Keep it together and it will turn, good luck. ... View more

Hi @Ghaleon It is an interesting point but it's possible to keep your stack topped up, though you have to be concentrating all the time. As soon as you fire all in or a big bet, hit the top up button. Your stack won't top up during the hand but will immediately the hand is over, so if you have say 50bb left and call an all in for 45 bb, top up straight away. The hand finishes and your 5bb tops up to 100bb. It's not so easy when multi-tabling as you can miss top ups while concentrating on the action or other tables click into view over your current one, and takes a bit of watching, but it is possible.  ... View more

Hi @wallinho I'm glad to meet you too and hope you enjoy your stay in this great community.   If  you click on the freeroll in the tourney lobby it comes up with details of how to enter that particular tourney.   As you can see the one you are interested in is a private and exclusive freeroll, so if you have not been invited to take part I'm afraid you don't qualify. However there are plenty of other freerolls for you to try, good luck in those.  ... View more

While concentrating on my cash ticket a UK Tour €1 game popped up which I'd registered with a due to expire ticket. I normally don't play two formats at once so I was more interested in the cash as I'd been well down and was pulling back and didn't want to leave what I saw as a good table. A standard raise.   A min 3-bet followed by two calls so I 4-bet.   Let's go for it. Not very promising, only 1 Jack left.  BAZINGA!   I took a healthy chip lead but ultimately finished 3rd, got my €1 ticket back.  Not too sad though,could've been out quite early.    ... View more

@pinki wrote: Round 3  @GR1ZZL3R Round 3 curse breaking. Another option was 2.5+ in city and corners tot-lipsk, but today Cyprus power .  Unusual circumstances require non-standard moves, i hate first matches in CL.  I'm worried about Omonia, I see AEK 1.5+ more, but it was the first choice. @pinki I'm only confident over the long run with my horses and Premier League bets that I will (hopefully) make a profit so I struggle over the single bets and what to bet on. It's great fun though.    ... View more

@MadAdo  These games could be termed "fun" you can have a decent stack coming to the back end but dribble your chips away very quickly. I made 30bb very early with AK flopping a K, but I think this next hand nicely illustrates the standard of play.    Eleven minutes in and I raise 3bb after a limp, get called. Great flop for me, I bet half pot + 1 bb, called by 2nd pair. Turn, I bet half pot + 2bb, get called by 3rd pair. River's good, how much to bet. I just carried on, half pot + 4 bb, not really expecting action but called by 4th best pair. There was a lot more thinking than this but I don't want to go too deeply into it, it's just a quick example, and I'm not being critical, (I don't know the player) but it does show the sort of standard. This took me to about 50th, but still a big field.  Nothing significant happened for a while but steadily sliding down the field as the blinds increased, I hit one lucky hand.   From about 300 left to about 200 the field thins quite quickly as all the sleepers are blinded out. This left me in 17/171 at the break, seemingly fairly well inside the cutoff point, but as we know it's never that easy.   Sheer patience from this point in, don't panic and don't do anything stupid. I didn't really have any opportunity, gradually sliding butkeeping a close watch. Down to 65/119 it was folded to me in the BB, so I shoved and got a fold.............. ..............then received a very welcome walk when preparing to call a shove or shove myself.   This left me 40/105 and totally relaxed, it was all over very quickly after that. Even the chipleader only had about 20bb at that stage, so it shows how tight these games can be, a couple of loose calls and you can be down amongst the stragglers. It was only one game so means very little but just for the record I was not dealt any of the following. AA, KK,QQ,JJ,10/10, or 9/9.  One suited broadway, AJ, one AK and one AQ.  I was all in twice, winning both with overcards to small pairs, and shoved twice without being called.  Was I lucky? I've no idea, probably yes, but most of the time I didn't have to be, just patient.         ... View more

I'm out.  If I ever get past round 3 everyone's invited to a party.  ... View more

Nice going with the tickets @MadAdo keep it up.  Thankyou for the kind words but I wouldn't call myself a coach/mentor. I don't know if you're aware we have a saying in the UK, "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach." I'm not a teacher by any means but I can't stress enough about the mental side of this stupid game, it's about 90% of my study at the moment and it has and is helping tremendously. Wether it helps when I hit the inevitable downswing is yet to be seen, but so far I've survived a couple of sticky patches without a melt down.  Keep those tickets going and run good, (and have fun.)    ... View more

@MadAdo    ... View more

ROUND 1. ROUND 2.   ... View more

@Dennis_ I've played a few over a couple of years and you are totally correct, the cash players seem to struggle in them. I basically see how long I can go before having  to play a hand, just don't get invoved in multi-way pots, then when it's nearer the bubble seeing who blinks first.  ... View more

ROUND 1.   ... View more

@GR1ZZL3R   I do the MATH over weekend : Just 46 flops generates +11.66 € profit to your CG ticket (my tiny god, that is absolutely AMAZINGLY a LOT !!!) ... So lets calculate your winning 'rate': 1166/46 = 25c (rounded) per single flop !!! (aka 6BB/hand ) => so if you manage to keep your 'god-like' until ticket flop requirements -> a sweet of +76.04€ profit is waiting for you (+6€ value of ticket) You also had insanely 600BB/100 hands rate which is something nobody can compete! I keep you all of my fingers crossed - let's make all dream happen @MadAdo  I love your enthusiasm and calculations, something I'm doing all the time, but we have to keep in mind that this is a very small sample, what has happened in the past won't necessarily continue for even a short while into the future, let alone till the ticket is cleared. I'm sorry to bring you down with a bump but yesterday's session was a totally different story, my first losing run on the ticket. It's not all doom and gloom though, I'm still running at 40bb/100, (which I'm very pleased with) pretty good if that were over thousands of hands, but not really significant over such a small run. I played over two hours yesterday, still one table, and for the majority it was against short stackers and a pretty wild bunch, losing one big pot with top pair beaten by an Ace on the river, and another with the usual KK, beaten by a flopped Ace, only two hands out of over 255 that made a big dent. The difference if I'd won just the KK hand would have been amazing but the new improved mentally balanced me didn't even bother trying to work out where I would have been if I'd won, something that I used to stress about badly in the past. It is exactly that, in the past, and no amount of 20-20 hindsight, wringing of hands, gnashing of teeth or rending of garments will alter what has gone before, so I look ahead to today's effort with no mental baggage weighing me down. (Do I sound convincing?  ) A surprising bye-product was the appearance of a Double Trouble ticket today, I thought they were only for actual cash lost, not cash tickets, so that's another chance to boost the br.  To Infinity and Beyond.          ... View more

@DoktorAvalanche  ... View more

Two out of four ain't bad.  ... View more

@MadAdo It may be "God mode" today but it can change so quickly, such a tiny sample. I could give you my aliases but then I'd have to kill you, we don't want that. I actually never play two cash sessions with the same name, once I've done on a table that name has gone forever. I could be lurking on a table near you!  ... View more

@DoktorAvalanche  If I'm a rec then so be it, I'm so much more at peace now I've accepted that. Like thousands or more I started playing poker for the two main reasons, I was fascinated by the game and thought I could make money at it. I still love the game, when I don't actually hate it, but long ago accepted I was never going to be a world beater. I set up these challenges to prove to myself that I'm not a complete loser, two main highlights being the trip to Dublin (which was lucked into) and winning a UK Tour package, (my original intention) for far less than the actual cost. The cash games continue to be a niggle, I can win at 2-4c but never seem able to step up, I really can't say wether it's a mental problem or run bad at the wrong time, but I'll continue to batter away in my own plodding style and enjoy what I'm doing. It is my main hobby, and I'm now looking forward to Newcastle for the occasion, never mind what happens on the tables. Dara's book PSS really is worth reading, and I've started "The Mental Game of Poker," too soon to say wether it will help, and I do continue to watch and read, quite a bit  actually when I think about it, maybe too much at a time and not letting it sink in. Hope you and many others make Newcastle, should be fun. This one's for @MadAdo, slowly but surely.    ... View more

Hi @ibrul Just turn up on the day you want and register, no need to do it beforehand. Good luck.  ... View more

@Petit_pertotal wrote: haha i am crying xd tought lets do a new one and have a 10x jackpot wich was loong ago xd  preflop fishr raise 2x hasedabae fold i call as it is in my chart   flop: i check  Fishr raises half pot i check raise hem BAM in my face 'again' xD Analysis by a Rec. 1. It's the first hand and the button raises, I'm out of position, I fold.......100%........... 2. ...... BUT, if it was 97s I might have called or....... 3. .....  if I'd seen villain play before and knew he was loose, I might have called........... 4. .......or I might just call because I feel like it............. 5. .......or I might think "They're all trying it on at this level" and called.......... 6. ......or I might just fold. I'm out of position and going to have to act first on the flop, basically not having a single clue about my opponent or what he's likely to have or do. 7.       I don't play Hexas. 8.      Which brings me to the point @GamesDean made earlier, if you'd folded you wouldn't know wether you'd been lucky or not. You were lucky to hit the flop so hard but unlucky villain hit it slightly harder. On balance I'd say you were 0lucky. When he raises you've really no idea what he's got, an overpair, AK, 44, a flush draw, overcards, absolutely nothing, anything, whatever. You can't really fold so just have to go with it. Definitely 0lucky. 9.     You certainly look busy and very involved in the maths etc, good luck in your efforts.   ... View more

@CuteRaven @GamesDean Thanks for the replies. Sleep definitely is not a problem, all my life I've gone to bed and gone to sleep. Excercise and the social life are a bit more problematic. I used to be very active, always preferring to play (anything) rather than watch, but that has slowed down very much over the years due to many factors. I'm in reasonable health and try to walk everywhere as much as possible, I know sitting for long hours is not good, and occasionally go to my local club for an odd pint but very little else. I'm toying with trying the Keto diet and intermittent fasting, which I've sort of done over the years without knowing it.  I've done a lot of research and have already cut sugar out completely, not quite sure wether to fully commit. As for luck, a truly subjective matter. I've been critical in other threads over this but it looks like I've fallen victim to some of the same, probably flawed, thinking that I've accused others of. I try to be as objective as possible but the only quantifiable hands are those that do go to showdown. If I'm trying a naked bluff and villain folds, I can't say I was lucky, he may have had worse than me. If I miss my OES and flush draw and fold on the river I don't know if I was unlucky, he may have missed a draw as well and still won with a worse hand, just had more heart to see it through. If you flip a coin and I call heads but it falls on the pavement and rolls down a drain we'll never know wether I was lucky or not. I believe we can't control our luck but am a fan of Gary Player's reply when accused of being lucky, "The more I practice the luckier I get." I know I do have tilt issues, both winning and losing but haven't got round to reading "The Mental Game of Poker" yet, I should make it a priority, and the relatively small amount I play means I'll never win huge or, hopefully, never lose huge either. Call me a rec, I don't really mind.        ... View more

Hi @Dennis_  I probably don't study as much as I should, (I'm a bit older than the average player and it's more of an intellectual exercise with me rather than a career path) have read loads in the past on micro stakes but now only read or watch 3-4 hours per week, if that. As I said I fill my time with many other interests as well so poker is not top of the list, just one of many ways to keep me involved and not just vegetating. I do play NL4 more than any, and don't downswing often there, it just seems I run bad every time I try higher. That's why I'm trying to keep a check on my results and using the tickets was a fairly easy way to do that.  It seems I'm not the only one swinging at the moment , it appears to be a recurring theme in quite a few threads, and of course Phil Galfond has a bigger problem than me so I'll try not to moan too much.  Won today on the 2-4c ticket, 2/4 horses won, more profit on the roulette, so it's never all bad.      ... View more

@MadAdo @pinki  As I have said before, when I hit a losing streak I just can't seem to halt the slide, and yesterday was no different. The really annoying thing to me seems to be that when anyone else is drawing to a flush or straight they get there and I lose hands where I'm so far ahead to start with, but when I'm drawing I never get there. This is absolutely not selective memory, I'm going back and checking the hands after the session. Three times in 20 minutes I flopped an OESD and FD, no joy, flopped two sets, both beaten by the flush, two pairs twice, both beaten, and a few nut flush draws, only one hitting, while my opponents successfully collected straights and flushes, seemingly at will. It was a bad session.  I'll leave that there, I'm not going to post loads of hands where I was unlucky, this just deepens the gloom and is in the past, nothing to be done. Funilly, or annoyingly, as I bid my last ticket goodbye, with €1.76 returned to my account, messages popped up to say I had cleared my last bonus step from the Xmas promo, (shows how little I play) and had recieved a €6 cash ticket.  Just what I've always wanted. With nothing better to do I had a short session at 2-4c. It's a start on the long road back. I also played the UK €100 freeroll, won it and collected 3 x €5 tickets,  one of my horse selections won, profit for the day,  (I'm not tipping anymore for a while till I sort my stats out)  and won a few euros on the roulette tables.  First round of the Daily Hot Bets lost. It's back to the UK and UO Tour satties, messing around here and there for a while on the cash, horses, football, roulette etc to keep me busy, but I will try again before too long, it's just an itch that has to be scratched. TILTMETER.   Perfectly balanced. Run Good.  ... View more

@Want2Believe wrote: @GR1ZZL3R I'm sorry. I donno what was that...Mine worked perfectly.  Not your problem @Want2Believe I hung around for 10 minutes running diagnostics and checking servers but nothing doing so gave up. Tried now and straight in.  ... View more

  @Want2Believe @Merenitsu @Dennis_  ... View more

@Want2Believe  Found it.  ... View more