Good luck with poker this year Phantom. Always a pleasure to read your posts. You seem to have a great outlook on not only poker but life in general Get grinding and you can put your feet up on that Caribbean cruise. Happy to take a peek at any tournament hands you might be unsure about....as long as its 2 cards and not 4 Posted by hhyftrftdr
Cheers for the kind words.
Avoiding tourneys for now but will take you up on the offer as and when.
Will try and grind out a good run of 6max this month and see where that leaves me.
Probably wont cruise the caribbean - never fancied it and the more my parents tell me about the lifestyle on a cruise ship the more i think i would hate it.
I have been there once - Guadeloupe - got there largely courtesy of airmiles accrued in my old job and took the whole family for Mrs Ps 40th. Nice place - they film death in paradise there. It was either there or aruba (KLM/Air France miles) and in the end due to availability of flight dates we went to Guadeloupe. I would like to try aruba (not least because of the reputation of the casinos full of american tourists) but dont tell Mrs P that.
Up to £29.52 and that despite a horrid run of £1 6max bubbles. Thankfully some good £2 6max and £3PLO8 dym results went my way to more than balance things for the day.
Still -10 overall but +25 from a very low point a couple of days ago.
Only played 1 £1dym and came 2nd so B/R now 33.32. Was bossing it 3 handed until my AK lost to KQ and then a K9s button raise was put all in and had? to call running into QQ which held. While I was equalising my stack with this player the 3rd was getting squeezed out and soon busted.
HU bit of a car crash pushed post flop with AQ on a dry looking board but opponent had mid pair to stay with me then lost a flip aipf.
Dont panic I am not starting a win one bank one Dev routine - I just had a busy day.
So onto the main news of the weekend which was my extremely successful piece of DIY. Me and DIY are not happy playmates and I could bore you with a few bad beat stories but this time was all good (well mostly) and I managed to save myself over £2k in the process (according to the blurb on the box anyway).
We had been having trouble with the downlighter spots in our bedroom and I noticed the replacement bulbs from our local diy store had changed their pins slightly (thinner and longer) and were not working. So I goes to a proper lighting shop with the working bulb and a non-working bulb. They could have sold me the replacement bulbs - but after some discussion I decide to go for plan B.
Replace the 50w halogen spots with 5w LED spots. This cost me double the replacement cost of the existing bulbs as I had to buy new connectors and the bulbs are dearer, however they come with a 5 year guarantee, can last up to 15 years AND obviously use a fraction of the energy - hence the blurb on the box saying you can save over £200 per bulb. We have 10 in the bedroom so that is £2k.
Not totally straight forward. The lamp fittings have very strong spring loaded fixings and so as not to risk bringing the plasterboard down I had to crawl around in the loft releasing the springs and pushing the fittings down. Not good for my back or my knees and at times was leaning across insulation resulting in very itchy arms and a shower and change of clothes.
Also as the LED bulbs are 240v and the Halogens were low voltage on a transformer I had to cut the transformer out and wire up to the new fitting. Just about within my skill level. If you can wire a plug you can do it - and I found a good youtube vid to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself.
So all sorted now - we also went for the "white light" which is bright and good - it just makes the rest of the house look very yellow now in comparison.
Another benefit is that it is much lower heat - the halogens really belted it out and could make it too warm to keep the lights on.
The downside was while stripping a wire a made the mistake of biting the pvc one too many times to pull the outer pvc off and managed to break one of my teeth. So it may end up being a more expensive job than I thought - albeit my teeth are that cream crackered I am always losing bits of them these days so it would have gone eventually anyway.
Not much to report. Busy work days just a little evening quickie on Monday and Tuesday
Monday cashed a £3 NL dym - got lucky - v unlucky and then v lucky in that order. Led to a discussion on dym strategy with RLT in his diary. In a nutshell its the old chipped on the bubble what do you do debate. Generally imo lock down and make sure of the cash - obviously need to take dynamic into account and maintain stack so dont go too quiet - but no need to get involved and definitely not down to you to bust the shortie - thats exactly what the 2 mid stacks want - which is why if I pick on anyone in that spot its a midstack not a shortie as they will have a much tighter call/reshove range.
It's also why I prefer 6max as you are doing the right thing by bullying on the bubble as its all about going for 1st. Similar to Sat versus standard MTT bubble play really.
Tuesday p2 l2 for 1st losing day of the year - 1x£1 6max and 1 £2dym.
Both times exist hand was KJ on the BB. One hand just unlucky board was AQxx 2d so I had flush draw T for a straight and opponent had slow played so no reason to suspect they had one A never mind 2. My semi-bluff obviously didnt get through and I didnt get lucky on the river. The other exist was a much worse bluff with an A out there again and I only had a gutshot to save me.
PS Was watching Breaking Bad - 1st 2 episodes at the time - just as bad for concentration on the poker as the darts it seems. No spoilers please - definitely hooked if a little late to the bandwagon.
Tonight will be poker free as off to Deepdale to watch PNE hopefully get a foot in the door of a wembley trip. It's on the tellybox but wp north end for £6 a ticket.
GL Phantom and enjoy Breaking Bad, it's soooo good! Don't play poker at the same time though, it's too good to miss bits!! Ducky Posted by mrsduck
Thanks Mrs D - The problem is more with not focusing on the poker as too engrossed in the tv and missing hands and making (bad) snap decisions.
at least I can rewind breaking bad - unfortunately cant do the same for the poker - now that would be good - imagine a rewind tourney where instead of a rebuy you could rewind and change your last decision - or just go again with a new randomized card to come.
Couldn't resist the newly revived mastercash TV spinup thread.
Depositied £5 on MC 2 - left with £12.26 - flopped the nut straight with KQs and a backdoor flush draw - multiway pot I was sb so checked one better one reraiser so I shove all-in and get the call. Happy days and hold up v 2 pair.
Now considering my B/R, I shouldn't have been playing NL10 even with only £5 - and playing with £5 is sub-optimal anyway not to mention I am roobish at cash - well not roobish - its just if I play a lot I either get eaten up by the sharks or beaten up by some lucky fish.
Now that I have boosted my B/R to £39.93 (back in the black for the B/R challenge wiiiiiiiiiiiiiii) what do I do now?
I think I know what Mrs Duck would do (insta load £10 on 20nl) the fun thing to do - and Mrs D has actually completed this challenge well done! If I lose still enough in the roll for a £22 BH ;-) what would Dev do (bank the win) very sensible and the correct thing to do surely.
Heeelp
Decided not to rush this decision as there is no time limit.
Phantom, on the talk of television....you might have seen it before but if not, Six Feet Under is (IMO) the best TV show ever made. Sublime from start to finish, I urge you and anyone else reading to check it out.
As for your poker funds? Enter the BH main and mini tomorrow and go for gold/broke
Phantom, on the talk of television....you might have seen it before but if not, Six Feet Under is (IMO) the best TV show ever made. Sublime from start to finish, I urge you and anyone else reading to check it out. As for your poker funds? Enter the BH main and mini tomorrow and go for gold/broke Posted by hhyftrftdr
1. Ive got a lot to do to get through the Breaking bad, 24 and Homeland boxsets I have accrued over the last 2 years - I will check it out albeit in the past having been though some tough family bereavements the subject matter didn't appeal when it first came out.
2. Have you been advising Jac35? Anyway Thursday is PLO8 night.
it's your money, b/r challenge so do what makes you happy is my advice.
we can't all be bankroll nits can we?
for me poker is just a way of making some money, & dym is my best way of doing that, doesn't mean I always enjoy it day after day, but it works for me. it's all about the end result, & doing a challenge keeps me focussed & gets me from A to B.
you should decide what you want out of your poker.
if you are playing purely to win money as I am, then you should find your best discipline & stick to that.
if you want to use some of that money to pay for some tournament fun with the chance of winning some bigger money then why not do that.
if you are playing for fun & also to try & keep some kind of b/r so you don't need to re-deposit, you need to find a happy balance, & not play outside of your b/r as this only ends one way 99% of the time.
GLGLGL
dev
edit[ I think it's also a good idea to have both short term & long term goals, so we always have something new & exciting to look forward to...
so in my case, the short term is beating the £5 level & completing my challenge, the long term is what levels might I be playing in say 12 months time, along with a possible new challenge, & then obviously that also brings in how much more money might I be winning.
Hi Phantom, it's your money, b/r challenge so do what makes you happy is my advice. we can't all be bankroll nits can we? for me poker is just a way of making some money, & dym is my best way of doing that, doesn't mean I always enjoy it day after day, but it works for me. it's all about the end result, & doing a challenge keeps me focussed & gets me from A to B. you should decide what you want out of your poker. if you are playing purely to win money as I am, then you should find your best discipline & stick to that. if you want to use some of that money to pay for some tournament fun with the chance of winning some bigger money then why not do that. if you are playing for fun & also to try & keep some kind of b/r so you don't need to re-deposit, you need to find a happy balance, & not play outside of your b/r as this only ends one way 99% of the time. GLGLGL dev edit[ I think it's also a good idea to have both short term & long term goals, so we always have something new & exciting to look forward to... so in my case, the short term is beating the £5 level & completing my challenge, the long term is what levels might I be playing in say 12 months time, along with a possible new challenge, & then obviously that also brings in how much more money might I be winning. Posted by devonfish5
The truth is I admire both your and Mrs Ducks approaches.
Of course I want excitement and it's easy to spice things up by putting a higher % of B/R at risk or trying something different. I also genuinely want to build a B/R and accept that nitty BRM and playing the right game at the right level is the best way to do that.
I got my points from Dec added so I am now back over £40 and determined to build steadily to £100 and then reevaluate.
Tonight is PLO8 night - that is my "something new" and I'll be entering the league MTT and maybe playing the odd dym alongside. DYM PLO8 wise I make a small return - but the challenge of learning something new is a really positive motivator. I havent played many PLO8 MTTs but tonight gives me the chance to play a few with a low outlay (I wont be in the £5 one just the £1 and £2).
For most of this month I shall be disciplined and try and build with some NL 6max volume - I really should be able to build solidly in that format at low stakes.
The cash spinup challenge will be on hold for a while. I put £5 at risk and got lucky - my money went in good - but I was still at risk of an outdraw with 4 outs and 2 streets to dodge. I could have been sat with <£30 now cursing myself for the bad BRM or the bad beat.
Important to recognise that it was still poor BRM on my part.
Once I have a decent B/R I intend to loosen up a bit and maybe having a go at things like the spin-up can give me the excitement buzz when the grinding is getting a bit wearing.
Hey Phantom, you can always go back to the MC spin-up, I'm doing the same thing with the DYM spin-up (got to level 8 took the money and ran!) When I get a decent BR or a nice bink, I'll probably duck back in at level 8.
~ So when you feel happy to "lose" £10 and you won't die a little bit inside with a belly full of regrets, go for it! The problem now is that you consider that £10 as an important and large part of your roll. I always try to keep any Spin-up challenge money separate in my mind, which helps when you feel you are risking your BR on it.
If you want to eventually go all the way with one of these challenges you have to think about it like this - I risked £5 and got £12.26. From now on if I continue to play, the maximum I will lose from my initial risk is £2.74 as I've already taken back £2.26 from my £5. You cannot think about the £10 as if it's yours until the challenge is over (hard I know!) In the end is it worth spending £2.74 to potentially win +£200? Ummmm, let me think....YEHHHHH
Maybe get back on it when you reach £110? I would do that as a treat for myself Anyway, keep plodding and I will too, GL!
Hey Phantom, you can always go back to the MC spin-up, I'm doing the same thing with the DYM spin-up (got to level 8 took the money and ran!) When I get a decent BR or a nice bink, I'll probably duck back in at level 8. ~ So when you feel happy to "lose" £10 and you won't die a little bit inside with a belly full of regrets, go for it! The problem now is that you consider that £10 as an important and large part of your roll. I always try to keep any Spin-up challenge money separate in my mind, which helps when you feel you are risking your BR on it. If you want to eventually go all the way with one of these challenges you have to think about it like this - I risked £5 and got £12.26. From now on if I continue to play, the maximum I will lose from my initial risk is £2.74 as I've already taken back £2.26 from my £5. You cannot think about the £10 as if it's yours until the challenge is over (hard I know!) In the end is it worth spending £2.74 to potentially win +£200? Ummmm, let me think....YEHHHHH Maybe get back on it when you reach £110? I would do that as a treat for myself Anyway, keep plodding and I will too, GL! Posted by mrsduck
Back in the day a lunch time session used to mean something completely different.
I wont say who when or where but I can recall a place of work where the lunchtime gallon challenge was a badge of honour (never worn by me I might add).
This lunchtime I look in lobbies and nothing much doing - reg for a few sngs. Go and make a brew and 2 have spun up.
first or maybe 2nd had of £1 6max 3 players aipf - player to my left (why always left) gets the lot with Q9s. Instant note taken there - fancy my chances of getting some chips later.
The other 2 are £3 dyms - one NL and one PLO8 - gulp - this was not the intention to so wildly mix - I just wanted to play maybe 2 of the same kind and was waiting to see which filled up first.
After a while I am on the bubble of all 3 tourneys - this is good but at the same time - not good.
The action is coming thick and fast - lots of decisions to make.
£1 6max player to my right has hoovered up the rest of the chips at the table so I am now sat between 2 chipped up players with around 1.2k chips. It's fold/shove time - sometimes open shoving sometimes shoving v 2 limpers and getting through.
£3 PLO8 Dym - I have been card dead all tourney so decisions have been mostly easy folds - however I am shorty and 3 others have decent stacks. Pot/fold and occasional flops seen from BB.
£3 NL Dym - bit of respite as while I am short with 2 big stacks there is a shorter player who appears to be absent. Some attempts to sucker me in with limps to my BB.
Then the luck really starts...
On the £1 6 max Get lucky when open shove A2s with a split pot when looked up by AT with an A99Jx board, then button shove JJ, BB has AA, I spike a J. Shortly after I bust them when I have AJ calling their Ax shove. Now big stack v Q9s player and shortly after that get AK v their smaller ace for the win,
Part way through that run above the £3dym absent shortie gets bust.
Leaving me with the PLO8. SB makes up and I have (75)sA5 think about potting but decide to see flop. Comes 68Ks and sb leads out. Decide I need to take a punt and reshove with a low hand possible and the u/d str8 draw. SB dwells and calls. Incredibly I am ahead for the high with A high, sb has better low draw (unless a 4 counterfeits) I have the better str8 draw but we are also holding blockers for each other. Run out QJs for a high only flush. SB busts 2 hands later.
So 3 for 3 - but got lucky. nice boost to the roll and an exciting lunch.
something you could do is split your b/r in two so if it's £40 say, you could gamble £20 & play anything you liked, the other £20 you could use for your 6-max s&g games & grind that up. this then gives you the best of both worlds- just an idea -:) gl Posted by devonfish5
I really like the concept - not sure about the 50% split. Maybe a 20-25% "fun roll" is better and start when overall roll is bigger? 6max aren't so much of a "grind" for me though, as there is play right to the end so they are fun too.
Use the fun roll for spin-up challenges / sats to bigger MTTs etc.
After the lucky lunchtime adventure I did indeed enter the PLO8 MTT league.
Only played the last 2 a £2 and £1 - both had 52 runners - very enjoyable - many more to come I hope.
I FT'd my first one - in the end only min-cashing 6th. Had a mid stack about 14 out but seemed to hit resistance and 0 cards post and nothing much doing pre until I ended up clinging on for 6th. 67Bhoys was very unlucky to bubble as I had to make a horrible call post flop and down to my last 1k and miracle outed to get a few bigs worth of stack.
Then won another pot and 67 wasnt so lucky when forced all-in on other table.
Saw a chance to build a decent stack and go for the real money with an AA (not brialliant combo) K7 with one suited pair. Hoped to shift off one of the other preflop actors with a r/r all-in but got 2 customers and 1 hit the hi and 1 hit the lo. Sigh gg.
Other one was doing well then another AAxx - when you pot over a raise and get called you dont really expect to be up against a set of 9s post flop - but I was and more or less stacked.
Friday was ok just lost one PLO8 dym when I hadnt adjusted my play back from MTT and went a bit crazy with a bunch of draws only to miss them all. 6max were in profit to nudge over the £50.
Sat and Sun were both pretty awful - worse being Sat night when I lost another £3plo8 and chased with a £5 immediately after. Played bad in the £3 well in the £5 but still bubbled. Meantime bricked 4 successive £1 6max which is bad for me. QQ < AJ AJ < KQ didnt help but I was gambling too much too soon.
In the end steadied the ship with a £2 6max win and a £3 PLO8 dym win but in fairness got some of the luck back in the 6max when 4 handed 99 > JJ to give me huge chip lead.
so back to £42.71 which is still a way ahead of the £5 a couple of weeks ago. Happy with that - not so much the gambling style and chasing a loss beyond B/R. May need a couple of days off to keep on top of work work - playing with time pressure aint good (well said mr ross the other night - shame I missed that until I was watching the repeat over breakfast this morning).
Breaking Bad season 1 completed - Onto Season 2 - although not sure you have to watch these in sequence because even in sequence it is not very sequential! I had to go and double check I had changed to the right dvd as the start of one episode skipped right past the massive cliffhanger from the previosu one.
Lucklily these days I can take a few bad beats - what could have been a potty mouthed outbust and a risk of laptop damage simply brings a wry smile and a confident nod that hey thats poker and long term those calls/shoves will win me money. Especially so in a 6max format where wins = x4 BI and my inner confidence is backed up by decent stats. Other formats where I am not so assured can be a little more tilting when the poker gods laugh in the face of my "superior" play on a table.
Bossing a £2 6max nl table - chip lead 4 handed - QQ < KQ for a dent. Bit later 3 handed chance to bust shortie, JT hit top 2 pair on flop but 3 str8 cards. My pot bet called and shortie is pretty much pot committed - unfortunately for me as when the 4th str8 card hits and they go all-in I kind of have to call - hoping its a bluff and knowing I have some outs which of course dont come when they show the Kx.
ATs < 99 when I could have bust another player and to rub salt into the wounds next exit hand AA < T6 rivered 2 pair.
gn gg.
Sorry for the BBV style post - not really complaining just only had time for the one game and that is what occured in it.
Also reading back - funny thing in 6max - "bossing a table" sometimes means you have everyone sussed they are playing face up and you can win chips off everyone. Sometimes it means you were just the lucky one who bust the one fish on the table for an early double up.
In life nothing much else to report - busy day - positive at work - not much time for poker.
Comments
Lost 1st 3 6max then won 4th @£2 and cashed another PLO8 dym to end up in profit for the day and £32.32 in total.
Tip of the day - playing on the phone while watching the darts is not great for focus!
Don't play poker at the same time though, it's too good to miss bits!!
Couldn't resist the newly revived mastercash TV spinup thread.
Depositied £5 on MC 2 - left with £12.26 - flopped the nut straight with KQs and a backdoor flush draw - multiway pot I was sb so checked one better one reraiser so I shove all-in and get the call. Happy days and hold up v 2 pair.
Now considering my B/R, I shouldn't have been playing NL10 even with only £5 - and playing with £5 is sub-optimal anyway not to mention I am roobish at cash - well not roobish - its just if I play a lot I either get eaten up by the sharks or beaten up by some lucky fish.
Now that I have boosted my B/R to £39.93 (back in the black for the B/R challenge wiiiiiiiiiiiiiii) what do I do now?
I think I know what Mrs Duck would do (insta load £10 on 20nl) the fun thing to do - and Mrs D has actually completed this challenge well done! If I lose still enough in the roll for a £22 BH ;-)
what would Dev do (bank the win) very sensible and the correct thing to do surely.
Heeelp
Decided not to rush this decision as there is no time limit.
so, any thoughts?
As for your poker funds? Enter the BH main and mini tomorrow and go for gold/broke
2. Have you been advising Jac35? Anyway Thursday is PLO8 night.
~ So when you feel happy to "lose" £10 and you won't die a little bit inside with a belly full of regrets, go for it!
The problem now is that you consider that £10 as an important and large part of your roll. I always try to keep any Spin-up challenge money separate in my mind, which helps when you feel you are risking your BR on it.
If you want to eventually go all the way with one of these challenges you have to think about it like this -
I risked £5 and got £12.26. From now on if I continue to play, the maximum I will lose from my initial risk is £2.74 as I've already taken back £2.26 from my £5.
You cannot think about the £10 as if it's yours until the challenge is over (hard I know!)
In the end is it worth spending £2.74 to potentially win +£200?
Ummmm, let me think....YEHHHHH
Maybe get back on it when you reach £110? I would do that as a treat for myself
Anyway, keep plodding and I will too, GL!