Have you joined a tennis club? If not do so. Most people are worried that they are too middle class and all the members are brilliant at tennis, nothing could be further from the truth! Definitely have lessons too. Watching and replicating is a brilliant way of learning too but a good coach will help tremendously as well. Good luck with the tennis, it's a great sport it's also one where you can take it up at any age and still play at a half decent level, if you keep at it, until a ripe old age. Posted by Enut
Yep, this is me. Locally, there is a scheme where you/your household pay £30 a year to play across 15-ish courts in four locations. This has suited me and I swan around telling anyone who will listen (read: no-one) that I'm a street player who's not into the idea of being part of a cliquey, middle-class tennis club. This is just me being prejudiced and, deep down, I think I'd like to be part of one for all sorts of reasons, not least that I need the exercise, love playing the game, and my football days are unfortunately behind me.
I was a tennis coach before playing poker for a living so if I can help with any questions SR then fire away. Enut, they are definetly the longest lasting tennis trainer out there. The strengthened toe is the key allowing you drag your foot when you serve and and not wear them out in a matter of weeks. Posted by Donttelmum
This is fascinating, for some reason. I'll drop you a line when I'm in Newcastle and maybe we can have a knock up/go and play live cash so you can skin me live as well as online.
How times have changed, I'm old enough to remember when trainers were first introduced ( At least oop North ) think they were called Hi - Tec. About a fiver a pair and folk sniggered if you dared wear em in town, nowadays the price of em makes me wince,and your really cool if you wear the right type Congrats on reaching your goal, we need posters like your good self here, always a great read and one of the first places I look on the forum , just behind Jac's , Hrry's , Tikays, bad beats, and checking if you have taken all my readers ^ Last sentence may be untrue. Please post more. Good luck in life. Posted by tomgoodun
Ha, yes, I suppose there must have been a point where people didn't wear trainers and then a point where people did. Seems odd, really. Thanks Tom for the messages of goodwill - good luck in life (and poker) to you, too.
Still in the Derbyshire Dales (thin holiday brag) but just caught up. Well done on hitting the numbers, priority and a very healthy increase in bankroll. VWP sir. Keep posting please. Still owed a crying into an egg and a not crossing a bridge anecdote at the very least. Posted by Phantom66
Both anecdotes will be hitting the shelves within a month, I suspect. Enjoy the rest of your holiday and tyvm for your support over the last month or so.
In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Some 4.9k dons later and finally completed with on hour to spare, nearly didn't as was held up at work longer than I would of liked but spat my oversized dummy out and the powers that be relented, The good mental health comment was in reference to my opening gambit about radio phone ins, and frazier crane- his closing line or sign off call to his radio show would be goodnight seattle and good mental health (not sure how old you are so maybe before your time ) ATB yfired Posted by yourfired
Ah, I see, clever bookending of comments ITT. Good stuff. Good stuff, too, on reaching Prio - especially with just an hour to spare, wpwp.
Well done on making priority and a really good month profit wise. What are you going to do with your bankroll? withdraw? Or keep building? Could create a nice little side income for you if you carry on the way you have. Posted by BigHawk89
Cheers Hawky, appreciate it - I suppose it helps when you flop two pair and your rivered boat gives your opponent trips. I did run golden for a lot of the month, so was dead fortunate in that respect.
I've been in the financial trenches since August. I worked for two days in September but haven't worked since, so I'm going to need some of my roll for life stuff (food, booze, tabs, trainers) and Christmas stuff (I've just bought a £116 turkey). My (embryonic) plan is to build up a bit of a roll to play live and play a mixture of live/online next year. It looks as if I have 2-3 months of well paid work in the new year so hopefully I can keep my roll intact.
We've all had those sessions, the ones where everything clangs and jars and poker takes on an unreal, almost evil, quality. Sets get beaten up by bigger sets. Combo draws never get there. Overpairs never hold against flush draws, flush draws never hit against overpairs. Flopped two pairs get counterfeited, credible-looking bluffs get routinely picked off, and we always bump into the top of our opponent's ranges.
These are miserable sessions. My last miserable session like the above has lasted for six weeks.
I've tried all sorts to try and drag myself out of this poker malfeasance: exercise, cutting down on booze, chanting, meditation before sessions, more chanting, visiting witch doctors who advertise in newsagent's windows and so on.
I've even gone as far as watching strategy videos, reading forums, reviewing hand histories, thinking about certain spots, tightening up and generally putting in a ton of work off the tables. I know: ridiculous.
Reviving this diary is my last, desperate shot at turning things around.
Online poker runbad has bled into real-life runbad. Three months of interesting, well-paid, socially benign work that I was due to start at the end of this month has just been snatched away from me. I'm broke. I dress in rags. I cry into boiled eggs.
But, readers, there are reasons to be cheerful. I'm owed a ton of positive variance. My game is getting by the day. I've just bought a punchbag, reasoning that if you're going to be dumb, you better be tough.
First goal is to turn this double-figure bankroll (that was one hand away from being a single-figure bankroll) into a triple-figure bankroll. Then into a quadruple-figure bankroll. Then we'll see.
There will be a handful of life goals too including, but not limited to, reading 100 books this year (current total: 6), crying into food less often, getting fitter, getting happier, helping other people more and improving my tennis game. Oh, and (eek) stopping smoking.
if ever someone warrants some run good its you mate, even if it is only so you update this dairy more ,I look forward to some run good post's in the near future as always good mental health ,
Thank you very much indeed, dragon1964 and yourfired (it's so difficult for me not to put an apostrophe in there - and an 'e') - I'm positively buoyant after your comments.
Thank you very much indeed, dragon1964 and yourfired (it's so difficult for me not to put an apostrophe in there - and an 'e') - I'm positively buoyant after your comments. Posted by SR23
Lol it was deliberate, for some reason It does tend to annoy folk can't think as to why:),
Definitely great to see you posting again albeit sad to read of the life/poker downswing. I hope things turn around for you soon. You clearly write professionally. What sort of work do you do? You never know, opportunities can arise from the most unusual of places. Posted by Phantom66
Lovely message, ta. And you're right, things can turn quickly and unexpectedly. Douglas Coupland's writing career began on the strength of a postcard he had sent to someone. True story. I think.
I've written all sorts: political speeches, reports for the FCO, chapters for military text books on psychological warfare, 150-odd poker columns, first-person pieces for the Guardian, knockabout pieces for men's magazines, restaurant reviews, bar reviews, estate agency reviews (!), film reviews, forewords for architectural coffee table books...and so on.
Jesus, it's even more disparate than I realised. Perhaps I need to specialise. I'm waiting to hear back from an editor about writing several pieces a month for the Scandinavian market on tennis, rugby and greyhounds. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me, either.
I really like this diary, please keep updating. Been on a handful of tables with you lately and I can confirm you have had some nasty beats. Hope it goes onto a long positive swing soon. Posted by HENDRIK62
Hey man, thanks for the good wishes. I think you were on my right during the early stages of the mini BH a few nights ago and I remember thinking, "Hendrik's not going to believe me if I write in my diary that I've been running badly. He will, however, believe me if I say I've been playing badly."
There is a close relationship between the two, though. It's the insidious beats that have been getting to me, rather than losing AA V TT or KK v AK or AK v KJ aipf (although, granted, those have been getting to me a bit too, recently). The near-constant whiffing of flops, the thousands of 20-30bb pots where I've been called down by fifteenth pair, or my opponent hits runner runner whatever, or I'm called down with gutshots and they get there, or by one pair (that I'm ahead of) that becomes two pair (that I'm not ahead of) on the river, or boards that I can't really barrel on or if I do I'm called down light etc etc.
Always missing flops/draws, long periods of being outdrawn, bluffs nearly always being picked off etc can really mess with your confidence and affect your game after a while.
There was a time last month where I'd had days of this (multitabling 5-6 tables) and at one point I flopped two pair. I didn't know what to do. I'd forgotten what it meant. It just looked so odd.
Sorry, I'm rambling. In my defence, Donald Trump's inauguration speech has left me feeling a little deranged.
In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Lol it was deliberate, for some reason It does tend to annoy folk can't think as to why:), Yfired Posted by yourfired
Haha, this is marvellous. It is actually a bit tilting, so top marks dude. I might have to change my screen name as a sort of homage. Does anyone know if this is allowed? May have to start a thread...
Oz Open picks? Did you see Federer this morning, truly incredible. Nice to see a few Brits going deep into the draw. Can't see Evo beating Tsonga but then again I didn't think he would beat Cilic.
See you at the tables soon and gl with the run better.
Comments
as always good mental health ,
yfired