The fun poker diary.

68Trebor

 Going to start a diary today as I have had a revelation and seen the light.

There seem to be quite a few people at the moment talking about the reason most of us started to play poker was for the fun of the game. This got me thinking and to be honest for the last 12 months I have mainly played cash as this is supposed to be the cream of the poker games and the way to make money. I have made money, not a lot I might add, but have ended up becoming a bit of a robot and a bit of a grinder without really enjoying my poker. I have, therefore decided that as of today I am going to stop playing cash. I am going to go back to the area of poker I have got the most entertainment from, namely the MTT. For all the excitement of getting AA in a cash game nothing beats the thrill of a final table. I am going to keep a diary of my exploits as I have been inspired by Wacko90's diary, hoping to run and play as well as him. I will start with £300 and to be honest I will not be sticking to any real BRM as this tends to take away from the fun and the main aim of this diary is to enjoy my poker and have fun.

 So here we go on the fun trail.

 Bankroll = £300.

 Session profit =

 Overall profit = 

 Cash for points = 

waller02

In Response to The fun poker diary.:

 Going to start a diary today as I have had a revelation and seen the light. There seem to be quite a few people at the moment talking about the reason most of us started to play poker was for the fun of the game. This got me thinking and to be honest for the last 12 months I have mainly played cash as this is supposed to be the cream of the poker games and the way to make money. I have made money, not a lot I might add, but have ended up becoming a bit of a robot and a bit of a grinder without really enjoying my poker. I have, therefore decided that as of today I am going to stop playing cash. I am going to go back to the area of poker I have got the most entertainment from, namely the MTT. For all the excitement of getting AA in a cash game nothing beats the thrill of a final table. I am going to keep a diary of my exploits as I have been inspired by Wacko90's diary, hoping to run and play as well as him. I will start with £300 and to be honest I will not be sticking to any real BRM as this tends to take away from the fun and the main aim of this diary is to enjoy my poker and have fun.  So here we go on the fun trail.  Bankroll = £300.  Session profit =  Overall profit =   Cash for points = 
Posted by 68Trebor

all the best m8, will follow with interest. 1 less reg on the cash tables is fine by me!!!

devonfish5

gl Trebor,
have fun & enjoy

(* *)
   ^
dev

68Trebor

 So first day of MTT's and glad to say it was fun.

 I played in 4 BH and lost £8 across the 4, played a £22, £11 and 2 X £5 ones.

 Also entered the mini primo and managed to finish 3rd for a £151.50 profit. Bit gutted as didn't play that well when got down to 3 handed and had a real chance of binking it.

 No complaints really as a good start to the thread. 

 Off to bed now as got work in the morning.

 Bankroll = £444.76.

 Session profit = £144.76.

 Overall profit = £144.76.

 Cash for points = 1177.

Dagnamit

Another diary off to a brilliant start.  Well done.  Glad you had fun.

68Trebor

 Day 2, and I never knew how much fun poker good be.

 Following on from yesterday's good start and my 3rd place in the mini primo I rushed home from work and loaded up the laptop at 8.55pm. By 9pm I had registered for 3 MTT's.

 I busted out the first a £11 £750 guaranteed Bounty Hunter.

 I managed a min cash in the second a £5.50 £500 guaranteed Bounty Hunter resulting in a tiny loss of 49p, only managed 1 bounty. 

 I then proceeded to take down a £5.50 £250 guaranteed MTT, see below. Have to say it had a really good structure and although only 56 runners it still took 4 hours to take down, with heads up nearly lasting an hour.

 So my message to all the grinders who have forgotten what it's like to play poker for fun take a shot at a MTT. You really can't beat the thrill of making a final table and then proceeding to take it down.

 Finally just wanted to say watch out Wacko90, here I come.

 

Registered56 / 1000168Trebor - £842MAXMAX123 - £563SolidStan1 - £39.204Boosh23 - £26
  Bankroll = £511.77. Session profit = £67.01. Overall profit = £211.77. Cash for points = 1205.

Tikay10

Loving this Diary already.

68Trebor

 Feel the need to post this morning as believe I have achieved something this morning.

 Today I am working a late, basically 1pm - 10pm so what I would normally do is fire up the laptop open up Sky Poker and try to find 3 x 20nl tables to play on for a couple of hours, just to kill a bit of time. What would normally happen is I may only find 1 x 20nl table and would end up sat at a 20nl table and maybe a couple of 40nl games. So I would be playing well above my bankroll and be sat at a table with the regular grinders at that limit who would then relieve me of my cash. Would I enjoy it, not really.

 I suppose it's a bit like smoking, which by the way I gave up 6 years ago, the best thing I ever did. What tends to happen when you smoke is it becomes a habit, you don't particularly enjoy it , you do it because you always do it, you don't remember doing it and there is nothing memorable about the actual having a cig. This is what had happened to me and poker.

 So this morning I made the concious decision to break the cycle. Yes I fired up the laptop, and yes I went on the forum. But I didn't load up any games. This has benefited me in 3 ways.

 1. I haven't lost any of my bankroll playing at the cash tables at an unprofitable time.

 2. I will be more hungry to play poker next time I do sit down at the tables.

 3. And perhaps most importantly, I have actually got a few jobs done around the house and will earn some brownie points from the better half.

 I don't want to tell you all to stop playing poker, but for me I think that less may end up being more, and most importantly less may actually be fun.

GaryQQQ

Excellent start, very well played, best of luck to you.

I hope it's a long time until 'the daddy takes the t-bird away!'

68Trebor

In Response to Re: The fun poker diary.:

Excellent start, very well played, best of luck to you. I hope it's a long time until 'the daddy doesn't takes the t-bird away!'
Posted by GaryQQQ

Am I missing something Or am I just stupid. I have no idea what you're on about.

Please enlighten me.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: The fun poker diary.:

In Response to Re: The fun poker diary. : Am I missing something Or am I just stupid. I have no idea what you're on about. Please enlighten me.
Posted by 68Trebor

Enlightenment inbound......

The "t-bird" thing is a lyric from a modern pop song by an up & coming pop group called "The Beach Boys".

"And she'll have FUN FUN FUN till her Daddy takes the t-bird away". 

Song Title is FUN FUN FUN, hence Gary's Post on the FUN Poker Diary.

68Trebor

I am fully enlightened now, cheers Tikay. Never was one for music quizzes and all that. Tend to be the one who gets sent to the bar as that is deemed my best contribution on a Sunday night at the local music quiz.

68Trebor

 So just played a couple of BH's this morning and played OK. I have to say I was quite surprised by some of the moves made by some players and may have to adjust my game slightly when playing at these levels.

 Anyway I did OK. 

 

 Played the 11.30, £5.75, £200 guarantee BH. Managed a 14th place finish out of 49, picking up 1 bounty for £1.88. Pivotal and was when I hit a flush on the turn and got it all in, only to be behind to a bigger flush. At the time I thought he might have the flush as he had lead out on the flop with a relatively small bet, but still couldn't get away from my flush. Probably the right play long term. Any thoughts.

 In the 10.45, £3.30, £150 guarantee BH, I managed a min cash finishing 10th out of 80. I also got 1 bounty for a total return of £4.73. Last hand was when I got it all in with AK, and villain held 99, which went on to hold.

 Will return later to play a few tournies tonight, not quite sure which I will be playing but really looking forward to the challenge at the mo.

 As it's my day off today the plan for this aft is to lie on the settee and watch WarHorse, which has just arrived on SKY. Meant to go and see this when it came out but never got round to it, probably just as well I watch in the privacy of my own living room as I have a tendancy to shed a tear at these sort of films.

 Bankroll = £509.33.

 Session profit = -£2.44.

 Overall profit = £209.33.

 Cash for points = 1216.

68Trebor

 So in the name of fun I decided to take my chances in a couple of early evening bounty hunters. Unfortunately I didn't fare as well as I would have hoped.

 I entered the £33, £1k BH at 6pm and finished 14th out of 43. Then entered the £22, £1.5k BH at 7pm and quickly crashed and burned, finishing 76th out of 77 when I couldn't lay down my aces on a paired turn, with the villain showing the flopped straight.

 What I think I have learnt so far tonight is that the fields in these 2 tournies are probably going to be tougher than the main nightly event as the play generally seemed more aggressive than the main event usually does. This could be down to the smaller guarantee drawing less recreational players, the smaller fields drawing less recreational players, lack of TV coverage reducing the number of recreational players and the lack of many, if any, satelitte qualifiers.

 I also think the buy in affected my play and I was probably not playing my optimum poker and not being as aggressive as usual. The lesson taken from this experience is not to play these 2 MTT's again but focus on the smaller buy in MTT's for now and throw in the occassional main event, where I think I have a bigger edge than these small field, relatively high buy in MTT's.

 So am I still having fun? YES!

 Am I still learning? YES!

 My key learning being that although I said early on in this thread that BRM was of no concern as I was here to have fun, BRM is of some importance as it is not too much fun playing above your means and thus inhibiting your playing style. I also don't think it would be too much fun seeing my hard earned BR quickly disappear into the relatively high stake BH abyss.

 I will update my balance and profit tracker when I have finished playing for the night, but felt it was important to put in writing my feelings as I crashed out. Have to say whilst I am writing this I am playing in a £5 BH and feel much more in control and hence I am enjoying it much more. Contentment is a funny feeling.

68Trebor

 Evening fixtures over. Summary of this evening's play as follows.

 £5, £400 guarantee BH at 7.15pm finished 48 / 111

 £2, £500 guarantee BH at 8.05pm finished 288 / 369 – All in preflop with AK v villains AA, no help given.

 £3 MINI Open DS at 8.15pm finished 45  / 307 – got it in with AJ in bb v villains AA in sb.

 £10 £1k guarantee BH at 8.30pm finished 10  / 167 for a return of £47.46

 A decent recovery after the early loss of £55 on the early evening BH's

 So adding this to the early evening BH's below is a summary of the day.

 Bankroll = £479.44.

 Session profit = -£29.89.

 Overall profit = £179.44.

 Cash for points = 1290.

acerag83

This really is a fantastic read , and a great idea that hopefully will inspire others to remember the fun that poker can create . would be great to see you turn an overall profit too but if not who cares ..... your having FUN

68Trebor

 Before the poker update just a quick review of Warhorse, which I watched the other afternoon. Have to say I was slightly disappointed. Thought it was what I would refer to as a 'nice' film but really didn't have much ooomph behind it and was not a film I would probably watch again.

 Only played the 2 BH's this evening and probably going to have an early night as quite tired and back in work at 7am tomorrow.

 Played the £22, £1.5k BH at 7pm and finished 18/79. Before you all start to remind me that I said I wouldn't play in this event again, after I claimed I didn't think I had an edge, you have to remember the title of the thread. I am here to have fun and to have fun tonight I wanted to play in 2 decent MTT's but really didn't feel up to playing the MAIN and MINI as the finish time would of been to late for me tonight. So, yes I made the decision to play in the 7pm BH. Thought I played OK but never really got a decent stack and was always fighting the rising blinds. 

 Also played the £5, £400 BH at 7.15pm and managed a 13/99 finish taking down a couple of bounties. Went out when all in pre-flop for a 16k pot with QQ up against the villain's 33. First card out was a 3 and that was the end of my fun this evening.

 Bankroll = £455.91.

 Session profit = -£23.53.

 Overall profit = £155.91.

 Cash for points = 1318.

68Trebor

 Had a feeling I shouldn't of played tonight. 

 I had the most bizarre day at work and knew deep down this might affect my play, but as I am away in Devon from tomorrow morning until Thursday night I couldn't resist having a go tonight. 

 What happened at work I hear you ask.

 I am a Trading Manager at ASDA, basically act as deputy store manager, and today on arrival at work it soon became obvious we had some major technical problems involving the software and computer system that basically runs all the systems of stock ordering, cash office etc. As a result of this I ended up ringing our technical helpdesk at 8.30am this morning and was soon escalated on to a conference call involving our helpdesk in Asda House, our american IT team at Walmart, IBM in USA, HP in USA and various other american folk, including a lovely lady called Betty from the deep south who had the most amazing American accent. So what I hear you say, how does this affect how you played tonight. The reason this affected my play was I eventually came off the conference call at just gone 5.30pm. I am not sure if this is some kind of world record but to hold a telephone to one's ear for over 9 hours whilst listening to people talk in some sort of technical language I do not understand is possibly the most exhausting day's work I have ever encountered. This meant that despite my good intentions to take down a MTT or two tonight it was never really a realistic target.

 I entered 3 MTT's and did not fare well in any of them finishing 178th, 127th and 119th in them. To be fair I fell into the old trap of the smoker, did it for habit's sake. I also broke the golden rule and have to say didn't find it particularly fun.

 The good thing is I will now be having a break until I return on Thursday as I am visiting my parents whilst in Devon and they do not own or have any inclination towards owning a computer and certainly do not entertain the idea of the internet. This will mean 4 days of walking along the Jurrasic coast at Exmouth, watching the sea come in and out, good old fashioned mum's cooking, possibly visiting the odd public house and generally doing the FUN things in life. So when I do return to the poker on Thursday expect me to take down a MMT or two as I will be fully rested and raring to go.

 Bankroll = £414.01.

 Session profit = -£41.90.

 Overall profit = £114.01.

 Cash for points = 1357.

68Trebor

Life in Exmouth is fun. A pint of Youngs Best in The Grove, Cornish Tribute in The Beach, Timothy Taylor Landlord in The Grapevine, what next. Who knows, that's the fun.

68Trebor

 So returned from my fun trip to Exmouth and decided to give one of the sats a go for tonight's big one.

3 hands into the UKOPS LR DF Direct with a total buy in of £12.50 and I get it all in with my 99 looking good against the villains 77 for an early double up and bang 7 on the turn ends that. People maybe saying why get it all in with 99 but sat is a really fast structure with 1 in 5 qualifying so a quick double up should set me on my way and the way the betting went the villain was always on a smallish pocket pair. Lets hope this isn't the way November's going to run. No more sats and will just enter the Mini, £1.5k BH at 7pm and maybe the Side event sat at 7pm.

68Trebor

 Well what a disaster. Played a total of 8 MTT's tonight and not one cash or bounty to be found. This has put me back to where I started and I now have a decision to make. I have to decide between 3 alternatives, and would like any readers to express their views and reasons for them, below are the alternatives I think I have.

 1. Return to the cash tables. I have always done OK on the cash tables and know I can hold my own at the 20nl - 30nl level. Advantages are that I can play and stop when it suits me. Disadvantages are that I long for that one big cash and have a bit of a tendancy to get impatient at the cash tables as I can't see a potential big profit in a short time. If I return to cash I would have to really concentrate on playing my A game at all times, something my track record says I am not brilliant at. Then if I do return to cash do I stay at SkyPoker or play somewhere else where I get a much better Rakeback deal.

 2. Continue playing the MTT's on SkyPoker but lower my buy-ins to the £10 and under level. The major disadvantages with this are that I don't get particularly excited with the possibility of winning £100ish for winning a small MTT on Sky Poker.

 3. Continue playing MTT's, but on an alternative site where a $10 buy-in has the potential to win $1000's. The main disadvantages are that to win one of these you may have to play for 8 -10 hours, which isn't ideal for my lifestyle. I would also be leaving the Sky Poker forum, a massive pull for me to stay at Sky.

 4. Play a combination of cash and MTT's. The major disadvantage of this is I become a jack of all trades but master of none. And again if I choose this option do I do it at Sky or elsewhere.

 OOOOOHHH decisions, decisions.

 Please post your views and help me decide. With it being the start of a new month I need to make a decision sooner rather than later so I can take full advantage of any monthly rakeback deals.

 On another point downloaded the Jake Bugg album and have to say it is excellent. Well worth a listen if you like the sound of a Bob Dylan / Oasis collaboration.

 Bankroll = £298.61.

 Session profit = -£115.40.

 Overall profit = -£1.39.

 Cash for points = 84.