This is probably going to be one of the most bizzare posts I shall ever post on this or any diary. Gaming took over, lets not beat around the bush, but every single night i was havig various dreams. Some of which and probably the ones i remember the most of where poker based. Some where short, literally just a hand or too. The rest where segments of tournaments. All live none online.
Its strange to say poker trully has changed my life. Through poker I've met some fantastic people and had some great memories. The actual poker seems like a side attraction in a roller coaster ride. I guess much like having a supporters bus to the football, only every time you go to a different match theres some new people to meet, some new experiances to enjoy, and highs and lows.
Gaming is different I have banter with people I live close to, people who i've met through work, college and in some cases old school friends. For all the banter is just as good the emotions and memories really don't ever seem to match that of a good live poker event, weather you're railing or winning. For the record i don't just mean a local game, i mean a game like an SPT.
The strange thing is I really would never have gone to an SPT or later a UKIPT if it wasn't for a series of circumstances. But all of this got me thinking. While i game I'm not having my Skype banter with some of these people (and dohhhhh who will attend an SPT around 2050). I only teand to speak to them while I'm playing, or if I'm in the mood for a strategy dicussion. Lets be honest I'm not sure how much use I would be to a strat disucssion while sitting in Grand Theft Auto's "gentlemans club".
Anyways So i realised i wasn't enjoying myself as much as i do when I'm playing poker, and having my banter. I said on Sunday if i wake before 11.30 i'd play on Monday. I failed that target. I also failed that today but I woke with a determination to check raise. A bizzare urge but one that was enough to get me loading up some tables.
In all over my usual 5 sites i played around 18 mtts. In was a wierd day i just wasn't in flow. I made some very, very comical errors. However i felt when i wasn't making those errors that i was playing well, and the longer the day went on the less mistakes i made.
However variance and the mistakes add up, over 18 mtts, i cashed in 0. I did managed to take 2 heads in a bh and 2 heads in a ko on .fr to reclam about £3 and €1.
However i managed tfor the first time in a while to get onto the mastercash tables. I ran well and feel like i played well too. This meant that on Sky i finnished +£5 which means that i kept losses to a minimum.
It means that i leave with mixed feeling about the day, but i am feeling very positive.
I hope i can get some good night sleeps so i can play my "usual" grind and open up the option to continue through the evening if i wish.
So today news came out that the guys who made my favorite sitcom ever "Still Game" have sorted out their differances. Many people have been wanting this for a number of years and although it won't confirm a new series for a while i guess its a step much closer.
On other news i played some pokers today. It comes after actually managing a small sleep through the night. Only 4 hour so i wasn't exactly fresh, but its progress in the right direction.
I played 5 mtts over 3 sites including sky. I managed 3 cashes including the one on sky, one FT. For the day profit for the 3 sites look as such
+£1
+$12ish
-€5
A pleasing day all round. I would have liked to have played more but just slowly losing consentation.
A friend of mine sent my a sharkscope graph today. Its was pretty grim but its sparked a conversation. For that friend they clearly where having a rough time over a small sample. But it resulted in my graph for mtts only this year being sent. My friends reaction when he seen it was "WOW" over a small sample good strong profit. Given my lack of a main win it looks strong. He said the one thing i was lacking was the motovation. Now thats easily fixable. Well easyish.
Before that however i took a huge dent in confidence. Basically over the past 3 years i've had a botchy rash (not contagious and literally no one close to me has it) but the doctor finally gave a diagnosis today. Its not 100% but hes pretty sure, unfortunetly its cronic. In a social enviroment its a killer.
I have never been the most confident social person, and i think thats clear for many to see, theres multiple reasons for that and I wouldn't want to go into it, but i felt through poker and friends i meet through this very beautiful game i was getting better at it, this feels like a huge set back.
Anyways onto poker. I was feeling pretty down all day but the friend above inspired me to get on with it and play. I played the main, mini and 4 hours of cash. Made around £15 profit.
The main started badly, but managed to grind from 1k to 3k before losing a huge flip. Left me cripped and the Q9 couldn't get there v A4. Standard stuff.
The mini was the opposite, started well, lost a massive pot for 2 heads with 2 overs + NFD, bricked everything then lost a flip. Standard stuff.
Cash was so hit and miss. I was in some pretty insane pots, but i can;t say i didn't enjoy it. I've always said the most fun i have is when I'm in difficult spots. Rancid was relentless all night. I think we probably finnished about even with eachother but its was lots of adapting to each other i think.
I had some very interesting spots with a number of other players, most noteably Craigcu and Pokey. The 33 hand there was a good reason for, I don't really want to share it publically if I'm honest and i want to discuss my thought process on it with a few people first as Ryan seemed to hate it on tv, so maybe i did make a mistake.
There was 2 hands i remember quite clearly with pokey, one where i decided to make a move and it worked and one where he made a move, and to be fair i really should have folded the river, but i made a bad call, but was good, if that makes any sort of sense.
Anyways, I hope to get some time in tomorrow, maybe around 14-18 mtts would be good.
This is the only title that suits for today. Yesterday i set a target of 14-18 mtts. Well according to my calculations i played 24. Over half of which where on sky.
The record however doesn't stand pretty. 1 min cash, and a couple of heads here and there in bhs. Yes its trully was that bad.
The strange thing is, i really don't think i made too many mistakes today. Thats not saying i didn't. The amount of times i must have been 90%+ on the turn and 0% on the river was just insane. I know this is standrad poker, and while I'm constantly putting myself in good spots like that I will win long term. That doesn't really help when you're losing every major hand your in, when every flip seems to go the wrong way. **** 18 months ago or whatever I'd have been posting on htis diary several times throughout the day going completely mental.
Most of the days when i would have done that, aren't even close to how bad i ran today. The worst thing is i decided today was the day where i was going to take some shots at £11/$11 games. Now i only played 4 of those and 100% they are not to blame for the problems. I'm delighted with how i played in 19/24 mtts, a couple of small mistakes but nothing that can't be fixed, infact most i even when wtf as soon as i done them.
I felt today i showed alot of caracter compared to normal. This post might be missing some donisms, which I'm off to read after this post and i always like a good chuckle at my own rants when I'm feeling abit deflated.
I;ve also set some goals for next year, I'll get to them once i know its a realistic target, although i believe it is atm i need to do some research first.
I have also decided that next week I'm going to focus 100% on sky, sats UKOPS and bhs.
My time is comming!!!!
Also for the first time in months i posted a hand in the poker clinic.
The hand in the clinic, i know what other people are saying, but i'd jam AQ in that spot, if he was super strong, i doubt he;d min 3 bet, but im probably way off!
Good luck with Ukops sats, and the next wee while, run good.
Hey Don, What's the goals for next year? The hand in the clinic, i know what other people are saying, but i'd jam AQ in that spot, if he was super strong, i doubt he;d min 3 bet, but im probably way off! Good luck with Ukops sats, and the next wee while, run good. And for sure your time is coming! GL Posted by LARSON7
Thanks for feedback on hand. The reason the min 3b scares the absolute balls off me there, is purely based on how i seen the players style and ability level.
Thanks for the luck.
My goal for next year I'm not 100% sure its actually achieveable. So I'm going to do some research over the next few days. I'll announce it if/when i know it is. I believe it is, with hard work, but that doesn't mean it is.
Hey Don, What's the goals for next year? The hand in the clinic, i know what other people are saying, but i'd jam AQ in that spot, if he was super strong, i doubt he;d min 3 bet, but im probably way off! Good luck with Ukops sats, and the next wee while, run good. And for sure your time is coming! GL Posted by LARSON7
I spoke with a number of people about the skin condition i mentioned a couple of days ago. Some admitted to having it, many spoke of friends who suffered. Roguecell offered some fantastic medical advice too, which does involve some lifestyle changes. Its starting to sink in and the cream i have been given has already made an improvement to the visability. I'm wanting to get another tattoo done have been for a long long time but have been unable to. Going to get some medical advice and just get it done now.
As for poker. yesterday i bought some Sharkscope searches, to be honest i was getting frustrated with asking other people alot of the time. So I'm going to start adding daily graphs to my updates. Since I'm playing on multiple sites i will post them all. That way you can get a strong feel for how I'm doing each day. Today i will inculde yesterdays results aswell. Although ill just merge so itll bve a 2 day graph instead of a 1 day graph.
Today was pretty rought again. However I'm starting to find out that I;m gettin better at the grinding it out thing. I also managed to qualify for the main rather early which helped me focus on continueing. I put in 11 straight hours today.
Again we lost money, but i think we made a small profit for mtts, and i think if it wasn't for the last hand of the day I'm actually in profit. The last hand of the day, i shall share, i think I can fold the river to be honest. Again its frustrating but meh.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
GELDY
Small blind
£0.05
£0.05
£33.97
POKEY2011
Big blind
£0.10
£0.15
£42.66
Your hole cards
J
Q
STR1BS
Fold
longman912
Raise
£0.30
£0.45
£38.75
The_Don90
Call
£0.30
£0.75
£42.47
ThePenquin
Fold
GELDY
Fold
POKEY2011
Fold
Flop
K
4
J
longman912
Bet
£0.38
£1.13
£38.37
The_Don90
Raise
£1.20
£2.33
£41.27
longman912
Raise
£3.18
£5.51
£35.19
The_Don90
Call
£2.36
£7.87
£38.91
Turn
7
longman912
Bet
£7.87
£15.74
£27.32
The_Don90
Call
£7.87
£23.61
£31.04
River
Q
longman912
Bet
£17.71
£41.32
£9.61
The_Don90
Call
£17.71
£59.03
£13.33
longman912
Show
4
4
The_Don90
Muck
J
Q
longman912
Win
Three 4s
£57.63
£67.24
Just look at the size of that pot. Fwiw I think I can fold river, but its defo standard until then. Neither of us are ever folding.
As for MTTs I managed 4 heads in the main. Lost a massive flip, its the kind of flip I call as a £100 flip. Basically theres £40 worth of heads in prizes which I can win in the hand, ontop of that the chips would make me chip leader with about 125 left. After that I blew up. Mini I got unlucky with AJ v KQ on AJT flop. Opponent played the hand unconventional and where I fold literally all worse hands (excluding maybe AT) thus I think I was ul that I had this hand.
I did also manage a min cash on Winamax today, I made a mistake in the exit hand, it was a very simple fold, but I 4bet jammed like a fud. I also managed a 3rd in a Sky bh for around £30. Again ul in a standard spot for what would have been a huge chip lead and would put me hu. Instead I was shorty and I just couldn't recover.
As you can see its been a painful 2 days, but I;'ve stuck in, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel and if I can keep playing like I am and being positives, spotting mistakes, I feel a good UKOPs week coming on.
Imo, you can fold the turn. He's 3bet the flop, then potted the turn, you're 2pr outs are no good, your trip outs are no good, and some of your flush outs aren't even good cos it's so obvious he has a set. Even if we stack him on 100% of safe flush rivers I don't think we're getting the right price
i would agree with lambet myself don. when he does the bet and then reraise he's more than likely got set or KJ. the only flush draw he could have is A10s because you have got the Q yourself so rules out the Q10s. as for the river card well that has to be a fold you might have 2 pair but considering his aggression already he must have a good hand.
Firstly in hindsight i defo agree with both the above comments. When on table and even for a while aftyer i never considered the possibility of folding the turn, Lamberts comment really makes it make perfect sense that theres very little point in going further in the hand.
Last night i struggled sleeping. I'm not sure why, every time I tried to sleep i had the same weird dream. I'm not even sure if i can class it as a dream, up until the last point it actually happened. Basically was remembering a horrible tackle i was on the end of when i was 14 while playing football. it wasn't a bad tackle really, just late. Standard stuff for a local under 15s league I'd imagine. Basically at the time i passed the ball as a lad slid, my studs stuck in the ground he caught my ancle. I was kind of lucky my body was in a good shape and i suffered just some swelling and brusing. However in the dream i didn't, i couldn't walk then I'd wake up. I'd fall back asleep and dream the same thing again. Eventually i gave up and watched a film and fell asleep on the sofa.
That however meant waking up today much later than normal. 1pm meaning id missed the first chunk of my usual mtt schedule. Ontop of that across every site i know mtts from 3.45-6 are appauling value. tyhe 4.30 and 5.30 bh on sky is literally the only decent ones. A pretty on £2 bh at 6 on sky aswell. But this means ive missed some of my better value mtts.
Ontop of that Mel is away today for the weekend, that means i have to alot Cooking time. During session i did try phoning a takeaway but they couldn't take card payment, which sucks donkey parts. And all the online sites for ordering are terrible in rural areas like where i am.
However the positives are its much easier to focus when the little one isn't screeming (at present hes starting to talk so is trying to find his voice) and mel isn't nagging about something than happened on some soap last month. either that or she's found some redic picture on facebook, and despite the fact im in 5 different hands i must look now because the photo might just vanish off her screen.
So i started. Now today i started off in strong contrast to the last few days by running insane. In my first 2 sky bhs i went from 2k to 16k before 100/200 blinds. Unfortunetly thats where i seemed to get stuck in most. I was also fighting away on my usual other sites too. In a hyper KO on FTP i managed to take 8 heads, yes a full 8 heads, and didn't cash. The structure was of a very high variance nature so that will be pretty standard. Basically its a 10BB starting stack with very quick levels. They are fun but obviously insane variance.
So it was a good start to the day, It slowed in the middle, but i added another 2 cashes at the end.
So the day looks as follows, 2 final tables, both cashes, one 3rd one 6th. ul in both, one lost flip, 2 standard spots going against me and a mistimed bluff. And two further cashes, one i blew up in, i can't say any less than that was horrific on my part. Literally the only value hand the guy had was a set, so i shoved with a marginal. He had a set. I was annoyed at myself for that and threw the rest of my chips away. The other i lost a huge flip on the bubble, it left me very short, i went spot dead and managed to ladder a little while looking for that spot but it never came. In the end i took a gamble to spin and it didn't work out, but i couldn;t have ridden the blinds anyways.
In Response to Re: Every Don has its day.: mel isn't nagging about something than happened on some soap last month. either that or she's found some redic picture on facebook,Posted by The_Don90
Yeh but Don, David ditched Priya to get with Alicia after Cameron shot her, Michael is using Alice to get Scarlett back, Ian has confessed to lying to the police about Max, & It's Davids baby!
& there's more talent in the 2.20 @ 2.20 on than there is the Donny first team squad.
Imo, you can fold the turn. He's 3bet the flop, then potted the turn, you're 2pr outs are no good, your trip outs are no good, and some of your flush outs aren't even good cos it's so obvious he has a set. Even if we stack him on 100% of safe flush rivers I don't think we're getting the right price Posted by Lambert180
So you and craig say you are folding the turn? Wow I have seen your diary and there is no chance you or craig are folding any street either, this advice man lol
I've managed to finally do enough reasearch and i fully believe my 2014 goals are now achieveable so I will address them in this post.
Firstly though, I'm not playing today, Its a mates 21st tonight so I'm headed for the pubs, thus i don't want to play expessially given i play mtts i don't wana have to leave mid final table. lol
Anyways UKOPs starts tomorrow, so I will try not to be too rough and therefore i can start early with the sats. I wil probably be trying more for the lower buy in events, although will play most of the sats. Sats I've never been shy in saying i feel i can beat them. The last time UKOPs was around I felt so brutal that i played no UKOPs events, if you remember i was in profit for a weekend, but at the same time bubbled 16 sats. 16 stone bubbles is a pretty sick record. To make the bubble in that many over my volume was pretty good but being on the other end of that is the improtant part and i defo would expect to be getting over that line more than what i did then.
2014 goals i shall now announce. Now alot of its based on seeing a copy of my yearly sharkscope graph for this year.
Now as much as i like that, 600 mtts just isn't alot. Although that graph is getting to one that i think alot of mtt players would be proud of, if it was over a strong volume and continued.
So it got me thinking and this is why im releasing this goal now, as I will need to prep for next year, completely change my grind attitude and plug a couple of leaks.
So the goal. I want to make the top 10 of the sharkscope leaderboard for mtts only.
Now when i first thought of the idea i spoke with Dohhhh and we laughed. However i searched for the current guy in 10th, and actually its pretty achieveable if i can manage the above consistantly.
This is the player who's currently in 10th place's graph. Now as you can see he has a 9k advatnage this year, so bar winning a couple of UKOPs/.Primos etc this year the goal is nearly impossible.
However you will also see his much larger sample size. Now This is the key. The competition's current average buy in is £8. Mine is currently £4, our average win per game is only 70p differance.
Now i did add some £11 games the other day and I feel like the step up is possible, although at present I'm not rolled without it being a shot. But with hard work, and some dedication i think this goal is now achieveable.
So for the rest of 2013 I am going to work on grind ethics, and plugging some leaks. 2014 I will work on being the very best player i can possibly be.
Ok so i know i said above i wasnt gonna play but i was bored. played 4 tables of nl10 cash, for about 90mins. Finnished +4 have no idea how it was only +4 on standing is was pleased expecting to see +£20
Just been reading a bit of this diary Don and i wish you all the best for the up coming UKOPs Ive watched you playing the TV tables and you have a good aggro game which should see you go deep in any you might play Posted by Diminuendo
Thank you, congrats on your recent scores.
Its a shame theres not much in way of coverage for non main event mtts on tv as id be much happier playing that than cash, i suck at cash badly lol.
Should be a fun week. Best of luck to yourself too.
So today i was rough. Well tbh i wasn't ill just very very tired, even tho i hd a decent sleep.
Anyways, i played some all in sats, a freeroll sat and the mini.
One stone bubble in the all in sats but nothing more than that. Spent alot more than i meant to on these.
The mini was really good, i missed the double rebuy as i never fell below 2000 after winning the first hand. This it cost £10.50 (well played sky for not raking addons and rebuys).
After the addon period though i had 2 sick spots where i got it in as a 84% and 80% favoritie two hands in a row. On 20k if i win either. Busto if i lose both. I lost both.
Meh.
Will be starting late tomo as i have to visit a friend who has been ill. But other than that onwards and upwards.
Comments
+$12ish
What's the goals for next year?
The hand in the clinic, i know what other people are saying, but i'd jam AQ in that spot, if he was super strong, i doubt he;d min 3 bet, but im probably way off!
Good luck with Ukops sats, and the next wee while, run good.
And for sure your time is coming! GL
As for MTTs I managed 4 heads in the main. Lost a massive flip, its the kind of flip I call as a £100 flip. Basically theres £40 worth of heads in prizes which I can win in the hand, ontop of that the chips would make me chip leader with about 125 left. After that I blew up. Mini I got unlucky with AJ v KQ on AJT flop. Opponent played the hand unconventional and where I fold literally all worse hands (excluding maybe AT) thus I think I was ul that I had this hand.
I did also manage a min cash on Winamax today, I made a mistake in the exit hand, it was a very simple fold, but I 4bet jammed like a fud. I also managed a 3rd in a Sky bh for around £30. Again ul in a standard spot for what would have been a huge chip lead and would put me hu. Instead I was shorty and I just couldn't recover.
As you can see its been a painful 2 days, but I;'ve stuck in, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel and if I can keep playing like I am and being positives, spotting mistakes, I feel a good UKOPs week coming on.
when he does the bet and then reraise he's more than likely got set or KJ.
the only flush draw he could have is A10s because you have got the Q yourself so rules out the Q10s.
as for the river card well that has to be a fold you might have 2 pair but considering his aggression already he must have a good hand.
In Response to Re: Every Don has its day.:
mel isn't nagging about something than happened on some soap last month. either that or she's found some redic picture on facebook,Posted by The_Don90
Yeh but Don, David ditched Priya to get with Alicia after Cameron shot her, Michael is using Alice to get Scarlett back, Ian has confessed to lying to the police about Max, & It's Davids baby!
& there's more talent in the 2.20 @ 2.20 on than there is the Donny first team squad.
Ive watched you playing the TV tables and you have a good aggro game which should see you go deep in any you might play