As a DYM grinder I've enjoyed reading this thread, especially the nostalgia element.
Not to hijack anything but it made me think about my journey into poker. Back in 2009 I was getting married and had decided to go to Las Vegas for my stag do with some close friends. It was always something I wanted to do but it had nothing to do with poker. At the same time in the months leading up to it my fiancée (future wife) and I started playing a home game with work friends. There were typically 6-8 of us who would meet every Thursday evening and play. I didn't have a clue (looking back I remember excitedly tabling my hand and declaring I had 3 pair). I enjoyed the game though, loved the bluffing component but really had no clue (I can't stress enough how bad I was), something in me clicked though and I thought as part of my stag do we should all play a tournament. In preparation I bought myself Harrington on Hold'em. I read both volumes in the lead up and during the flight to Vegas but my mind was still focused on the partying we were going to do out there so much so that by the time the tournament came around I almost didn't play and tried to convince the guys to go to a pool party instead. Thankfully they convinced me otherwise and I got my head in the game. This time I was focused on applying what I had read, tight was right, I was going to be aggressive, if the older guys bet big they usually have it, play more hands from the button and fold more UTG. I remember being oddly nervous when I sat down, I don't recall the exact number but there were around 140 runners at the Sahara, I didn't expect to last long but my tactics were working, one by one my seven friends busted the tournament the field was thinning yet I was still growing my stack, attacking tight players and folding when I didn't have a pretty hand. I recall looking over at them as the morning tournament had progressed to the early evening and they were getting ready to head out for drinks whilst trying to patiently waiting for me (the stag) to finish this game of cards. I was far from a wizard and really luck boxed the whole thing but somehow I finished third overall. I can't remember the buy in or the pay out but it was decent enough to pay for my stag do whilst I was there and even bring money back. I don't even remember my bust out hand but I do remember tightening up and playing scared at the final table as I eyed the first prize - such a rookie mistake in hindsight. Looking back now the standard of play (even in Vegas was poor compared to today - I just nitted up and bet very aggressively - but if I didn't have that decent cash I probably would not be here today. My love affair with poker was still at an embryonic stage but it was pivotal and I was extremely lucky with the breaks I got.
I'll try to post how I started with online poker and Sky later, my many battles with Jac, PatWalssh (RiP), Dial etc, my thoughts on DYM strategy in todays games when I get more time.
I’ve been in a bit of a dark place for this last 4 weeks
So, sorry to almost everyone i’ve been grumpier than normal with at the tables or on the forum
I’ve suffered with heath anxiety for a long time and i’m not good at dealing with it.
Medication got me through Barcelona but now i’ve had to stop it in order to get some tests done, i’m back to how i was before
Rather than be grown up and sensible all i hear at the doctors is “to rule out sinister things”
So i get scared and put off the tests. Which is ridiculous because i worry anyway but it’s what i do
I’m going to do them now
Being a drama queen is really quite tedious at times
I had not noticed any difference tbh...
More seriously, listen to the Quack mate, there's nothing to be scared of & putting it off only makes things potentially worse.
Gill suffers from dreadful anxiety too, & has been on medication for many years, but she's now weaning herself off the tablets. It's awful really as I can't help her, & I know she worries herself to bits.
She works for Bet365 these days & they are in little "teams" who often go out for social evenings, bingo, that sort of thing. She enjoys their company but is scared to go out with them "as my hands shake & I feel embarrassed". She wants to come along to SPT's too, but same problem, "folks will laugh at me if they see my hands shaking".
You have so many friends here mate, use us, we want to help.
I’ve been in a bit of a dark place for this last 4 weeks
So, sorry to almost everyone i’ve been grumpier than normal with at the tables or on the forum
I’ve suffered with heath anxiety for a long time and i’m not good at dealing with it.
Medication got me through Barcelona but now i’ve had to stop it in order to get some tests done, i’m back to how i was before
Rather than be grown up and sensible all i hear at the doctors is “to rule out sinister things”
So i get scared and put off the tests. Which is ridiculous because i worry anyway but it’s what i do
I’m going to do them now
It’s tiring and tedious being a drama queen at times
All the best with this mate, my eldest daughter suffers with anxiety so I realise how difficult it can be even to admit it to others. Hopefully you get through and come out the other side feeling more in control.
Sorry to hear of your troubles., I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks due to family issues, so I know where you’re coming from. Suffice to say you have a lot of virtual ( and real) friends who will be there for you should you feel the need to open up. The good thing is you can see it’s a bit daft not having the tests done ( some people can’t be as logical , and as much as one tries to help it’s heartbreaking when you can’t )
You're one of the good guys Paul, hope things get better. If you ever need to discuss matters then just drop me a pm. I've been there (still there), done that and got the tshirt.
Sounds like you’ve resolved this yourself, but obviously not knowing something doesn’t make it untrue. They can do amazing things for people, give them the best shot and let them know early. Hope you find it and find that it’s ok.
Meanwhile, great to have Mayhem in the thread, proper DYMer him! 😉
So anyway I do feel like I am rambling a bit but to continue my nostalgia driven story. After I returned from Vegas (my wife was very happy that I had returned with money - more spending power for the honeymoon in her eyes). We even played poker at my wedding two full tables of 9 ring but I was too drunk and soon busted.
I started to wonder about trying on-line poker, by this stage I was watching poker on TV (the big game hosted by Amanda Leatherman, World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker and others). I was travelling with work a lot and the American guys I got to know were mad on poker and how easy the game was on-line. I remember being concerned that it was gambling and it could become addictive, not what I would need with a new family (we just had our baby daughter). My wife who also enjoys the game was playing 888 (I think) and also Stars, she was a losing rec who understood the game but wasn't really beating it, she was only a slight loser I guess and was only depositing small amounts each month (£10-20). She convinced me to play on her account (ssshhhh nobody tell Stars please), so I gave standard Sngs a go. To my surprise I was instantly beating them and had spun her account up to a few hundred very quickly, I was enjoying myself. One day the shock news came that she had tried to play higher stakes and lost almost everything. She was so annoyed with herself that she closed her accounts and withdrew what little she had left - she had to send ID at the time to make the withdrawl and was unhappy about that. I then decided to give the games ago, I was going to register with Stars as I was familiar with the software but for some reason choose Sky. I think it was an advert or the Sky Poker channel (I miss you Anna, Tikay and the rest). Either way I placed £10 on my account - to this day it's the only time I've deposited. In the first few days I played some £2, £3 MTTs, normal SnGs weren't running frequently (even back then when it was the big poker boom) so I gave DYMs a go. The traffic was good and I was instantly winning. It felt like a free cash machine at the time, I started on £3DYMs, soon moved to £5 DYMs, my bankroll was up to around £100 and I jumped in £15 DYMs. I was single tabling and the players were just bad. I rang my friend (one from my stag do) to tell him that it's just so easy, you sit there fold everything but premiums and within a few minutes you are down to four players. I look back now with amusement but literally very few people understood the format and would bust themselves on level one or two with a pair. You would get four way all ins frequently. This was happening at all stakes I played. I started planning how much money I could make whilst single tabling, I expected my bankroll to only go one way. Then out of nowhere, players started to get lucky against me, I would pick up a big hand and they'd have bigger, I lost a few £15s, £11s and I was down to the bare bones. I remember even playing 50p DYMs to stop myself going bust. I rang my friend again contemplating whether on-line poker was rigged and whether my winning streak was just a ruse to get me addicted. He explained variance to me and this was a harsh lesson but one I was lucky again (luck was a reoccurrent theme in my early poker years) not to go completely broke. Now I was going to play with a bankroll and set targets tied to the stakes I would play (I'm still only single tabling at this stage). I remember certain names at the time 121285, JohnConnor, these guys were almost always cashing. During one game players were making comments about how much the other was losing, I asked how they knew this and they referenced Sharkscope. What was this magic tool I wondered. I gave it a go, three searches per today without cost. I was now tracking my results and searching for the players I was seeing regularly at the tables. I realised how much JohnConnor and 121285 were making on these and my heart was set - I could earn enough playing poker to buy myself a video game each month (I guess this was the mindset of a twenty something back then!). I soon committed to paying a monthly subscription and I would search players I came across, I was now empowered, I knew who the good players were so I would avoid calling/betting into them without strength, the big losers I would only bet if I had something, the rest I'd just play my game. I played only infrequently when I could back then but remember spinning my bankroll up to £200 and thinking this is so easy, I'm a great poker player I don't need to read any books or take advice because that may actually harm my game (my ego was definitely out of control when it came to poker). I would turn up at the home game with friends and expect to win, I started to behave like Phil Hellmouth when I took a bad beat, it really wasn't a good look and I feel ashamed about it now. I don't recall any specific instances but if I flamed you in chat back in 2010-2012 then I'm really sorry!
Around this time the games started to change. I was regularly finding myself at the same tables as Patwalssh (the name always reminded me of EastEnders) and Jac35 on £5 DYMs (I had settled here due to my bankroll management and withdrawals to buy video games). The earlier crushers like JohnConnor, 121285 and others now felt like targets, they were playing in a way which was exploitable to more observant opponents. I could relentlessly attack their blinds (they would eventually respond but I could tell they hated it). I was aggressive and so were the other two guys. I never felt any resentment towards them (or anyone at the tables) but I wanted to compete with them. I remember Pat telling me he thought I was better than Jac (yes honestly) and it fed my ego. I remember out playing Pat (I looked up to both him and Jac at the time) and thinking it was some sort of result not factoring in he was multi-tabling and I was playing only 1-2 tables at a time and focused only on those. I remember talking with Jac at the time and he recommended a tool called PokerStove, it was free and you could work out poker odds with it. This would be very handy to help me understand some of those bad beats I would take (I mean I had AK villain had QJ I should win almost always right?!) and again help me on my improvement journey. I talked to Pat a fair bit at the tables, there was a lot of mutual respect. He went out of his way to get me multi-tabling, giving me advise on how to set-up dual monitors and how to learn more about ICM, targeted blind stealing etc. I recall regularly checking out Sharkscope results, we were all around the 6-7% ROI on £5s this was good - especially as we were often on the same tables (at least it felt that way to me). Then over time, I can't recall when, Jac decided to take shots at the higher stakes games, Pat got more interested in partying, girls and MTTs, the games changed and my interest faded somewhat the competition wasn't there to push me, at least it felt that way - no disrespect at all other regs as there were some good regs. I didn't have any real poker ambitions at this time, I just played because it was easy moey but had enjoyed the competitive side when others like Jac and Pat were at my tables and we were all of relative similar ability.
Looking back now in hindsight I wasn't as good as either Pat or Jac (probably a few others too) but my ego wasn't in check. I was convinced I was a top player and didn't need to work or listen to others in order to get better. If I knew a fraction of what I know now I would have been studying a lot, putting in a ton of volume and pushing myself to move up the stakes. I'm probably not alone in that regard and suspect other regs will think the same looking back how easy the games were then. Finally going back in time I was returning back to Vegas for a friends stag do, only this time I wanted to play more poker and make decent money, this is where my poker journey really started. To be continued...
About 10 years ago when i first starting playing, nearly every competition was a rebuy. Some of these were just about unplayable, £5 / £10 buy ins with a 1000 starting stack. As you can imagine half the table were all in every hand trying to build a stack.
Others however were great value where for a relatively low buy in you could be playing for really decent sums of money. One such comp was at Gala Nottingham on a Thursday night. £50 buy in with one rebuy and one addon and a good clock. With around 100 regulary playing these and lets say on average the majority of the field taking either the rebuy or addon you were looking at a £10000 prize pool. Starting stack was 5000 which was big in those days and so 'proper'poker was played.
I entered this comp one night a few months after starting to play and with a bit of good fortune i was going quite deep. With around 12 left i got it all in preflop with AK and probably a little relieved to be honest i saw the other guy had AK too. He then made the fatal mistake of immediately saying 'chop it up'. Obviously 4 card flush hit me and i now had the chip lead going into the final.
Raj Dhiri, a good local player grabbed me as we were waiting for the final to begin. He told me in no uncertain terms to basically pass everything and i would make the top three and lock up a good win. I agreed and thanked him for the advice. The final begun and Raj had his head in his hands i was all in on the first hand! I had KK and raised and got reraised. Terrified off losing a huge hand right at the start, i just called. Flop was K high with no danger. Remember, i was new to the game. I could hardly breathe and panicked. ALL IN! He folded QQ face up and so i really made the most of my oppurtunity there! However, i had increased my stack and now i did follow Raj's advice and passed and passed and passed. Now down to three and there is a reg with a good sized chip lead and myself and Nick who like me was playing for his biggest win. This all leads us to THE WORST DEAL EVER!!!
The payouts were roughly £3300 £2200 £1600 Nick and i begin to confer, we're both desperate not to finish 3rd. He suggests the other guy is obviously going to win and so why don't we give him the win and split 2nd and 3rd place. I obviously snap his hand off. Reg has stayed very quiet during the negotiations. We look at him pleadingly, will you accept this please sir? He thinks for a short while and says that, yes, he is prepared to do it but thinks it's only fair that myself and Nick do the decent thing and look after the waitresses with our winnings. We readily agree and are a little surprised as he jumps out of his chair and runs off giggling.
Derby Genting" used to be "Stanleys Derby", & it was the first Live poker room I ever played in.
It was very atmospheric, up a set of stairs, dimly lit, very smoky (you could smoke in cardrooms in those days), & you've never seen such a set of characters in one room in your life.
Devilfish was a regular there, as was Peter Costa & his brother, Kim Constantiou. The locals were a really mixed bunch, & I still see & chat with a lot of them regularly, Taff, Ash, Ali Bag of whatsits, Jez, Big Micky Jones, Phil the Power, Ali Mallu, Micky Wernick, Rob Yong, Qualif, Assif, strewth, so many.
It was there that I first realised that in Live Tournaments, especially rebuys, (& most Live Tourneys were rebuys back then) it was always imperative to know EXACTLY, allowing for colouring up, how many chips were in play.
I made a final one night & I have always had a peculiar mental "tic" of calculating numbers in my head, & I suddenly realised that there were nearly 30% too many chips in play. I sat there for a moment, & wondered why, & then the penny dropped - a lot of the rebuy money had gone into someone's pocket, so the amount of chips did not tally with the prize pool.
I refused to allow play to start until they sorted it out, & it all got a bity messy & shouty-wouty, & so I never went there again.
This would be in around 2000 & I gather they "cleaned the place up" by 2002 or 2003. Once computers arrived, of course, fiddling the rebuys was not so easy, but it was a common occurence in Cardrooms everywhere in those days, & I can think of 4 rooms off the top of my head where it was prevelant. Recently, of course, Rich Wootton took over as TD & Cardroom Manager, Rich is as straight as a die, there won't be any funny business whilst he is captain of the ship. Give him my best regards please. We used to have professional differences of opinion over APAT, but we are super cool now.
Sorry to invade your thread, but you touch so many memories for me.
To go back to the Dr thing, first thing to remember is Doctors first thought is not to get sued. That is why they always try to rule out the "Big 4" first (cancer/stroke/heart attack/being a Derby fan). Cos most illnesses start in a similar way, including the vast majority that mean next to nothing.
One thing that does stick out to me. In 2012 i was moaning that i was playing smaller than i used to. In 2019 i notice that i’m playing far lower stakes than in 2012
I’m not sure it’s meant to go that way if you’re any good at poker! Please don’t answer that one for me 😊
Two posts from December 2012
kind of review.
I started playing on SKY last December and so had a full year now. Have really enjoyed it and after years of playing on multiple sites this is now the only place I place online. A big reason for that is the Dym's on here but mainly I have really enjoyed the forum as well. Going back a long time I used to play on Crypto (loved crypto) as I think they were the first platform to introduce double or nothing games. Crypto folded and then I flitted around many sites.
I grinded the Dym's pretty hard on here for the first 7/8 months of the year and made a decent profit at them which I'm really pleased with.
For the last few months I've really got the "live " bug back again and so have put in far less volume online. I have played at DTD for the last few years and probably was a small loser there on the odd outing in the early part of the year. Since then I've started playing at a casino and to be honest the standard is a lot lower. This has enabled me to have some nice cashes in comps and at cash.
Would really recommend playing live to anyone on here who is beating any of the stakes. Sometimes read of people being nervous about playing live or thinking it will be tough. I think times have changed dramatically and with proper dealer dealt competitions / cash games I think anyone would find it enjoyable rather than intimidating. In the past it was different and in all honesty pretty dodgy at times but fortunately those days are gone.
Achievement of the year was last night. I tried but failed miserably on Friday, but last night went to casinio and stayed entirely sober! On Friday after a few (many) pints i'd called a raise on button thinking about how i could outplay my opponent on the flop ( drunken stupidity ). Flop came K88 and he led out. I thought great this is a chance to raise and win pot. I raise and he instantly clicks it back. Sigh! i announce pass and just have a quick look at my cards before mucking. Oh lovely, i have Ace 8! Fool! .... Proper ramble on way.
I was reading the other day on another forum about a dealers choice hand at DTD. 2 of the players in the pot were guys who were playing £30 freezeouts with me back in the day. The pot also involved a very prominent forum member on here. they got it all in preflop for £11000!
Now one of these players is a very successful businessman, so fair play. The other was just like me a few years ago. Someone just getting into poker. The big difference between us though was he was a gambler. Was he any better than me at the time? probably not. Is he now? undoubtably.
How do players get to this stage? Obviously binking something big after satting in is the stress free option. More likely though, rather than turn over an ok profit at small stakes like me and staying there he moved up.
I've always treated poker as a game to enjoy and hopefully make a few quid from. However, i do often wonder if i had had enough 'gamble' in me could i have done more? Not sure. Right now i can't even comprehend the idea of getting in £5000 in a cash game but it's all relative i guess.
A friend of mine has starting playing recently on here 30p dym's. When i told him i lost a £550 pot a few days ago he said that he wouldn't be able to sleep for a month.
Due to a decent year, while it obviously stung a bit, i could take it and i guess it's the same for the guy with 5000 in the middle, different bankrolls.
We all have varying levels at which we are prepared to gamble i think. For some on here i see that they've deposited a certain amount and don't wish to redeposit again and stick strictly to their bankrolls. Others reload on a regular basis and 'take a shot'.
I don't think there is a right or wrong, we are all just built differently.
Reposting that stuff is probs a bit boring so i’ll do a quick(ish) post on how i got started
A friend of mine at work used to play poker at Gala Notts and did very well I’d always had an interest in gambling with blackjack and roulette. I obviously lost at these games
So i was interested when he told me that if you knew what you were doing then you would win as it was a skill. This would satisfy my gambling habit but actually give me a chance to win.
So i went with him to Nottingham one Friday night for the £20 pot limit unlimited rebuy.
Ali “Bag of Bolloccks” was dealing. Also on the table are Wadey, Rob Creed, Kim and Mick the Crook
I was petrified and utterly hopeless. After my 3rd rebuy has bust i gave it up.
I started playing the 7pm play money game on Party Poker and got better.
I watched any poker i could and eventually plucked up the courage to go back to Notts.
I started to do ok. I was single and played Monday to Friday there. I still remember the schedule. Monday £30 pot limit rebuy Tuesday £10 no limit 3 rebuys Wednesday £30 freezeout Thursday £50 no limit 1 rebuy and add on Friday £20 pot limit rebuy
It was probably a couple of years before i deposited and played real money online. I was nervous about using my card on the internet i recall
I started on the Crypto Network and found double or nothing games Poker was crazy back then. I used to get 30% rakeback plus about £200 in promotion money and then around £150 from raketherake each month
I bonus whored all the crypto skins and made a few quid
Crypto disappeared (this still make me sad)
I started playing on Full Tilt and did pretty well in the 90 mans $24s and made some money there
Then Full Tilt went pop and i was lost.
I deposited £500 on Pokerstars . Apart of the welcome bonus was that you got 4 books when you cleared a small level
I lost that £500 the first night i played there But i got me books 😉
Then in December 2011 i started on Sky and this is pretty much the only site i’ve played on since
Comments
That's a terrific post @Mayhem357 & I look forward to the sequel.
More hijacking please
So, sorry to almost everyone i’ve been grumpier than normal with at the tables or on the forum
I’ve suffered with heath anxiety for a long time and i’m not good at dealing with it.
Medication got me through Barcelona but now i’ve had to stop it in order to get some tests done, i’m back to how i was before
Rather than be grown up and sensible all i hear at the doctors is “to rule out sinister things”
So i get scared and put off the tests. Which is ridiculous because i worry anyway but it’s what i do
I’m going to do them now
It’s tiring and tedious being a drama queen at times
More seriously, listen to the Quack mate, there's nothing to be scared of & putting it off only makes things potentially worse.
Gill suffers from dreadful anxiety too, & has been on medication for many years, but she's now weaning herself off the tablets. It's awful really as I can't help her, & I know she worries herself to bits.
She works for Bet365 these days & they are in little "teams" who often go out for social evenings, bingo, that sort of thing. She enjoys their company but is scared to go out with them "as my hands shake & I feel embarrassed". She wants to come along to SPT's too, but same problem, "folks will laugh at me if they see my hands shaking".
You have so many friends here mate, use us, we want to help.
All the best with this mate, my eldest daughter suffers with anxiety so I realise how difficult it can be even to admit it to others. Hopefully you get through and come out the other side feeling more in control.
Sorry to hear of your troubles., I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks due to family issues, so I know where you’re coming from.
Suffice to say you have a lot of virtual ( and real) friends who will be there for you should you feel the need to open up.
The good thing is you can see it’s a bit daft not having the tests done ( some people can’t be as logical , and as much as one tries to help it’s heartbreaking when you can’t )
Good luck mate, keep your chins up 😉
All the best mate.
Meanwhile, great to have Mayhem in the thread, proper DYMer him! 😉
I started to wonder about trying on-line poker, by this stage I was watching poker on TV (the big game hosted by Amanda Leatherman, World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker and others). I was travelling with work a lot and the American guys I got to know were mad on poker and how easy the game was on-line. I remember being concerned that it was gambling and it could become addictive, not what I would need with a new family (we just had our baby daughter). My wife who also enjoys the game was playing 888 (I think) and also Stars, she was a losing rec who understood the game but wasn't really beating it, she was only a slight loser I guess and was only depositing small amounts each month (£10-20). She convinced me to play on her account (ssshhhh nobody tell Stars please), so I gave standard Sngs a go. To my surprise I was instantly beating them and had spun her account up to a few hundred very quickly, I was enjoying myself. One day the shock news came that she had tried to play higher stakes and lost almost everything. She was so annoyed with herself that she closed her accounts and withdrew what little she had left - she had to send ID at the time to make the withdrawl and was unhappy about that. I then decided to give the games ago, I was going to register with Stars as I was familiar with the software but for some reason choose Sky. I think it was an advert or the Sky Poker channel (I miss you Anna, Tikay and the rest). Either way I placed £10 on my account - to this day it's the only time I've deposited. In the first few days I played some £2, £3 MTTs, normal SnGs weren't running frequently (even back then when it was the big poker boom) so I gave DYMs a go. The traffic was good and I was instantly winning. It felt like a free cash machine at the time, I started on £3DYMs, soon moved to £5 DYMs, my bankroll was up to around £100 and I jumped in £15 DYMs. I was single tabling and the players were just bad. I rang my friend (one from my stag do) to tell him that it's just so easy, you sit there fold everything but premiums and within a few minutes you are down to four players. I look back now with amusement but literally very few people understood the format and would bust themselves on level one or two with a pair. You would get four way all ins frequently. This was happening at all stakes I played. I started planning how much money I could make whilst single tabling, I expected my bankroll to only go one way. Then out of nowhere, players started to get lucky against me, I would pick up a big hand and they'd have bigger, I lost a few £15s, £11s and I was down to the bare bones. I remember even playing 50p DYMs to stop myself going bust. I rang my friend again contemplating whether on-line poker was rigged and whether my winning streak was just a ruse to get me addicted. He explained variance to me and this was a harsh lesson but one I was lucky again (luck was a reoccurrent theme in my early poker years) not to go completely broke. Now I was going to play with a bankroll and set targets tied to the stakes I would play (I'm still only single tabling at this stage). I remember certain names at the time 121285, JohnConnor, these guys were almost always cashing. During one game players were making comments about how much the other was losing, I asked how they knew this and they referenced Sharkscope. What was this magic tool I wondered. I gave it a go, three searches per today without cost. I was now tracking my results and searching for the players I was seeing regularly at the tables. I realised how much JohnConnor and 121285 were making on these and my heart was set - I could earn enough playing poker to buy myself a video game each month (I guess this was the mindset of a twenty something back then!). I soon committed to paying a monthly subscription and I would search players I came across, I was now empowered, I knew who the good players were so I would avoid calling/betting into them without strength, the big losers I would only bet if I had something, the rest I'd just play my game. I played only infrequently when I could back then but remember spinning my bankroll up to £200 and thinking this is so easy, I'm a great poker player I don't need to read any books or take advice because that may actually harm my game (my ego was definitely out of control when it came to poker). I would turn up at the home game with friends and expect to win, I started to behave like Phil Hellmouth when I took a bad beat, it really wasn't a good look and I feel ashamed about it now. I don't recall any specific instances but if I flamed you in chat back in 2010-2012 then I'm really sorry!
Around this time the games started to change. I was regularly finding myself at the same tables as Patwalssh (the name always reminded me of EastEnders) and Jac35 on £5 DYMs (I had settled here due to my bankroll management and withdrawals to buy video games). The earlier crushers like JohnConnor, 121285 and others now felt like targets, they were playing in a way which was exploitable to more observant opponents. I could relentlessly attack their blinds (they would eventually respond but I could tell they hated it). I was aggressive and so were the other two guys. I never felt any resentment towards them (or anyone at the tables) but I wanted to compete with them. I remember Pat telling me he thought I was better than Jac (yes honestly) and it fed my ego. I remember out playing Pat (I looked up to both him and Jac at the time) and thinking it was some sort of result not factoring in he was multi-tabling and I was playing only 1-2 tables at a time and focused only on those. I remember talking with Jac at the time and he recommended a tool called PokerStove, it was free and you could work out poker odds with it. This would be very handy to help me understand some of those bad beats I would take (I mean I had AK villain had QJ I should win almost always right?!) and again help me on my improvement journey. I talked to Pat a fair bit at the tables, there was a lot of mutual respect. He went out of his way to get me multi-tabling, giving me advise on how to set-up dual monitors and how to learn more about ICM, targeted blind stealing etc. I recall regularly checking out Sharkscope results, we were all around the 6-7% ROI on £5s this was good - especially as we were often on the same tables (at least it felt that way to me). Then over time, I can't recall when, Jac decided to take shots at the higher stakes games, Pat got more interested in partying, girls and MTTs, the games changed and my interest faded somewhat the competition wasn't there to push me, at least it felt that way - no disrespect at all other regs as there were some good regs. I didn't have any real poker ambitions at this time, I just played because it was easy moey but had enjoyed the competitive side when others like Jac and Pat were at my tables and we were all of relative similar ability.
Looking back now in hindsight I wasn't as good as either Pat or Jac (probably a few others too) but my ego wasn't in check. I was convinced I was a top player and didn't need to work or listen to others in order to get better. If I knew a fraction of what I know now I would have been studying a lot, putting in a ton of volume and pushing myself to move up the stakes. I'm probably not alone in that regard and suspect other regs will think the same looking back how easy the games were then. Finally going back in time I was returning back to Vegas for a friends stag do, only this time I wanted to play more poker and make decent money, this is where my poker journey really started. To be continued...
As someone who stills feels like a relative newbie to the Sky streets, I'd also love to see Jac do something similar, if ever he could be persuaded
Agree with @Duesenberg suggestion about Paul giving us an insight to his Sky journey.
I’ve just looked back at it was 7 years ago i wrote it.
I’ll c&p that and find some more
Some of these were just about unplayable, £5 / £10 buy ins with a 1000 starting stack.
As you can imagine half the table were all in every hand trying to build a stack.
Others however were great value where for a relatively low buy in you could be playing for really decent sums of money.
One such comp was at Gala Nottingham on a Thursday night.
£50 buy in with one rebuy and one addon and a good clock.
With around 100 regulary playing these and lets say on average the majority of the field taking either the rebuy or addon you were looking at a £10000 prize pool.
Starting stack was 5000 which was big in those days and so 'proper'poker was played.
I entered this comp one night a few months after starting to play and with a bit of good fortune i was going quite deep.
With around 12 left i got it all in preflop with AK and probably a little relieved to be honest i saw the other guy had AK too.
He then made the fatal mistake of immediately saying 'chop it up'.
Obviously 4 card flush hit me and i now had the chip lead going into the final.
Raj Dhiri, a good local player grabbed me as we were waiting for the final to begin.
He told me in no uncertain terms to basically pass everything and i would make the top three and lock up a good win.
I agreed and thanked him for the advice.
The final begun and Raj had his head in his hands i was all in on the first hand!
I had KK and raised and got reraised. Terrified off losing a huge hand right at the start, i just called.
Flop was K high with no danger. Remember, i was new to the game. I could hardly breathe and panicked. ALL IN!
He folded QQ face up and so i really made the most of my oppurtunity there!
However, i had increased my stack and now i did follow Raj's advice and passed and passed and passed.
Now down to three and there is a reg with a good sized chip lead and myself and Nick who like me was playing for his biggest win.
This all leads us to THE WORST DEAL EVER!!!
The payouts were roughly £3300 £2200 £1600
Nick and i begin to confer, we're both desperate not to finish 3rd.
He suggests the other guy is obviously going to win and so why don't we give him the win and split 2nd and 3rd place.
I obviously snap his hand off.
Reg has stayed very quiet during the negotiations. We look at him pleadingly, will you accept this please sir?
He thinks for a short while and says that, yes, he is prepared to do it but thinks it's only fair that myself and Nick do the decent thing and look after the waitresses with our winnings.
We readily agree and are a little surprised as he jumps out of his chair and runs off giggling.
I don’t think he’s mind if i reposted them
It was very atmospheric, up a set of stairs, dimly lit, very smoky (you could smoke in cardrooms in those days), & you've never seen such a set of characters in one room in your life.
Devilfish was a regular there, as was Peter Costa & his brother, Kim Constantiou. The locals were a really mixed bunch, & I still see & chat with a lot of them regularly, Taff, Ash, Ali Bag of whatsits, Jez, Big Micky Jones, Phil the Power, Ali Mallu, Micky Wernick, Rob Yong, Qualif, Assif, strewth, so many.
It was there that I first realised that in Live Tournaments, especially rebuys, (& most Live Tourneys were rebuys back then) it was always imperative to know EXACTLY, allowing for colouring up, how many chips were in play.
I made a final one night & I have always had a peculiar mental "tic" of calculating numbers in my head, & I suddenly realised that there were nearly 30% too many chips in play. I sat there for a moment, & wondered why, & then the penny dropped - a lot of the rebuy money had gone into someone's pocket, so the amount of chips did not tally with the prize pool.
I refused to allow play to start until they sorted it out, & it all got a bity messy & shouty-wouty, & so I never went there again.
This would be in around 2000 & I gather they "cleaned the place up" by 2002 or 2003. Once computers arrived, of course, fiddling the rebuys was not so easy, but it was a common occurence in Cardrooms everywhere in those days, & I can think of 4 rooms off the top of my head where it was prevelant. Recently, of course, Rich Wootton took over as TD & Cardroom Manager, Rich is as straight as a die, there won't be any funny business whilst he is captain of the ship. Give him my best regards please. We used to have professional differences of opinion over APAT, but we are super cool now.
Sorry to invade your thread, but you touch so many memories for me.
Keep the stories coming please.
oioi, Diary on fire.
Great stuff from Mayhem & Jac.
There must be plenty more where that came from.
To go back to the Dr thing, first thing to remember is Doctors first thought is not to get sued. That is why they always try to rule out the "Big 4" first (cancer/stroke/heart attack/being a Derby fan). Cos most illnesses start in a similar way, including the vast majority that mean next to nothing.
Take care
In 2019 i notice that i’m playing far lower stakes than in 2012
I’m not sure it’s meant to go that way if you’re any good at poker!
Please don’t answer that one for me 😊
Two posts from December 2012
kind of review.
I started playing on SKY last December and so had a full year now.
Have really enjoyed it and after years of playing on multiple sites this is now the only place I place online.
A big reason for that is the Dym's on here but mainly I have really enjoyed the forum as well.
Going back a long time I used to play on Crypto (loved crypto) as I think they were the first platform to introduce double or nothing games. Crypto folded and then I flitted around many sites.
I grinded the Dym's pretty hard on here for the first 7/8 months of the year and made a decent profit at them which I'm really pleased with.
For the last few months I've really got the "live " bug back again and so have put in far less volume online.
I have played at DTD for the last few years and probably was a small loser there on the odd outing in the early part of the year.
Since then I've started playing at a casino and to be honest the standard is a lot lower.
This has enabled me to have some nice cashes in comps and at cash.
Would really recommend playing live to anyone on here who is beating any of the stakes.
Sometimes read of people being nervous about playing live or thinking it will be tough.
I think times have changed dramatically and with proper dealer dealt competitions / cash games I think anyone would find it enjoyable rather than intimidating.
In the past it was different and in all honesty pretty dodgy at times but fortunately those days are gone.
Achievement of the year was last night.
I tried but failed miserably on Friday, but last night went to casinio and stayed entirely sober!
On Friday after a few (many) pints i'd called a raise on button thinking about how i could outplay my opponent on the flop ( drunken stupidity ). Flop came K88 and he led out. I thought great this is a chance to raise and win pot. I raise and he instantly clicks it back. Sigh! i announce pass and just have a quick look at my cards before mucking. Oh lovely, i have Ace 8! Fool!
....
Proper ramble on way.
I was reading the other day on another forum about a dealers choice hand at DTD.
2 of the players in the pot were guys who were playing £30 freezeouts with me back in the day. The pot also involved a very prominent forum member on here. they got it all in preflop for £11000!
Now one of these players is a very successful businessman, so fair play. The other was just like me a few years ago. Someone just getting into poker. The big difference between us though was he was a gambler. Was he any better than me at the time? probably not. Is he now? undoubtably.
How do players get to this stage? Obviously binking something big after satting in is the stress free option.
More likely though, rather than turn over an ok profit at small stakes like me and staying there he moved up.
I've always treated poker as a game to enjoy and hopefully make a few quid from. However, i do often wonder if i had had enough 'gamble' in me could i have done more?
Not sure. Right now i can't even comprehend the idea of getting in £5000 in a cash game but it's all relative i guess.
A friend of mine has starting playing recently on here 30p dym's. When i told him i lost a £550 pot a few days ago he said that he wouldn't be able to sleep for a month.
Due to a decent year, while it obviously stung a bit, i could take it and i guess it's the same for the guy with 5000 in the middle, different bankrolls.
We all have varying levels at which we are prepared to gamble i think.
For some on here i see that they've deposited a certain amount and don't wish to redeposit again and stick strictly to their bankrolls. Others reload on a regular basis and 'take a shot'.
I don't think there is a right or wrong, we are all just built differently.
A friend of mine at work used to play poker at Gala Notts and did very well
I’d always had an interest in gambling with blackjack and roulette. I obviously lost at these games
So i was interested when he told me that if you knew what you were doing then you would win as it was a skill. This would satisfy my gambling habit but actually give me a chance to win.
So i went with him to Nottingham one Friday night for the £20 pot limit unlimited rebuy.
Ali “Bag of Bolloccks” was dealing. Also on the table are Wadey, Rob Creed, Kim and Mick the Crook
I was petrified and utterly hopeless.
After my 3rd rebuy has bust i gave it up.
I started playing the 7pm play money game on Party Poker and got better.
I watched any poker i could and eventually plucked up the courage to go back to Notts.
I started to do ok.
I was single and played Monday to Friday there. I still remember the schedule.
Monday £30 pot limit rebuy
Tuesday £10 no limit 3 rebuys
Wednesday £30 freezeout
Thursday £50 no limit 1 rebuy and add on
Friday £20 pot limit rebuy
It was probably a couple of years before i deposited and played real money online. I was nervous about using my card on the internet i recall
I started on the Crypto Network and found double or nothing games
Poker was crazy back then.
I used to get 30% rakeback plus about £200 in promotion money and then around £150 from raketherake each month
I bonus whored all the crypto skins and made a few quid
Crypto disappeared (this still make me sad)
I started playing on Full Tilt and did pretty well in the 90 mans $24s and made some money there
Then Full Tilt went pop and i was lost.
I deposited £500 on Pokerstars . Apart of the welcome bonus was that you got 4 books when you cleared a small level
I lost that £500 the first night i played there
But i got me books 😉
Then in December 2011 i started on Sky and this is pretty much the only site i’ve played on since