I had to step down from commentating at CGF Tallinn as well known Scottish pro Andrew Headley had been drafted in to provide the commentary, a bit of a blow but I didn't have much of a leg to stand on if you were to compare the two resumes for poker experience. Looks like I'll be back in the mix for Sunny Beach in Bulgaria during the summer.
Getting back from Slovakia and having talked poker all week naturally I was desperate to get back onto the online baize and earn some more money! Unfortunately things didn't really go to plan in that way whatsoever as I'd, unbeknownst to me, booked myself into a 2 week stay in Max Mosley's spare room. This period would involve me waking up, taking a whipping for 6-10 hours and retreating back to the duvet where I'd hide until the master requested my services for another bloodbath. The emotional distress one is put through during these periods of run bad had not been clear in the past, where I had a full time job and poker was merely a side venture to build my net worth. Now I could see why so many of the people that had quit poker had done so, it's a mortifying experience to lose so much money that you're considering brushing up the CV for a checkouts job and a lower variance route in life.
The thing that disappointed me the most about this period was my attitude to poker, instead of all of the optimism and positivity I generally exude I had been reduced to a miserable slob and all of the positive habits had been reversed. No longer was I doing cardio on a daily basis or lifting weights and the diet had completely plummeted also. I decided enough was enough and brought myself together, managing to find some grit from deep within in order to get a seat to the SPT and a top 4 spot from the 50nl grind during the last week, which I managed by the skin of my teeth culminating in a brutal 14 hour 8-table grind on the Sunday. Overall the week was a very valuable experience in which rubbing shoulders with strong, solid players such as Mather and Curt enabled me to find a lot of the leaks in my game, something which I've reviewed today. Playing good players at modest stakes is a very cheap lesson and I started to notice spots that I was playing too passively and in which my checking range on turns or rivers was completely unbalanced.
I've always been a bit of a jack of all trades and decided that one of the most lucrative avenues of points for the promotion would be through full stack PLO games, which was a bit of a punt to say the least with not a great deal of experience in comparison to NLHE. I started off the week playing far too many hands aggressively pre-flop regardless of position and got myself into a lot of 2nd best situations and head scratchers as a result of it where people were almost exclusively only betting for value, an expensive lesson that I have to be fully accountable for - I'd learned very few players at this level of PLO were prepared to use key blockers for an all in sizing on the river. Aside from that I don't think I had the rub of the green in the games and seemed to lose a lot of spots where I was a clear favourite (clear being 60%!). Never mind - I'll certainly be continuing to play in these games as they're way more engaging than the 50nl 100bb NLHE which I personally find a bit tedious.
Overall for the month with the promotional bonuses, rakeback and actual play I'm looking at a modest profit in relation to expectation, but a profit nonetheless. I managed to have a +1030 day on Saturday across PLO, SUs and MTTs which was a really nice boost to the BR following the rough ride and also won the Midnight Express during the week, which is fast becoming one of my favourite tournaments on the site. It feels as though everyone who plays it has a flight to catch, or perhaps is super tired and making more mistakes than usual.
Overall it's been a he11 of a journey and due to some of the sickening runs I've been on has felt like a year as opposed to just 3 weeks of online poker. Nevertheless an incredible learning curve and I'm now super energised to go to the SPT this week and give it my best shot there - myself & @RexRegina have booked an airbnb Wed-Sun in order to get a head start on the live cash scene and (hopefully!) taste some of the local delights. I hear Nottingham has the best girl:boy ratio in the country so I'm keen to see whether this is actually the case and, more importantly, whether the locals can put their phone down for 5 minutes to engage in some old fashioned conversation!
Due to last week's heavy grind I managed to smash my 20k volume target out of the park with around a 27k point return. I've decided to keep the monthly payment outside of my profit and loss workings and that I will withdraw it to my personal account in order to help day to day living expenses. This month's spin up promotion looks tantalisingly good and thus I'll be gunning for it at least 2 of the 4 weeks it's on offer.
@tikay1 - thanks mate! absolutely, a sad reality of the modern day female that values attention or validation given on the online realm far more than anything else. hey ho! I'm sure there's one out there that sees the world in the way I do...I'm certainly not going to find her in my Mum's basement that's for sure!
I particularly enjoyed "...they all stopped and looked at me as though I'd fingerbanged their cat." - I nearly ended up wearing my cuppa when I got to that part .
Would be cool to see updates more frequently. I actually thought you'd already abandoned this blog it had been that long. I doubt I'll be seeing too much of you at the tables though - Spin Ups are probably a close second to full ring limit holdem when it comes to poker games I'd least like to play. I guess my inner nit has too low a tolerance for variance to be able to stand that sort of thing!
@Duesenberg - thanks for your continued support for the blog, glad you enjoyed! impressive small stakes MTT graph you've got going there - keep up the good work. Hope to see you in some of the comps over the near future, it's definitely one of my strongest formats also and playing so many spin ups certainly gives me an edge as the tournament gets shallower in the closing stages. best of luck to you too sir!
Haha great posts mate, really like your style of writing. As for females and their social media, yes its sad but in reality its the gimps who are actually doing the 'liking' and validating them that are the ones to blame. You only have to look as far as twitch to see the insanity of it all with the ridiculous amounts of money being thrown at them. I already have my exit strategy for when poker goes south mapped out. You'll find me over there post op streaming as Claire360x27, donate generously Easier than poker anyway.
Well played on the rake race too, was some effort on Sunday and fully deserved. Im sure you'll get a package in this promo if you put that amount of work in. See you in Notts, I definitely owe you a pint or two after some of the beats i dished out.
Great read this, encouraging to read your disdain of social media vaidation.
Being old (not @Tikay10 or grumpy @Jac35 old obviously) and having a daughter of 11 who is becoming obsessed with SC and IG its nice to see that not all youngsters talk via emoji and IRL interaction is still popular :-)
An enjoyable read, I usually get about three sentences into these things, realise it's the same usual boring poker thread and stop reading.GL with everything and take pleasure in the fact that if I ever stack you the money won't be wasted on food and bills. There are alot of strippers struggling to get through Uni, it's a worthy cause
@Curt360x27 - couldn't agree more, seemingly any semi-attractive girl with a pair of knockers can make 6 figures a year teasing the lonely desperate gaming types. Let me know if we can get some kind of multi-buy deal on the operation, I've always fancied myself as a Sassy Sandra!
It's a very problematic area in society that's being overlooked, these girls are constantly comparing their looks and their own lives to the exaggerated lifestyles they come across on social media, causing serious areas of concern such as depression and eating disorders. A lot of the younger generation seem to idolise people from reality TV shows as opposed to people that work hard at something and make an impact on the world - this teaches a life mantra of you don't have to work hard to get anything, you just have to look the part.
@HENDRIK62 - thanks for taking the time to read the blog! If ruled the roost I would have implemented a social media ban for Under 14s a long time ago. It's not conducive to a healthy upbringing in the years where you're developing social skills (extremely important for later in life) and starting to figure out who you are. It's all too easy for people to become clones of the mindless lunatics they see on TV or prancing around on the internet.
@TimmyRaRa - see you in Notts mate can't wait, heading up tomorrow..keeeeeeno!
@marlsss - so much time for the degeneracy, if you ever stack me I'll take pleasure in the fact that it's being rifled away on some form of short term gratification - top man!
@Donttelmum - cheers DTM, hopefully bag myself a Vegas package over the coming weeks and might see you out there! all the best.
Interesting diary, well done on grinding out a profit on what seemed like a tough month!
Only recognise you from playing the odd MTT, but did catch a short clip of you on that cash game stream a while back. Well done on getting that gig!
I used to do commentary on Sky and for a couple of other poker tours and the one thing that I regret not doing is getting into Twitch. It was mentioned a lot to me but I am naturally quite introverted so it never really appealed; even as a viewer I only watch the odd stream here or there.
It is a congested space at the minute, but one gap in the market is a UK Vlogger for Youtube. Now as you have been asked to do CGF, and also you clearly have a grind mentality, it could lead to more work in the poker commentary field. The way of the world now is about having a personal brand and following rather than committing to one specific company (look at how the well known poker 'celebs' bounce around from tour to tour now; only a select few stick to one site).
This is an excellent resource of information on the subject. Look for the ones on Cardi B also one called Billboards
Again, it's something that I have thought about doing myself and have a somewhat of a headstart with 5000 followers/friends across Twitter/FB, but yeah just withered! Needs young blood not 30 year old bad regs.
From memory you live in Reading, so maybe see you at Genting or the G at some point. Haven't been there for a while but gonna get back into live poker in the UK after Vegas.
Comments
That's a fabulous post, well done. Great observational skills there.
Particularly agree as to social media fixation. Bet those two girls were fun. Not.
I had to step down from commentating at CGF Tallinn as well known Scottish pro Andrew Headley had been drafted in to provide the commentary, a bit of a blow but I didn't have much of a leg to stand on if you were to compare the two resumes for poker experience. Looks like I'll be back in the mix for Sunny Beach in Bulgaria during the summer.
Getting back from Slovakia and having talked poker all week naturally I was desperate to get back onto the online baize and earn some more money! Unfortunately things didn't really go to plan in that way whatsoever as I'd, unbeknownst to me, booked myself into a 2 week stay in Max Mosley's spare room. This period would involve me waking up, taking a whipping for 6-10 hours and retreating back to the duvet where I'd hide until the master requested my services for another bloodbath. The emotional distress one is put through during these periods of run bad had not been clear in the past, where I had a full time job and poker was merely a side venture to build my net worth. Now I could see why so many of the people that had quit poker had done so, it's a mortifying experience to lose so much money that you're considering brushing up the CV for a checkouts job and a lower variance route in life.
The thing that disappointed me the most about this period was my attitude to poker, instead of all of the optimism and positivity I generally exude I had been reduced to a miserable slob and all of the positive habits had been reversed. No longer was I doing cardio on a daily basis or lifting weights and the diet had completely plummeted also. I decided enough was enough and brought myself together, managing to find some grit from deep within in order to get a seat to the SPT and a top 4 spot from the 50nl grind during the last week, which I managed by the skin of my teeth culminating in a brutal 14 hour 8-table grind on the Sunday. Overall the week was a very valuable experience in which rubbing shoulders with strong, solid players such as Mather and Curt enabled me to find a lot of the leaks in my game, something which I've reviewed today. Playing good players at modest stakes is a very cheap lesson and I started to notice spots that I was playing too passively and in which my checking range on turns or rivers was completely unbalanced.
I've always been a bit of a jack of all trades and decided that one of the most lucrative avenues of points for the promotion would be through full stack PLO games, which was a bit of a punt to say the least with not a great deal of experience in comparison to NLHE. I started off the week playing far too many hands aggressively pre-flop regardless of position and got myself into a lot of 2nd best situations and head scratchers as a result of it where people were almost exclusively only betting for value, an expensive lesson that I have to be fully accountable for - I'd learned very few players at this level of PLO were prepared to use key blockers for an all in sizing on the river. Aside from that I don't think I had the rub of the green in the games and seemed to lose a lot of spots where I was a clear favourite (clear being 60%!). Never mind - I'll certainly be continuing to play in these games as they're way more engaging than the 50nl 100bb NLHE which I personally find a bit tedious.
Overall for the month with the promotional bonuses, rakeback and actual play I'm looking at a modest profit in relation to expectation, but a profit nonetheless. I managed to have a +1030 day on Saturday across PLO, SUs and MTTs which was a really nice boost to the BR following the rough ride and also won the Midnight Express during the week, which is fast becoming one of my favourite tournaments on the site. It feels as though everyone who plays it has a flight to catch, or perhaps is super tired and making more mistakes than usual.
Overall it's been a he11 of a journey and due to some of the sickening runs I've been on has felt like a year as opposed to just 3 weeks of online poker. Nevertheless an incredible learning curve and I'm now super energised to go to the SPT this week and give it my best shot there - myself & @RexRegina have booked an airbnb Wed-Sun in order to get a head start on the live cash scene and (hopefully!) taste some of the local delights. I hear Nottingham has the best girl:boy ratio in the country so I'm keen to see whether this is actually the case and, more importantly, whether the locals can put their phone down for 5 minutes to engage in some old fashioned conversation!
Due to last week's heavy grind I managed to smash my 20k volume target out of the park with around a 27k point return. I've decided to keep the monthly payment outside of my profit and loss workings and that I will withdraw it to my personal account in order to help day to day living expenses. This month's spin up promotion looks tantalisingly good and thus I'll be gunning for it at least 2 of the 4 weeks it's on offer.
I particularly enjoyed "...they all stopped and looked at me as though I'd fingerbanged their cat." - I nearly ended up wearing my cuppa when I got to that part
Would be cool to see updates more frequently. I actually thought you'd already abandoned this blog it had been that long. I doubt I'll be seeing too much of you at the tables though - Spin Ups are probably a close second to full ring limit holdem when it comes to poker games I'd least like to play. I guess my inner nit has too low a tolerance for variance to be able to stand that sort of thing!
Best of luck with the button clicking
As for females and their social media, yes its sad but in reality its the gimps who are actually doing the 'liking' and validating them that are the ones to blame. You only have to look as far as twitch to see the insanity of it all with the ridiculous amounts of money being thrown at them.
I already have my exit strategy for when poker goes south mapped out. You'll find me over there post op streaming as Claire360x27, donate generously
Well played on the rake race too, was some effort on Sunday and fully deserved. Im sure you'll get a package in this promo if you put that amount of work in. See you in Notts, I definitely owe you a pint or two after some of the beats i dished out.
Nottingham is shaping up to be messy, real messy.
I assume you guys are all aware that Alea Notts don't sell alcohol, right?
Lattes, lemonade, pots of tea, those sorts of things are fine, but no alcohol.
Being old (not @Tikay10 or grumpy @Jac35 old obviously) and having a daughter of 11 who is becoming obsessed with SC and IG its nice to see that not all youngsters talk via emoji and IRL interaction is still popular :-)
It's a very problematic area in society that's being overlooked, these girls are constantly comparing their looks and their own lives to the exaggerated lifestyles they come across on social media, causing serious areas of concern such as depression and eating disorders. A lot of the younger generation seem to idolise people from reality TV shows as opposed to people that work hard at something and make an impact on the world - this teaches a life mantra of you don't have to work hard to get anything, you just have to look the part.
@HENDRIK62 - thanks for taking the time to read the blog! If ruled the roost I would have implemented a social media ban for Under 14s a long time ago. It's not conducive to a healthy upbringing in the years where you're developing social skills (extremely important for later in life) and starting to figure out who you are. It's all too easy for people to become clones of the mindless lunatics they see on TV or prancing around on the internet.
@TimmyRaRa - see you in Notts mate can't wait, heading up tomorrow..keeeeeeno!
@Sky__James - dropped you a DM buddy.
@marlsss - so much time for the degeneracy, if you ever stack me I'll take pleasure in the fact that it's being rifled away on some form of short term gratification - top man!
@Donttelmum - cheers DTM, hopefully bag myself a Vegas package over the coming weeks and might see you out there! all the best.
Interesting diary, well done on grinding out a profit on what seemed like a tough month!
Only recognise you from playing the odd MTT, but did catch a short clip of you on that cash game stream a while back. Well done on getting that gig!
I used to do commentary on Sky and for a couple of other poker tours and the one thing that I regret not doing is getting into Twitch. It was mentioned a lot to me but I am naturally quite introverted so it never really appealed; even as a viewer I only watch the odd stream here or there.
It is a congested space at the minute, but one gap in the market is a UK Vlogger for Youtube. Now as you have been asked to do CGF, and also you clearly have a grind mentality, it could lead to more work in the poker commentary field. The way of the world now is about having a personal brand and following rather than committing to one specific company (look at how the well known poker 'celebs' bounce around from tour to tour now; only a select few stick to one site).
This is an excellent resource of information on the subject. Look for the ones on Cardi B also one called Billboards
http://www.perell.com/tweetstorms/
Again, it's something that I have thought about doing myself and have a somewhat of a headstart with 5000 followers/friends across Twitter/FB, but yeah just withered! Needs young blood not 30 year old bad regs.
From memory you live in Reading, so maybe see you at Genting or the G at some point. Haven't been there for a while but gonna get back into live poker in the UK after Vegas.
Good luck man
Ryan