Degenerate Diaries: The Chronicles Pt. 2

[zerofive]

Chopped up the super 50 turbo three ways yesterday.

Pretty amusing story as to how I made it the whole way. Come the first break I'd played two hands and lost them both and I had about 6k chips left. I went over to chat with the boys on the £1/2 table and there were a few unknowns and a couple of regs. Decided to sit down during the break, even though I'm sure this is frowned upon (there were still empty seats and no list though so whatever.) Went back to the tournament about an hour later and started winning a couple of hands. Got up to 10k then doubled with AA > JT despite him turning two pair! Sat down on cash again for the break and started winning a few pots here as well. Went back to the tournament with one hand to go before the next break to see how much I had. Still had average chips. I look down at KK in the cutoff and get it all in versus the button's AQ and hold. At this point I've literally played or even been witness to <10 hands since the first break and I'm one of the chip leaders.

Went back to play some cash one more time and decided when the blinds went to 600/1,200 I would take my cash chips out of play and go and focus. Ran pretty well for the duration of this tournament to be honest, picked up QQ on the button when the shortstack opens, A9s blind vs blind last hand before the break, etc. Most of all I just enjoyed this tournament. Turbos are fun, it's easier to cash in small fields, and I put way less stock into £50 freezeouts than I do into 2-day, £300, prestigious, life-changing-money-up-top deepstacks.

So that's two cashes in two weeks. Might play again tonight as the field is usually tiny by the end of late reg, but I'll actually be focused on either cash or comp tonight.

[redsimon]

Won with QQ? Things must be looking up

Nice bink

[tight4better]

Wtf lessons on how to win with QQ plz.

[BMoney]

So that's two cashes in two weeks. Might play again tonight as the field is usually tiny by the end of late reg, but I'll actually be focused on either cash or comp tonight.

[BMoney]

I asked a question at the poker table the other day that stunned seven fellow degenerates into a contemplative silence.

Some context: It's 2am at Dusk Till Dawn and I'm sat in what was a pretty lively £1/2 game that's calmed down now everyone who was stuck has left and we're left with winners and nits. From a few tables away, where they're playing a 50/1 game, there comes a collaborative gasp at what I guess was someone sucking out, then a louder collaborative gasp coupled with one gentleman leaving his seat in a victorious leap with both hands in the air. A sarcastic mutter comes from across our table, "huh, someone just won twenty quid." This was followed by some half-hearted chuckles before the table segued back into a straight-faced plateau.

I asked, "when was the last time anybody here was so happy they jumped for joy?"

A combination of despair and realisation exuded from the eyes of everyone present, myself included.

So, Blonde, I ask you: when was the last time you jumped for joy, or were so happy you could have done if it were appropriate?

This discussion goes aways back, but I jumped for joy the first time in my life today. I've been broke lately, so I had to put off the purchase of GTA V until next month (FWP). An hour ago, Sean showed up with the coveted game. I leaped out of my seat and jumped around for about five minutes. It looked like this:



I have been this happy before (the last time was probably on our wedding day), but I've never had the opportunity to literally jump for joy.

Just wanted to post this here because it's semi-relevant, and it embarrasses the author.

[rfgqqabc]

I really wanted to post something along those lines on Nicks status where you had commented Beth but decided I wouldn't pressure Sean that way

Enjoy, I've had a gander and its been fantastic so far.

[zerofive]

First of a few bullets I'll be firing at the Grand Prix today. 70 runners so far and to my right I have a player who, in level 2, is folding every hand with a heavy sigh exclaiming, "I don't know why I bother looking." Feels like I could be a long evening ahead of me!

[zerofive]

Exited in level 8 last night. Didn't get anything going at all. Only played a few hands and didn't win any of them! Eventually bust losing a flip. One positive I can take away from this is that my next bullet cannot be less interesting or less successful.

I have 10 days of low carbs left, then it's back to maintenance calories and brown rice every day. I'm super happy with how much body fat I've lost, little bits of muscle definition keep appearing and I've seen abs for the first time ever, but I cannot wait to just eat brown rice again! It's really great to not only see but feel an improvement in my overall health. Since I made that post a couple of years back about my boobs audibly clapping against the rest of my body when I ran downstairs, I've lost 4 inches off my waistline, what I would estimate to be a minimum of 10% bodyfat, and I've gained a whole bunch of lean mass. I've increased my one rep max by around 3 times on most exercises. This is hardly a brag, as I'm simply a normally proportioned human these days, but whatever I'm proud of myself so you guys get to hear about it.

Currently glued to GTA V, but I'll have some fun content in just a moment.

[paulhouk03]

Could we have more info about ur exercise schedule and ur diet?

[zerofive]

Could we have more info about ur exercise schedule and ur diet?

Absolutely. I love to talk fitness as much as I love to talk poker.

At the moment I split my exercise routine into five separate days and they break down as follows:

Push exercises (chest, shoulders, triceps)
Pull exercises (back, rear shoulders, biceps)
Legs
Abs
Cardio (this is usually circuit training, as running on a treadmill can get insanely boring)

I try to squeeze in an hour long walk once a day as well.

Ask any questions you like, I love to discuss and share ideas and I enjoy learning as well.

[paulhouk03]

Could we have more info about ur exercise schedule and ur diet?

Absolutely. I love to talk fitness as much as I love to talk poker.

At the moment I split my exercise routine into five separate days and they break down as follows:

Push exercises (chest, shoulders, triceps)
Pull exercises (back, rear shoulders, biceps)
Legs
Abs
Cardio (this is usually circuit training, as running on a treadmill can get insanely boring)

I try to squeeze in an hour long walk once a day as well.

Ask any questions you like, I love to discuss and share ideas and I enjoy learning as well.

What pull exercise u use for ur back?

I'm just interested cos I'm gonna start to lose some weight cos I'm v fat now

[zerofive]

Could we have more info about ur exercise schedule and ur diet?

Absolutely. I love to talk fitness as much as I love to talk poker.

At the moment I split my exercise routine into five separate days and they break down as follows:

Push exercises (chest, shoulders, triceps)
Pull exercises (back, rear shoulders, biceps)
Legs
Abs
Cardio (this is usually circuit training, as running on a treadmill can get insanely boring)

I try to squeeze in an hour long walk once a day as well.

Ask any questions you like, I love to discuss and share ideas and I enjoy learning as well.

What pull exercise u use for ur back?

I'm just interested cos I'm gonna start to lose some weight cos I'm v fat now

Two really good back exercises are deadlifts and pull ups. They're very tough, very natural exercises.

[Derbylad]

Queue diary merge...

[zerofive]

You asked about diet as well so I'm going to do my best to break down every meal I eat today as an example.

Here, for breakfast, we have 2 rashers of bacon, 3 fried eggs, a handful of mixed leaves, and a small amount of ripening goat's cheese (roughly 15g). I've dressed the salad with a very small amount of balsamic vinegar. I find for the extra gram or so of pure sugary carbohydrates your salad becomes infinitely more palatable. Some people love salad on its own, but for me this meal would be a little bit dry without a little dressing. Also, when I fry my breakfast, I simply fry it dry in a teflon frying pan. I really don't like to use oil on my eggs, especially in the morning. That's my personal preference, though. When you're low on carbs, it's good to have a bit more fat in your diet, and olive oil is a decent way to get an extra couple of grams.

Click to see full-size image.

Nutritionally, that breaks down as follows:

Calories: 429
Protein: 35g
Carbohydrates: 2.6g
Fat: 29.6g

Easy enough, right? Just have a bunch of tasty stuff for breakfast and you don't even touch your carbohydrate limit (which, for me, is somewhere around 45-50g, most of which comes from whole milk), while we've made a great start hitting our protein target of 1g per pound of lean body mass.

To drink, I have a mug of water with which I take a fish oil softgel to help with my joints so I don't keep popping my fucking shoulder out; I have a mug of coffee, which speaks for itself; and I have a vanilla whey protein shake. I can't stress enough that protein shakes are a supplement and not a sole source of nutrition (ie don't drink protein shakes instead of eating meals.) The amino acid profile is really good, but it's still no match for eating actual food. Anyway, the nutritional breakdown for a whey protein shake with 200ml of whole milk is as follows:

Calories: 243
Protein: 31.4g
Carbohydrates: 10.7g
Fat: 8.2g

This is where I get most of my carbs, which is fine because I still want to be able to function throughout the day/at the gym, and not demonstrate the physical strength and mental power of a sick elderly lady. In fact, my number one top tip for people who want to start getting in shape, whether they want to shed pounds or pack on some lean mass: swap out all your drinks, and this includes fruit juices, for water and milk only.

As always, I'm happy to discuss and I'm more than happy to be corrected where I'm wrong.

[Derbylad]

Thoughts on poaching  your eggs instead of frying? Tastes better IMO and leas calories than frying. As for the rest top work, now get a digestive system that can stomach creatine.