blonde poker forum

ROLLING THE DICE


 I’ve been playing poker for around 4 years now. During that time I’ve lived and breathed the game, almost to an obsessive extent. I’ve had highs and lows, some very high and some very low. Whilst riding the poker rollercoaster, I’ve been privileged enough to meet some of the nicest folk you could ever hope to encounter. All shapes and sizes from a wide range of backgrounds. Whatever I’ve experienced from playing this incredible game, I’ve enjoyed it.

So… why am I spending my time sat in an office staring at a monitor?

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself over the last 2 or 3 months, and, so far, I’ve yet to come up with an acceptable answer.

We have an hour at work, aptly named ‘Death Hour’. This hour of torture occurs between 3 and 4pm.  It’s during this time that I am at my lowest. Bored out of my mind and wishing I was at the table. I keep glancing at the clock, praying that it suddenly jolts forward an hour, but alas, it just seems to go slower. At one point, I’m sure it went backwards. Is this how someone my age should lead their days, willing away their time in the world? When I’m older and my time is up, I’m sure I will look back on those days in dismay, wondering how I could have allowed myself to reach such a predicament.

So, as I have no responsibilities, I guess it’s time to quit the job and do something else.

What could I do?

Well… I could always give poker a crack.

I’ve been thinking about going down the poker route for a while now, but never had the guts to give it a proper go. At the moment, I work all day and poker all night. At the weekend I might play live, but I won’t get back to the early hours, which in effect turns my sleeping pattern upside down. As a result, I end up spending Monday at work totally exhausted. Death hour then takes 3 hours rather than the standard 2. I’m bloomin knackered, which makes focusing on my game that more difficult.

In a nutshell, I don’t want to spend all my time working, and when I do get home, resting so I am fresh for the next day of tedium. Sometimes you just have to face the truth. It’s just not me.

So it’s decided. In a few weeks time I’m gonna jack the job in and play poker full time. I’m still young, no wife, no kids and no debts. If there was ever a perfect time to give it a shot, now is it. I could do my whole bankroll, end up back at square one, dreading the approach of the day’s death hour. If it goes belly up, then so be it. At least I would have tried, rather than sitting in the office wondering, ‘what if?’

Recently I’ve learnt that putting your thoughts onto paper can be an extremely constructive process. Whether it’s logging your progress, discussing hands, or just airing a few ideas, I feel you stop yourself from becoming detached. Your grip on reality needs to remain firm, and my discussing of this keeps me in touch.

Every so often I will write an update on this thread, just a few paragraphs outlining my progress. I’m approaching it as an experiment. A ‘will snoopy succeed or fail?’ type of experiment. Hopefully it will be the former, but it’ll be fun finding out.

I sincerely hope that some Blondites out there find my updates interesting. I was going to just write my own private diary on a blogspot, but I thought this would be more fun. And considering the great community we have here, my belief is that I could bounce ideas off others. A few may even be thinking of heading down the same road. If that’s the case, then they’ll probably be able to learn from some of my mistakes. Either way, I really want this thread to serve a purpose.

Finally, I shall be spending the next few weeks calculating my bankroll, studying the different sites, just generally getting myself organized. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, and if this is going to be my rent money for the upcoming months, then I want to give myself the best opportunity possible to succeed.

So, back to the aforementioned question, ‘Will snoopy succeed or fail?’

Only time will tell, but hopefully the poker gods will be smiling down upon me. . .

snoopy

-- please feel free to reply to this post --

Fantastic Snoopy (i felt your post deserved your name!!)

You have nothing to lose, glad to see that you are going to give it a go.

Wish you all the best mate!!

Good luck my friend. You deserve success, you're a good bloke, happy to meet you at last yesterday. You also have a fair game on you, so close the taking the STT at Rob's

Good luck  :blonde:

Good Luck Snoop!! Just remember if it does go tits up, as you love poker so much, the card room is always looking for decent staff :D So for 8 hours a day you are a winner and then get home and do it all on line!

Seriously Good Luck Though!!!

WOW Snoop , I envy your youth and balls very very best of luck. If you ever need a place to crash if you are at a live festival in london give me a shout.

In a year or so you'll most probably understand the word variance a lot better than you do now. I wish you the very best of luck.

Justin

(just starting to win again hopefully after a 2 month break even run)

wow, i am so jealous.
I too am stuck in a rut at work and detest the though of going, the thing is of course you need the steady income.
The trick i think is to find the winning formula, obviously you have found yours, i have yet to find mine.
I just hope it's out there............
Stick to your strengths or experiment now, there is no point giving the job up and then giving your bankroll up trying out new sites/games etc.
good luck

Fine. Best of luck.

But tell everyone u r going travelling. It looks better on the cv just in case it doesn't work out.

Can I suggest u start off playing ladders/rounders 9-5 so u understand what ur doing by playing cards full-time, cos to be brutal, it's very, very boring  to play online full time unless u have a real aptitude for it.

GL tho snoop. Live the dream.

I wish you the best of luck snoopy its a brave step. It is one i have given alot of thought to and i may well quit teaching at the end of this school year if its viable. Keep us up to date, I would be seriously interested how you find it as a lifestyle and how you control bankroll and so on.

 This is going to be of great interest.

The best of luck to you

Snoop, what ever happens mate, when you look back in years to come you will realise, it's already a sucsess

Best to have a go now than to be forever wondering "what if "

All the very best of luck (except against me of course)  ;)

One thing I would say regarding Gambling for a living.

DISAPLINE and don't be greedy

Every £20 per week you make is another £1000 per year. £80 a day is a £40k job

Good Luck

Regards

M

Go for it Snoopy!

I quit my job in May. At the time I thought 'as long as I can get thru' the summer and watch all the cricket then I'll be happy'. Jobs are easy to get and if the worse happens then all you do is get another!
I had a couple of moments over the summer when I was tweaking my CV between hands, but it all came good. You seem determined to be better prepared than I was and I'm sure you will be ok.

To the Snoop Dog....

Mate I'm glad you chose the right path. I haven't regretted one minute of it and nor will you. Keep those PM's coming. You cant stop just coz you've decided now! This is where the real fun begins.

All the best mate.

Good luck,
I'm in the same boat as you with no dependants and youth on my side, decided to quit work 6 months ago and take the plunge.

I ain't making any money live yet though the internet keeps me in buisness.

Stay within your bankroll, keep your volume of play up and you'll be grand.

I think you're dead right to give it a go. It's a big risk when you have dependants but if you're only responsible for yourself why not. The whole point of me setting up the T-shirt business was so I could try being semi pro. I'll get there but I need to get past the stage where everything I win in a week is spent on food and bills. thats the advantage you have. you can live on a shoe string and almost every penny earned is your bankroll grown. Have you thought about ways you could go semi pro, ie are there any other ways you can make money away from the tables that'd mean the pressure way completely off at the tables?

Good luck! With no dependants and the savings I'd give it a go myself just to see if I could do it.
I'm sure you have seen this before but I copy it here if you haven't -

The size of your bankroll has a lot of elements to it. Generally, players learn to live with about 300x their table limt bet (for $3/$6, that would be $1800). This takes for granted the idea that you are a proven, winning player, and make over 1.5 big bets per 100 hands. This should give you an element of ruin of less than 5% (your chance of going broke - baring poor play and tilt).

Personally,I prefer to have 25 times my standard deviation as a minimum. My SD is about 16 units. If I was playing $3/$6, that would mean for any 100 hands, my standard + or - would be $96. 25x that gives me $2400 for my "comfortable" bankroll.

Next, consider the aspect of "savings" - not playing bankroll, but the actual money you socked away to pay all of your possible expenses for at least three months. Again, I prefer six months of savings. This will allow you to weather any storm of poor/unlucky play and still pay your bills without touching your "playing bankroll."

So, If you are going to play $3/$6 and have a monthly nut of $2500 (your mandatory expenses), then you need at least $7500 in savings, and a bankroll of at least $1800. If you win 1.5 big bets or $9 per 100 hands, and play 60 hands per hour, you need to log 278 table hours of play to pay your bills. If your log 300 table hours, you can expect to add $207 to your bankroll each month.

If you play 3 tables at one time, and still make 1.5BB per 100 hands, you need to work 100 hours per month to do the above.

Good luck Snoopy - being young (ish) free and single with no dependants i too have decided that i am hopefully going to take a full year out of work to see if i can play poker for a living. However rather than just giving up the job and going for it having to rely on my winnings week in and week out to pay the bills i want to build my online bankroll upto a level that can sustain my living expenses for a full year and leave me enough to play poker with as well. My quest for the $60000 bankroll has already begun, hopefully will see you in the promised land fairly soon :)

 :tikay:

Get a proper job

Hmmm:

Choice 1) Poker Player - praying on the weak and the innocent trying to extract as much money out of them as possible without them realizing

or

Choice 2) Lawyer - praying on the weak and the innocent trying to extract as much money out of them as possible without them realizing

 :D

good choice snoop,
it's good to recognise the signs early on, i'd been slowly drying up at work for over ten years wondering what else i could do that would pay the bills. i'd never have dreamt that poker might be the substitute, but i'm glad something fell into my lap.
you only live once, whats the worst that can happen.
now fetch boy!

 :goodpost:

Oi Lega Aid lawyer here. The government pays my fees, well some of them, the rest I write off as a bad debt. So there.  :D

and let's not forget that as a Pro poker player you can legally sign on the dole!
let the good times roll.

No you cant - its now called Job Seekers Allowance and as a full time poker player you are not actively seeking a job and therefore not entitled to it.

I know about 90% of the current claimants aren't either - but two wrongs dont make a right.........

and do you have any idea how 'hard' it is to pretend to be looking for work?
or go to the quacks and claim you are depressed get a bit of incapacity benifit thrown in...

ps I work. Just stating the fact that it is far to easy to claim in this country. My dad did this for years before he died. He would even down a few nips of whisky before meetings with them so they would smell his breath, stamp their forms and get rid of him. Shocking but incredibly easy to do.

lost my job end of feb. was easy to get signed on, very helpful. quaterly progress meeting was straight forward, check I wasn't in need of extra assistance. half year review was a much more stringant review of my job seeking strategies. a short while after I signed off and declared myself self employed (though I'm not earning any real money from it yet. When you go in to sign on you are asked what you've been doing to find work and the person signing you will go through curent jobs that match your job seekers agreement. It's not simply a case of walking in and signing your name. after a year that's it, the benefit stops. sure there are other benefits that take it's place which I'm sure have conditions to them but I thankfuly never got that far.

Poker players signing on for job seekers allowance is dishonest and deplorable. We pay no tax after all.

I know how easy it is but it still doesnt make it right - the fact that our countries welfare system is so easy to "fraud" makes us an easy target for anyone wishing to sponge off the taxpayers. This then means that many genuine claimants (of which i have been one at various times of my life) usually end up being tarred with the same brush.

I think it's a sad state of affairs when teenagers think that claiming job seekers allowance and/or family credit is actually a career option when leaving school!!

I agree.

Agree with you both.
I wouldn't claim myself and never have done. The onle way to stop it is to er stop it. I mean stop paying people. Issue food parcels, credit for TESCO value shopping (why should the goverment pay for brand names?)I mean anything rather than give out money. I like what adam said that after a year it stops that was news to me.
 

Hope you're joking. Signing on is something I never considered myself.

Snoop.
It sounds like you are exactly where i was at the start of this year - in a job you were just coasting, but bored and knowing you hated it and were craving to do something you loved rather than detested.  I use to sit dreary eyed and very tired at my desk, just detesting everything around me and i couldn't wait to get to the casino or on-line for a game. - i knew it was something i had to do and i knew i had to do it now!!  I jumped ship in March and have never looked back - you have to do it whilst your young and have no commitments and no harsh financial outgoings.  I have been so lucky in that i had a couple of good wins from the outset and have had the support and good wishes of my girlfriend (the real pokergirlie) and my family.  (check out the blog link below for a more detailed account) -if your interested.

A diary of your adventures would be excellent to look back on and putting thoughts down on paper really gets you thinking about your game.

I wish you all the best, and hope it goes well.  Although as a couple of people have already said - relying on poker as an income is extremely risky and good management of money and discipline is imperitive - and i would also advise having other things to do to occupy your time and mind and restrict your sessions as it can so easly turn into a grind if you don't take days off and keep yourself fresh. - you must have other hobbies, interests to occupy the mind.

good luck mate.

Snoopy, gl with this. Have you considered going part time at work to start with so there isn't such a big dip in your monthly "earn"?

I never realised before I started playing poker full-time how much my social life revolved around my work.

Be good to your friends and make the time to see them, you'll need them.

Best of luck Snorky  :)up  I'm sure you will do fine, let us know how you are getting on and we'll put you right if we need to

Good luck Spoony

I hope you dont lose the enjoyment of the game and let it become a grind

I would say go for it whilst you can, as before you know it you will take on the

various commitments of life and will not be able to take the risk.

My view on life is: when you die you only regret the things you didn't do not the things you did  8)

It doesn't stop after a year. 1st 6 months JSA is contributions based i.e on your N I payments from previous years. If you have no NI record then you get income based JSA. After 6 months of Contrib JSA you move onto Income based JSA which oddly enough can give you Mortgage interest benefit/Housing Benefit/Council Tax benefit/ free prescriptions.

Snoopy

I would say if you get a little hand out in the short term off the Gov take it mate.
I would love to take my kids on holiday, buy things we need. But because of high taxes we can't.

Get what you can buddy

Regards

M

Snoopy,

All the best I look forward to your updates.
I wish you all the luck in the world.

Just a quick note to thank you all for your good luck wishes. I can't explain in words how much that means. Hopefully it will spur me on to success.

I will reply to some of the comments made here in due course.

thx again.  :)up

Of course i only wish you luck when our paths never cross - if the dog and the monkey ever meet on the green felt, the fur will fly!! ;)

GL Snoops, I wll be following your progress with great interest.
Your writings are invariably insitful and enjoyable. Maybe a sideline as a poker columnist
would be an ideal way to meke some money while taking a break from the tables!

Again good luck in your adventure. Follow your dream.......we all will be with you



Del

FAIL TO PREPARE, PREPARE TO FAIL


It’s official, I’ve been sacked resigned from my post and will be leaving the company in exactly 1 week. Boy, it comes around quickly. Life is slapping me in the face with a wet kipper and the reality of my decision is kicking in.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

Are they bricks of excrement I see below me?

Well, I’m not changing my mind now. I’ve made the choice, I should at least have the testicular fortitude to stick with it and see it through. I could go bust, but I won’t regret my decision, whatever happens. That’s a certainty.

What I can do, however, is ensure that I maximise my chances of success…



Get Into Shape

Some would say that trying to get my body into shape would be like taking a chisel to Michelangelo’s ‘David’. Thanks Mum! But let’s be brutally honest here. I’m 100% OUT of shape. No doubt about it, my body is no longer a temple. It’s more like a grubby shed. As those who have met me will concur, I am not a Greek Adonis, more Mr Burns. So it’s time for a change!

I really do subscribe to the theory of ‘healthy body, healthy mind’. When I play badly, I always end up confessing that it was due to fatigue. You need to be alert in this game, on the ball at every moment. One single mistake can cost you a massive pot or send you crashing out of a tournament. I can’t afford to blink at any stage.

I’m not one for pumping iron. I can’t think of anything more tedious. What I can do though is increase my level of general fitness. So, brisk jogs round the block, sit-ups, press ups, etc should do the trick. I don’t even need to go down the gym. Mr healthy lifestyle stands right here at home, waving furiously and pleading to be invited in.

Then there’s the tucker. I’m no Fatty Arbuckle, so I don’t think overeating is a problem. Anyhow, it’s all about what you eat. I hear pasta, fruit, cereal, potato, among other things provide a good start. I’ve often had a tendency to skip Breckie, but I guess it’s time I changed that trend. Do I really want to start playing on an empty stomach?


Bankroll & Game Selection

I’ve heard and read tonnes of advice on this, but, in essence, I really think it comes down to what type of player you are. If you’re a grinder who plays few hands, but makes a nice steady profit, then surely a massive bankroll is unnecessary. Of course, on the flipside, if you’re an aggressive player who chooses to raise frequently and bully a table into submission, then perhaps the bigger bankroll is required.

I would consider myself a tight aggressive player. If I play a hand, then I try to play it aggressively. I apply caution if I think I may be beat, but push if I believe I’m ahead. No complex moves, no flair, just aggressive ABC poker.

This approach doesn’t seem to deal out too steep a swing. On the occasion when my bankroll has been severely dented, I would be a fool to say that it wasn’t down to the dreaded tilt. Calling preflop raises with suited rags, not letting go of top pair when I know I’m beat, and so on. Nothing incredibly stupid, but the kind of tilt that sees your stack gradually drip down to the felt. From playing more than 1 table at a time, I’d say that in a single session, my swing is never much more than $500 either way.

I’ve been playing the same $1/2 and $2/4 games for a while now, and have never really needed to dip back into my current account. I have slowly, but surely added to my bankroll without truly threatening my initial stake. So, considering this, I believe that I don’t need too much behind me, unless of course I decide to up the anti and move onto a higher level.

Taking into account that I will be playing more frequently, I will start with an online bankroll of $8000. Playing the levels I do, I feel this gives me enough breathing space to play freely in the comfort that I have plenty of refills behind me should need them. If I manage to do my bankroll, I can always dip back into my savings or borrow from my live bankroll. To be frank though, if I begin to struggle from an 8k bankroll, then maybe I shouldn’t be playing fulltime.

I’ve decided to play with a live bankroll of £4000. Due to petrol cost and the huge luck factor involved in the smaller comps, I don’t tend to play live too much anymore. Having said that however, I do see it as imperative to get myself out and about now and then. Playing online all day could really scramble my brain, so any human interaction within the game will probably be a godsend.

My favourite comp is the £300 double chance monthly freezout at Walsall. Obviously with only a £4000 bankroll, I can’t be stumping up the fee every month unless I start cashing on a regular basis. Therefore, I may have to rely on the satellites and then exit gracefully if I fail to qualify. Although, as it is such a good comp offering a high level of experience, I intend to play this one as much as possible.

My other reason for perhaps playing the £300er via the satellites, is to allow me more flexibility for festivals. They’re becoming more and more frequent every year, which, in turn, means that your bankroll needs to increase in size too. I’m a big fan of the festivals. I want to make more main events rather than just ambush the smaller comps. This is where the real experience is and these are the tables I need to sit at in order to fully improve my game.

I’ve bubbled so many times in these qualifiers. Always seem to be the bridesmaid. However, now I have more time to select satellites more carefully, I should be participating more in the bigger comps. I may not win the bug bucks straight away, but it’s what I need to play to advance my game.

Seeing that I can’t keep paying up 100s, I see no reason why I can’t play some of the smaller freezouts. The £30 freezout in Notts is a fantastic event. It’s a serious game in a friendly non-hostile atmosphere. Granted, you get the odd maniac still playing it as a rebuy, but this can only be beneficial.

Rob’s done a really good job with this one. The blinds do get a bit hot to handle with around 11 to 15 players remaining, but, apart from that, the structure works pretty well. With 3000 starting chips, give or take the odd cold-deck, there’s plenty of play. It’s also nice to see a new payout structure in action. When I debuted the other week, I was amazed to see the comp actually played to a finish. A sight for sore eyes.

So, by just focusing on these freezouts and the odd chip throwing contest, I reckon £4000 will keep me going for a while. You never know, I might even win one and add to my bankroll. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. If I do hit a run of bad cards, then I’ll just be more selective in which games I play and how often I play them.

With regards to live cash games, I shall use my £4000 bankroll. I don’t play them too often because I am big fan of the smaller dealer’s choice tables, which now seems to be a dying game. Lots of money thrown into the middle, lots of gambling, and lots of mistakes being made. Perfect if I can find a table.

I intend to focus only on online cash games and live freezouts. Online multis can be costly and unrewarding for large lengths of time. If I was to give the multis a proper go, then I would pull out a larger bankroll to allow for the potential dry spells. However, as I am already profiting from the ring games, I shall stick to them for the time being and perhaps play more multis in the future when I have reassessed my bankroll


Discipline

I consider lack of discipline to be the reason why so many fail when taking this venture. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t fallen victim to it myself. I’ll never forget my prepoker days at the Gala, standing before a spinning roulette wheel, pondering whether or not I ought to stick my last 100 squid on red. I recall considering begging to management for my money back to be a viable option. I’m sure at one point they were thinking about unveiling a golden statue of me in the lobby to commemorate my contributions to the casino. The manager suggested that his Ferrari up front was enough to emphasise the point.

Well, I suppose a fool and his money are easily parted. Thing is, I can’t afford to play the fool any more. The steady income has gone and I still need to pay the rent. Therefore, I CANNOT play:

--   when sozzled
--   when tired
--   when angry
--   above my bankroll
--   too much

The last one is of particular importance to me. If I don’t have my head screwed on, I do tend to lose track of time and then suddenly realise I’ve been playing for a couple hours more than I intended. What I’m going to do is set an alarm, for 90 minutes say, and when it blares away, just bring to a halt all the games I’m involved in, be I winning or losing. That way, I should prevent myself from chasing losses or letting big stacks drip away. This process will also remind me to take a break ,therefore keeping me fresh and alert enough to play another session later on.

What I must avoid is robotsyndrome. I was becoming a robot at work, so I certainly don’t want to continue that trend at home. Like Junior suggested, that means doing other stuff as well as poker. Yes, I know, it’s shocking isn’t it? I may have to venture outdoors! Eeeeeeeeek!!!!



Well, there you have it, those are the three topics that have been on my mind over the last week. I’m sure I will expand on these subjects futher, but for now, I think I’ve made a steady start in terms of preparation. I’ve got several days yet, but still, full-time poker is closer than I think. I’m nervous, but excited at the same time. In one week I’m giving poker a crack. I just pray that I get off to a good start.

I hope these words have interested you or perhaps even offered some ideas to those considering taking my route. I don’t see why we can’t use this forum to bounce ideas off each other and enhance our chances of success.

Any comments or snippets of advice are gratefully received. And thanks again for all you good luck wishes. I may need them….

Good luck snoopy

i realy hope it works out for you .....Naaaaaaa i know it will

all the best mate

There's been a lot of thought in that post, thanks for sharing. Can I make one comment?

You talk about walking away from a game at a set time even if you're winning, I'm not sure that is the correct strategy, if you have found a soft table... use it and milk it would be my suggestion.

That's true, and if the table is reeeeeeeeeeeeally easy I will play on...

However, on the whole, I find that even on a poor table, if I continue to play in a fatigued state, I still leave myself open to making that 1 big mistake that will cost me my whole stack. For me personally, I still need to be alert, fresh, and on the ball against the bad players. There is skill in playing a bad table, so you still need to be on your game to extract as much money as possible.

What I am trying to avoid doing is leaving when I'm ahead and staying when I'm behind. That's a bad habit I found hard to discard.


It's difficult to draw the line between staying to beat an easy table or leaving because you are too tired.

Does any1 else suffer from fatigue whilst playing online? Any tips on how to conquer it? Where's RED when you need him? He's always on Laddies.  :D

lol - soz dik, I missed this.

Thx for the offer but I suffer from shaky hand syndrome.

When I start shuffling the cards go flying.

If you thought dealers got abused, wait until shaky snoopy gets hold of the cards. I'd be lynched!  :o

Im here Snoop, but I'm afraid I suffer from fatigue too and I'm just as insecure as you and all the other poor buggers who eeeeek out a living playing poker instead of taking it easy at work

The difficult part for me is I play mostly multis, so the swings are quite big. If i don't hit paydirt for a couple of weeks I can go $8k to the bad, It's scary but it's what seems to work for me, I wish I could do better in cash games but I seem to do ok for a while and then it all goes pear shaped and I can't face trying to recover from being say, $2k in the red by grinding it out.

I think this thread is great, and will be a benefit to me, you, and hopefully many others

GL Snoozy

well wrote

See you at Notts Sunday Snoops? (Better still stay away, I need to win this!). :D

Scary online bankroll $8K as I play off a similar amount and am strictly a recreational player. Guess if you stick to the games you beat (Presumably $200 NLHE on Party?) it should be adequate. The live bankroll worries me though mate, probably need a bit more if you want to play higher than £30 freezouts. I take it you have a seperate 'roll for living exes?

Well, I'm going to try to make this a gradual progression. I will be attemtpting to qualify via satellites, so hopefully I won't be stumping up too many £300 fees. You may be right tho, an extra 1k on top of my live bankroll might just give me a little bit more breathing room.

With regards to the 8k, my swings have never been too broad, so I rarely need much more. I suppose it depends on what sort of player you are and the types of games you play. Once again though, I am considering upping this figure.

My expenses will be paid out of another account, so the bankrolls stated here cover my entry fees and nothing else.

thx for the advice, simon. My figures are not set in stone just yet, so I may well be adding to my inital bankroll before I start.

What bankrolls did everyone else start with?

to be honest i think i'd need at least double my previous years salary

My online bankroll started off a bit weird. Basically I had withdrawn it all prior to 2003 WSOP and went to Vegas for nearly 3 weeks. I only had around £1000 left when I returned. I deposited 1/2 on 'Stars for a bonus and 1/2 on Bugsy's Club/Pokerpages. Basically built it up from that via cash games SNGs and bonus whoring (I had a big run scalping casino bonuses last Summer (2004) for nearly $1500!). Any withdrawals I have made have been just to recirculate it for bonuses new sites etc. My attitude to the amount I have online is "if it goes I'm not reloading" so I play well within the bb guidelines (Basically I should be playing $5/$10 but still haunt the $3/$6 and $100 PLO/PLO8 games).

If you are mainly a NLHE or PLO cash player you probably need 50 x max buy in to be safe, if you are a winning player, though if you are prepared to drop down on a bad run you probably can cope with less.

Live I think in the current poker boom you need at least 120 x buy in for tournies to cope with the swings and larger fields. These are just my opinion and I am generally at the cautious end of the spectrum :D

Live the dream snoops!

That was the decision I made 18 months ago, & I've never regretted it for one moment. My game is only so-so, but there are loads of ways of earning a crust. To be fair, I am a lttle older than you, so an easier decision, but I'm delighted you are gonna give it a whirl.

thx, tikay.

A little?  >:?

In dog years I think :D

OK, enough. No more Mr Nice Guy.

I'll save the old fella the time.


 :redcard: :redcard: :redcard: :redcard: :redcard:

Have been reading Ben Grundy's blog today, very informative and I recommend every1 nips over for a butchers.

Caught sight of an intriguing post where he discusses the advantage of rating your performance.

It sounded like a good idea to me, so I've decided to steal it.

Keep it simple, something like:

Doggy doo
Poor
Average
Good
Top Dog

Insert an extra column on my spreadsheet and everytime I play, effectively mark myself out of five.

I really think this is a simple yet very effective process, and I wish I'd adopted it earlier.

Hopefully, it well help me keep a grip on the reality of my form. sometimes we can dellude ourselves into thinking that we've been playing well for the week, when in fact our performances have been poor.

One quick look at my speadsheet and I should be able to see how well, or bad, I am playing. If it's all 'Top Dogs', then I shall continue to play as I have been doing. If there is a load of doggy doo around, however, then I guess it's back to the drawing board. Find out where I am going wrong and make the change. Either way, it'll make me aware of how I'm doing. In the short term, winning or losing isn't always an accurate display of your form.

Cheers, Ben.  :)up

snoops snoopy

Agreed, definitely my favourite blog, one of very few that doesn't moan and whinge constantly about bad beats.
Some of these blogs just depress ya!!
When do i get my own icon??.....not fair

I'm quite enjoying reading some of these blogs and finding them pretty enlightening.

Does any1else know of any others that may be worth a read?

ifm you got a smiley in mind for yourself?

What's a blog?

How about this one:

(http://www.mazeguy.net/outfitted/dunce.gif)


hehe - thank god he's gone out.

Iit's an online diary, Mr Tank. Often called a blogspot.

I use mine for poker only, but it's a great way too put some thoughts onto paper. I think it helps you put things into perspective when you write everything down.

ta

Snoopy

Must read:

www.secretsoftheamateurs.blogspot.com

this is Andy Ward's strategy blog, to accompany

www.pokersoft.blogspot.com

also a must is

www.doubleas.blogspot.com

some of the strategy posts on here are fantastic


also, if you haven't seen it


www.twentyoneoutstwice.blogspot.com

Can you post a link to Ben Grundy's blog too please?

that was quick, thanks.

A lot of the time though you dont realize yourself that you are playing badly - a lot of the time people think that they are playing ok, but you are just getting unlucky and that the cards arent falling their way at the crucial time. It takes an "outsider" watching your game to see whether you are not playing to your usual standards.

So as well as marking yourself you should appoint a marking arbiter like they do with premiership referees and every so often they will watch you play an also give you a mark - then if your marks are very similar at least you know you are being honest with yourself. Sometimes get your arbiter to watch when you know he's watching but also get him to watch a random tourney without your knowledge (obviously this would only be possible online unless your arbiter was a master of disguise!! ;))

Two blogs that are, to my mind, in a class of their own.....

"Extempore" - Paul Phillips. He's sharp, intelligent, has his own way of looking at & playing the game, but does not suffer fools gladly. What you see is what you get. Has mellowed - for the better - since becoming a first-time father last Summer. Daughter Ivey is what mstters most now.

The Camel Ruminates.  Always worth a gander. Ditto ditto ditto, except his offspring is a boy, Jake. When he was in Amsterdam, his first outing as a Dad, he showed EVERYONE the pics of yuong Jake - 267 times. Gotta love proud Fathers.

links to Phillips

www.extempore.livejournal.com

he's phenomenal at Scrabble too!!

and Our Camel

www.camelpoker.blogspot.com

One of the best blogs has to be DaMatrix

http://damatrixpoker.blogspot.com/

Very imformative, an absolute must. He has virtually every Poker blog/site listed on his blog.

David Pomroy's blog is also up there as one of the best.

http://dpommo.blogspot.com/

ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID

I was going to write this last night, but I decided against it. It would have been interesting to catch my mood, but I want to be realistic and reflect on my game in a way that isn’t affected by my emotions. I’ve done it before, you know, suffered a bad beat or something and written my thoughts down straight after the event. Then later, when I look back, it’s all gibberish, complete balls, and I end up saying, ‘I can’t believe I wrote that’ or ‘what was I complaining about?’

Well, it’s the day after yesterday and I’m no longer gutted, just disappointed. Last night I played in a Grosvenor £25 rebuy satellite for the Midlands Masters main event. Only 36 turned up so only 3 seats were produced. There was a whole lot of moaning and whining, people perplexed to why it wasn’t a satellite for the £750. In reflection, £25 does seem a bit cheap, but I guess they don’t really need to make too many seats for the 1500. It’ll probably fill up anyway.

I got off to a flying start. A big pot built and I decided to call a couple of preflop raises with AT suited. Near perfect flop came, a ten with two spades giving me top pair and the nut flush draw. The chips went in, and, although I was ahead anyway, I rivered my spade just to make sure. I raked a big pot and I was off. This also meant that it was unlikely that I’d be dipping into my pocket again, which was a real bonus. If I get chips early on, then you’re gonna need a crowbar to get them off me.

After flopping a full house aces up and catching someone holding the case ace, I reached the break with 7.5k. I was well above average and felt good about my chances, even though only 2 seats were up for grabs. I was kinda hoping that this would encourage the smaller stacks to start gambling and chuck their chips away to the big stacks. This happened, but unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the recipients.

I’m not one to babble on about hands because they tend to be of no interest to anyone but the individual involved. Besides, they normally just turn into bad beat stories. Having said that though, there were a couple of hands that occurred last night which may be worth highlighting.

The first was straight after the rebuy period. I held 43 unsuited in the cut-off and decided to try and see a cheap flop with the intention of nicking if the blinds checked. Sure enough, it was checked round to me and I stuck a bet in, but, for a change, I actually had a hand. Flop was a rainbow 3-4-9 and I’d made bottom 2 pair. My bet was 700 about the size of the pot, and, to my surprise, the small blind suddenly moved all-in for 4.5k. Blimey. Took me ages to make a decision here. If I call and lose, I’m down to 3k. Pots not particularly big, but, still, I have 2 pair! So what does he have and what could he be making this move with?

My first instinct was something like 9-3 or 9-4. Would he bet though, just like me? Well, he was first to go and it was a rainbow flop, so a trapcheck certainly seems feasible. Plus the big reraise suggests he doesn’t really want to give me any cheap cards. He might have hit a set of 3s or 4s, but his reraise seemed too big. I’d expect him to raise 9-9 preflop, so I didn’t put him on that hand. Other possibilities were A9 or 5-6. The former would be a risky move, but perhaps worth a shot if he was expecting me to bet out. The latter however is a definite option if he’s in a gambling mood. He probably puts me on one pair at most so believes his big reraise will undoubtedly force me to fold. And, if it doesn’t, he still has outs to the nuts.

After giving him the once over and going over the hand in my mind, I deduced that his most probable holding was 9-4, so I mucked. Did I waste an ample opportunity to add to my stack, hmm, not sure. He’s not the type of player to tell you his hands, plus I was too embarrassed to start begging, so, my curiosity is yet to be satisfied. Grr…

The second hand came with two tables left. I had grinded my way up to 8.5k. Boy, that is a slow grind! I was in earlyish position with AK of hearts and was just about to raise when I realised that seat 1 had flatcalled. Now, I don’t normally play with such caution, but this guy is a rock who is known to be exceedingly careful with his chips. He rarely gambles and seldom shows a bluff. Also, I’d already seen him flatcall aces from early position. With this in mind, I decided to play my hand a little differently and just flat call.

The flop came A-5-7 with two spades. After the blinds and the limper checked, I decided to ask if the limper had checked, just to see if I could gauge a reaction. He seemed pretty serious when I asked him, which made me think that he had something to be serious about. Anyhow, I decided to stick in a bet anyway. I couldn’t be that sure he had a monster, and there were limpers behind me. I couldn’t risk giving free cards. After all, first position might have nothing.

I bet 1k, every1 folded except first position, who, not to my total surprise, reraised to 3k. Now that looks like a fishing bet. I’m sure he wants to reel me, and 2k is mighty cheap when you’ve just bet 1k. I read him for either AA, 55 or 77, nothing less. He wouldn’t flatcall with A5, A7 or 75, and he wouldn’t make a stonecold bluff on an ace high flop. He could have had AJ though and waiting for a checkraise, but even then, I think he’d just bet out. AK and AQ would have been raised preflop. The only other possibility is the semi bluff with a flush draw, most likely KQ or JT, pretty cards that could entice a flatcall.

I decided to fold another big hand… reluctantly. I just didn’t put him on anything less than the set. I didn’t see the point in just calling. If I was going to play the hand I might as well push all my chips in. Maybe overly cautious in hindsight, but I guess I’ll never know now.

So, two big hands and two big folds. Whether they were the correct ones or not, I have no idea, and it’s gnawing away at me. You wait all night for these sort of hands, and when I eventually find them, I just muck them. Maybe I was being paranoid, but if I put someone on a hand better than mine, then I play as such, regardless of whether people think my hand is too good to fold.

In the end, I finished 5th. 3rd was £600. Didn’t find any hands on the final table and exited on a coin flip. No bad beats, didn’t have to outraw anyone, went out fair and square. But I was left wondering whether or not I’d dropped a couple of clangers by folding those two hands. Did I miss out on a good opportunity to qualify for this event?

Okay, only £25 spent on a £1500 shot, had a really enjoyable night, so why was I gutted? Well, sometimes it’s the small things that get to you. I’m dying to play some of these main events, but I’m struggling to get through the satellites. I’m making the finals, but then just missing out. Didn’t quite make the Grand Prix, bubbled in the blue square qualifier for the Masters, 5 Ladbrokes cruise finals, 2nd in Rob’s satellite, and so on. I’m not moaning or anything, far from it, but it just becomes a bit demoralising when you want to play these events as much as I do. I’m sure all of you have felt like that before. The only concern I have is that if I feel down because of those near misses, how will I cope when I go full-time and the losses become more vital. I guess that’s something I’m going to have to address…

Apologies to those bored by this entry, which is, in effect, just me gibbering on about a piddly £25 satellite. However, I just thought I’d air some of my thoughts anyhow.

If possible, I’d really love to hear your views about those two hands I discussed. Did I play them wrong? I’m pretty sure I played at least one of them incorrectly. What would you have done?

Clocking off, a pensive snoopy.

probably would have pushed with the 3-4 - at the end of the day why did you call in the first place, when you hit the kind of flop you are looking for only then to lay it down after a bet?

at the end of the day though you were the only one at the table so only you know how your opponents were playing etc etc so its difficult for other people to give opinions just based on bare facts - i'm a true believer in that you go with your own feelings and instincts. Sometimes you'll be wrong and look pretty foolish but the more you play the better you become at reading situations and hopefully come to the right conclusions on a more regular basis.

great stuff Snoops

two tough hands

the first one I call the all-in.....I think he has top pair and an OK kicker and reads you for trying to buy the pot (weak). If you are going to play 4-3 for the reasons you suggested, then you have to follow through to the bitter end on this flop IMHO. If you win the pot, you are locked up to the final. I can't see him even playing 94 with an all in there, what is he afraid of? He's got top pair only

Second hand, I can understand the pass against that particular player as you approach the business end. Alternative is call and hope he checks it down...unlikely though...you have to go with the read and playing the player there...so well done for the discipline

 

A great post Snoopy, very enjoyable.

keep 'em coming

I think Tighty has got it right, I would have called the first one, not sure about the second because your play was based on your knowlege of that particular player

i agree with tighty 100%, who were the players BTW?

The first was one of the Greek regulars.

The second was Doc.


In hindsight, I think Tighty's right.

greeks are lairy and most likely has nothing whereas doc doesn't play rubbish

 :o

I resemble that remark!!

hehehe, i was actually referring to the ones he's on about.
Besides i said Lairy :D :D :D :D :D :D

How deep are you digging that hole?

G'day cobber, let's throw another shrimpy on the barby!!

 :ironside:

 :D

get me some tickets for the opera house whilst you're down there

The second hand is an easy fold, given your read of the situation. How annoyed with yourself would you be if you had bust out when he turns over AA/ KK?  Pros, and about to be pros, don't throw money away when they *know* they are beaten.

The first hand is tricky as you have to suspect he has the square root of sweet fa. You still have 3k if you call and lose.  Call?  It is easy to be cavalier with someone else's chips.

However, you chose to play a piece of junk, have got yourself into a nasty spot,  but can still fold with only a small dent in your stack.

I fold, and when he shows his complete bluff I console myself with Doyle Brunson's words along the lines of ' I've gone bust with bottom two pairs more than any other hand'

Weak? Passive? Moi?

Yours,

12fishybarblues

Note to self: Don't play this filth as a steal, unless you are happy to gamble in murky waters.

Hello snoopy just to wish u LOL.There is a terrific environment to make money from poker these days and it sonds like you r going to grab it with both hands. 1 dont worry about things being incomprehensible  after a session I cant even think what to order to drink or where the car is parked sometimes it  is to do with focus.so that should explain your gibberish notes.2 notes these can be a great help the best way to pull youself out ofthe bad times which sadly do come along. I personally use a graph to keep track of where I am for the year it gets pretty big by december,it doesnt actually go into games or venues it does however help you to keep faith in yourself when u have been dumped on from agreat hight for a few days it shows a steady climb from Zero Jan 1st to tens of ks Dec 31st.The belief in yourself is ithink u will find the most importnt thing. Once again LOL

Hi Snoopy...

I've lurked on this forum for a good while now but have only recently decided to 'take the plunge' as it were and 'sign up'. I'm a professional poker player (for 3 years now) and wish to remain anonymous but I'd like to contribute to this forum by spelling out some 'home truths' about what its really like to play professionally as I have some experience in this! Hopefully this will help 'snoopy' over the months ahead!

I quit my job as a computer consultant back in July 2002 to 'follow my dream' and, with a bankroll of £20,000, I set about trying to create a living as a poker player. Bear in mind here that this was pretty much before the big time BOOM of poker so there were very few places one could sit down and do this sort of thing.

The main games I played (and pretty much still do) were the PL Hold'Em & PL Omaha games in London, Birmingham & Luton. Tournaments have never been a favourite of mine because there were better opportunities to make money in the cash games that always followed.

I started out by attempting to only play during certain times of the day. This meant that I planned to ONLY play between the hours of 10pm - 4am (when the club shut) and my budget was set at £500 per session. I didn't attempt to play every day and whatever the score was at closing time was the result...win or lose!

For the first 6 months I stuck rigidley to the plan. Some sessios I left a big winner, some a total loser, others break even. For the first 6 months I won a total of £25! Yup...thats right...£25. That was over 100+ sessions of poker. In the meantime my rent still had to be paid and my daily / weekly needs of cash still needed to be satisfied. My bankroll which started at £20k now stood at £12k. I was an unhappy bunny!

I discovered the Internet in early 2003 and found salvation in the games on Partypoker. I stopped playing as much 'live' poker and concentrated on the web. The victory of Mr Moneymaker brought in a great load of 'beginners' and I finished 2003 with a +£18,000. It didn't last!

Throughout 2004 and to present day players have become more experienced on-line and its now very difficult to find 'easy' money. All tournaments are generally crapshoots with 700+ runners on the majority of NL events with a buy-in of $30+ and it got really tough to make progress. Remember as well that whilst I played 'live' I could only lose the £500 in my pocket...on-line I always have access to my entire bankroll on the site I'm playing on and it certainly is not easy sometimes to stay away from your resources after suffering at the hands of AA versus junk mentality!

Whilst I would play upto 18 hours a day during 2004 I'm now back to just 6-8 hours. I suffered a lot with burnout in 2004 and its easy to play too much!

Anyway my results this year are ok, if not in the stellar earnings bracket, and knowing that my bed is just a few feet away from my PC makes losing just that easier to bear as it means I don't dwell on my losses for too long as I'm asleep :)

Good luck to Snoopy but its no fun and plays havoc with your social life!

An illuminating post Jellybean.

Does anyone else think that what we have seen over the last couple of years is an exponential acceleration in the collective wisdom of the poker playing community? There is so much information about how to improve your game available to people that anyone who has the inclination can easily raise themselves above the absolute fish level without too much bother. Previously it may have taken a novice player many months or years of learning things the hard (and expensive) way before they lost their scales.

Once you get up to the bigger money tables, everyone more or less knows what they are doing, because those who don't are much more likely to be playing in the smaller games, which were much harder to find back in ye olde dayes. I assume that in the days before the internet poker boom, bigger money live games had more fish simply because there was nowhere else for the fish to play.

Also, many of the people earning mega bucks playing on the internet are teenagers/early 20-somethings who are still living at home and have no real expenses as such - any money they make is almost pure bankroll.

The vast majority of poker players lose. This means there will always be a high number/percentage of fish.

Your notes on players should always be upgraded and you should continually look for new fish and reassess notes on older fish but to say the whole poker playing community is better is incorrect IMO.

Those who learn are replaced by new fish coming into the game.

Yes, but wouldn't you say that the fish generally come into the game at a lower-level game than they did before the internet poker boom, and so are not likely to make it to the bigger games unless they improve their play?

THE SPICE OF LIFE

It’s the eve of my pending unemployment, and I’m in reflective mood after rereading jellybean’s post. When I read the title, I gulped nervously, half expecting a post of hatred from an enemy I had perhaps unknowingly made. I braced myself for some abuse, perhaps even mockery regarding my recent decision. To my relief however, these were ‘home truths’ about poker as a career, rather than a stab at me personally.

I ploughed through his post with one eyebrow raised. Some of the comments he made would make anyone think twice about playing.

‘it means I don't dwell on my losses for too long as I'm asleep’

‘it’s no fun’

‘plays havoc with your social life’

Blimey, jellybean! Morose to say the least, and I’m sincerely sorry that you’ve had an unhappy time playing full-time. However, it’s important to examine these angles, and so, in hindsight, I’m glad you posted.

My response is this:

The last thing I want to do is to relinquish my enjoyment of the game. This is perhaps one of the biggest fears I have about going full-time. I’ve lived and breathed this wonderful game for 4 years now, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Whether I’ve been suffering bad-beats or celebrating big wins, I’ve continually received that thrill that we all pine for. During that time, my interest for the game has seldom threatened to fade and, if anything, has culminated from an interest into a passion.

So, therefore, I will do everything I can to maintain this. If I ever reach a stage where I wake up downhearted, bracing myself for up to 18 hours of monotonous poker, then I just won’t continue. Simple as that. I’ll drop it all and look for some other way to earn an income. The only reason why I decided to quit my job was because I was bored and unhappy. If those feelings were to transfer over to my poker life, then I’d make a change.

That’s easier said than done though. So what should I be doing to combat this possibility of monotony? Well, it all depends on the individual, but, from liaising (yes, I can speak posh sometimes) with various others, I have come up with the following guidelines:


Take Plenty of Breaks

For me personally, this is a must. Whilst I intend to work on my mental stamina, it isn’t currently at the level I want it to be. Therefore, I shall be taking multiple breaks and focussing on shorter sessions in order to keep my mind fresh and alert. My losses seem to be dependent on silly mistakes resulting from a lack of focus, rather than a skill inferiority. In both tournaments and ring games, I find that these rare, but vital, mistakes are the difference between profit and loss. Therefore, if I can minimise these errors by keeping my mind on the ball, then I should increase my chances of success.

This also extends to the long-term. If I feel myself slipping into a hypnotised robotic state of poker playing, then I’ll perhaps take a day or two off. Hopefully, this will not only revitalise my poker brain, but also my enthusiasm for the game.

The hardest part I find is being able to detect when these situations arise. However, I feel as though I’m becoming more aware of when a break is required and being able to act by temporarily pulling the plug.


Get Some Fresh Air!

Your average online poker pro seems to have a fear for the outside world. A life living as a hermit within the surroundings of just one room. Now that’s scary!

Scarey, but sometimes true. This is something I’m just not prepared to accept. Being a cool, hip dashingly handsome youngster, it would just be a crime to the ladies out there if I locked myself in my room 24/7 and just played non-stop poker. To me, playing poker full-time doesn’t mean spending all day and night in front of the computer. It means playing little more than several hours during the day to earn a crust, and then getting yourself out and about whilst you’re poker free.

If you were playing up to 18 hours a day, then I’m not surprised you weren’t enjoying it. And if that’s how long you believed you needed to spend playing to earn enough, then I would have suggested that you looked for another way of making a living. I’m not in a position to preach, but that’s just the way I look at it.

So, in essence, what I’m saying is that I will be doing what I can to make sure that I have a life outside poker. Although playing a mixture of live and online poker goes someway to keep things fresh, it’s still important to have more than 1 hobby.

I will hit the road, visit my buddies, write, read, etc, etc. Anything that can keep my mind off poker whilst I’m not playing. I’m passionate about the game, but I can’t afford to become obsessed. Doing so puts my enjoyment of the game in jeopardy.

Even if a multi forces you into a longer than normal session, then why not move the laptop around. Play in the lounge, study, kitchen, even the garden if it’s sunny. RED-DOG told me that he always tries to move around, just to keep himself alert, whilst also preventing cramp. He’s getting old you see.


Mix It Up

There’s more than 1 type of game, there’s more than 1 site, there’s more than 1 level. You don’t just have to play the same game over and over and over again. I consider myself to be relatively apt at Hold-Em, Omaha, & Omaha High Low, be it pot-limit, no-limit, or sometimes even limit. My most profitable game is still NL Texas, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t ambush the other tables. My profit might not be as good playing PL Omaha High Low, but at least it’ll keep my brain active and prevent me from becoming bored by the one game.

Similarly, I make most of my money from cash games, but I can still earn a little from STTs. Maybe I can even work on my game so that my STT skills reach the same level. That’d be a challenge and would make a change from the daily cash game routine.

Poker can be a broad game. There are so many options. You don’t just have to play $2/4 NL Hold ‘Em, day in day out, facing the same players over and over again. This will undoubtedly lead to monotony and boredom. Therefore, I’ll be mixing it up and trying to maintain a healthy balance between making money and enjoying the game.


Set Yourself Goals

I thank The_Baron for this one, I think it’s an important point.

It’s a bit geeky, but I’m going to write down a list of potential, but realistic, achievements that I hope to hold by next June. These can range from winning a live comp, earning a certain online amount, going to Vegas, and so on. I’ll then add the odd non-poker goal, just so my life doesn’t become completely centred around poker.

Hopefully, this will keep me focused, whilst also ensuring that I don’t become stuck in a rut. That is one of the things that happened at work. I ended up getting up each day and trundling off to work, unsure as to why I was going and what exactly I wanted to achieve. I thought about what I’d be doing in a year’s, and it scared the crap out of me when I pictured myself sitting at the same desk, doing the same things.

It’s important to have aims, whatever they may be. It keeps the heart pumping and the blood circulating. Gives you a bit more drive in life. If I reach a goal, I will create a new one. A ladder structure of sorts in which each rung becomes a new level that I wish to aspire to.


So, there you have it…

Hopefully, if I can adopt these guidelines into my daily poker life, then I stand a better chance of maintaining the balance between enjoyment and profit. Of course, there will be times when it all feels a little stagnant, but the key is in being able to identify these points and doing something about it.

Let’s not forget the advantages of playing poker fulltime. Get up when you want, play when you want, eat and sleep when you want, no boss, nobody watching over you. These are luxuries that I dreamt of whilst sitting at my desk at work. Now I have a chance to live them. It may go wrong and I could find myself back at the 9-5 job, but at least I won’t have any regrets. Least I’ll be able to say I gave it a shot…

I appreciate the post, jellybean, it should be very insightful to those expecting full-time poker to be an easy ride. I can promise you that I am not one of those players and I don’t intend to be naïve about my decision. Your words have encouraged me to retrace these steps and clarify them in my head.

Thanks for your good luck message and I’m glad to hear that your results have improved.

Snoops snoopy

ps. My next post will be less serious...promise.  ;karabiner;

Last day of servitude today snoops, my wet and cold nosed friend. I wish you all the best in your new found freedom.

Here's to a bright new future my Beagle nosed friend!

good luck, starting at Walsall next week I hope

Not much else to say about your nose, except take it off the work grindstone and put it onto the poker grindstone

What am I talking about??? Ignore the gibberish and enjoy the rest of your life

Deep Breath, hold ya nose and dive in, tread water for short while, doggy paddle after for a bit and then you should be able to advance to front crawl.

Best of Luck :respect:

Big Day For You Snoop.

New Beginings and All That.

Best of luck in the coming weeks.  Hope it all works out well for you.

Me Too Snoopy.. I truly hope it does work out.. I am so envious of you. GL> xx

The time is finally here now huh? 8)

Mate I'm not even slightly concerned for you. If I was half as informed and prepared as you are now when I "took the plunge" I'd have been over the moon and would have made a much better start at it - as I'm sure you will.

You obviously have the skill and the focus - just keep the drive and determination and you'll not only be great at it - you might even like it! :)

 :)up

I'm sure I'll see you before but if not I'll see you at the Rio baybee!

I just caught up with this thread today and its good reading, gl snoops m8 i look foward to clashing over the green felt!

I LIKE MONDAYS


Today, for the first Monday in a while, I woke up with a smile.

No early alarm call, no sitting in rush hour traffic, no making the coffee, no watching the clock, no death hour, no sitting in silence, no boss looking over my shoulder, no having to eat at a certain time, no being given orders to obey, no photocopying, no faxing, no printing, no scanning, no binding, no replying to boring emails, no looking at spreadsheets, no… well, you get the idea.

I’m not going to start playing online until next Monday. I’m trying to divide my accounts into 3 (live, online, and personal) just so I can keep a better track of any financial activity. I’ve been working pretty hard this year without taking a proper holiday, just the odd day here and there, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t put my feet up for a week.

Of course, there’s always the danger that I lose a few bucks on Monday and then say, ‘I’ll start properly tomorrow.’ But like when smokers are trying to quit or when fatclubbers are dieting, you’re always starting your regime the next day. Definitely Monday for me though, no excuses.

I was at Walsall yesterday and somehow managed to spend 635 squid. Eeeeeeeeek!!!  :o I bought in for Tuesday’s £300er which, although isn’t a double chance freezout, should be a good comp. Then I did £100 on a £25 satellite and £200 on a £100 satellite.

Amazingly, only 27 turned up for the latter, so just the 3 seats were created. I could have sworn with the festival just around the corner that there’d be over 50 playing this. Stupidly, this put me in bad spirits as I’m not too hot at satellites where there are barely any seats. Also, because I’d been forced to wait around for a couple of hours after exiting the afternoon comp, I was a tad restless and really not in the mood to play. This led to me into the world of…

LaZy PoKeR – argh!!!  :o

Yep, we’ve all been there. Our brain’s just not in gear and our heart’s not in it. You call a couple of hands you shouldn’t, you don’t pay attention, don’t examine the other players when you’re not involved, you know, generally just fail to focus on the mission ahead.

I eventually went out when I missed a straight and flush draw. I knew the other fella had top pair when he bet out, but I needed a double up from somewhere and with the dead money from the limpers, I was probably just about getting the pot odds to move in.

RED-DOG was also present, feet up on a neighbouring chair whilst he nursed an injured ankle. Old age mi thinks. Anyhow, he eventually exited 9th, after losing another race. He can’t seem to win one at the moment. If I spot a chance of a coin flip with RED on Tuesday, I’d be wise to take it.

A quick anecdote for you. Whilst I was playing the £25 satellite earlier on in the day, one guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to hear a good tip for these satellites?’ Eager to hear his pearls of wisdom and learn more about the game, I nodded and leant forward, all ears.

His top tip for the day? And wait for it, it’s a belter…

To put it nicely, he said that before the satellites he… and I still cringe now, ‘interferes with himself.’   ;tracet;

Fanbloddytastic. Cheers for conjuring up that picture in my hend. Just lovely. For a moment there, I really thought that this fella, who’d obviously been around the game for many a year, was going to give me some really tip top advice. Bah.

He ended up on my table. I decided that I didn’t want to win his chips. Not without gloves anyway.

A couple of other, more serious issues that were on my mind last night.

(i) smoking

My clothes smelt smokier than ever this morning. How can that be when it’s a non-smoking cardroom? Well, when you’re sitting near ‘smoker’s row’, you might as well be sucking an exhaust pipe.

What’s the point of making the cardroom non-smoking if they all gather round that one area and blow smoke back into the cardroom? If you sit on that one side, then you’re probably inhaling more than if it was a smoking cardroom.

They should either push them back closer to the roulette etc or give them a designated room where they can go to light up.

Just my 2 cents.

(ii) the already qualified

There may be mixed views on this one  ;ifm;, but, IMHO, if someone has already qualified, then they shouldn’t be allowed to play any more satellites. If they’ve bought in and then fancy trying to win their seat instead, then I can understand, but if they’re playing just to cash in once they win another seat, then I’m not a happy snoppy.  >:(

Personally, I want as many weak players in the field as possible. There were a few admittedly good players participating last night who had already won a seat. To me, this just isn’t fair on everyone else and makes it harder to qualify.

Satellites are comps for seats, not cash, and cash should only be offered under extreme circumstances where the player just can’t make the main tournament.

Okay. Rant over.  :)up

L8ers all. Monday's here, my pockets are lighter, but I'm still a happy bunny. :dd:

snoops snoopy

Ps. I drank a Red Bull last night and it made me feel tired and lethargic. Where are my bloomin wings!!!  :dontask:

interesting post dogg.

i will read with much interest in the future!

best of luck

ben

I don't agree with not letting players that have already qualified in, if there had been 100 of them in last night's comp it would have made 12 seats

easier to be 12th from 100 than 3rd from 25

Good luck at the midlands masters snoop.

may it be a profitable start to your full time career  :)up

I'm happy for there to be 100 players, because most of them would be fish.

However, the fellas in that satellite who'd already qualified were decent players.


Glad we agreed about the smoking though, RED, cos that really got on my pecks. Non smoking cardroom my ar... bottom. >:(

NO REGRETS


A quick glance at the clock, then a look back at the other one. I might even check out the digital clock on my computer, perhaps that one is faster! Nope, they’re all the same and I have another 3 hours of boredom ahead of me. Guess I could always pop onto Blonde and see if anyone has posted. After all, it has been 2 minutes now, maybe someone has replied to my post. Nope, still the same, no change. I’ll just tap refresh then, click constantly until something changes. Wait a second, the boss is coming, I’d better flick over to a spreadsheet and look busy. Right, he’s gone, back to Blonde. Nope, no change. What’s the time again?

Argh!!! Then I woke up in a cold sweat. These scenes are still in my nightmares.  :o

It’s been 10 days now since I quit the job and I have no regrets, none whatsoever. In fact, I’m absolutely thrilled with the way it’s all started. I was severely worried that I’d be spending all my time in front of the monitor, playing out potentially tedious online sessions, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, I haven’t played one single hand online. It’s as if I’m on a junior-esque cold turkey, except without the cold and without the turkey.

Although I was officially planning to commence my new career yesterday, I couldn’t resist purchasing a seat in one of the Midlands Masters events. After scouring the options, I concluded that the £300 No Limit Freezout would be the most sensible option for a fellow in my position. I pulled out my ‘Live Poker’ debit card and swiftly purchased my golden ticket.

Tuesday soon came around and I couldn’t wait to get in and amongst the cards. No matter how much you love playing online, I don’t think you can beat the live experience. Meeting new people, spotting old faces, banter at the table, identifying tells; these are just a few of the aspects that I love and is what motivates me to keep revisiting the live scene, whether I deem it profitable or not.

Due to the high number of players, 163 in all (150 max – hmm), I was on a diddy reserve table. Reminded me of Christmas time when me and my cousins would be shoved onto the smaller kiddies’ table. Hold on, that still happens! Bah! Anyway, I felt like a giant for a while. I just preyed that no ‘big boned’ fellows drew the seat next door, otherwise I’d be crushed for sure.

Luckily, the only large competitor was seated opposite and I was safe, with a slim lad on either side. What a luxury! I had elbow room! A quick glance around and the only recognisable face was Ash ‘The Cash’ Pervais seated to my left. I don’t fear anyone, but it’s always a relief when there’re no dangermen around, just makes things slightly more reassuring. Moments before kick-off TightEnd had texted me to inform me that he was sharing a table with J ‘Wonderkid’ P, Burnley John, and Julian ‘Yoyo’ Thew. I didn’t offer to swap.

I’d decided before the comp that I was going to play aggressively in the hope that when I did get a hand, I’d have more chance of getting paid off. This is a strategy I often have to apply as many correlate youth with rockiness, so having your aces find a customer is sometimes a longshot. However, after a few hands, it became clear that this wouldn’t be too much of a concern. A young Geordie known as ‘Georgeous’ George and his buddy next door were playing almost every hand. In fact, I’m sure they had a side bet on who could knock the other out. >:?

Apart from the action provided by these two, very little occurred on our table. Even ‘The Cash’ was surprisingly quiet. I’d built my stack up gradually to around 10k, picking up a few chips here and there. Then, suddenly, I got aces. There was a bet, a reraise from George, and then it was around to me on the small blind. Not the worst of situations to be in. I considered trapping, but thought that there was a good chance that I could get George to pay me off. I’d made a few moves on him earlier, so deduced that perhaps he was getting a bit ticked off with me. I stuck in a big bet and crossed my fingers. The original raiser folded and, after a long dwell, so did George. A tad disappointing, but nothing to get upset about. I had climbed up to around 13k from 7.5k, so almost doubled my stack by the break. Considering how tight and cagey these comps start, I was pretty happy with that scenario.

After the break, my table split and I was moved to a much livelier table. Almost every hand saw a preflop raise and few were interested in folding. One hand I was dealt pocket tens. An ultra-aggressive player raised, so I decided to reraise. He flatcalled. The flop came out Q-7-9. His checked seemed weak, so I bet. To my chagrin though, he move all-in. What could he have. I couldn’t imagine him flatcalling preflop with AA, KK, or QQ. Also, I think he’d bet the flop with J-J. On the flipside, would he really put all his chips at risk with a stonecold bluff, especially since I was new to the table and playing relatively tight. In the end I mucked my pocket pair and gave up almost half of my stack. I deduced that if he wasn’t trapchecking with AQ, then he was almost certainly being sneaky with 77 or 99. I may have been wrong, but, at the time, 7k was still a playable stack so I decided to let the hand go. Hmm – that one was on my mind for a while.

I’m not one to babble on about luck, but I definitely received a wink from the poker gods during this comp. Although I lost a chunk with AQ v KT, when I was low I made 3 outdraws, something that I rarely rely upon. First it was K4 v 99, then KQ v AK, and finally 72 (cough – don’t ask) v AK. All three beats raised an eyebrow or two, but there are different ways of assessing luck. Since the break, the best hand I’d seen was pocket tens. So does that make me unlucky too?  ;reallyamsorry;

Anyhow, as I’d refused to let myself get too low, these double throughs had built me up nicely and I was given the freedom to play with slightly more panache. It was a bit of a yoyo experience at times, but by the end of day 1, I found my self on 35k and in with a shout. After the outdraws, I could make no complaints.

Day 2 arrived and I was eager to double up early, I just needed to scout for an opportunity. However, after a few all-ins found no callers, I was practically up to 50k anyhow. Junior had run into Kings, Andy Gomm had been sent packing, and before we knew it, there were about 12 players left.

Mickey ‘The Worm’ Wernick was dominating the table, but I was still managing to keep my head above water with 65k. Then came a hand which earned me a few jibes from the table and a couple of railers. With blinds at 3 and 6, I raised 15k with A8 off. Paul Hampton in the big blind had a think, then pushed in for another 30k. Paul is a very good player and capable of making a move with a hand like KQ, QJ, 66, etc, so I decided not to be too hasty in folding. Right, it was costing me 30k into a pot of 69k. That’s more than 2-1 on my money with a chance of knocking someone out. I could easily be a 50-50 shot and perhaps even ahead. Also, if I won the hand, I’d be up to around 100k and in a strong position come final table. I was here to win the comp outright, not sneak onto the final table, so I opted to call. Unfortunately, in all my blurred logic, I’d failed to acknowledge Paul’s acting abilities. I know Mr Hampton to be a very sneaky devil and not adverse to a bit of theatrics, so, in hindsight, I shouldn’t really have been surprised to have seen AK, a hand that most would play in a flash, not dwell over. No 8 came, I was left with 25k, and a few players told me how crap the call was. Aah well, I was still in.

To cut a long story short, I did manage to make the final table. I doubled up with 62 v AK and had a few all-ins unanswered. With 65k on the final table, I actually found a hand in the big blind when I met the cowboys. Mickey raised with AT from the button, the small blind move all-in with AQ and I pushed also. Mickey passed, the flop came down with and ace, and that was the end of me. After dealing out a few bad beats, I was on the end of a stinker myself, but I really wasn’t in a position to moan.

So £1500 for 8th and 480 ranking points. Not a bad start to the full-time poker career, but it still hurts when you exit the comp. I had my eyes firmly set on the 18k 1st prize, but it wasn’t to be. It had been a constructive learning experience and I was thrilled to see Julian bring home the bacon  ;applause;, even if he does deny knowledge of my 30% cut. Well, I guess it was worth a try.

To summarise, I’d played 1 comp since quitting my job and earnt £1200 in one night. Just think how many glances at the clock that is, how many times I’d be checking my watch, waiting for life to pass me by. I’d gained vital experience and had an enjoyable time doing so. I met some new faces in Booderham, 77Dave, and TightEnd, and some old ones in RED-DOG, Junior, Yoyo, and so on. Great fun, great days!  :cheers:

So, any regrets? I don’t think I need to answer that…

Ps. I also had a laugh with Ian ‘The Belly’ Oldershaw. How can a vegetarian get a name like that?!  :dontask: And I thought poker was complex…


snoops (http://www.hartandsole.net/yesterdaysmakeup/smilies/p-snoopy2.gif)

brilliant post, Well done

Here's to more success next week in Luton, see you Sunday  :cheers:

Enjoyable read. Nice to read the intro as thats what I'm doing right now and it's not a dream. Thanks for that! : ;)
See you on the final table at luton next monday!

Nice read snoops, great start

great report snoopy       :)up

Good shooting Snoop Dog.

A real report of a real person trying to make it happen full time. Where else but Blonde eh?

Nice one  ;applause; :)up

all the best snoopy

was great meeting you at walsall the other day

hope all works out for u
  8d

[attachment deleted by admin]

LOL, 12 people have actually clicked on the picture to view it.

SNOOPY UNLEASHED

Well, first week over and I’ve just cashed out online for $1005.48. I’m well chuffed with that. I’d been hesitant in starting my full-time online career as I didn’t want to commence with a loss. Not sure why that bothered me so much, but I’m over the moon that it didn’t happen.

I’m open to making huge errors when I’m tired, so, after the weekend’s updating at Walsall, I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off. I have, however, played every day since Wednesday and I’m delighted with the results.

$1005.48 isn’t a massive amount in terms of professional poker, but its more than double I was earning back at the office. Plus, and this is the most surprising thing, it only took up 2 hours and 29 minutes of my time. Incredibly, that’s approximately $400 an hour. Obviously, that’s gonna drop like a bowling ball, but for now, it’s sounds pretty cool.

Before, I’d work 40 hours a week in a job I hated. This week, I’ve worked 2 and a half hours in a job I love and earned more than double. Blimey! I’m glad I made the change. I plan to play longer days, but for now, it's given me some extra time to do some writing and reading, which I also love.

However, I can’t become complacent. I’ve done that before and ended up dumping all my profit, which then makes $400 an hour completely irrelevant. I must remain disciplined at all times. Don’t play when drunk, tired, bored, and so on. Give the tables my full attention and play my best at all times. No excuses.

The tricky thing I find when you’re on a good run is that you tend to treat your profitable sessions as the norm, so when that inevitable bad day arrives, you find it impossible to accept. This can then lead on to chasing, not quitting, playing angry, etc, etc. Not a place I want to be. Been there, done that, and it’s bloomin horrible.

This week, I’ve rated all my sessions at least average. There were times when I tried one too many tricks and a couple of hands where I chased, but apart from that, I’ve play good solid poker. My luck has been steady. Although I’ve received a couple of bad outdraws, these were balanced by a QQ v KK victory when I flopped a third Queen. The forth one on the river was a welcome surprise too.

Anyhow, I won’t blab on about individual hands, good folds, poor raises, etc. Just thought I’d report my progress over the first week and share my delight with everyone. I’m in good spirits and I’m thoroughly looking forward to playing Luton next week.

Hope to seem some of you there…

For now though, here are a few smilies that express my inner feelings at the end of a smashing week.


 ;D :cheers: :dd: ;karabiner; ;adamM; ;letsparty;(http://www.aaanimations.com/happy/yhballbounce2dp.gif)

(http://www.mazeguy.net/happy/hyper.gif)(http://www.progresstalk.com/images/smilies/jump2.gif)(http://www.progresstalk.com/images/smilies/yippee.gif)(http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0071.gif)(http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0005.gif)(http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0167.gif)(http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0188.gif)(http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0158.gif)

Nice one Snoops :)

What a great way to start!

Heid
xx

THE CUKOO’S NEST

Last Wendesday, I thought I’d get myself away from the computer screen and, yes, you guessed it, into the casinos. Low stake rebuy tournaments probably aren’t my most profitable of game choices, but I thought I’d have a go. Some may suggest that the winner’s edge is somehow lessened by the inclusion of nutters and a multiple rebuy option. Never!!

The time was 3pm and I knew Walsall held an afternoon comp to cater for all us bums, so I thought why not, could be fun. I grabbed my keys, switch card, and lucky chip, and opened the front door. ‘Wow! So this is what it’s like outside,’ I said to myself. Big blue sky, bright green grass, folk walking dogs. The great outdoors at last. I couldn’t wait to get into that dark smokey casino.

When I arrived, the place was like a ghost town. Just the odd straggler with nothing better to do than hang out at a Grosvenor. Kinda surreal in a way and it suddenly struck me that I was no longer working. Up til then, it had just felt like a looooooong weekend, but now I realised that this was my life. Poker, poker and more poker. Slightly disconcerting, but what the hell, I love this game!

After a while, Dani was able to conjure up the hefty sum of 26 players. Well, I suppose it beats the 170 I once played against on a Friday night. Maybe the lack of numbers will produce some good poker. My logic was soon dispelled…

1st hand. How many buy-ins? Six. Yep, six. Seven people had gone all-in with one lad raking in a 7k pot. People often say, ‘I hate to win the first hand’ Well, this fella didn’t seem too disheartened.

The state of play didn’t change. Players moved in with any 2 cards, played blind, and generally went for the bingo approach. The worrying thing was that I was one of them. Ah well, it was only a £10 rebuy. I wasn’t saying that after the 6th call for Dani.

I only won one hand all night, AK v AJ. Any other hand I played couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a banjo. Yep, this was a game without any big decisions, no bluffing opportunities, and no real logical thought process. In fact, the more I play these rebuy events, the more I am convinced that it’s just one big lottery. I used to think that there was a decent level of skill involved, but now I’ve come to the conclusion that the skill element is miniscule.

I’d come out to this event to get away from the monitor and play some live poker, and hopefully have some fun. However, if you play a lot of poker, these sorts of games can simply turn into pure frustration and become a real test of patience.

What made it worse was that I was on a table of fruitloops. I had an old lady next to me who didn’t know what day it was. I recall her throwing down pocket queens in disgust when no1 called her flop bet. Did she raise before the flop? Yes. Was there an overcard on the flop? Yes. There was a king. So what was she moaning about? God knows. I told her that it could have been worse, someone could have had a king. Her reply? ‘Ah, that’s true.’ So basic logic does eventually reach some people. At one point she even refused to take change from a fella who had beaten her in a coin flip situation. Lovely lady, but completely mad.

On my right was a youngish lad, mid-20s. He slammed the table when he won a decent pot. For crying out loud, it’s a Wednesday afternoon £10 rebuy event, not the bloomin World Series. Get a grip!

Opposite me was D ‘Gooooooood Poker’ Sami. He’s just a nutcase fullstop. Really top fella, but completely insane in the membrane. My only wish is that I could understand what he says to me. Too often I have to guess and nod my head. Answering yes is always a safe option until the day they look at you as though you’re the crazy one.

Talking of bizarre people, whilst I was paying my entry, this one fella came up to me and said, ‘Can’t believe what happened to me last night. I had ace king and the guy called with ace three.’ I didn’t know what to say, I just sort of sighed. I’d been in the casino for less than 2 minutes, I hadn’t even payed in and I was already being forced to listen to a bad beat story. Argh!!! It wasn’t even a good one! Does he really think I care? Sometimes I think it may be worth setting up an agency where people have to pay to call you and tell you their bad beat story. I’m certain I’d make a million before the year ended. Oh yeah, I couldn’t resist saying, ‘So, did your ace king hold up?’ What a surprise when the answer came back negative. You wouldn’t believe this, but the opponent hit a 3, on the river!!! Have you ever heard a story like it?! Absolutely incredible turn of events… yawn.

So, what did I learn from my little day out at the looney bin?

Pokers a wonderful game, but it’s full of nutters!!!

I think that’s one of the reasons why I like it so much…


Any1 else play with nutters?

I stopped playing £10/£20 re buys, not because I want to be a high roller, but because when I bet I want to put people to a decision

A £20 rebuy can cost you £100 but you don't get half the game you get in a £100 freeze out

I Totaly agree with you Tom. By far a better game.

My dad plays the £5 rebuy at Walsall.

I once played that night with 176 players, 12 to a table, and self deal.

I'm pretty confident that he learns absolutely nothing.

I reckon it weakens his game and makes him even more of a fish when he eventually decides to give a freezout a crack.

He's picking up sooooo many bad habits.

I'm considering taking him down to the Notts £30 freezout so he can, at the least, get some sort of taste of proper poker.

I'd rather save the dosh up and do a £100 freezeout any day.

Heid
xx

Agreed.

...or tournaments limited to 1/2 re-buys.

I dislike rebuys for exactly the same reasons. First time I went to Walsall was for the £10 rebuy, first hand had everyone but me limping in.

Flop comes  9h 3h 2c

It gets checked round to the guy one off the button, who instantly moves all in with what turns out to be  5s 2h He gets an instant call from the button who has  9c 9d turn and river come  7h 6h giving this looney the flush. The guy kept moving all in every other hand managed to get from 1k to 6k in virtually no time at all, including when his  Kc Jd called my all in with  Ah As and some other guy (who'd obvious got frustrated with this guy's play called with  Jc 8s) Naturally the flop came  Jd Jh x . What annoyed me most was that he then proceeded to lose all these chips and go all in every hand no matter what junk, I counted about 15 hands in a row. Made it a bit pointless playing. Never played a rebuy at Walsall since, except the rookie one they have on Saturdays where you have only 1 rebuy allowed.

I knew there was a bad beat story in there somewhere.

Cmon, pay up.  ;)

Awesome stuff, i think the fold in the post you made earlier was both inspired and showed tremendous discipline.
Both good signs, long may it continue.

Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!

Now i actually think you CAN learn from the chipthrowing contests.
I think the Friday £5 comp teaches you an invaluable lesson, aggression.

oi, that was my bloody idea!

Entertaining post bro. But I'd stay away from these comps Ad, I'm sure they damage your play in the long run....

I'll let you work for me, don't worry.

I hate rebuys a £10 rebuy can easily cost you £70 i would much rather play a £100 freezeout , in fact I would rather play any size freezeout. I almost played the £50 rebuy at Luton tonight but just couldnt muster the enthusiasm.

Snoop, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we would really like to hear about the odd individual hand mate.

It's always good to hear when it's one of your own.

There were a couple of interesting ones but I didn't want to bore anyone.

I'll have a look through poker tracker and see what I can dig up from the last few days.

Well, I was gonna post this one the other day to see what you guys felt, but I know some people don't like ploughing through hand histories.

But, seeing as though you asked, here it is. It's primarily about playing sets.


***** Hand History for Game 3121009598 *****
$200 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 30, 15:07:32 EDT 2005
Table Table  69181 (Real Money)

Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10

Seat 1: hanno333 ( $209.85 )
Seat 3: JaimiHois ( $86.43 )
Seat 4: snoopy1239 ( $198.90 )
Seat 6: cheqrazer ( $209.05 )
Seat 7: walkingdeuce ( $202.85 )
Seat 8: Markoolio123 ( $210.40 )
Seat 2: blaidan2 ( $217.20 )
Seat 10: hugefeet ( $189 )
Seat 9: mm44878 ( $75 )
Seat 5: Mickland ( $200 )

hanno333 posts small blind [$1].
blaidan2 posts big blind [$2].
Mickland posts big blind [$2].
mm44878 posts big blind [$2].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to snoopy1239 [  7s 7h ]

JaimiHois folds.
snoopy1239 calls [$2].
Mickland checks.
cheqrazer calls [$2].
walkingdeuce folds.
Markoolio123 folds.
mm44878 checks.

hugefeet raises [$12].
hanno333 folds.
blaidan2 folds.

snoopy1239 calls [$10].
Mickland folds.
cheqrazer folds.
mm44878 folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 4s, 6h ]


What would you do on this flop?

Do you have a player profile?

No. I'd only played a few of hands. I think I started with $200.

Also, it's often difficult for me to get profiles on too many players because I multitable.

I think I would fold,

Well you are winning but the only way to find out what he has is to check I think. If he bets he may have the overpair but if he checks behind he may just have two high cards.

If he bets you can raise trying to get his whole stack in whilst making him pay if he is playing some kind of draw although this is unlikely.

If he checks behind I would bet whatever the next card was except for if you make a house or quads in which case I would either bet small/weak or maybe even check again. I spose if he checks behind, you really wnt to see an ace for him to catch up.

If he bets, would you just check raise all-in?

Probably not all in, I'd do the raise $60 - 80 jobbie to try temp the overpair into reraising.

I'm betting out most times on that flop.

If he only has 2 overcards then your not likely to get more than 1 bet off him anyway. If he has an overpair and you check to him then you give away your hand whenever you pull the trigger.

you are miles ahead on this flop, i would definitely be slow playing it to extract some chips.
Though Harrington says you should bet with trips.

Yes, Hoping he's on an overpair and reads me for a draw.

If you flat call a 3,5,8,9,10 or the case 7 landing on the turn might help him make a big laydown to a future bet.

Maybe not raise all-in, I'd try to make a raise that he thinks he can come over the top of if he's a crazy monkey with two overcards.

$1 $2 NL on Party? 90% wont be laying down an overpair no matter how much you give your hand away. Similarly you may gain one bet from the high cards by checking.

If this was $5 - $10 NL on stars I'd be betting too. Not here though.

I don't want 'some chips', I want them all!

Good point

It is a good point, but I still think you make more by betting. You may even get a re-raise from AK, especially if you are betting your draws aggressively and making standard contiuation bets on the flop.

$200 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 30, 15:07:32 EDT 2005

Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10

Seat 4: snoopy1239 ( $198.90 )
Seat 10: hugefeet ( $189 )

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to snoopy1239 [  7s 7h ]

JaimiHois folds.
snoopy1239 calls [$2].
Mickland checks.
cheqrazer calls [$2].
walkingdeuce folds.
Markoolio123 folds.
mm44878 checks.

hugefeet raises [$12].
hanno333 folds.
blaidan2 folds.

snoopy1239 calls [$10].
Mickland folds.
cheqrazer folds.
mm44878 folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 4s, 6h ]


snoopy1239 bets [$20].
hugefeet calls [$20].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]


Did I make the right decision?

What do you think he has?

What should I do now?

happy so far

bet again. 3/4 the pot.  overpair?

surely not the straight?

Is it worth checking and hoping he bets, or is that too risky?

maybe, I think though I'd build the pot.

but if you lead out he's going to struggle to put you on the set, and if you check and he checks you are giving him a free card to hit what he needs to hit

he may even have called the flop bet with AK I suppose

If he's got AK, then we're not going to get anymore money out of him.

If he has the overpair, then wouldn't it be better to check to him so he can bet away some of his chips? Wouldn't a bet look suspicious? I wouldn't want to scare him off he does have a hand like KK.

KK is not going to be scared by a bet here, KK is raising you here to find out wtf is going on.

In fact KK should have raised you on the flop


but I am not sure of how people play overpairs, the standard line,  in this game.

I like the 3/4 pot bet too.

He has pocket 5's ... look out snoops he is gonna take ya to the cleaners :)

If he didn't raise me on the flop, does this mean he doesn't have the overpair? If so, don't I want to check to give him a chance to bluff with overcards?

Key in this hand is his dealer button raise could mean any two cards. He had a lot of BB limps (must be new players to table) and he could have been trying to steal a nice preflop pot. Unfortunately for you the flop means he may have hit the st8 with a junk hand. His call on the flop speaks volumes about this. If he had a genuine hand like KK he is reraising you I would have thought.
Still the advice to bet out on the turn is OK and 3/4 of pot seems the right move. However if you think his dealer button raise was a junk hand that got lucky, check and hope to see a free river that pairs up the board.

In a tournament I'd agree with this but not so much in a cash game. Nicking fixed blinds is almost pointless.

in a cash game it means to me he might still have an overpair, he's happy you are betting into him on the flop, you are building the pot for his eg KK.

Now though you bet he has to find out where he is, he raises with an overpair

You check, sure he bets . You are raising then or smooth calling?

Either is a possible line isn't it?

agreed but in this case there were two extra big blinds from people new to the table and $11 in the pot to be stolen. He bet $12 so I just think it was a perfect chance to steal. Hey I'm sure I'm wrong and we will soon see! It's also why I hate to play cash games

He is surely holding some pair now whether it be trips, a straight or the overpair.

You need to find out. If you bet 3/4 pot and he raises, he may have 55 and you aint getting away. If you check raise him and he moves on you, surely then you would know you're behind? If you check and he checks then you know you are ahead. I think the most information is gained by checking here.

The only problem is you are probably still winning and want to build the pot.

I'd be a pussy and check - find out where I am first and then try to get paid on the river if I decide I'm still ahead.

There are arguments both ways

I don't like giving him a free card...you check, he checks...great you think, I'm ahead, I'll value bet the river

only the river may be any overcard that gives him higher trips


Surely the way to minimise the swings caused by being outdrawn is to bet here?

True but if he has the overpair he's likely to see the river anywayz.

I don't understand the need to 'find out where you are'. It is unlikely that he has raised pre-flop with junk and hit a srtaight. If that is what has happened then he is getting your whole stack anyway. More than likely you are a mile in front and he has 2 outs, so giving a free card is not that risky. That said if he does have an over pair and you put a substanial bet in now then any re-raise from him will commit him to the pot, which is exactly what you want. BET!

He may have 55. He may have raised with suited connectors. My biggest pots always come breaking big hands with suited connectors. I raise with them quite a bit in the right position.

I agree that giving the free card isn't too risky though hence why I say check. If he checks behind it's no real loss and you know where you are.

If I am beat then I am losing my whole stack here. Bet, get as many chips as you can in now, if he has the straight then you still have outs.

I agree with Wardonkey.

You are miles in front here as you have the top set.  I cant see your opponent putting in a big preflop raise with 55.  If he has a 5 with anything else then he is very lucky to hit the straight.  Even so, you can still make a full house.
I think your opponent has AA/KK.  If he has a higher set, then he should have reraised after the flop to find out where he was.  Its unlikely (though possible) that he has AK and is trying to hit on the river.

I agree that a 3/4 pot bet is the right move here.

Hey Snoopy,

Put us out of our misery, how does this bad-beat story end?

Soz all. Was at Luton and so unable to respond to these messages.

Okay, I won't satisfy curiosities just yet, but, for the time being, I can tell you what happened on the river.

Tell me what you think? Many different approaches to this hand.


$200 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 30, 15:07:32 EDT 2005

Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10

Seat 4: snoopy1239 ( $198.90 )
Seat 10: hugefeet ( $189 )

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to snoopy1239 [  7s 7h ]

JaimiHois folds.
snoopy1239 calls [$2].
Mickland checks.
cheqrazer calls [$2].
walkingdeuce folds.
Markoolio123 folds.
mm44878 checks.

hugefeet raises [$12].
hanno333 folds.
blaidan2 folds.

snoopy1239 calls [$10].
Mickland folds.
cheqrazer folds.
mm44878 folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 4s, 6h ]


snoopy1239 bets [$20].
hugefeet calls [$20].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]


snoopy1239 bets [$40].
hugefeet calls [$40].

** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]



Board =  7d  4s  6h  3s  9d


Right, what now?

I'm not a fan of the information you have here.

Realistically you dont know at this point if he has an overpair, trips or was drawing with a 5.

You dont know where you are, so I would check - call.

I'm all-in.

Talk about contrasting views. Blimey!  :)

Why all-in?

Not saying it's a bad move or anything, just curious.

Allin? I think he is unlikely to have 55 or 99 so get his $? It will look like you're on a busted spade draw?

You're going to call if he bets, so your better off getting your money in first. If he has you beat then so be it. If he has an overpair then he will probably just check behind you if you check,but may well call your bet.

The times that you lose here, you lose all or most of your chips. Make sure you get the max the times that you win, which will be most of the time.

Okay, so let's say you're hoping he has an overpair.

Should we bet, say, half the pot so we don't scare him off or do you think he'll call an all-in anyhow?

An all-in is a pot-sized bet, not a colossal over-bet. I think if he's willing to call your 1/2 pot bet he's going to call the all-in. The all-in may even be interpreted as weaker.

I would value bet the river say 40, 50 i think you be unlucky to be beat here and he looks like he is willing to pay off. I must admit hate to see an all in raise from him as you maybe forced to call but im not going to let him check behind me here with 2nd set and miss out on some cash.

So snoops, what happened? Did he turn over AsKs?

LOL, has ironside got hugefeet?

I bet $75 on the river.

Get on with it Snoopy, or I shall report you to the head beagle...

You won't be happy.

I know I've done $200 in, but i want to know how...

Telll me he had  Th 8h

He folded.

-- snoops ducks for cover --

tease.

 :redcard: I'm just off to see the head beagle.

Im just pmsl. Nice one!

Head Beagle LOL

Apologies to any1 hoping to find out what the other fella held. Next time I post a hand analysis, I promise it'll be one where my opponent's cards are revealed. Scout's honour.

However, I think it was still worth me sharing this hand with u guys. I reckon flopping a set is one of the most crucial parts of cash game play. These are the hands where you need to extract maximum value, so working out how to play them is vital. Do you bet it, check it, reraise if he raises, etc? Ooh eck. God knows!

By the way, I reckon he had  Ks As. At first I thought he was playing  Ks Kh passively because of the dangerous looking flop and turn, but I believe he would have called the river if had the overpair. Plus, he passed relatively quickly, which makes me think he was drawing.

My belief that he had an overpair was why I bet each time. I was hoping for a reraise that never came.

I can't see him raising to $12 preflop with rags. Granted, there was some loose money from the limpers, but rarely is it worth sticking in a chunky preflop raise just to pick out the spare dough. Too often you get a caller, like me!

The head beagle wants to see you at dawn tomorrow.

I am the head beagle!  ;tk;

Who was I just talking to then...

My deputy.

He was impostering you!

He shall be punished in due course!

THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF LUTON


Fresh off a winning week of online poker, I thought I’d take my good form to Luton. I thought it best just to play a couple of events. With a festival around every corner, the costs can soon add up, and, although I’d had a prosperous start to my full-time poker career, I was determined not to become complacent.

First up was the £200 NL. Due to the restaurant remaining open for Christmas, the comp was limited to 90 players. Although this increased my chances of making the final table, I would have preferred more players due to the increased prize pool and the potential for a second day. As it stood, this was going to be a 1 night job. Pretty daunting as it meant that the comp was likely to be rushed, therefore removing some of the skill factor, although, in my case, that would probably be for the best.

With the exception of John Huston, I started on a pretty conservative table. Not too many familiar faces, but nobody was particularly willing to mix it up early on, opting to wait for the big hands instead. I had the honour of sitting opposite Mr Womble, Steve Walmsley, a truly pleasant fella who seems to get on with everybody. With that name though, I expected him to be playing garbage hands only.

I was fortunate enough to double-up early on. I’d decided to play pretty aggressively to accumulate my chips, but the poker Gods saved me the trouble. On about the 5th hand, Justin Turner, a Luton regular, raised to 250 from early position. Now Justin had just won a hand off Womble and, from my experience, most would rather stack their chips than start bluffing the very next hand. Therefore, I was pretty sure he held a couple of big cards. Everyone folded round to me and I peered down to see a couple of cowboys smiling back. In the knowledge that Justin had a big hand, and sensing that the players behind me were preparing to fold, I decided to flatcall to disguise the strength of my cards.

The flop came a very tasty K-Q-8. Justin checked. With that flop, I knew he had a piece of it, and was sure that if I bet he’d play back at me. There weren’t too many possible hands. He’d probably check QQ or K-Q into me. He wouldn’t raise 8-8, Q-8, or K-8 from that position. He could even have AA or AK. He can be very sneaky sometimes, and there’s no reason why he wouldn’t try to trap with a hand like that. The only other realistic possibility was JJ, but if he held this hand then I doubt I’d get any action anyhow.

Assuming that he had a big hand, I decided to bet 500 in order to entice a reraise rather than a cautious smooth call. As I had hoped, he stuck in 1500 putting the pressure back on me. I considered the flat call, but, at this stage, I didn’t fancy messing around so I stuck in my whole stack of approximately 4000. The added bonus being that he may consider this to be an overbet trying to push him off the pot. My thoughts were that if he had a hand strong enough to call a rereraise, then he’d probably call an all-in, especially considering he’d still have a few chips left from the hand he won off Womble.

Justin called like lightening with pocket rockets, obviously believing that I was either at it, or on an AK holding. Turn and river were harmless and I doubled up to 10k. If it were me, I’d consider folding his hand. He can be beaten by KK, QQ, 88, and KQ, all very possible holdings in this scenario, and so I’d say that he was slightly hasty in his call. What a great result, a dream start in fact. Whenever I double-up early on, I instantly feel as though I’m going to make the final table. I love being the chip leader on the table as it gives me the freedom to do what I want, when I want. So that’s exactly what I did…

I eliminated a fair few players with my newfound chips. John Huston, after he bet his bottom pair into my top two pair. Mateyboy when he made a preflop move against me with J4 against my JJ. Must have had a tikay moment there. And eventually Womble when his pocket jacks were outdrawn by my AQ. It was all going pretty well and I was quickly building a sizable stack.

One hand saw me raise preflop with 53 (don’t ask). Recent arrival Ariel Adda, who had never seen me play, dwelled and dwelled from the button. He counted out his chips, lined them up, and eventually flatcalled. Unless it was an Oscar winning performance, I assumed that this meant he had a hand worth reraising with, something like JJ, TT, AK, or AQ. The flop came a very tempting 346 giving me bottom pair with an open ended straight draw. Trap 1 checked to me, so I decided to check too and see what play Adda wanted to make. I didn’t see the point of betting into him. If he has the overcards, he’ll fold, and if he has the overpair he’ll bet forcing me to muck. This way, I can give him the once over and reraise if I feel he’s on a bluff. If he just checks his overcards, then I can get a free card and bet the turn if a blank arrives. Also, it will allow me to find out what the early caller has too without my conceding of chips. If he has trips, then he plays back at Adda and I get out cheaply.

Adda opted to bet the pot. Trap 1 mucked, and, sensing a bluff with overcards, I decided to push all-in. If he has TT or JJ, then he still may fold, but, either way, at least I’m putting him to a decision for all his chips whilst still giving myself outs if he calls. To my chagrin, however, Adda calls in a flash. Then he turns over AK. I couldn’t believe it, he’d put his whole comp on the line calling with ace high. My only guess is that he put me on a weaker ace or KQ, but even then he’s being slightly optimistic. Anyhow, 2 blanks came and I added another 10k to my stack, possibly making me chip leader again.

Before I know it, we’re down to 2 tables and I’m still one of the chip leaders with around 50k, perhaps only pipped by Tikay who had somehow built up a monster stack after previously being down to the felt. To my immediate right is Stuart Nash, my first time playing this fellow, and to his right, Tom ‘RED-DOG’ McCready. Now this was going to be tricky. Some good solid players, bigger stacks, and a few players who I don’t really know. I decided to tighten up a bit and see how the table was playing. With my stack, I didn’t see any point in getting too involved.

After a few of my marginal preflop raises were reraised, I finally found a quality hand in AQ. Then RED-DOG, who was pretty low stacked, moved all-in. I flatcalled to be met with Tom’s AJ. Great, I thought, especially when the flop came Q-9-rag. However, I tend to refrain from counting my chickens until the hand is over, and, this time, my eggs failed to hatch. Turn = T, River = 8, making Tom a straight on the river. My stack had been seriously dented, but at least they went to Mr DOG rather than a random player.

The very next hand I received JJ. I intentionally overbet the pot, hopefully to attract a reraise from someone who thought I was steaming. Luckily, the big blind moved all-in with QJ off and my jacks held up. Phew, a bad beat there would have hurt.

Soon after, QJ was to prove the demise of Tom too. I reraised his preflop raise with A9. Tom dwelled momentarily before deciding that it was worth the call with the chips he had left. In true poker god style, the board teased me with both an queen and an ace on the flop. Tom was out and I’d moved back into a strong chip position.

Before I knew it, Stuart Nash was eliminated by the ‘Silent Assassin’ Maurice Nicholson and we were down to the final nine. Remarkably, Tikay was still in, although he no longer had the chip lead. This honour was now in the hands of Maurice.

To cut a long story short, I couldn’t buy a hand on the final. The blinds had risen dramatically to 6k and 12k, and all the play from the game had evaporated. Few could bet the pot without committing the rest of their stack, and so it was a case of nicking the blinds and praying for a big hand to double up with. I did my best, but eventually found myself in boiling hot water when my all-in move with 62 found the small blind with pocket sixes. No help on the board, and I was a gonna, leaving the game in the capable hands of Tikay, who had a real chance of taking that 7 grand prize.

I was pretty gutted. I’d worked hard all day and played pretty well, but alas, I arrived at another bingo session. Suppose that’s what happens on a 1-day event, but, even so, it’s disappointing for a festival comp to end as such. When I give people my honest feeling regarding my 5th placing, I can feel them saying inside, ‘Greedy git. You won £1100. How can you be disappointed?!’ This is probably a fair comment, but I strive for that 1st place as soon as I sit down, and anything less is a failure in my eyes. That’s just my personal method of motivating myself. Also, when the structure is so top heavy, it’s immensely frustrating to take 5th prize when several grand is so close. 6th was £700 and 1st was £7400. That’s a mammoth difference of £6700 and way too much for my liking. Has that 1st placed finisher really played that much better than 6th to warrant such a gap? They played for 10 hours, yet it could have been one outdraw in the final table lottery. In my opinion, a flatter structure is required, nothing too drastic, but something needs to be done about what I consider to be a ridiculously top heavy pay-out. They flattened it last time, and from what I recall, it was perfect.

Still, I was overjoyed for Tikay who took just under 4 grand, not to mention the coveted title of festival champ. Also, for me, it was my hatrick of cash finishes from only 3 comps, so I have to be pretty chuffed with that record. A few more points and Micky Wernick will be looking over his shoulder, although I feel I may be running out of time this year.

So, all-in all, a successful week. I played the next night in the £200 PL, but received no cards and probably wasn’t as fresh as I could have been. I had a smashing time doing the updating for the main event. Tiring but fun, and it was terrific to see Foxy and Micky take home the big bucks. The bright lights of Luton had lured me in for the week, and I was happy they did. You can’t spend your whole time online, you need to get out and about to avoid becoming a permanent hermit. My only hope is that my winning days continue. I’m showing a nice profit so far and having a blast, so I guess I don’t regret my decision to play full time. How could I?

snoops (http://www.indigogirls.com/bbs/images/smilies/snoopy.gif)

Another good report

I must say, one of the great things about last week was watching the Beagle and the Red-Dog going at it hammer and tongs near the final table on Monday, trying to knock each other out

Said it all about the way Blondeites play the game

great post as usual snoops........well worth the wait                     :goodpost: :)up

My apologies. I forgot to say how great it was to meet some Blondites for the first time. Heid, M3boy, and yt to name just three. Also, delighted to see the return of a few familiar faces. Boody, jezza & kezza, foxy, RED-DOG, Tighty, Djinn, Tikay, vinni, simonnowab, robyong, womble, Mrs C, Wormster, and so on. Soz to those I have left out. My memory's fading in my old age.

Anyway, good to see you guys. Blonde was in full force at Luton.  /:-|

THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN MY GAME


After a heavy week at Luton, I decided to take it easy on Monday and Tuesday in an attempt to recuperate. For me, playing tired always ends in tragedy. I lose money, I get narky, and I feel low. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, so, for the sake of waiting a day or two, it’s not really worth logging on and hitting the tables. Come Wednesday I was back in the zone; fresh, reinvigorated and raring to go.

So what’s the biggest change in my game? That’s easy, and it’s made such a difference to my poker. Something so simple, but highly effective.

-- Knowing When To Play --

Before, I’d play whenever I felt like it. I could have been tired, mardy, whatever, but if I fancied a game, I’d play, whatever the potential consequences. These days I can’t really afford to do that. If I have an urge to play, but know deep down that my brain isn’t functioning as normal, then I have to resist.

This goes for tilting too. Every time I’m losing, I want to continue, even if that means playing badly. We’ve all been there. Devil Snoopy on one shoulder, angel Snoopy on the other. It’s hard to ignore the former, but if I’m going to be a success at this, then I have no choice. If I start tilting when I know I should be quitting, then I might as well give up now and head back to the 9 to 5.

It’s taken me a while to get the hang of, but I’m pretty sure I have developed the ability to stop playing when I’m vulnerable. Every time I lose a big hand, or I make a silly error, I ask myself the same question. ‘Should I quit? Should I quit? Should I quit?’ And if the answer’s yes, I’ll quickly close all my tables ASAP. If I dwell, then I risk changing my mind.

Yesterday, I decided to play a full session of ring games, about 6 hours in all. That’s quite a lot for me, as I tend to fatigue quite easily. Anyway, I just couldn’t get going. Every time I threatened to reach a profit, I’d take a hit. I had to keep speaking to myself, reminding myself that if I remain patient, then that big hand will arrive. Sometimes it’s hard though, especially if you set yourself a weekly target, or you’ve recently had a brief session which netted you a packet. But patience really is the key when it comes to online play, I’ve learnt that the hard way.

At one point during the session, I took a bad beat and dropped down to a $500 deficit. A few months ago, barring some extreme good fortune, this would have quickly turned into a $1000 plus loss, and all my good play from previous weeks would be tarnished by a day of madness. Yesterday, however, I just kept my cool and carried on playing my own game. I resisted the temptation to type a sarcastic comment in the chatbox, berate someone’s play, or argue with some idiot who won’t shut up. If I can refrain from doing that, then there’s no reason why I can’t prevent myself from titling.

In the end, I found myself $150 up. It isn’t much for a 6 hour session, but it was still a relief to recuperate such a deficit. I was proud of my patience and comforted by the knowledge that I was able to control my emotions, a skill that is excruciatingly tricky for any poker player to master.

I’m yet to have a losing day playing online, and I kind of fear that perhaps I won’t be able to control my emotions if things really do go belly up. It only takes those aces to be cracked a couple of times, for you to find yourself $800 down. So I guess my true test will be when a flurry of bad beats occur at once. Only then will I be able to truly say how strong my resistance to titling actually is. For the time being though, I’m confident that I’ll be able to jump that hurdle when I reach it.

If anyone has any tips please share.

Ta. snoops snoopy

another great post snoops.........like you , it took me quite a while to become disciplined at the tables but if you stay focused and play your A game at all times..........you WILL reap the rewards

 :)up
 :goodpost:

My tip is to keep doing what you are doing - recognising your limits, playing to your strengths, and keeping the old emotions under check.

Self awareness appears to be a key factor in poker, and I think as long as you are listening to yourself and being objective, then you are doing good.

Keep learning and listening to yourself.

Looks like the journey is going good.

Well done the Beagle!

Heid
xx

Glad you can control it spoony as it is probably my major flaw and why i have more or less had to stop cash play. Usually i get tired make a bad decision and lose a big pot and thats when the fun really starts!!! lately i have managed to stop myself a few times with instead of 'should i quit?' it's just a straight 'quit now before you do your brains in'.

Gl with it mate and i like to think of it as making money by quitting before losing a shed load.

Zoiks.  :o

I reckon I can answer my own question now.

Just entered a mammoth session of cash game play. About 6 hours in all.

My head hurts and my eyes sting. I took no breaks.

Bad idea.

However, I didn't lose control of my emotions, even though I suffered some bad beats. Without going into detail, I lost $400 when my AA was rivered by KQ. Then, moments later, my made flush was outdrawn by trips with one card to come. $600 within seconds. Ouch. This is the danger of playing more than 1 table. A couple of outdraws and you've lost a packet within a very short space of time. Resisting tilt is then that much harder.

I was enraged at first, but managed to remain composed. I ran into some more bad luck with minor hands, and, at one point, was $800 down. I considered quitting, but decided that I was still playing well.

I stuck at it and managed to claw my way to being $150 up. I thought about stopping again, but decided that I had these guys beat.

An hour or two later, I was at a $600 deficit and seriously regretting my decision to continue. I probably should have stopped here, because I was becoming fatigued and making a few minor errors. However, I decided that, as long as my game didn't go completely down the pan, I'd play on and attempt another comeback. By this time, I think I was in the mindset of, 'I have to get back up to even', which is always dangerous.

Even though I should have quit there and then, I ended up being $100 up. A good result considering I was $800 down. I played well under the doom and gloom of bad beat city, but I still should have stopped playing earlier, if only to take a break. I'd reached the point where I wasn't enjoying playing, and that always spells danger for me.

A few ideas that I have learnt recently:

One thing that I defiinitley DON'T do, is play the bigger limits to try and recuperate some of the loss quicker. In my opinion, this is quite possibly one of the worst things you can do and nearly always ends in catastrophy.

Another tip that I could perhaps offer is not to remain at strong tables for too long. Don't get personal. If someone is outplaying you, then don't worry about getting your money back from them specifically. Sometimes you have to admit that the table is good and try elsewhere. Oddly, it's hard to pick up your chips and try another table. Not sure why, perhaps you're worried that you might actually quit instead.

Finally, and I did it tonight, don't try and reach targets. If you want to stop at $100 profit, and are only at $90, then just quit anyway. Trying to get over that finishing line can be frustrating and effect your game.

Anyhow, a real yoyo night for me. I'm emotionally exhausted and ready to be tucked up in my kennel.  ;sleep;

Good post. Nice to read the bad as well as the good and it's good for you to write all this down as well.
So the next 'losing' post you make should say - I was down X and on tilt so I stopped.
Not, carried on and got some back. It's very well to say I was tired and shouldn't of done this and that but one day you are going to have to follow your own advice and stop a bad session.
look forward to the next report in snoopys life, hope its a winner. I never knew beagles could play hold em!

cheers yt.

I don't think I was ever really on tilt. I was playing well and the players were ripe for the picking. The only reason why I wish I hadn't continued is because the second half of the session was not enjoyable. This is the first time this has happened since I started full-time and it has always been a massive concern. I want to enjoy my poker. I don't want it to become a grind, and, to do this, I think I need to veer away from long sessions like these where I attempt to recuperate deficits.

I definitely should have stopped near the end though. I was pretty tired and, although I wasn't making any errors, the potential for a costly blunder was lingering.

Beagles can do all sorts!

ps. I enjoyed your report the other day.


 

Well if you're not tilting then fine and dandy.
but you gotta enjoy it right? otherwise you may as well be back at work....

Yeah, exactly.

I'm just wary of overdosing on poker and reaching the stage where I'm not enjoying it, but doing it anyway to give myself an income.

A few people have contacted me and warned me that it is a grind and not much fun. I've proved them wrong so far because I've had a whale of a time, but I don't want to do what I did last night too often, or it will quickly become an unenjoyable activity.

BACK DOWN TO EARTH


I write 5 minutes off the back of a $1400 cash game loss. I’m having to really motivate myself to put pen to paper because I feel so deflated, but I thought it’d be interesting to discuss my thoughts so soon after being crushed by the world of online poker.

There’s a real sense of embarrassment in reporting losses. You’re happy to shout about any wins, but if a bad day arrives, you tend to keep it under your hat. However, if I am to be successful at poker, I can’t hide from my losses. I need to be realistic and face my bad days head on, otherwise I may never rectify any of the errors made.

(i) So how did I lose $1400?

A mixture of bad play and bad beats. The worst possible combination! Every time I hit top pair, I was reraised by trips. None of my pocket pairs made a set. My suited connectors failed to er… connect. If I bluffed a flop, I was called or reraised. If I hit 2 pair, four of the same suit arrived. Etc etc. It was just one of those nights where everything went wrong.

It all kicked off when AJ rivered my QQ, all-in preflop. Ouch! And so began the first of several beats. I won’t bore you with the stories, although I’m dying to go into great detail, but let’s just say that I was dealt a firm kick in the testicles on more than one occasion.

(ii) Did I play badly?

I’ve played worse, but that doesn’t say much. Speaking honestly, I’d have to say that I let the bad beats effect me. I didn’t do anything too ridiculous, but I called a few hands I would have normally folded. I carried on playing when I didn’t really fancy it, and I was reluctant to accept my loss. Although it’s part of my game, I’m pretty sure I raised preflop even more than I normally do. I was too eager to reduce my financial deficit, and this resulted in me trying to force through too many bluffs.

(iii) How do I feel?

Not too bad actually. I’ve had worse losses, and there’s no point in dwelling on what’s already happened. I won £300 at the Gala on Wednesday and I was previously $1200 up for the week online, so it’s hardly the end of the world. In fact, I’m still up for the last seven days. It’s just excruciatingly frustrating when you undo all that hard work. I’ll get it back, it’ll just take me slightly longer than it took to lose it. There are too many more important issues in the world and I’m not willing to worry about one bad night of poker.

(iv) What next?

I’ve decided to take a few days off. My last few sessions have been way too long, and I don’t want to reach the stage where I’m bored of playing. So, hopefully, I’ll return fresh and revitalised. I want my game to be in top form every time I log on, no excuses, and if this means taking time off, then so be it.

My first month of full-time poker finishes on Wednesday, so I’ll write up a progress report. I know I’m up, so I really can’t complain.


So, there you have it, I’ve been brought back to ground with a thud. Not a happy chappy, but as Eric said, ‘Always look on the bright side of life.’ Shame it's night time.  ::)

snoops snoopy

Snoop, Im sorry you had a bad day, I really am, and I commend you for your honesty

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that post made me laugh, it was like watching the custard pie whizz past  me and hit the other guy

Life would get very dull without the bad days, we need them to make the good days feel that much better.

Enjoy the festive period Snoops.

This is getting to be compulsive reading.

Good stuff snoopy

You gotta be honest as your livelihood depends on this venture.

try a week of sit n goes rather than cash? see how that goes?????

Hi,

This is an excellent thread. Probably one of the best I’ve read on an internet forum on any subject. It is honest and informative and it is very real. I pull my hat off to you for going ahead and trying something like this and also for being completely honest on how it’s going. It’s something I would be interested in doing in the future and this thread is great reading for people like me. I hope it all goes well for you and I also hope you are able to keep this journal going for us to read.

You’ve probably read a lot on the subject and you may well have already seen this book but in case you haven’t it might be worth you taking a look at this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0976595788/qid=1135085752/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/026-0583955-1022069
I’ve started reading and it seems OK so far. Some good chapters in there that you might find helpful.

I’ve only just stumbled upon the thread so I haven’t read every message so excuse me if you’ve already mentioned something about this. I wanted to ask you how your family and friends have taken to you becoming a pro poker player. I’m guessing your friends would be encouraging but was wondering if you’re family are the same?

Would also like to ask, if you don’t mind, even though it’s early days, have you been able to pay your expenses from your profit or are you using money you have saved up? It’s probably too early to assess this I guess.

Anyway, good luck and hope it all goes well.

HarlemShuffle

a great read snoops,
the swings are inevitable & i should imagine, easier to handle once shared & mulled over

Got my comeuppence today Snoop, cant win a hand, serves me right  ;reallyamsorry;

FIRST MONTH REVIEW


For those of you still following my progress, here are the results of my first month in the game:


-- Live --

Comps = 5
Comp Types  = 3 freezouts, 1 unlimited rebuy, 1 single rebuy
Total Buy-In Cost = £600
Total Registration Fee Cost = £66
Total Prize Winnings = £2900

Net Live Profit = £2134


-- Online --

Multi Comps = 2
Multi Profit = -£6
(including 1x $550+30 Cruise Weekly Final – fee accrued from Ladder Comps)

Cash Game Sessions = 16
Hours Played = 1204 mins (~20 hrs)
Average Session Length = 75 mins (1hr 15mins)
Longest Session = 207 mins (3hrs 45mins)
Shortest Session = 12 mins
Biggest Pot Won = $721.30
Biggest Pot Lost = $1004.40

Cash Game Profit = £718
Hourly Income = £35.78/hr

Net Online Profit = £712


--------------

Total Profit = £2846


Although I dumped $1400 yesterday, I’m still delighted with the outcome. I really can’t complain with earning just less than 3 grand in under a month. I do feel an added pressure from the folks to reach prosperous targets, but I think that they would be quietly impressed by those figures.


(i)   Live Performance

Absolutely chuffed to bits with my live form. This month I reached two festival finals, 8th in Walsall and 5th at Luton. These were only £200 events, but with fields of 163 and 90 respectively, I’m happy just to know I’m performing well. It makes me think that I should play more big freezouts as I seem to have a decent success rate. I doubt many folk can claim to have cashed in their first three ranking events.

During the festivals, I managed to resist the temptation to play the more expensive events. At the moment, I’m not sure my bankroll can cope with the fluctuations. Fortunately, the live updates have kept me busy and enabled me to resist the temptation of investing some of my winnings on these bigger events.

I was also pleased to have hit 3rd at the Gala’s £20 single rebuy event. I loved this comp and it was reassuring to learn that cheap freezouts with reasonable starting stacks actually existed. If only these had been available to me a few years ago.

So, I’m in good form and reaching finals. No massive victories, but hopefully a big win is just around the corner…


(ii)    Online Performance

as mentioned on a previous post, I have adopted a rating system by which I allocate myself a score out of 5 based on individual performances. Looking back, it appears that I started off well, but eventually finished the month playing poor poker.

When you encounter a streak of winning sessions, the inevitable losing day becomes that much harder to accept. Although to no dramatic extent, I have to confess to tilting on this occasion. Also, I didn’t quit when I should have. I was lethargic and clearly fatigued, but continued to play in an attempt to recuperate my loss. I was still playing relatively well, but this decision undoubtedly accounted for some of my deficit on that day.

I’m maintaining a solid aggressive game, and, on the whole, it seems to be paying off. There were times when I failed to let go of a hand, even when I knew I was behind. In addition, I have been raising preflop too frequently. In reflection, my profitable sessions have been when I’ve selected my opportunities more prudently.

Up until one particular day, my discipline had been pretty sound. Short carefully chosen sessions with plenty of breaks. Rarely have I played when tired or steaming. I’m yet to play drunk, but that does involve consumption of alcohol at some point. Suppose Christmas will be the true test.


(iii)   Changes For Month 2

Not too many.  I guess you don’t need to change a winning formula, just the odd tweak here and there. I will, however, make sure that I rectify the errors made on my losing day of online cash play. To achieve this I’ll need to:

(1)   Be more selective in my preflop raising
(2)   Refrain from titling whatsoever
(3)   Don’t play too long and quit when I’m tired
(4)   Assure plenty of breaks are taken
(5)   Not chase losses or unattainable targets.

I intend to carry on playing online cash games and the odd live freezout. These are probably my strong points, so it makes sense for them to be my main focus of attention. Once my bankroll expands, I shall branch out to online multis and live cash games, but for the time being, I’m happy to chug along with what I’m already playing.

I definitely want to get myself fit and healthy again. I’m down to 9.5 stone, which is pretty light for me considering I was 11.5 at one stage. Suppose it’s all those late nights, a meal missed now and then, who knows? Anyhow, with Christmas dinner fast approaching, I’m sure I’ll pile those pounds back on in record time. I recall preaching in an earlier post, ‘Healthy body means healthy mind.’ Well, I still stand by that cliché and I fully intend to put it into practice over the next 4 weeks. Before you know it, I’ll be an Olympic athlete!


(iv)    Targets For Month 2

I dislike setting financial targets in case I fall short. I don’t want to find myself trying to force bluffs or playing when I shouldn’t, just to reach a specific figure. Therefore, I’ll simply set my target to ‘profit’. At the moment, while I find my feet, I’m just happy making a bit of money playing the game I love. If I can keep things ticking over while I adjust to the lifestyle, I’ll remain a happy chappy.


Phew. Apologies for the long post. Hope it was of some interest. Guess it’s worth it though. It’s good to get things down into written form so I can maintain a realistic perspective on my progress. Before I finish, I really should just state that I have had an absolute blast over the past 4 weeks. I’m working when I want, sleeping when I want, eating when I want. I feel as though I’m in control of my own life and that the future is bright. Well, let’s hope so anyway…


I’m off to get some ice-cream. Any1 want some? (http://www.wbs.net/forums/images/smilies/misc/icecream1.gif)


Snoops (http://www.shakefire.com/boards/images/smilies/snoopy.gif)

Thanks for that Snoop..great read please keeps these coming.

Love it snopp.

Keep it comin, a fine month in my opinion.

More than your wages before you quit i bet.

Great Read sloopy hope all goes well for you  :)up

Nice one snoopy, i think you are right to be proud of your first months achievements.

Super congrats Snoopy.  I think you were very brave in the begining but i think you more than proved you can hack it.  Long may your posts continue.

Fascinating stuff!

mmmmmm, icecream

mmmmmmmmmmm £2846 profit

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  profit and ice cream.

Great first mointh snoops       and a great thread....Second month.....cant wait!!!

Best of Luck m8

Many congrats Snoop - a great first month and excellent writing too.

Many thanks for all the comments.

I'm not counting my chickens just yet though.

Sry to hear you had a bad day RED. Hope you're not too downhearted.

I'll answer Harlemshuffle's question on family/friend repsonse in the near future...

... so watch this space.

My turn for the custard pie

Encountered another bad session today.

Played for about 1hr 40 mins and lost $428.28

Looking back through Poker Tracker, I don't believe I made many errors, so I shall put it down to a bad run of cards. I missed 2 flush draws when I was pot committed in multiway pots. On another day, those draws bring home the bacon and I'm reporting of a tidy win.

I don't mind losing a session as long as i played well and didn't tilt. On this occasion I feel as though there are many positives I can take away with me.

(i) I quit rather than try to recuperate the loss
(ii) I didn't tilt
(iii) I didn't move up to the higher stake games

Also, I learnt a few things about my game.

(i) I raise raggedy aces preflop too frequently. I don't mind pushing them once in a while, but too often is dangerous as they rarely scoop a big pot.
(ii) I've been getting greedy. Making big raises on the river with monsters when I know my opponents are weak. If I stopped to think, the value bet would be much more profitable in the long-run.
(iii) Sometimes I call a raise with a pocket pair hoping to bust a big stack, then I realise my opponent is short stacked. By then, it's too late, error made.


Also, today I played 1 table of $1/2 Omaha High Low. Whilst not being the greatest player in the world, I like to think my game is relatively strong. Plus, it keeps things fresh. Could go mad playing Texas all year.

Anyway, pretty much broke even on the High Low. There was a fish sitting at the table who was trying desperately hard to give away his money. Twice he fluked a split pot on me.

One hand I was dealt Ad Ac Aspades 2c. Flop came Ahrts Kc Tc . Not too bad for little me. I bet and he called. Turn came 5c giving me the nut flush and a full house draw. I bet the pot again. He called. River was the 7d. I moved all-in and he called in a flash.

Hands were revealed, I showed my nuts for the high, whilst he flipped over 9c 3c 4d Qs for the low.

Bah. Humbug! Can be a frustrating game sometimes.

Nice first month Soopyn  :)up

ROCK BOTTOM


In keeping with catching my emotions as they happen, I’m writing now after just suffering a severe blow online. Up until this week, I’d yet to encounter a losing day, but now I’ve stumbled across 3 at once. I currently feel ashamed, angry, and disappointed. I can take losing money, but when it’s my own fault, I find it unacceptable. Usually I walk away from the laptop and forget about it within minutes, but this time, I’ve been beating myself up about it. Perhaps it’s because it’s my living now, maybe it’s because it was my 3rd consecutive loss, I could just be tired, who knows? Either way, I feel absolutely gutted.

All that hard work from the previous month, all that good play, all that resistance to tilting. Then I go and  blow it all by playing like an idiot. For the first time in a long long time, I tilted. I didn’t just blow off a little steam, I raised the bar to the highest level of tiltness. Firstly, I started reaising preflop with rubbish in order to create action. I created action all right, but none of it was beneficial to my stack. Then every time I missed a flop, I tried a bluff, which always went pear shaped. If I actually hit something, I always seemed to be reraised by a hand which I knew was better than mine. But did I have the sense to release? Oh no, I refused to lay it down. I hit top pair with my AK, I know the reraiser has trips, so why on earth do I carry on playing the hand?! I even had a conversation with myself about how I should be laying the hand down, but I still didn’t listen. To make matters worse, I spread my titling over the four tables I was playing. I was doing all right on some of them, but I let my bad fortune on other tables effect my game across the whole board. Then, to tip it all off, I start racking off my chips. Instead of just taking my small stack and leaving the table, I looked for spots to gamble. All were stupid gambles, and all were deservedly punished. Sometimes, I make myself so mad it’s unbelievable.

I’m just not sure what’s wrong with me at the moment. I never ever tilt like this, so why now? Okay, I can honestly say that today I received the worst run of luck I have encountered in 4 years of online play. However, that doesn’t automatically mean that I should go on complete tilt and throw my remaining chips away. I’m full time now, if I do it again, I guarantee that I’ll give it all up and get myself my job. It’s that simple, what more motivation do I need?

Right, enough of the ranting. As you can clearly gather, I’m still furious with myself. Time to get a grip now. These things happen, nobody’s perfect. I thought I had tilting under complete control, but obviously I was wrong. I need a break, I won’t play till after Christmas, perhaps in about a week. In that time I will gather my thoughts and look back at some of the decisions I made. I was obviously fatigued, so I will sleep more and get myself into shape. Healthy body is a healthy mind, and I’ve ignored this recently. I just haven’t been thinking straight. Also, I’ll read some poker books to keep my brain active. Maybe watch some poker on tv, anything to keep me occupied.

Bottom line. Today I hit rock bottom, so the only way is up. I messed up, it won’t happened again, and if it does, I’m quitting.

see you in the blonde comp on crypto tonight then spoony :)

If the O8 hand you reported is typical it sounds like you need to hit the PLO8 tables for a bit 8)

Hi Snoopy, just caught up on your thread .Its run for ages till the inevitable happened.    I think you will find many important lessons here .You have pointed out the most obvious so you know where you are going wrong. that is good . Try to think how much you would of saved if you had not thrown away your small stacks add this up and deduct it from your total loss. If you were playing 4 at a time it may be a largish sum.So take this out of your game, and you have an instant profit.        Now to something a little more obscure. With this theory I am speaking from thousands of hours experience,its not a theory as such but something I have come across more times than I want to remember.                               Often when on a roll things are going great ,playing well, hardly any mistakes, and of course some substantial wins and no losses, then one day you go deep in the hole ,but you are playing well and you claw your way back out and after 20 hours show a reasonable profit.   I cannot explain it but the next session you get slaughtered nothing improves you get outdrawn every possible dog on the table wants to use you in a sexual manner. So what has happened, I dont actually know the answer, to that.I seem to remember that this had happened to you a few days before. So what can you do . Now the problem when your working is a little different to the problem the recreational player has he can take a holiday you have been at it for a short while and you need money coming in so apart from a couple of days of to lick your wounds what do you do. I find a change of venue and or medium to be the only way and sometimes have even  gone to the lenghts of changing countries.      Now this is all closing the stable door after the horse has bolted so to speak. I have always foud it hard to stop playing after 10 /15 straight wins,who wouldnt, but I do recognise that the big get out,is an alarm call and it is one which I now heed. This might seem like mumbo jumbo but it gives me time to calm down because when you are on a 15 break you are flying. Now does it stop you getting killed next time you walk in the joint well the juries still out on thatone.     What it does do is slow you down, starting from fresh if you like,so no more getting involved with crap when your aces dont improve to two pair in stud you can let go orthe flop must have put you 3rd bye bye  you are back to playing how you know you should be . So you take a loss but its not a biggie,eventually the form will return and your off again.Have a happy and prosperous new year LOL 8)

Thx for the post, Nomad. Much appreciated.

It's bizarre. You have a great run, then suddenly it ends. You have 1 day when you are down by a load, but manage to just scrape back into profit. Then, the very next session, it all goes wrong. That happens so much for me, and you highlighting it is really wierd. There HAS to be something in it. Perhaps your brain just convinces you that you're playing well when you're not.

Anyhow, I've already taken your advice. I'm currently on a break and trying to stay away from the laptop. Hopefully when I return, I'll be back to my winning days.

One thing's for sure, there is no way on earth that I'll be tilting again.

Believe it or not, a cheap lesson then!

Never tilting and talent and hard work is about all u need to make a living the players who have all three in abundance are at the top. What a coincidence.            I have talked about the massacer after the claw back with a friend who has played for a living  for 20 years often in the past,we havent been able to come up with anything concrete, maybe there someone on here who couldshed some light in this very dark corner. For the record it used to cost me about 20 to 25% of my monthly profit in those days I was playing limit stud and hold em so it wasnt exactly a couple of huge bad beats just a 8 to 16 hour  outdraw. Oh final thought get your mind into a poitive mode before you start to play again, banish the fear. 8)

BACK IN THE GAME


First off, happy new year all! Seeing that I’m writing this, I guess I’m not too big on all the end of year festivities. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Christmas fan, but when it comes to the turn of the year, I’m a bit of grumpy git. Crowded clubs, overpriced tickets, rip-off drinks, not really my cup of tea I’m afraid. What’s wrong with getting pissed in the comfort of your own lounge?! That’s what I say.

Anyhow, back to the poker. I’ve been on a bit of a break really. Haven’t played a full session since a week last Thursday, 9 days in total. Not much of a cold turkey, but then again, 9 days isn’t the longest break in the world. Well, I ended the drought today by attempting to take advantage of the end of year celebrations. Yep, you got it, I’m one of those saddos who stay in on New Year’s Eve, lurking about online, trying to find a batch of good value comps. Well, I wouldn’t say I was too successful in my search as the only really decent value comp I could find was the Ladbrokes $100 rebuy which guaranteed $40,000. With only 156 players, this is pretty good value in my opinion, but Laddies obviously thought ahead by taking 10k off the guarantee. Even so, still worth entering.

Most other comps I looked at seemed to be reaching the guarantee. With the combination of sites reducing their pots and more players trying to take advantage of the lack of numbers, there was little value to be found. However, determined to keep myself amused, I registered for three comps:

Hold Em $100 NL freezout – 6k guaranteed
Hold Em NL $100 rebuy – 40k guaranteed
Omaha $10 PL rebuy

I was planning on playing more, but was a little tired so restricted myself to just the three. Also, I felt myself beginning to lose patience, so, unlike on previous occasions, I made sure that I didn’t enter more comps than my attention span could handle.

The $100 freezout, which found 60 players, was going great guns until I was dealt bullets. A harmless 3-4-3 flop looked good until I found my opponent with pocket fours. Out in 17th after playing a good comp. Always frustrating when a hand like that crops up, but I guess you just have to take it on the chin.

The $100 rebuy actually cost me $200 as I bought in immediately to enable me to see more flops. Once again, I was going great guns until two brisk hands dealt my demise. The first I was caught semi-bluffing when I check raised my opponents top pair with a flush draw. Of course, I missed. The very next hand I found Big Slick and overbet with a preflop all-in, secretly hoping that it looked like I was tilting. Well, one fella fell for the bait, but, unfortunately, I forgot that my A-K was still a drawing hand. His pocket sevens sent me packing and I really didn’t fancy a rebuy.

Still, I was chugging away nicely in the Omaha. Okay, there were only 35 players, but $450 for 1st wasn’t too bad. It was just a shame that top dog was the only position that would show a profit for the night. Eventually I finished up 3rd taking $180.80, so it could have been worse. Plus, I enjoyed it. The banter on the final table was fun and always makes for a more entertaining game.

So, there you have it. Sorry to bore you with all this, looking back, I really haven’t said anything particularly interesting. In fact, I’m drifting off just thinking about the waffle I’ve just written.

Suppose the important issue is that I’m playing poker again after such a heavy defeat last week. There’s always the fear that you’re gonna simply continue losing money, but I couldn’t let that stop me from playing. Anyway, I didn’t profit from the multis, but I played pretty well, so I’m happy.

Tomorrow is the real test. That’s when I hit the ring games again. A good start would really do me the world of good…

Clocking off now before I bore you all to death with my wittering.

Happy new year all.

snoops snoopy

Thanks again for the insight into you world, your mind and your aspirations. To you I wish a special Happy New Year. Keep up the updates, they fascinate me. As much as I wish for things this to happen for me in 2006 I give you a single wish, and that is, that in 12 months you look back on a successful year which has provided ample profit and lots of fun.

Have a lucky New Year Sopony, see you at the bash.

EVERY CLOUD


Today marked my return to the cash table. Fresh, invigorated, and raring to go, I whipped out the ipod and braced myself for 2 hours of hardcore winning. Unfortunately, the cards didn’t fall my way and I ended up $177.87 down. However, I believe I played well and shall therefore put my loss down to bad luck and poor cards.

This may have been my fourth consecutive losing day, but I remain undeterred. There was a lot to take away from what was a tough session. Firstly, I didn’t tilt, even when morale was at its lowest. At one point, I was in excess of $300 down, and this would normally either transfer into a $500+ loss, or a small profit. This time, however, I pulled just a little back, which probably speaks volumes about how I am striving to change my game. This brings me onto my second point – I knew when to quit. Instead of battling past fatigue in an attempt to break even or claw my way back into profit, I decided to cut my losses and call it a day. And you know what, it felt pretty good.

Thirdly, considering the cards I was dealt, a $177 deficit isn’t too catastrophic. I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck recently, but what differentiates a good player from a bad, is his ability to cope with the knock backs. Hopefully, I’m heading in the right direction. I must try to avoid the issue of feeling low when I’m losing, and high when I’m winning. I’m sure every poker player endures these emotions, but if I can just neutralise my feelings, whatever’s happening at the table, then the game won’t affect me as emotionally as it sometimes does.

According to Poker Tracker, my profits tend to derive from three avenues:

--   Pocket pairs that flop trips.
--   Open ended straight draws that hit on the turn.
--   Being dealt pocket aces.

Today all three of these were a rarity, which is pretty odd for a 2.5 hour session. I think I recall hitting a set on one occasion, but, apart from that, none of the others occurred. Therefore, I should perhaps look at the session as a success. I wasn’t given the opportunities to win big pots, so therefore could have finished off a lot worse. To be honest, I really don’t recall losing any sizable pots. There were two or three times when I was reraised out of a pot, and if that happens on more than one table, you can be $150 without even playing much.

For instance, one hand I raised to $8 preflop with A-T. The big blind smooth called. The flop came down A-J-2. He bet $25, I reraised to $50 and he moved all-in for $180. Not wishing to risk my whole stack on just the 1 pair, I opted to fold. This is probably a pretty standard play, but, if it keeps occurring, it can prove costly in the long-run.

as a side note, I think I’ve decided that I prefer to raise suited connectors preflop. I just think that flatcalling is asking for trouble. If you hit trips, you could be outkicked. If you flop a flush, you could be either already beat or playing against the lone ace. At best, if you make a straight, you could get paid, but how often? In fact, I’d rather hit the hand with something like 9-7, as it will be better disguised and more likely to win a big pot.

In contrast, if you raise preflop, you achieve a number of things. Firstly, you push off any of the hands that would outkick you if you were to hit trips. Secondly, you create the illusion of a big hand, so, if you do flop something, it will be extremely well hidden. Thirdly, it makes people aware that you are playing hands and not just waiting for nuts. If you only raise now and again, it’ll be harder to get paid off and opponents will find opportunities to trap you, safe in the knowledge that you are holding big cards.

Well, that’s my theory anyhow. I’m sure others see it differently.

There didn’t seem to be many fish online today. I kinda hoped that a few players would be hung over and not playing up to scratch, but everyone was pretty solid. A real cagey game with no one throwing chips away. It’s made me consider rising at 5 or 6am in order to catch the Americans at their weakest (and tiltiest – new word?). Think I’ll give it a shot after the Bash, just to see what happens.

Anyhow, that’s the story of the day. Just thought it was worth writing about considering it was a return to the fray after a week out. I could really do with stopping the rot, even if it’s only a small win. But I’m not down, quite the opposite in fact. I lost, but learnt from the session. Every cloud I guess…

Right, onto the Walsall £300 doublechance freezout. I’m in good live form and confident about my ability to win this event. Why not, eh? Let’s give it a shot.

Bye bye people. Will see some of you there.

Snoops snoopy

Ps. Slightly humourless report today. I’ll spice it up next time with a few gags. Maybe even a dancing smilie!

No need to spice anything up here Snoops .. your reports are spot on ..TY..

Good golly! I almost forgot.

This hand cropped up today. Made me smile. Not what happened, but what he said in the chatbox.


$200 NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, January 01, 08:49:58 EDT 2006

Seat 6 is the button

Seat 1: sarfu ( $362.10 )
Seat 2: snoopy1239 ( $178.05 )
Seat 8: MrX ( $147.57 )
Seat 9: kitt001 ( $100.15 )
Seat 3: venerable1 ( $259.75 )
Seat 7: BlndSquirre1 ( $214.30 )
Seat 10: Zalmaz ( $260.70 )
Seat 6: NattyKid ( $186 )
Seat 4: PureGambler ( $200 )
Seat 5: drunkpunk_ ( $200 )

BlndSquirre1 posts small blind [$1].
MrX posts big blind [$2].
PureGambler posts big blind [$2].
drunkpunk_ posts big blind [$2].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to snoopy1239 [  5h 8h ]

kitt001 folds.
Zalmaz folds.
sarfu folds.
snoopy1239 calls [$2].
venerable1 folds.
PureGambler checks.
drunkpunk_ checks.
NattyKid folds.
BlndSquirre1 calls [$1].
MrX raises [$4].
snoopy1239 calls [$4].
PureGambler folds.
drunkpunk_ folds.
BlndSquirre1 folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, 7h, 5s ]
MrX bets [$10].
snoopy1239 calls [$10].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]

MrX checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$30].
MrX calls [$30].

** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]
MrX checks.
snoopy1239 checks.

MrX shows [ Ac, Qs ] high card ace.
snoopy1239 shows [ 5h, 8h ] a pair of fives.

snoopy1239 wins $95 from  the main pot  with a pair of fives.

---------------

At the end of the hand, the conversation went something like this (activate snippy memory...):

MrX - ffs, you bet $30 with a pair of fives?! Get real.
snoopy1239 - Well you bet $10 with ace high?
MrX - that's not the point.
snoopy1239 - you mean it's not the point that I bet with the best hand and you bet with the worst.
MrX - but a pair of fives ffs?
snoopy1239 - If you're so suprised, then why did you call the bet with just ace high?
MrX - let's move on


Made me giggle. I love these guys sometimes.  :D

 ;ifm; ;ifm; ;ifm;

nice one, was he on tilt after that?

nah - unfortunately not. To give the lad credit, he kept his discipline.

He said nh snoops afterwards. Probably realised that he was being a bit of a plum.

LMAO!

Most importantly, excellent bet on the turn.

FINALLY


Yipeeeee!!! Yahooooo!!! Whopeeeee!!! Weeeeeee!!!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Yesterday, after 4 consecutive days of severe financial loss, I finally stopped the rot. I’m precisely $944.47 better off and can safely say…

The Beagle has been unleashed!

It wasn’t the losing that was damaging me, it was the amount I was losing. At one point I began to panic and thoughts of ‘Crap. I’m gonna be back at the 9-5 if this carries on’ and ‘Maybe I’ve overestimated my skill at this game’ started popping into my head. I definitely felt a sense of desperation, and that’s always dangerous in this game. When poker is your only income, and you see your bank balance dribbling south, you can’t help but be slightly concerned.

The key was self-awareness of how I was playing and where I was going wrong. This is something that is crucial and a part of my game that I would have just brushed over a few months back. I shook myself and said ‘Cmon snoops! (well, okay, I used my real name) Get a grip. Work out what you’re doing wrong and do something about it’.

The biggest problem with luck and form is that it’s difficult to decipher between the two and sometimes it’s hard to work out whether you’re playing badly or just being unlucky. What you need to do is look back to when you are winning, and see if you’re doing anything starkly different.

For inspiration, I looked back at notes I’d once made from John Vorhaus’s ‘Killer Poker Online’. A great motivational book and I firmly recommend you look it up.

Here are a few quotes:

-- Don’t substitute action for passing a losing hand.

-- Don’t be greedy, be patient.

-- Don’t let your reality be coloured by your need to win.

-- Losing control? A hand you folded an hour ago looks like a hand worth raising with now.

-- You call a raise and a reraise before the flop with 5-6, knowing that you’re up against big tickets, but banking on stealth because who’d figure you calling with such rags.

-- You call the flop and turn with bottom pair, expecting to hit trips because you’re ‘due’.

-- You run hopeless bluffs, trying to get well quick.

-- You know – just know – that the next rack of chips will be the one that turns things around.


Too many of these comments rang true, and it was then that I realised that I was playing poor poker. I was playing desperate poker and trying too hard to win, when patience, patience and more patience should have been the key.

So, I decided to pull myself together and adopt a back to basics style. Although I enjoy and have found success in playing a loose aggressive game, I decided that I would only raise obvious hands such as AK, KQ, AQ, etc. To add at least some sort of unpredictability, I would also raise preflop with suited connectors above 4-5 and hands such as 6-8 and 9-7 suited. I wouldn’t chase draws, call big bets with suited connectors, raise with 6-3 suited preflop, etc. I would play ABC poker post flop, enforcing just the odd bluff and making few plays. All I had to do now was play…

After an enjoyable, but unsuccessful night at Walsall, I arrived home at around 6am. I was just about to pop my jimjams on when I had an idea. How about some early morning online poker? Well, I felt pretty fresh and I quite fancied the idea of catching the Americans at their weakest, so I thought I’d give it a shot. By 7.15am, I was around $650 up, which, considering the run I’d been on, was astronomical. True, my opposition was playing slightly looser at this time, but, instead of doubling up, and then dribbling back down, I kept my head above water and even built on my profit. I guess this was mainly due to my cutting out of all the bad habits that I’d picked up without realising.

Then, after a quick kip, I gave it another go. After losing $400 of my previous profit, I kept my head and eventually clawed my way back up to about a session profit of $300. So, overall, I was just under a grand up for about 3 hours play. Not bad for an hourly wage! Anyhow, although I earned less in the second effort, I think that’s the best online session I’ve played for ages. That, without doubt, is the most important thing.

I guess the key here is spotting your weaknesses early. Over time, I think you begin to improve the timing of those alarm bells that sit at the front of your mind. If I could employ someone to slap me round the face with me a wet kipper every time I was playing poorly, I’d probably stump up the dough. Sometimes though, you’re just oblivious to your bad habits and it takes a severe run of losses for you to get wise to the situation.

I know how boring journals and blogs can become when all people write about are their results. Saying ‘I was up $400 today’ and ‘I lost 5 STTs yesterday’ and so on is just not gripping to anyone but the author and his mother. Actually, I doubt even the folks would be that interested. So, I apologise for a couple of my last entries, some of them have done just this.  However, I think yesterday’s success was worth reporting, because I learnt so much about how to deal with a losing run. I guess I realised that I still have lots to learn. Complacency can be a right bugger sometimes…

Snoops snoopy

Up the beagle. WP m8.

I can aquire kippers and we can discuss an hourly rate at the blonde bash.

Keep it up.

just reread this thread from the start snoops(i know)

i have to say mate it is great, love the fact your reporting the downs and the ups(hopefully this year will be mainly ups)

keep playing and writing.

gl for 2006

raab

Not something you need to worry about snoops, yours is always worth a read.

Happy to hear it's turning around for you. Experiencing something similar myself at the moment. I've made more in the last two days than I managed in the whole month of December.

just wondered how many times you were going to say this:






before you finally said to yourself:


even though you could see the warning signs yourself and even mentioned it before:


I'm glad to see that you can finally admit to yourself that sometimes it isnt the fact that your on a bad run or that luck is against you. The first time i went on a similar run it got to the stage where i was on the verge of giving up poker during february and march of this year. People told me maybe it was my game that was off but I felt i was still playing well but luck just wasnt on my side and therefore ignored them but after 6 or so weeks i had to admit that no-one is that unlucky so i had to admit that it was my game that was suffering.

It helped having someone to talk to in times of uncertainty and now that i am honest and open with myself when playing i can spot the signs far quicker when things dont appear to be going according to plan allowing me to stop the rot as quickly as it starts. I didnt want to say anything as i was reading your posts because it is something you have to admit to yourself and now that you have hopefully your profitable poker will be able to move to another level.

Keep being honest with yourself and all the best for 2006!!

Its the morning after the night before and having reread my post from last night. I know a lot of people read this thread, myself inculded and would like to clear something up in case anyone reads my posts the wrong way.

I would like to apologise to anyone - particularly Snoopy, if anyone misinterpreted my last post to read that i was critisizing the way Snoopy played in any way. Critisizing peoples (and beagles) play is something i will never intentionally do and having never played a cash game or having never watched Snoopy play in any of his sessions i am in no position to comment about anything particular about his game.

At first i thought nothing of it as i read the journal entries but the more i read about the bad luck and then the quote made on the 27th about the brain convincing you into thinking you are playing well it then struck home that maybe Snoopy was going thru what i had earlier in the year. Yes there will be occasions when people do go on bad runs and get their fair share of bad luck - but more often than not the longer this "bad run" goes on then usually there is always a contributing factor which seems to exaggerate the problem.

Snoopy's post from yesterday (3rd Jan) entitled "FINALLY" should be stickied somewhere - and anytime someone thinks they are starting to go through a "bad run" should read it and take mental notes as chances are there is something in there which will help. With any luck they will be able to be honest with themselves and stop the "bad run" before it damages the bankroll beyond repair.

hope this clears up any misunderstandings :)

There's no need to apologise. There was nothing wrong with your post. It wasn't, at any point, received in a negative way.

If anything, I appreciate your input. If anyone tries to offer me advice, I listen.

So please, don't worry about it.

 :)up

Snoops, glad to see that you’re back in the profit but more importantly that you’re enjoying it again.

I don’t know if you have already thought about it but this is an idea that you might like to think about. Set aside a certain amount of hours a day to play poker. Maybe something thing like 7.5 hours a day – 37.5 hours a week. Set aside certain times of the day to play and stick with this. Also, you should be able to work out from the table stakes how much you should be expected to earn per hour. After a month or two you should then be able to have accurate figures on how it’s going and will be able to easily compare it to a conventional job. After this period you will also be able to decide if you are playing too much poker or too little. By setting certain times to play you will be able to lead a normal social life and make sure that you set aside time for friends, family and other interests.

This is just an idea. Might or might not work for you.

I would also like to mention again that book I told you about before. I think you would defiantly benefit from reading it. It’s not so much about poker strategy but more about being a professional. I firmly believe that you would pick up some useful ideas from it.

Jog on.

HarlemShuffle

Intresting read as ever Snoopster... Keep it up sir

Thx, Harlmeshuffle. As ever, an insightful post.

I'll certainly take your idea into consideration. My problem is that I am very selective about when I play poker. My stamina isn't what it should be at the moment. I'm 5.11 and only 9.5 stone, so I'm not as healthy as I should be. Also, I seem to get tired very easily. Fatigue and poker are a real bad mix for me, so I have to resist the temptaion to play, unless I am absolutely sure I'm feeling fresh. Therefore, a routine is a real difficulty. If I feel good, I play, if I don't, I give it a miss. Luckily, I seem to have found success from short sessions, not sure why. The longer I play, the worse I do. Guess I need to get myself down the gym. eek.

Regarding the book, I've made the purchase already but am yet to start it. I'm in the middle of reading Kill Phil, but, as soon as I finish, I'll move onto you recomendation. Cheers for that.

In response to Harlemshuffle’s question regarding the reaction of my parents:


POKER AND THE FOLKS


I didn’t have a career. I didn’t have a mortgage. No kids. No responsibilities whatsoever. However, going into poker full-time was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make. What was I letting myself in for? No future. No proven income. No job security. No credit flexibility. A life as a hermit perhaps? Some would see it as an absolute grind, a path of doom and gloom, one which is perhaps determined by how much money you can extort from the naïve gamblers in this world. Not a pretty picture, but probably one that was envisaged by my folks. And so, I can’t blame them for having reservations.

Although I held these concerns myself, I knew in my heart that I had to give it a crack, otherwise I’d always be left asking myself the same question, ‘What would have happened if I’d given poker a shot?’ So, here I am, writing now as a full-time player, and loving every minute, even the extreme lows. I embrace the challenge and I’ll do whatever I can to make a success of it.

Selling the idea to my parents wasn’t the easiest task. I wasn’t even 100% sure myself. It was a new venture and I was going in somewhat blind. How can I convince them that I’m doing the right thing if I’m not too sure myself? Anyhow, the pitch didn’t go down too well at first. My mother wasn’t overly chuffed. I think, like most mums, she still considers poker to be gambling and perhaps relates it too closely to bingo games such as Roulette and Blackjack. This, I can understand, and I think the majority of mothers share her view. Also, as someone who hasn’t been to the casino or witnessed a live tournament in action, the image of a smoky backroom is all too prevalent. Dark dingy atmosphere with cigar smoke swirling across the room. Ol’ Frankie Knuckles on my left, Psycho Pete on my right, perhaps even dogs playing snooker in the room next door. Not an inviting picture for a mother.

Pops, on the other hand, wasn’t as cynical. Fortunately, he has recently taken up the game socially and is beginning to understand the mechanics of the poker world. Poker is a massive recreation in England, and there are many commercial possibilities. It isn’t just about sitting in front of the computer all day and all night. Therefore, I believe that he can accept my passion for poker as long as I utilise some of my non-poker skills. Whether this be contributing to updating, writing reviews, or whatever, I think he can remain satisfied, if not overly impressed. If I just sat around all day playing online, then I think even I would go insane.

So, there you have it. The folks aren’t crazy about the path I have chosen, especially when you consider the fact that they basically paid for my GCSEs, A-Levels, and University Degree. However, I think that, deep down, they understand that I have to make my own mistakes in this life. In this sense, they are very supportive and I am therefore unable to fault them.

I’m still only a month or two in, so I guess I should readdress this question further in, when the dust has settled and the smoke has cleared. At the moment, I think it's very much a case of them thinking, 'Let's see what happens'.

snoops snoopy

Hi Snoopy

In one of your previous posts, you comment about your lack of stamina.
When you first opened this thread, you mentioned about getting fit.
I was wondering if you have started doing any exercises, running etc.

Love the thread
All the best to you in your quest.

 ::)

No, that is one thing that I have failed in. Health wise, I'm still in the same position that I was 2 months ago. This WILL change.

I'm deterined to start a jogging regime. Once every two days. Then sit-ups, press-ups, etc on the other days. Nothing too strenuous, but I need to improve my stamina, no question about that.

Soon I'll be pumping iron in my local gym with my new 24 inch pythons.  :D

Shame it's so hard to motivate yourself to get fit. I just don't enjoy it, that's my problem.  ;goodvevil;

SNOOPS WILL SUCCEED!

Best of luck to you  :D

Do you play any sports Snoop?

Just poker.  ::)

Why did i have a feeling you were going to say that.

I know your a Villa supporter, but have you thought about taking up soccer  :D

Snoops,

Just a thought. . .

After reading the last few posts it dawned me that You need a hobby !

Poker was your Hobby when you were working no matter how seriously you took it.

Now poker is a job, and no matter what job you do you need a release.

I am thrilled you are going well and keeping us all informed.

Good luck and see you Saturday.

i found the best way to get fit instead of doing the whole boring gym thing, was for me and a friend took up squash,
its great fun and when u have some one else involved its easier to get motivated

and you'll be fit in no time, its non stop action

..... if you dont collapse from a heart attack!

Hard work Squash

Snoops, in regard to the sports thing, I find it easier if you set yourself a list of what you want to do

xxx situps
xxx pressups
xxx jogging/cycling/swimming etc.

Also now your playing professionally surely its easier to do something like join a martial arts club or etc.

Secondly, what do you envisage your yearly earnings to be for 2006?

The journals great, have you thought of moving it to a site instead of a forum? ^_^

You need a partner for the gym otherwise you just won't go!!
When i used to train regularly (you can't tell now!!) a pal of mine was amateur boxing and used to FORCE me to go with him, it's impossible to keep the motivation alone.

Snoop, The general idea of going to the Gym is ok i suppose, however I aggree with Nakor, you need a hobby and I want to suggest you take up paintball, Lots of exercise and bags of fun. Plus its a great way to meet fish for a home game that only helps to strengthen the bankroll.

LOL, is that genuine?

Oh come on IFM everyone knows that paintball enthusiasts can't play poker.  :D

You don't know how true that is!  :D

Don't want to knock you mate, BUT the last thing you want to do at 5 11'' and 133lb is start jogging. You need some weight on your frame, not less

You are what you eat or 90% of it anyway. get yourself some weights and just do some curls, press behind neck, and a couple of other small exercises, really 20 min each night at home no problem. eat right and you will be hard to hold back....G/L

Colchester Kev might be able to give you a few tips in this regard.

Why don't you start with some gentle arm exercises holding a heavy can of John Smiths while playing online? Don't think about any other form of arm exercise while online, though.

SNOOPS AND HEALTH
A lot of you might not know but snoopy (despite his appearance!) was an extremely good football player (he will still regale you with tales of his showboat hat-tricks if you press him), and also a top banana long distance runner (outrunning the rest of his family on long distance runs at the age of 10 - including his father who was a veterans sprint champion)...

And then he moved to Nottingham. And got drunk. Hideously, hideously drunk. (feel free to ask me at the blonde bash for any embarrassing tales). ;D

So now years on, as poker has excelled, unfortunately the sport has slipped. Even his trips to villa park have slumped (perhaps with good reason this year, doug). And now with cash in his pocket, and the professional game in his heart, he has slipped to 9'5"! The message is clear blonde-ites....

If you are at the blonde bash please buy snoops food. a packet of crisps, a marathon bar, a bit of soup, anything will do!

Enjoying the posts Adam, and time to start playing footie again. Keep posting ;)

I believe beer is quite filling too.  ::)

 :cheers:

THE CLAWBACK


My online gambling seems to follow a specific trend that forms a 5 step process:

(1)   Win comfortably for several consecutive days.
(2)   Endure a seemingly unlucky session where I drop a chunk of money, but somehow manage to claw myself back up to even.
(3)   Lose a large sum of money in one day playing bad poker.
(4)   Without realising, continue playing bad poker thereby resulting in consecutive losing days and an increase in deficit.
(5)   Spend the next week crying into my soup trying to work out where it all went wrong.
-- Return to Step 1.

Well, at least I’m returning to step 1, but, either way, this cycle occurs way too often for my liking. Even as recent as the end of last month, I dropped my hard earned dosh by failing to acknowledge the vicious circle I was tangled in. So, what to do?

The key is Step 2, the mysterious clawback. I can’t be the only one who experiences this turn of events. It’s really odd because it happens so frequently. Play consistently well for the whole week, then encounter a massive scare in one night. Is it complacency? Is it poor poker? Or is it simply bad luck? I’m not too sure, but when ‘nomad’ highlighted the occurrence last week, it suddenly struck me.

My view is that we become submerged in a feeling of complacency, and when that inevitable bad beat or vicious outdraw arrives, we find it difficult to handle. Several days of easy poker, for easy money, against easy opponents, then boom, the poker God excrete on you from a great height. It’s understandable that we can be rocked when things suddenly go against the grain.

At this point though, we’re still in a fit mental state to remain focused on retrieving that money, still playing good solid poker. Thus, the clawback, and when it is eventually completed, there is a real sense of relief.

Next day, we’re back on, confident that yesterday’s fright was just a blip. But again, things start to go pear shaped again. This time, however, the clawback doesn’t occur and the hole just gets deeper and deeper until we either motivate ourselves to quit or just lose our bankroll.

Well, I experienced the clawback yesterday, and I was well aware that it was happening. Therefore, to prevent Step 3 from occurring today, I’ve decided to stay off the poker. Perhaps after a clawback, we just aren’t in the right state of mind to start winning again. Maybe this is why it suddenly goes wrong. Either way, I’m determined not to play today. I’ll return at the beginning of next week and start the ball rolling again, fresh and revitalised. Hopefully, this way, I can avoid another car crash and jump from Step 2 straight back to Step 1.

Am I the only one who has endured this cycle for so long? Does anyone else recognise it? Please tell me I’m not going mad.

snoops snoopy

Actually Sopony I know exactly what you mean and I feel that the "clawback" lulls us into a false sense of security.

One now feels bombproof so it is now not a worry when one falls behind the next session.

Proceed with caution following a "clawback" would be my advice, which seems to be pretty much your conclusion too.

Good luck !

One thing you said rings a bell

Like you, I have also found that not playing stops me from losing

 :D

I think you may be better off playing slightly lower stakes for a few more hours. Just to lower the variance and save your sanity.
I don't play cash, I'm crap at limit and I can't deal with the big swings in the NL games.

Actually, that's a good idea, and I've heard it somewhere before.

Apparantly, dropping to lower stakes and trying to play tight really strengthens your game if you fear you may be on the verge of a big loss.

Might give that a go before I get back into it.

When I was a regular cash player this scenario seemed to happen all the time . I would be well ahead and playing well , busting people left right and center , reading the table perfectly pulling off big calls- just in the zone. I could do no wrong . Then it would happen, an outdraw , annoying and a setback but not the end of the world. Except for what it did to my mindset . I became very arrogant believing I was not only the best player at the table but probably the best player in the world. I would begin to call out of position with marginal hands and my mindset would be that "hey I can beat these fish with any cards" . It doesnt happen fast just the odd call here and there which then begins a snowball effect of poor poker which I obviously blame on the cards or other peoples poor play.

The difficulty is that even if you play perfectly you can still lose in the short term . You can play all day and give people the wrong odds for their draws and they call and hit everytime (it seems) but the important thing to remember is that everytime you create a situation where your opponent makes a sub optimal play or mistake against you you are a winner . This has no bearing as to where the pot is pushed or the results of any given session.

Going over your play weather you win or lose is absolutley vital to keep you on an even keel . Try analysing your top 10 winning hands and top 10 losing hands from the day and honestly evaluate your play.

Keep up the good work m8

jezza

Snoops, love your thread, I also love everything that nomad posts. Some of the stuff you have writen is very perceptive and is stuff it took me months to work out or hadn't even worked it out yet. But you seem to be worrying about very short term events. A days results, a weeks results means nothing. Yes you have to think about/analyise your game but don't get caught up in minor random events. It's like writing down the numbers that come up on the roulette wheel or something. Chill man :D. You've been a pro for like a second out of your life and you're concerned about a random series of events that happened in a micro second.

You will run bad you will run good the cards fall as they fall. Don't worry be happy, you have one of the best jobs in the world. I strongly recommend taking a monthly wage cos the varience weekly is so high. If you have a losing week so what? I have had losing months, so what? You have a big bankroll, that should bring peace of mind, if you play badly then you have learnt something so take a positive from it and try not to do it again.

You just seem to be beating yourself up over things that you shouldn't be concerned about, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn. One of gigabets online names is/was even keel, that's what I try to aim for. Yes it's nice to win and the buzz is a big reason why we play probably but feeling disappointed/depressed or scared about what you're doing is unnecessary and unwanted imo. It's best I think just to try to feel neutral or balanced - just mentally to be on an even keel.

Hope some of this makes sense

If you ever fear you are on the verge of a loss (whether it is big or small) then you are obviously not in the frame of mind to be playing your "a-game" and should never even contemplate sitting down at a table - live or online.

You should go into each tournament or session with the belief that you are going to win otherwise to are doomed to fail before you have even begun......

What you are saying is very true but I think snoops is only writing what is on his mind and what everyone would be thinking in the same situation. The day to day results are not important. It’s the result over the whole year that is important. But if snoops ignores the day to day feelings then he will not improve. I believe the key to getting better is to look at what’s going wrong and to work on improving things for the next day. I think he is on the right path to doing this and his honesty in his posts are admirable. I think everyone knows that it will be impossible to not lose from time to time but if you completely ignore the reasons why you are losing then you will never improve.

+ = ????????????

STUCK IN NEUTRAL


No, I’m not in my car…

I haven’t posted much recently on this thread. I’d hate to think that I was filling up space with, ‘today I lost this’ and ‘yesterday I made that amount’. Boring if you ask me, but hopefully some of the stuff I write about is of interest. I try not to be too specific, preferring to discuss issues that most people can relate too.

Blonde Bash was awesome. When I play £30 for such a fun comp, I’m hesitant to take it out of my live bankroll as I would have stuck 30 squid in even if there had been no prizes. Even though I only played about 2 hours worth of poker over the whole weekend, (Yes, I went out early in pretty much everything I played) I was delighted to have met so many fellow Blondeites. All great people who more than lived up to my expectations. The only blip was the quiz, when we let the Scots win something, but hey, if they're shoddy at poker you’ve got to keep them happy somehow.

But, back to the poker…

After a few terrific sessions last week, I’ve suddenly hit a wall. I’m not losing money, but I’m not making any either. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m playing well, but those opportunities and situations where you double up just don’t seem to be cropping up. I’m hitting sets, but getting no action. I’m raising with bullets, but everyone’s folding. I just don’t seem to be catching anyone.

Today I won the grand total of $6.17. I sat down for a gruelling 3-hour session. No breaks, no TV, no distractions of any kind. I focused all of my attention entirely on the small screen in front of me, determined to churn out a decent profit.

If there’d been a microphone inside my head you would have heard the following thoughts:

-- Patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience… It’ll come eventually. Slowly slowly catchy monkey.
-- Don’t tilt, whatever you do.
-- Don’t start calling with marginal hands in an attempt to outflop someone. Keep playing a tight but aggressive game.
-- If it’s not working out here, move tables. You might just find a fish.
-- Snoops, you’re the best. Love you loads. :-*

Well, okay, not the last one, but you get the idea. I sit there waiting patiently, constantly reminding myself of the dangers of pushing too hard for action. Four tables on the go, but nothing’s happening. I win the odd pot here and there, but nothing substantial. I can feel myself fighting the urge to start raising preflop with rags. Hands like A-7, K-T, and J-8 suited suddenly look like raising hands. 

This isn’t the first time recently that I’ve merely broken even. Two days ago I made $8 from a night’s play and the day before that I made a similarly paltry sum. Yes, it’s still a profit and I really shouldn’t be bothered by it, but part of me would prefer to have lost a 100 or something. At least then I would feel like I’d been in existence for the last 3 hours.

You sit down, play a chunky session, and leave with a five bob note. You didn’t particularly enjoy it and there are plenty of more constructive activities you could have been getting on with instead. Personally, it makes me feel like I’ve wasted a valuable 3 hours of my life.

In fact, this is the first time in a long time that I haven’t enjoyed playing a session. It really was a grind, and a painful one too, but I guess I just have to accept that there will be times when I play a crappy session and come out with nothing to show for my efforts.

The lack of entertainment does worry me though. Countless folk who I’ve conversed with have said things like, ‘It’s not an enjoyable hobby,’ ‘It eventually grinds you down’, or ‘It’ll turn into work’.

My response was always, ‘that maybe true for you, but I’m going to be different. I love the game, have a great passion for it and won’t let anything jeopardise my enjoyment of poker.’

I still stand by that now, and if I ever get to the point where it really is becoming tedious, then, like any job, I’ll do something else. Today wasn’t entertaining, but you can’t expect every session to be fun. I’m still loving the game and as long as I keep playing live, do other things, and so on, I’m confident I’ll be sound as a pound.

For the time being though, I’m dying to get out of neutral. It’s like having a steering wheel in my undies. It’s been driving mi nuts all week. :D

Snoops snoopy

Ps. Little tip. Stick ‘You’re The Best Around’ – Theme from Karate Kid, onto your I-pod. Play it before every session or live comp. It’s a real motivator and does your confidence the world of good. Failing that, you can ignore me and get a life. ;tk;

the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing

I do 10 hours a day, and it is tough, but hey, it beats thr crap out of working

Polish on, polish off.........

Aaaaah yes. You're a multi player.

I can't imagine how frustrating it is playing all those hours and not winning a penny.

Good Lord, that could really drive you potty.

And what about the wax?

hair hasn't grown back since last time

Just caught up with the last 3 pages of this thread.

Great read Snoops. Go easy on the squash first few sessions, it has the highest death rate in sportsmen and women.

Jammer, did  you say Marathon bar? Showing your age mate!

 ;iagree; Once you've establshed that your winning and have an expected win rate then you have a theoretical win every time you play. Keep enjoying it keep analysing your game to cut down the errors (lucky for me I still have much work to do here), and you can make sure you get something out of every session.

'Tain't neccessarily so.  Some of us are just natural lightweights (5' 9'' with a 'fighting' weight of 8st 10lbs in my case).  Only Snoops and his doc know whether he is too light. But a minimum of 3 aerobic sessions a week of 30 minutes each is a minimum  for anyone in a sedentary profession.

Get your training kit on and do it you lazy so and so   ;slavedriver;

End of sermon.

12bar (got to go......there's a bottle of red waiting for me and a ciggie burning away in the ashtray....)

To be fair burning fat aint really an issue with you Snoops. Get on the weights. ;slavedriver;

I'm a fine figure of a man.

The beach is that way.

(http://janjaf.net/nkkforum/html/emoticons/strong.gif)

You just need a good meal Snoops..

Awesome. When do you want me?

Snoops.. when have i ever Not wanted you ...x

Everyone has a few sticky days I reckon, Snoops.

$20+$1 H/U - Best of 5.  Fancy it?

I'm a terrible poker player but I'm shocking H/U.

Don't knock being slim snoop, 90% of the population would change places with you

All the best poker players are slim, 20-somethings from the Midlands area.   :)up

Corrected your post where necessary  :D

LOL!!

 :tikay:

The best job in the world will have boring days and even periods.....you just have to be patient and wait for it to past.

Was reading post in all seriousness then read....


 rotflmfao  I laughed a lot and then got Jammer to come and read it and he laughed a lot :D

Snoopy won a best of 3.  2-1.

Well played snoops  8)

I made two badly timed plays and got lucky.

Not much room to manoeuvre in those HU battles.

Thx for the game.

snoops

Hi snoopy . 4 more pages since I last looked, it makes interesting reading. Nice to see u have discovered online game selection, no I dont mean looking for the softest games as such but picking the time of day u play, when some of your opponents are knackered or pissed or on tilt or hopefully all 3 its got to be to your benefit,and if you can change your game at will the benefits can be enormous.    For 3 years I used to trot into the Concord at 4 30 am. I would rise at 3 30 shower coffee toast jump in the car Carmina Burrahna full blast on the sterio the trip took 8 mins I arrived looking to kill A phone call ahead to reserve a place on the list,straight on. A quick chat with the floorman to get me on the list to change tables if one of the other games looked Juicier more money more poor players more drunks ok the variance was sometimes scarey especially at the weekends but the pots were often monsters. I hope you are getting the drift here. These are all things that you can incorporate into your game plan when you are not a world beater an I am certainly not these little things all help to make the final year end profitable.I know many better players at the level I play but I still make more than they do ,its the little things that count.      As for the not making much in some of your sessions dont worry about it you have to put in a lot of hours to make a good living. I used to play 2000 hours a year live 2 sometimes 3 sessions a day the sessions where you made very little were compensated for by the time I was in and out with a decent win in under 2 hours. The net has made this much easier and you have to use it to your best advantage.        Allways thinking about where your best advantage lies will stop it becming tedious I move around a lot these days as there are few 24 hour games going on and playing online is not the solution to tedium. Of to kitzbuhl next week  monster pots, lots of partying Italians,Utopia........ 8)

No but thinking about coming home, its second to moving to spain,  arthritus  and lung problems wiil probably tilt me south,bronchitus is a bitch every winter and there seem to be a lot of clubs opening in Spain and I have lived there before and i can park the boat where i can get some use out of it without catching pneumonia,not such a difficult choice after reading the first 2 lines of this, thats that settled then. 8)

The poker must be going well when you get to use phrases such as 'park the boat'  :D

Either that or you won an episode of Bullseye.  8)

Whats Bullseye   its only 35 ft    been gambling since 1972 ni one guise or another poker for the last 9 years,I started playing poker  because they kept busting my illegal joints and it just wasnt worth the hassle anymore.   I play to pay the bills and do what I want when I want.  I dont suppose you can ask for much more once you get over wanting to be a billionair. I still feel alive when I go out to play the buzz is still there how many  jobs still have that after 30 years some but not many .......... 8)

Nomad,

You post some great stuff...... but please,

please

please!

put some breaks in your posts. It hurts to read them which is a shame when you have so much to say.

Well... I guess I'm out of neutral. Needed a spot of luck though. Boy oh boy, was my opponent fuming. I knew that final club had won me the hand. He dwelled momentarily before calling, so he clearly didn't have the straight. Top set was the only possible holding really, and so he couldn't have a club. Apparantly, the other player folded AK of clubs. Can't beleive he let that one go. Nice to outdraw someone though, I'd forgotten what it felt like. It feels goooooooooooood.  8)


Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6

Seat 1: daniely6 ( $364.45 )
Seat 2: mjjrunit ( $151.15 )
Seat 3: mbacker ( $226.70 )
Seat 5: luegofuego ( $221.70 )
Seat 6: chukcz ( $207.19 )
Seat 4: snoopy1239 ( $200 )

mbacker posts small blind [$1].
snoopy1239 posts big blind [$2].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to snoopy1239 [  5s 5c ]

luegofuego folds.
chukcz folds.
daniely6 calls [$2].
mjjrunit calls [$2].
mbacker raises [$9].
snoopy1239 calls [$8].
daniely6 calls [$8].
mjjrunit folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, 3c, 7c ]

mbacker bets [$18].
snoopy1239 calls [$18].
daniely6 raises [$36].
mbacker calls [$18].
snoopy1239 is all-In.
daniely6 calls [$154].
mbacker folds.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]

daniely6 shows [ 7h, 7d ] three of a kind, sevens.
snoopy1239 shows [ 5s, 5c ] a flush, queen high.

snoopy1239 wins $445 from  the main pot  with a flush, queen high.


 ;karabiner;

If mbacker ain't going to play the nut flush draw for 3/1 then it's as well he folded. Saves a lot of time, the money woulda gone to snoops eventually anyway.

Tank.

How are those STT's going?

281 done, had the day off last night to break the negative momentum. A couple of bad days but still up nearly $4k thus far.

Nice one!

Which ones are you playing? 10 handed or 6 handed? How many a day are you attempting?

9-handed and as many a day as I can manage. Any less than 30 I think of as a poor effort if I'm not busy with anything else.

      http://www.zeejustin.com/journal.php?journal_id=59.     I read this blog often. Good Luck..

COPENHAGEN


Greetings to everyone who reads my blog. I feel I should thank both of you.

My online play is certainly being put on hold at the moment, but when you are given the oportunity to pop over to Copenhagen, you have to jump at the chance. I plan to get back into the online groove as soon as I return, but, for the moment, I'm just going to try and enjoy my venture abroad. Although I'm having to work quite hard, it's nice to have a change. Sitting staring at a computer screen can drive you mad sometimes. Hold on! That's what I'm doing now.

First thing’s first. Copenhagen is FREEZING! And I thought Birmingham was cold? Well, I was living in ignorance, because this place is even colder. I understand that every day has dropped below freezing, -7 Celcius at one point. A quick glance out of my window and I have to remind myself that I’m not in the Antartic. There’s a good few inches of the white stuff outside (No, not milk). In fact, I’m pretty chuffed that it snowed. It doesn’t really affect us much because poker is thankfully an indoor sport, but it looks somewhat picturesque and helps make the trip that much more memorable.

But that’s enough about the weather, that’s an English topic. Back to the poker, which, is er… so much more Danish. Hmm. Anyhow, yesterday was kinda hectic. Not sure why I’m so surprised, but there are oh so many Scandies here and if they don’t share the same names, they are totally unpronounceable. What’s the deal with that? Way too many consonants. Can we have a vowel please Carol?

So, as you can imagine, writing the starting runners, or jotting down a quick chip list is a complex process and requires much focusing on your key presses. I doubt anyone would notice a Scandie typo, but it’s amicable to get these guy’s names right.

There were a few recognisable names amid the sea of gibberish. Barney Boatman, Julian Thew, Xuyen Pham, and Joe Grech were all present. Even Chris Moneymaker had made the long trip. A quiet fella who was dealt a horrific bad beat. His top set was outdrawn by bottom set on the river. Ouch!

I always find it surreal when I meet a select handful of pros. Devilfish was one. I met him briefly in Sheffield. I mean, I treat most famous players like normal guys and don’t seem to get too star struck. However, when I was at Napoleon's and Devilfish stepped up to the reception desk beside me, I found it very surreal indeed. Not sure what it is, perhaps it’s all those Late Night Pokers I’ve seen him on. It was odd.

Well, the same feelings occurred when I heard the familiar vocal tones of a Mr Gus Hansen. Perched right behind me looking for his table, Gus stood out like a sore thumb. The cameras and photographers swarmed his table and watched his every movement. I’ve watched him so often on Challenge TV that I found it really strange that he was suddenly right behind me. I think you begin to believe they’re not real, just characters on your box.

What I’ll be like if I ever meet Shania Hiatt, I have no idea. The words legs and jelly spring to mind though.

The night of reporting was relatively smooth. I did encounter some early connection problems, but a brisk reshuffle into the lobby solved that problem.

Although Moneymaker, Hansen, Fraser, and other recognisable names had dropped, we still had the likes of Thew, Pham, and Boatman flying the flag. My fingers were crossed for these guys, not only because they are top chaps (& chapette) but because I knew that viewers could lose interest in the thread. I mean, does anyone really care if Mr Pedersen or Mrs Bjorn win. We don’t know who they are, so why would anyone be interested in their progress.

Barney may have fell with around 60 left, but Yoyo and Bad Girl both made it to the end of level 9, thereby earning their passport into Day 2. In fact, Xuyem is currently tournament chip leader with 89k. Unfortunately, Julian is just below average with 24k after suffering a big loss when his low straight was outstraighted. (Add that to the poker glossary)

So, in less than an hour, the aptly named Day 1B commences. This time I shall be enjoying the company of Luske, Hachem, Vaswani, and Mr Burns himself, Dave Colclough. I sincerely hope that Marcel makes it deep into this comp. I’d love to see him play and I always think his presence lightens up what can sometimes become a dreary atmosphere.

Hopefully, if I find a spare hour, I’ll be able to report back tomorrow. For now, it’s almost time to set up camp in the press room, braced for another long day. Hopefully there’ll be a host of English faces for me to keep a close eye on. If not, well I’ll have to befriend some of the Scandies. I’m not too keen on that plan though. Young, rich, and good looking. Grr. I’ve only got one of them, and even that’s fast slipping away.

snoops

Great report snoops - It took me there in spirit.  Have a great day today mate.

You been drinking again 

COPENHAGEN #2


Hi folks. It’s 1:35 here in Denmark and I thought I’d just take a pitstop to retell some of my experiences and observations over the last couple of days. Today’s play has just this moment wrapped up with Xuyem ‘Bad Girl’ Pham plummeting into 9th position and thereby missing out on tomorrow’s final.

I’ll be honest, I’m bloomin’ shattered. This updating lark is always fun, but when you have to endure 4 consecutive days of hardcore railing, it can become mentally and physically tiring. When you are braced for something earth-shattering, nothing happens. When you sit back for a moment, 10 players get eliminated. You have nothing to report, the connection is fine. You have exciting news to share, the wifi whimpers before tossing in the towel. I love it all, but I can assure anyone who follows those reports that it’s a lot harder than it looks.  ;tk;

But that’s enough about the updating. I’ve overdosed on poker today. There are more important issues at hand. Like the lift for example, I’m really struggling with it. I’m not scared of them or anything, but they provide a really nauseating ride. With around 30 floors to the hotel, the lift goes hurtling up at an incredible pace and, when it reaches your destination, stops very suddenly. Even Jen’s ears popped on one journey.

I’d like to thank the Lord for letting us swindle our way into the free buffet. From what I understand, the press aren’t entitled to the free tucker, but, somehow, we’ve managed to ambush the buffet two days in a row. Tonight I went under the pseudonym of Julian Thew. I almost got sprung when one of the waitresses commented that I was too good looking to be Julian. Very fair point and I would have held my hands up in defeat if I weren’t so keen to get my paws on the lemon meringue. Just kidding Jools… it was in fact cheesecake.  :D ;)

Maybe it’s just this hotel, but Denmark seems to be the most expensive place in the world. On the first night, a Japanese meal between three cost in excess of 50 squid. No starter, no desert, and no pricey beverages. For that price I’d expect them to physically feed me too.

Similarly, Jen payed a whole pound for a single banana. It must have been hand picked that morning from a Caribbean banana tree. I’m just relieved we didn’t order a bunch. Imagine the price of a pineapple!  :o

People here are so good looking. If you’re between 20 and 30, you’re obliged to have a fresh unblemished face with everything in the right place. The women are incredible. They all look the same, but that’s great. I’m not buttering bread on the wrong side or anything, but even the fellas seem to be aesthetically blessed. I’d love to see one walk in with a few spots or something, is that too much to ask? Stephen from the Gutshot team suggested that it was the fresh air. Very possible, but if that’s true, how do you explain the correlation between my perfect looks and smoggy Brum?  ;topofclass;

This evening was incredibly surreal. Whilst we were working away, a brass band of about 100 young girls in short skirts and white boots waltzed in. A big toot on the trumpet, a firm bash on the drum, and we were off. The noise level just sky-rocketed. They marched around the hotel and I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. It felt like I was on the whacky baccy. One of the girls got lost and was wondering around by us. How you can get lost from a band of 100 is beyond me. She must have taken a wrong turning.

I think all the kafuffle had something to do with the Danish monarchy. From what I overheard, a new Prince had been born. He starts off nameless, so I guess he’s called ‘It’ for the time-being. Anyhow, everyone was here to celebrate his baptism and cheer on the future Danish King. All very bizarre, especially with an EPT poker event being played 20 yards away.

There’s a lot of drunken Danish singing going on tonight. It’s reminiscent of the hotel in Twin Peaks. Coincidentally, I think they were Danish too. Unfortunately, unlike the TV show, I can’t see an Audrey about. Bah.  :(

I’ve been in Copenhagen for 4 days now and all I’ve seen is the inside of one airport and two hotels. My folks will be so proud that I’ve made the effort to see the sights. I need to remember my souvenirs too. My mother requested a Danish pastry, whilst pops asked for some bacon. Golly, would they ask me to bring back a curry back from India?  :dontask:

Righteo, I think I’m going to suggest a bit of online poker with Jen before beddie byes. Hold on, I said earlier that I’d had enough of this poker malarkey. Ah well, I guess the poker bug will never leave me for too long.

Nighty night.  ;sleep;

Snooooooooooooops snoopy

Nicely done Snoops

Do you regret giving up work yet???

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

How F***ing much?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

<note to self - do not play EPT Copenhagen qualifiers on stars next year>

COPENHAGEN #3


Well, I’ve been back for a couple of days now and I still can’t get over how long that final table was. Whenever someone went all-in, they won! As exhausted updaters, that can be so demoralising. Also, every hand seemed to go raise, all-in, fold. This happened on countless occasions and goes some distance to explain how it took 10 hours to whittle 8 players down to 1. I even recall Big TK looking at his watch and shaking his head. Good Lord, he must get bored directing all these tournaments.

Speaking of TK, he’s become ever so dreary recently. I almost drifted off listening to him announce the final table. ‘Fold, fold, fold, raise, fold, fold. Scandieboy wins the pot. Fold, fold, fold…’ and so and so on and so on. He must be suicidal by the end!  ;tk;

He’s certainly dapper though. It was boiling at the end yet he still had his suit jacket on. Reminded me of a Lee Evans show but without all the sweat. His suit didn’t have one crease and he wore a matching tie and hanky. Smooooooooooth. I think he could be the new Des Lynam.  8)

Anyhow, back to the EPT. True, the final was a marathon, but overall, I’m pleased that it was because it means that the structure was good. I heard absolutely no complaints about blinds, clocks, etc, only praise. Therefore, we can’t possibly moan that it was too long. There was plenty of poker to be played and plenty of poker was played. Sounds great to me.

The two finalists deserved to be there, no doubt about that. Both Mads Andersen and Edgar Skjevold are top class players armed with all the moves. I can’t wait to see that Heads Up confrontation on the box. I’m sure there were some outrageous, but well timed, bluffs being played. I was extremely impressed.

One interesting story was that with about 20 competitors left, this Danish journalist came up to me and claimed that Edgar was going to win. I disagreed and suggested that Mads was going to be lifting the trophy. So, he said put your money where your mouth is and accept a small alcoholic wager. I agreed in a shot, even though I was offered 1-2 as a result of Mads’ larger stack. Well, Mads won, but I’m still thirsty. Yep, the bugger scarpered at the end. What a rascal. But it was good that my pick won.

It was a shame that there were so few British participants though. Of course, Ram, Julian, and Bad Girl should be applauded for their cash finishes. Also, a young lad named Thomas Grundy made it quite far. I don’t know too much about him, but I think he deserves a mention. Oh, and before I forget, my apologies to Blondeites doubleup and SuffolkPunch. I’m rubbish with faces and I’m sorry that I didn’t realise you were there. I managed to have a brief chat with Simon Young (SuffolkPunch) after his exit, but he was clearly devastated and not really in the mood to talk. I bet he enjoyed his TV interview with the stunner from PokerStars though. Hubba hubba. Down boy!  :kiv:

What I’d love to do for future EPT updates is perhaps allow someone to select a random player, maybe the one with the most ridiculous name. Then Jen and I could follow this guy intently and see how he gets on. A photo, maybe an interview, anything to give us someone to follow when the familiar names fall. We could make him our stand-in Blondeite, against his will! Could be fun.

Probably the most surreal thing about my trip was that I didn’t once step foot outside of the Radisson hotel until it was time to catch my plane. I’d been in this picturesque country for five days and lived pretty much as a hermit. It felt like a wasted opportunity really, but I was so engrossed in the tournament that it didn’t really bother me until now. Ah well, perhaps I’ll be given a chance to return next year, because it seemed like a lovely place. The view from my hotel window was incredible.  :o

I’m back in good ol’ Brum now, back to the normal routine. Wake up at 9, shower, breakfast, pint of water, then hit the online poker for a couple of hours. Win or lose, I stop around 12, do some writing, then give it another shot in the early evening, perhaps another session before bed. Yep, back to the somewhat repetitive lifestyle that life in England can bring, but I’m not moaning, not one bit. I’ve just come back from Copenhagen after a great 5 days of poker, poker, and more poker.

The online lifestyle still feels fresh and I’m glad that it does because so many people were saying that I’d be bored within days. It’s still early days, but I predict that I’ll still be enjoying life this time next year.

It’s what you make it in the end, it really is…

snoops snoopy

Great idea Snoops but be prepared for failure. Just as day 1 of the main event was kicking off at Luton me and Heid came across the name Woody Deck, fantastic we think, must track him down, get a photo, see how he's going.
Unfortunately before we've even finished posting the table listings news comes from Dingbell  that we've well and truly bokked him and he's casualty number 1.
Back to the drawing board. Selection number 2 Mo Kazi did somewhat better.

 rotflmfao

It's just an idea at the moment. It hasn't gone any further than my 2 brain cells.

It's just that it can be hard to maintain interest in a comp when there are so few familiar faces involved.

MONTHLY REVIEW: JANUARY


For those of you still following my progress, here are the results of my second month in the game:


-- Live --

Comps = 9
Freezouts = 5
STTs = 2
HU = 2

Total Buy-In Cost = £417.50
Total Registration Fee Cost = £25
Total Prize Winnings = £523

Net Live Profit = £80.50


-- Online --

Multi Comps = 7
STTs = 3
Profit = -£187.36

Cash Game Sessions = 26
Hours Played = 2217 mins (~37 hrs)
Average Session Length = 85 mins (1hr 25mins)
Longest Session = 213 mins (3hrs 33mins)
Shortest Session = 27 mins
Most Profitable Session = $812.57
Most Costly Session = -$1220.97
Biggest Pot Won = $949.40
Biggest Pot Lost = $510.50

Cash Game Profit = $2088.93
            = £1174.25
Hourly Income = £31.74/hr

Net Online Profit = £986.89


--------------

Total Monthly Profit = £1067.39

-- Running Total = £3913.39 --

It’s not an incredible amount, but I’m still happy to have earned a grand. It’s important not to get too greedy as that’s when you start to push your hands too hard. It maybe almost two grand less than last month’s accomplishments, but I must take into account my lack of a festival appearance and the considerable knock I took on the first day of the month. I dropped well over a grand right off the bat, and, if it hadn’t been for such a poor opening, the final figures would have looked very tasty indeed.

The important thing is that I realised my downfalls and corrected them in time. Many thanks must go to Blondeite Matt674 for pointing out my failures and suggesting that it was because of poor play as opposed to bad luck. I’d realised just in time, but sometimes having someone else clarify the negatives for you is a big plus.

The key here is that I’m still winning, and making a sum that is enough to live on, which was one of the initial challenges of my venture.


(i)   Live Performance

I really haven’t played enough live events this month. I fully intend to attend the Gala more frequently for three reasons:

·   It’s great fun.
·   They have a broad selection of games and seem to be steering away from the chip throwing contests.
·   I have a good record there. Excluding my most recent visit, my last 3 finishes have been 1st, 3rd, and 2nd.

Although it went to a chip count, I was overjoyed to have won the £30 freezout a week or two ago. It may be there smallest competition to date, but it’s still nice to beat 65 other opponents, whatever you’re playing for. Most importantly though, I played well. I made the final table twice at the Gala with the biggest chip count. That’s a major progression for me as I frequently crawl into the final ten, often finding myself forced to wait for premium hands only.

The Gala have a £50 double chance freezout on Thursdays. Assuming it’s on tomorrow, I plan to pop down and give it a shot. Good to see some proper poker being encouraged.


(ii)    Online Performance

My net profit may be down from last month, but my online success has improved by a few hundred squid. Assuming that it’s not a result of luck, what are the reasons for this improvement?

·   After 3 consecutive days of severe losses, I stepped back and took a long hard look at my game. I referred to a few books and enquired with a number of fellow players. Finally, I realised that I was putting too much blame on Lady Luck. The clear fact was that I was playing poorly. Too many preflop raises, bluffing when I knew opponent’s wouldn’t fold, chasing flushes, you know, the usual. Anyhow, the bottom line was that I was trying too hard to hit a profit, when really patience was the key.
·   I’m now playing in the mornings rather than the evenings when I was more fatigued and up against slightly stronger competition.
·   I’m leaving games when I can see the standard improving and my quality of play weakening.

Let’s just hope that I can carry these characteristics through to February and perhaps pick up a few more. I’ve always got to be looking to improve my game. Once I stop learning, then that’s when my experiment will begin to go downhill.


(iii)    Changes

Eek. This is scary. Right, heading back now to see what I said last month, hands partly over my eyes.


With the exception of the opening day, I’m confident that I have achieved these changes. My online game is in pretty good nick at the moment, and I reckon it’s because I have made the necessary alterations highlighted above. What has been noticeable is the lack of a ‘clawback’ session, which is a big relief.


Er… No one’s perfect!

One second, I’ll just go weigh myself.

Hmm, apparently I weigh ‘BATT’.

Anyway, I feel pretty good and I’m eating okay. Plenty of water, the odd fruit now and then. Plus, I’m regularly serving up a bit of brekkie – ‘The most important meal of the day’ don’t you know!

I may have to confess that I’m still a short distance away from being an Olympic athlete. To tell the truth, I’m a good few furlongs away from being anything except a lazy unfit git.

Having said that though, I did go on a run the other night. Good Lord was that an experience. I started off comfortably, striding down the road like Seb Coe, then, suddenly, I realised that I was snoops, not an Olympian. After just about a 100 yards, I felt my legs start to ache and my throat pleading for air. 24 and out of breath so soon, the shame! I hope this is just me being unfit rather than old. (I never thought I’d be in a situation where I’m deciding on whether I’m unfit or getting old.)  ;tk;

Anyhow, whilst looking rather pathetic, I decided to battle on. In the distance I spotted what appeared to be a couple of young ladies. What did I do? And I’m ashamed to admit it. Yep, I picked up the pace, so as to avoid looking like a complete loser. I mean, I must have looked a right state; breathing heavily, dragging my feet, runny nose, sheesh – I’d scare them to death.  :o

So, I pushed my chest out and ran a bit faster as if I was a pro training for a marathon. As I got closer I realised that they were fellas! I need my bloomin eyes testing. What a waste of a sudden burst of pace that was! I was bloomin knackered when I ran past. Bah!

As a result, I think I’d peaked way too soon and I was forced to walk for a few minutes while I regained my composure. I probably would have walked for longer but I reached the canal where they once found a dead body. I was a kid at the time, and, at nighttime, the place still spooks me out. So, I started running again. It was dark!!! All right?!

As I reached my house, I collapsed on the step and wondered why the hell people did this for fun. Are they mad?! I looked at my stopwatch in dismay. A quick jog around the block had taken me 25 minutes, when I recall my old times being around the 13 minute mark. That’s almost double. Boy, this getting fit stuff is going to be harder than I thought.

Right, I refuse to bore you anymore with my tales of athletic woe. In short, my targets for month 3 are as follows; Carry on winning, carry on running, and carry on enjoying. Simple, huh? Guess I’ll have to wait and see…  ;pokergods;

snoops snoopy

Great work Snoops, hopefully I'll actually get myself in gear for the £30 FO on Sunday, I keep meaning to come down but tis a bit of a drive. (well not that much, but I'm almost as lazy as you! :D)

 :goodpost: sloppy  :)up

Hi snoops have you stopped writing. OR have you had a heart attack from jogging . Just wait till you get Piles or hemmaroids no jobs as easy as it looks.   Speaking of which you dont seem to be putting in that many hours  so it should not be a problem for you    well it should. Theres a rumour being put outby Noflops Homer you are lazy where did he get that idea from I wonder.      Seriously though your hours do look to be on the  Im just playing at it side. this is your bussiness never forget that.

HARD TO ADJUST

I haven’t posted too frequently on this thread recently, mainly due to the fact that I’ve been updating on the EPTs, but also because I want to avoid filling the thread with irrelevant waffle. I feel today’s entry, however, might interest a few people, and I firmly believe that it is a problem that occurs for many an online player.

Last Thursday was the Birmingham Open £300 event at the Broadway Casino. I’d promised myself that I would win either this event, or the £300er at the Midlands Medley in Walsall. Although I experienced a victory in a £30 freezout at the Gala last month, my form in the bigger events is questionable. However, I was determined to start hitting those final tables again, and I saw no better place to do that than my own hometown.

On entry, I noticed a whole heap of familiar faces. In fact, the 100 plus runners seemed to be made up of quality known players from the circuit. Joe Grech, Paul Jackson, John Shipley, Micky Wernick, Dave Colclough, and co had all been lured by the bright lights of Brum. Actually, El Blondie was on my table, along with Ash Pervais, Craig Wildman, Frankie Knight, and Matt Tyler. It was a pretty tough table to be honest, and, at the most, there was just the 1 fish.

My thought process before we kicked off was thus: Don’t try and show off in front of Dave and think about every decision. Also, I wanted to add a bit of flair to my game. The table was lacking in fish and I needed to show some rags so I could be paid off somewhere down the line. Most of the table knew me, but hadn’t played with me too often, so would naturally assume I was a rock. Therefore, to have any chance of the aforementioned players paying off my monsters, I needed to show that I’d come here to play.

After a round or two, I just wasn’t finding any hands and my plans were going to pot. So, when I was one off the cut-off position, I decided to raise whatever my cards. Big mistake. I had K-5 off, a dangerous hand to start messing around with. I could easily get caught by a bigger king holding, and it’s not the sort of hand that’ll catch a nice flop. Something like 9-7 would have been much more appropriate.

Anyhow, I did raise, and both blinds called. The flop came 8-8-9 with two diamonds. Both checked. I bet 600. Another big mistake. With a flop like that, it’s way too dangerous to start betting out when both the blinds are involved. I could get called by a 9, 8, flush or straight draw, even overcards. Getting them both to fold is nigh on impossible.

The small blind called and the turn came a raggy diamond. Hmm, not good. He checked, I checked. The river then brought a J. He checked. I dwelled for ages, wondering how I was going to get out of this one with some pride in tact. Another mistake. Do I really care that much about pride? With that board, there are so many hands that could beat me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned over a nine, or even a straight. So, for that reasoning, I checked. He flipped over pocket sixes, and I was left blasting myself for not making the bluff.

I was about to muck my garbage, when I suddenly decided to flip it over. Pretty embarrassing, but I thought I’d swallow my pride and let the table know that I was willing to play any two cards. I got a few smirks and the odd, ‘K-5? What you raising with that rubbish for?’ but I can take it.

So, not the best of starts, and it wasn’t to get any better. From here on in, my concentration completely slipped and I started playing like an idiot. I didn’t think logically about any of my hands and the amount of mistakes I made is insurmountable. I wasn’t receiving any big cards, and I became impatient, unnecessarily so.

Online, I have a matter of seconds to make my decision due to the fact that I’m playing four tables simultaneously. For some reason, my brain was still in multitabling mode and I was treating my live decisions as online ones, hitting call, fold, or raise ASAP.

One hand I raised to 200 under the gun with 6d 5d. There were 4 or 5 callers. (Well, at least they’re willing to play with me) The flop came Ad 2c 4c. Everyone checked, to the button who bet 500. This guy was a weakfish player and I was pretty confident that he had the ace. For some reason, I decided to call. Why? Well, because I’m a baboon. This is the sort of call I’d happily make online. I have a backdoor flush and a straight draw. It’s pretty cheap, and I know that if I hit, I can get called by a top pair holding, even if I massively overbet the river. Also, there’s a good chance that he’ll back off and check the turn, therefore giving me another chance at hitting. It’s not the greatest move, but online, it can be surprisingly profitable. Live, however, it’s a donkey play, especially when your chips are already diminishing.

Anyhow, the turn came a dreaded 6s, making me a pair. Both of us checked. The river then brought the Qc. Now, I know he has the ace, I know he’s a weak player who could never fold top pair, I also know that, before the river, I was happy to pass if I didn’t hit one of my 11 outs. So, what did I do? Yep, a little demonic voice in my head chanted ‘Bet. Bet. Bet’. And I couldn’t stop myself chucking in a 1000, which clearly wasn’t enough to push anyone off anything, never mind a weak player off top pair. Inevitably, he called and showed Aspades Th. Great going snoops. I looked down in dismay at my 2.5k stack. I hadn’t received any bad luck, no bad beats, no nothing, but I was 3.5k down already from my 6k starting chips. What a waste. An hour clock with miniscule blinds, and here I was throwing it all away.

Online, this wouldn’t be a problem. I’d accept my mistake and refill back up to the max. No worries. Unfortunately, my brain was still in online gear when I sat down at the Broadway. I was in a ‘I’ll just refill’ mood, and it was threatening my existence in the comp. I kept telling myself to get a grip and start focusing, but I didn’t seem to listen. Immensely frustrating in hindsight.

Well, after doing some more chips and then doubling back up to 4k, I eventually sang my swan song the very next hand when I raised 350 preflop with Ad Qd. I found two callers and a flop of Js Qs 4s. I checked, the guy next door made an overbet of 1600. I mulled it over for about a split second, then moved all-in. The overbet smelt like a bare ace to me. He called in a shot and showed Aspades Ac. Awesome. I was a gonna.

Whilst some said that I couldn’t really get out of it, I was convinced that I’d made another boo boo. I’d only invested 350, and I had no spade, so it really wasn’t worth me moving all-in, especially when I know I’m going to get called. Why I didn’t think any of this through at the time, I don’t know. I made no attempts to read my player or the situation, instead opting just to make a random decision. Once again, my brain was looking at a monitor with four tables, believing it had to make a decision pronto and that, if I was wrong, I could just refill. Well, not this time. I trundled off to the bar with my tail firmly between my legs.

I was absolutely gutted. I’d payed £300 to play like a fool. I don’t mind getting bad beats, but when I knock myself out of competition through play as bad as that, it really gets me down, especially when I’m in need of a win.

But why did I play so badly?

The day before, I played 7 hours of non-stop online poker. I encountered the clawback and managed to drag myself from $700 to just $100 down. I’d played all that time without a break, and still lost money. Intensely infuriating, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. My mistake here is not recognising that the clawback scenario can count for live competition too.  If you recall a post a while back about the ‘clawback’, you’ll remember me identifying the god awful session that inevitably follows. You manage to claw back a loss, and then do all your money the very next day. Well, I guess that’s what happened here. I endured a clawback, went to the Broadway the next day, and did my money by playing poorly. I suppose I should be thankful that I got it out of my system before I hit the online tables, which could have been a lot more expensive.

Also, my mindset was much too focused on online play. Not thinking about my decisions, bluffing unnecessarily, forgetting that I couldn’t refill, not paying attention to my diminishing stack size, not making efforts to read players, acting too quickly… the list just goes on and on.

Ultimately, I failed to adjust to live poker and it cost me £300. It’s something that I am now aware of, so next time I’ll make efforts to avoid a repeat performance. Not playing a seven hour session the day before, recognising the importance of a clawback, and making sure I staple a thinking cap to my head, would be a jolly good start…

snoops snoopy

Hey snoops, don't feel too despondent, you've still got the £500 today, just play good solid poker and you'll do fine. I think you be fine after you win your first pot.  :)up

Nomad -  :redcard: for  ;ifm; :D

Snoops i love the way you pyscho analyse yourself, but STOP beating yourself up.  What you have described is what most people go through in any given comp when they are card dead.  I think you are suffering from naughty boy syndrome, in that as soon you tell yourself not to do something - it makes you do it even more!

To get off online thinking, why dont you try a Harrington special.  When it comes to you to make a decision, sit on your hands and think. You might look like an idiot but at least those chips wont be in the middle as quick as a flash!

Quelle difference? ;)

Don't beat yourself up Snoppy - that's our job  :D

Now get out there & play well in the £500.

Have you ever prematurely ended an online session because it wasn't going so well?

Or do you always go for clawback?

But it wasnt me who pointed anything out - you pointed it out yourself. To become successful in poker you need to be honest with yourself and in your posts you were honest enough to admit that maybe the bad run you were experiencing at the time wasnt all down to bad luck.

It helps to have a good friend in poker - one who you can confide in and talk things through with in an open and honest way. Yes we all moan about having to hear other peoples bad beat stories or having to read them online but sometimes you have to get things off your chest to try to see if the problem is all down to bad luck. If you have a good friend in poker it is possible to do that so long as you remember that you have to listen as well as be the one talking.

Fortunately i have a friend like that in BigArmo (as much as we mock each other online!! ;)) and on top of that now i know i have made several friends through this forum. Whilst someone may not have someone in their area who they play regularly with in live tourneys then they know that they have several friends on here, myself included, to try and help as best they can. As much as i joke around on the site i will always do my best to aid anyone if they ask for it and i will only be too happy to help, even if it means confirming a few home truths!!

I read your posts with interest as in a way i am using you as a guide to what it will be like of i too were to give up work to play poker full time. Hopefully one day when i finally decide to take the plunge and join you i will be better prepared as to how to avoid the pitfalls that lie ahead of me thanks to this thread. So by trying to help you whereever possible i will be helping myself in the long run!!

Keep up the good work sir :)up

Good point. Sometimes it just aint your day.

If an hour in, my 2nd nut flush has lost to the nut flush, my set has met a larger set and my bottom end straight has lost to a top end straight I reassess. Is this table worth staying on? Is it loose enough? Am I seeing enough flops on it? Is it too expensive per flop? Etc etc etc

If I find it's not worth staying on and I cant find a suitable table that is, I nip it in the bud. Stop tilt before it starts sorta thing. To me playing in clawback mode means "tilt".

But is it just the fact that it isnt your day?

If your 2nd nut flush loses to the nut flush, your set loses to a larger set and your bottom end straight has lost to a top end straight then it means you started with the worst hand on all three occasions.

If this were to happen then maybe it would be worth reassessing your own game and maybe trying to be the one getting your money in with the better hand rather than putting it down to the fact that it just aint your day.

<post edit comments - having reread my post i haven't really described very well the point i was trying to get across. The point i was trying to make is that you should never just think that a losing session on cash or a losing tournament is down to the fact that it "just isnt your day". By printing off the hand histories from a cash game session or from a tournament you can analyze how you played. True your pocket aces were cracked when the chip leader called your all in raise with J8 suited when you were on the bubble of the tourney and he somehow fluked the pot with runner runner to make the flush. However could you have done something prior to that which meant that you were in a better position at the time and could have forced them to lay down the J8 because you had more chips to begin the hand with? Could you have laid down a hand earlier in the tourney instead of calling on the river even though there was a good chance you were beat? Could you have reraised a player out of a pot when you suspected they were bluffing?

Maybe analyze one cash game session every week or two tournaments (depending on how often you play). Always decide before the session starts whether you are going to analyze it or not - this way you will also analyze things even if it was a winning session/tournament, then maybe you can highlight hands where you do appear to be making the right decisions and incorporate it into your game on a more regular basis. Your subconscious is a wonderful thing, it remembers specific things from the past sometimes without you realizing it and helps you make split second decisions that leave other people wondering how could you have known. By reading through hand histories you'll be helping your subconscious store extra information that could be the difference between your next session being a winning one and a losing one!!>

Two  :goodpost:s Matt.

I agree with both your posts.

I think bad beats are far less common than people think, especially on the net. A lot of bad beats are down to the way you have played allowing someone to bad beat you. In my opinion this is why the top guys stay at the top. Of course there are many situations that you can do nothing about.

Great idea.  ;iagree;

Whilst I accept that I may have been behind in all 3 hypothetical scenarios pre flop, small sets and small straights are some of the best ways to make money in cash are they not? Especially versus the tight-aggressive player who overplays their AK QQ KK or AA.

Should I stop playing small pairs everytime just incase a bigger pair is out there that might make higher trips? Should I fold every KQ suited just incase AX of the same suit is out there and we both make a flush? I play cash to make money not to limit what I lose. If this means losing with set vs set OCCASIONALLY but means that more often my set busts top pair w/top kicker, then I'll take this occasional loss. That's the risk of playing small pairs - it doesn't mean I should "wait to put my money in ahead" by not playing them.

My game is based on busting people's entire stacks by playing cards they dont expect me to have when they're overplaying so called "big hands". No matter how much I reassess this cash game style the fact is sometimes in cash games sometimes you just do put your money in behind. Especially set vs set.

In short yes I do believe that sometimes it is just not your day.

I just want to add that, more than any other game, poker is a game of form. When in good form you hit every even money shot you play, you are invincible. When you aren't in form not only do you miss but the idiot next to you calls all your raises with junk and busts you everytime! You cant catch a cold! In my opinion, form and luck are related. Maybe not much, and a whole lot less for better players, but they are interrelated if only a little.

It doesn't matter how good you are there is still a luck factor involved. It is not pure math. There is uncalculable element. You can play the best poker of your life and lose. So, in my opinion, sometimes it just wont be your day - no matter how you play.

I still believe skill will prevail in the long run and the luck factor evens itself out (otherwise I wouldn't play) but we are talking about one session here. In one session you can be unlucky.

 :goodpost: :goodpost: ;iagree; ;iagree;

Yes, that is something that I have developed over time, although I find that the more I'm down, the more difficult it is to quit.

On this occasion, however, I was playing pretty well, which probably explains how I managed to claw it back.

The clawback always occurs after a good run of winning sessions. I think it must be my mindset when I sit down for that first half hour. It's almost as if you expect to double up asap, and, if you don't, you get greedy and start forcing it. This is when the mistakes come. I do my stack and then shake myself, which is when the clawback commences.

Sometimes, as long as you have your wits about you and are aware of the clawback process, the potential pitfalls, and the tilt factor, then playing on isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if the table is weak.

It's the next session that's the problem. You're relieved to have clawbacked all that money but fail to analyse it properly. You just consider it a blip where perhaps you received bad luck. Then, the same thing occurs, you start off expecting to double up, it doesn't arrive, and you fail to accept the lack of income. This time though, you don't quite handle your failure well enough and the potential for even more mistakes becomes much more prevalent.

This is what happens to me anyhow.

I'm working on it still...

Good question, thetank.

 Hi no flops only having fun .    On a serious note.  I was interested in the  change of speed comments, internet versus live,  it must be coincidence. This week I stopped playing  on the net last night in preparation for the CCC on thursday.  In the past I have gone straight from the net to a tournament and it seemed to take at least an hour till I was in focus . I quite often found my brain had to do a double take to absorb what the flop consisted of ,most strange. This time its serious at 2k a shot so i will have to behave right from the off,    nice to see some cmments on <the clawback<factor.  ;goodluck;

A RENEWED INTEREST


Sometimes life grabs you by the balls and throws you into the wide-open world. That’s how I’ve felt recently. For the last couple of weeks, it’s been non-stop. First Vienna and then straight onto Monaco. In fact, in the past fortnight, I’ve been to 7 countries; England, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, France, Monaco (is that a country?), and Germany. Although the majority of them have been due to connecting flights, it’s pretty incredible when you consider that I’ve just doubled my lifetime visits abroad. In fact, I find it breathtaking and it’s left me feeling kind of gob-smacked. When I left University, not once did I think I might be living from a suitcase, spending most of my days in hotels, airports, and casinos.

I don’t know how tikay does it sometimes. Whilst in Vienna, he went on a three or four day cash game binge. One night, me and the crew, Julian, Jen, Matt, and RED, returned home from a heavy day at the Concorde Casino. This was at 4 am. The ol’ fella didn’t return home til 12 noon the next day! And what’s even more incredible, is that at 2pm he was up on his feet ready to hop back over to the casino for some Poker 425 interviews. He must have Red Bull running through his veins!

Anyhow, back to the thread…

Due to my new role with blonde and the jet-setting lifestyle I am happily adopting, my online career has stalled. Don’t get me wrong, online play still remains my main source of income, but when you are offered opportunities to travel the world and meet a host of big names, you can’t refuse. It’s this to which I am truly grateful, and I must offer my greatest thanks to tikay and Dave for taking me on. I hope I have proved that I was worth the punt.

Whilst in Monte Carlo, Micky Wernick offered to back half of me in the €1,000 comp. €1,000 is out of my price range, but €500 isn’t, so I suddenly became a real eager beaver. With Jen and Flushy kindly offering to take the reigns for the final table updating, I thought ‘why not?’ and decided that I deserved a crack at the tables.

Bizarrely, after playing my biggest ever comp in the Walsall £500er last month, this was to be yet another milestone for me. €1,000 must equate to around 750 squid, so it is easily my most expensive tourney so far. The strangest thing was that, in comparison to the 10k main event, it felt like a £30 freezout at Walsall. Everyone, including myself, were relaxed as hell, there was plenty of banter, and I didn’t once think twice about playing differently due to the cost.

My table was filled to the brim with young guns. It was pretty tough. Two to my left – eek – was Stuart Fox, opposite was the raising machine Rory Matthews, and inbetween were a couple of aggressive Scandieboys. I knew that if I were going to survive this band of merry men, then I’d have to mix it up early doors.

That’s exactly what I did. I raised with some goo to let them know I was there, whilst also making the occasional move when I felt the pot was available for the taking. I’m not sure why, but I seemed to have the beating of Matthews on almost every pot I played. He definitely had me down as an ABC player, so I used that to my advantage. If there were a pair on the flop, I’d represent it by flatcalling with rags and then half pot betting the turn. Seemed to work, and I was able to employ this strategy on him a number of times.

One mistake that I think some people make is calling my raises with the intent of outplaying me as though I am ABC only. I get this constantly. Maybe it’s because I look young and am reserved at the table, not sure. It happened in one crucial hand where I raised it up preflop with bullets and was called by Rory from the big blind. The flop came Queen high and we both checked. Turn was a blank. He bet and I moved all-in for a big overbet. He called and showed Q-5. He was clearly calling to outplay me, why else would he play such a weak holding? Anyhow, he spiked the 5 and doubled up. I was down to the felt and in automatic survival mode.

I can’t complain too much about that beat though, as a level or two earlier I’d cracked K-K with A-K. It was 3k more for me in an 1800 pot. There’d been two limpers and I thought my opponent would make the same bet with A-Q, J-J, T-T, A-Q, so decided it was worth a gamble.

After having the aces cracked, I lost a 50-50 against a short stack (Q-6 v 3-3 – ahem) and found myself down to 1400 with the blinds at 200/400. I was under the gun with T-3 off and decided I had no choice. Poker is all about timing (a.k.a luck) and this time my timing was way off. I ended up all-in against pocket rockets and big slick and I recall saying to Stu, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if this T-3 won.’ And yeah, it was kinda amusing. Q-2-4-A-5 board was a real rib tickler, especially with the bullets making trips on the turn. Incidentally, I was flushing with my 3, so I could hardly lose really. Well, sort of…

Back up to 4 or so k, I played it tight and waited for a hand. No big cards came and I eventually found myself in the small blind with K-9. The flop came 9d-2d-8c and I decided to check raise. An early limper bet and I moved all-in, fully expecting to be dominating pocket sevens or sixes. Unfortunately, he had the monster drawing hand 8-6 of diamonds and the inevitable Tc on the river arrived.

Except for the aces, I have no complaints. I’d reached the last 5 tables out of 135 and enjoyed a much needed break from updating. I may not have cashed, but I was pleased with the way I played. Most importantly, and the real reason for this post, I found a renewed vigour and interest for live poker.

Playing online can sometimes be fun and offer the odd adrenalin rush, but nothing beats live play. After watching Jen become chip leader on the first day of the Main Event in Monte Carlo, I realised that I wanted to play these events more than ever. Previously, I’d stayed away from satellites and £20 rebuys because they seemed to just cut into my online ring game profits, which I was finding pretty demoralising. Tourneys can take a long while to reach a profitable status, and meanwhile, it’s hard work seeing your online cash grind dribble away whilst you wait for that win.

However, I have a different view now. I’m not too fussed if I have a losing month. I was obsessed with it before, and being just a penny down would have been considered a massive failure. Well, I think I have the potential to become a good live player, and I’m going to push that. I’ll still earn a crust online, but I won’t worry so much about spending my winnings on satellites and small festival events.

I failed to post a monthly review for February, mainly due to the fact that I’ve been away so much. However, I will deliver one for March and February, and I think it will be much more focussed on live events. I’m going to pop down to Walsall and the Broadway a bit more often to see if I can crack some of the small tourneys and hopefully pick up some sort of win. No bubbles, near misses, deals, no nothing, just an outright win.

Next month’s report could show a big loss or a big win. Who knows, but I need a change and my updating experiences have motivated me into taking that change and hitting the live felt more often. Give us a wave when you see me at the tables.


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Worth waiting for, ya big jet-setter you.

 :goodpost:

 ;cheerleader; ;cheerleader; ;cheerleader;


Wooooo Go Snoppy!  :)up

You sound in a much more positive frame of mind.

great post ysnopo.

You are the man in my opinion, a really sound and funny bloke and it was a pleasure to have a couple of chats with you in monte carlo (although cutting my chips down whilst shaking like a leaf after raking a pot to make it easy for you i will not be doing again).

I fuly agree with your 'nothing like the live buzz' attitude but you should not turn your back on the internet ring games to a great extent, talking to the assorted scandieboys in monte carlo, the real big winners are the big cash players on the internet and i'm sure with dedication you can get there.

Good luck with it all snoopy, you can crush both disciplines i reckon.

 

cheers Tommy (spookily close to Big TK's name)

Watching you play Day 2 next to Andy Black was one of the reasons why I made this post. Kind of made me feel as if I was missing out on something. Your hands were shaking for a reason. -- The buzz -- that's what I play for anyhow. I don't mean the buzz of gambling, but the buzz of playing poker and winning.

The bottom line is that I'm not desperate for the money, my bankroll is steady, and I receive an income from blonde. Therefore, I see no reason why I shouldn't start playing more festival events and throwing myself at a few more satellites. I did it for Walsall and, although I didn't fare too well in the comps, I loved every minute. It might cost me a few bucks at first, but I'm confident that my game's strong enough to take down a big prize.

You never know, we might be playing heads up for that WSOP bracelet.

No deals though.

See you at the final table. We willl get there. Playing big events is so much more exhilirating i have vowed to take a lot more care in my bankroll etc and be more studious of the game, as i want some more monte carlo type experiences, i recommend it to anyone.

Good luck again mate.

Think the Birmingham Gala is running a £30 fo on Thurs now snoopster.. save u having to bomb to notts so much... Think we might be off this thurs, if ur thinking of showing the face let us kno sir

Sounds good.

About time they brough in a nice little freezout like that.

I think I'll be in Notts this Thursday though for the £50er.

I'll give u a shout if my plans change.

Ha, chasing the bigger dollar eh!?

He just likes the arguments :D

IFM, arent u from this neck of the woods? wherebouts do u normally play live? Walsall?

Mainly Walsall though the broadway, Dudley and starcity too.
I'm gonna have a look at Birmingham gala and maybe some of the other walsall casinos too.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S AROUND THE CORNER

 :hello:

As some of you may have noticed, this thread has stalled of late. This isn’t due to laziness on my part, but more an intentional reluctance to post. The reason for this is that my life has taken an unexpected turn since I first started this thread back in November. If you recall, I quit my reliable safe job to venture into the world of poker, not quite knowing where I’d end up, and certainly having no idea to whether that place would be one of profit or loss. Either way, I was determined to give it a shot, and I did.

However, after only 3 months of pursuing an online career, I found myself in the enviable position of blonde team member. In addition to moderating the forum, to which I take great pleasure, my new roles included Live Updating, editing the site content, and helping set up the new site. Although I foolishly expected this to be a part-time responsibility, I soon became aware that it was to take up the majority of my time. I don’t give a monkeys though. Writing about poker, seeing the world, and meeting so many great people is an absolute delight, and I am truly grateful to Dave and tikay for giving me such wonderful opportunities.

In terms of pursuing an online playing career though, I’m forced to put this quest on the back shelf. Going from Vienna straight to Monte Carlo, then returning for the Blonde Bash only to head back home to continue working on the new site, I’ve realised that playing online can no longer be a viable option. I just don’t have the time, and if I do, I’ll probably be fatigued and therefore risk losing money unnecessarily. However, for the sheer reason that I love working for blonde so much, I’m prepared to relinquish what was becoming the crux of my income. Money’s not that important to me, being within a poker atmosphere and loving every day that I’m around my buddies is much more paramount to me.

In other words, I am unable to play online to the extent that I initially wished, and so this thread is becoming less and less relevant. When I started it, I wanted to discuss all the issues that arise when trying to pursue a career in poker, but, as my online activity has depleted so much, these questions can no longer be posed.

Therefore, I will be posting less frequently on the thread. I am still determined to make something of myself in poker, that aim will never vanish, but online isn’t my desired destination. After watching Jen’s display in Monte Carlo, I soon realised that live poker was where I wanted to be. You just can’t beat it. The buzz, the atmosphere, the banter. It’s unprecedented and I doubt online play will ever surpass the excitement that can emerge from playing your opponents face to face.  :)

So, although a rarity, future posts on this thread will be much more centred on my live play as opposed to online. I remain determined to win big at this game, and I am confident that one day I’ll hit the jackpot.

When I first started this thread, I wrote:

“So back to the aforementioned question, ‘Will snoops succeed or fail?’ Only time will tell, but hopefully the poker gods will be smiling upon me.”

Well, in the few months that I played full-time, I made a profit. It wasn’t huge, but it was more than I was earning from my previous job (just), so, in that sense, I’d say I succeeded. I was doing something I loved and making money from it, what more could I ask?

Anyhow, I’d just like to say thanks to all those who wished me good luck and offered such valuable advice. Some of it really helped and I’ve learnt heaps.  ;tightend;

I’ll keep you posted if I ever become a poker superstar. Could be a while yet though, but I’ll get there…

Right, I'm off to treat myself to a PSP. woooo  :dd:

snoops snoopy

 :ironside:

T'was a great thread that will be sorely missed.

Good luck in the new ventures m8. You're doing a great job. :)up

The thrill dies when the face is yours Snops (or mine, Billy's or InTheBelly's) ;)

Good luck with the change of focus & rest assured that we'll all be supporting you when you do hit it big.

Oiiii  :redcard: :redcard:   Thats hardly fair, some people travel from all over just to face me at the poker table.

On a sidenote, does anyone else do this?

I keep pouring soup straight into the bowl without cooking it.

I came all the way up to Glasgow for that sole purpose, and I Rod stole that opportunity from me when he eliminated me from the comp with his rags.  ::)

I'm glad to see you've finally seen the light and ceased your illegal monkey trading venture - good luck in your new venture 

 ;goodluck;

p.s. i notice in the piece that you say money isnt important - if it isnt too personal a question, if you are giving up playing online poker as your source of income then how are you going to live? Do you make enough playing live poker on the odd chance you get to pay the bills, pay the rent and put food on the table?

p.p.s. on a side note - no i dont, we dont have bowls in the jungle. Straight from the carton!!

Snoops, believe it or not you were one of the people I wanted to play against at BB2, But alas that big fish rod made it to the final in your place.

Good luck on the live scene mate, I hope it goes well.

I invoice blonde for the work I do with them, plus I write the odd article here and there for a couple of other sites.

It's not much, but it's enough to live on. Plus, I've still got my bankroll if things get tough.

Also, I won't cease to play online altogether. It's just that I can't play on such a regular basis, as I was a month or two ago.

Yep, had to give up the monkeying before I got caught. Although PG Tips still owe me a packet from the last batch I sent their way.

LOL

Nah, Rod played well. Used his big stack to good effect.

He was obviously keen to get an interview.  ;tk;

Oops, wrong customer there mate - you'll only get paid peanuts.......

ooh ooh what flavour?

uuhhhmmmmm, peanut flavour? thats provided you get peanuts - last time i did an advert for them they gave us monkeynuts!!  :o

It's been a while since I posted anything on this thread, but, although my time is predominantly focused on blonde, I do still play online at every possible opportunity.

Some of you who followed this thread when it was in full flow, may wish to read my latest blog entry as the subject matter is cash-game poker.

If anyone has any comments regarding the topics raised in the article, then please feel free to post your thoughts on this thread.

I don't normally advertise my blog entries individually, but I thought this may be of interest to some of you fellow cash game players out there.

cheers, snoops snoopy

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/2376 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/2376)

Nice blog entry, this is a common theme among a lot of players .. I think its part of a competive spirit - the one that drives us to win.
So many pros say this was one of their weak points playing in games for long hours to recoup losses in that session- just get some sleep and play fresh.
You play the same amount of time and you'll be fresher for it.

Says me chasing an early losing session at 3:15am...couple of beats early on, now on the roll back up towards what I bought in with and for what? the 8bb I'm down.
:/

I think getting over this hurdle helps with bad beats as well, its a part of the same mentality.

*logging off and going to bed*

Just one point, did you change the site name for political reasons?
I know your profits have come from party and i couldn't help but wonder if a site change effected you, i know that sounds daft but psychology is a major part of poker.

I'm still playing Party. I kinda switch between the two.

I quite like the blondepokerleague site, regardless of the politcial reasons. It's pretty sweet on the eyes, and I'm used to the set-up due to playing blue square. The only thing that can be tricky sometimes is mulitabling as the tables are slightly bigger than Party and my monitor isn't the biggest.

However, and I don't know if others find this, I found switching between different sights when you're predominantly a cash game player is quite a rewarding process. Keeps things fresh.

I have terrible problems on tribecca when i have more than one table open, it slows right down, stalls and disconnects.

sounds odd

did ask customer services about it?

Great stuff sno0ps, but what I want to know is, what IS your favourite TV programme?

Give Me A Break

This is the first proper post I have made on this thread for a couple of months, and, to be honest, I hadn’t really been planning on adding to it.

Recently, however, I have decided to play a lot more online poker and really give it a good bash. When I first joined the blonde team, I just played every so often, but over the last few weeks I’ve hit the felt on an almost daily basis.

So why do I suddenly decide to post today? Well, since I got back into the swing of online poker, today has been my first losing session, and I feel crap as a result.

The time is now 7.32am, I’ve been threatening to hit the sack for hours now, but, a combination of fatigue, insomnia, and desperately trying to make a profit have all prevented me from doing the sensible thing. This irritates me no end as I thought I’d conquered this disciplinary part of my game. Although on past occasions I would have played for longer and lost even more due to my stubbornness, this area still needs a lot of work.

The problem I have is that I am still refusing to take breaks unless I am doing well, and, even if I do manage to pull myself away, I’m back on in no time, eagerly trying to pull back my deficit.

The last few weeks have seen me make a profit of some kind on virtually every session. I felt good, was enjoying my game, and seemed to be adding to my bankroll at a rather brisk rate.

Today, however, it all went downhill. The reason for this, I believe, is that, for the first time in a while, I’ve had the whole day completely free. Normally, I play for a couple of hours, then shoot off to do something else that needs to be done. I don’t need to worry about breaks, because I only plan on playing a short session. If I know I have hours ahead of me, I tend to just play, and play, and play, gradually allowing fatigue to take control of my decisions. Then, I start to make mistakes, which, when playing four tables simultaneously, can really throw you off your game.

Of course, if I start off winning, then I have no problem taking a break after an hour or so. However, if, like today, I run my set into a bigger set and immediately find myself $200 down, I then move into the mindset of ‘Must get my money back’. Very dangerous indeed.

Several months ago, I would have started playing badly right from this point, but now, I can still maintain a solid game. On many occasions, I will pull back this deficit, joyfully finishing the session in profit. However, every so often, you run into a series of bad luck scenarios, which is what happened today. Without boring you with the details, I quickly found myself $500, and wondering how my solid play could be punished so fiercely.

Now, this is where I started playing poorly. Several hours later, I find myself several hundred down and only just manage to pull myself away from the laptop before I fall even further down the pit.

What seems to send me hurtling down that pit is my state of mind. My shoulders slump and I let poker become more important than it really is. In short, I let it get to me too much, and I start to think the following thoughts: (i) 'I don't deserve to be down' (ii) 'All that profit that I made over the last few days is going in the space of a few hours' (iii) 'What a waste of my time this has been' (iv) 'I could have done something productive rather than spent my time losing money' (v) 'This isn't fun anymore' -- Once your start thinking like this, then it really is time to stop for the day.

This is what I really despise about days like these, they make me feel low. But why? The big picture is that I haven’t lost a lot, I didn’t tilt, what I did lose was just profit from 2 or 3 days weekend play, tomorrow’s another day, and there are more important things in life. Also, due to an improvement in discipline, I believe this loss would have been double several months ago, as I surely would have encountered the dreaded Tilt Monster.

However, I’m still pissed off that I let it happen at all. Why I can’t just say, ‘okay, I’m down, but I’m tired and it’s unlikely to get any better, so I’ll take a break for a couple of hours.’ I’ll never know. But tomorrow, I’m going to make a change.

This is the plan. Get up at 3pm, eat brekkie, then boot up the lappie. Throughout the day, I’ll play in 1hr 15min shifts. Whether I’m winning or losing, I’ll take a break for an hour, then get back on. True, if the table’s soft, then I really should stay seated, but, at this point in time, I really want to get into the pattern of being able to take breaks.

I have no idea how this is going to go. There are a few things that concern me. (i) Perhaps I’m just not playing well at the moment (ii) Maybe I’ll be tired tomorrow after going to bed post 8am (iii) I’m feeling kind of down.

But, I’m going to give it a crack and see what happens.

Watch this space. True, we all slip up now and then, but what I believe sets the good players apart from the bad, is that they can come back twice as strong.

Ps. If any of this rings a bell, and you wish to offer feedback, please do so.

Hurray!  The dog is back doing what he does best.

Could it be after a winning run you feel you'll never lose again?  So, when you take a few beatings you refuse to accept it and carry on in a less than focused condition?

 ;bigglesdog;

about time too. a decent post to read at last.
gl

That was a good post , boss


What is your screen name? 


good luck

snoopy-1239

Gonna give it a crack on blonde now. 3 tables of $1/2

It seems bizarre that I only seem to win when I play in short sessions, hopefully I can change that today with a decent break structure. Fingers crossed.

What I'll do, is post my results for each session and jot down how I was feeling at the time. Could be interesting to see when I was at my best, normally it's that first hour or two that I make my money.

And in reference to MrMoves' comment... boy oh boy, how true is that?!

3.30 start, let's hope a more disciplined approach works out well for me...

Session 1: 15:30 – 16:45

I literally had to prise myself away from the laptop. The tables were very soft indeed, and I was in the ‘must get my money back’ zone. But, if I’m going to improve this part of my game, I must take these breathers, otherwise I’ll let fatigue creep in and my play will suffer as a consequence. Plus, I’ll feel like shit for the rest of the day.

Well, not the best of starts, in fact, pretty shocking. After just 1 session, I’m already $193.10 down and, while this isn’t catastrophic to my bankroll, it sure doesn’t set me in the best of moods. Hopefully the break I’m about to take will sort that out.

I don’t think I’m playing badly though, the cards just aren’t running for me. If I raised with pocket queens, the flop would bring an Ace and King, if I flopped a set, the turn would fill a draw, just not getting the rub of the green – but that can change oh so easily.

I didn't double-up at all, but I did double down (if that’s an actual term) I called a reraise with pocket jacks, flopped my set, then, after moving all-in, saw them lose to pocket cowboys which filled up on the river. Nothing I could do there, and that basically accounted for my current deficit.

I experienced this hand near the start of the session. Was I unlucky, or did I just play it badly? All feedback gratefully received. Cheers. (I’ve cut out the crap)

snoopy1239 raises [$9].
dnba501 calls [$7].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, 3h, 2h ]

dnba501 bets [$8].
snoopy1239 calls [$8].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]

dnba501 checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$8].

dnba501 calls [$8].

** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]

dnba501 checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$50].
dnba501 calls [$50].

snoopy1239 shows [ Qd, Qs ] two pairs, queens and twos.
dnba501 shows [ Kc, 2c ] three of a kind, twos.
dnba501 wins $150 from  the main pot  with three of a kind, twos.

Session 2: 18:30 – 19:45

Blimey, because of the way I play, I’m used to chunky fluctations, but this session was absurd. Every 5 minutes I was either doubling up or doing my stack in. I was determined to keep my head though, and, after hitting some tasty hands, I ended up $262.87 in profit, which means I’m $69.77 up for the day. It’s not much, but considering the bad luck I was getting this morning, I’m pretty chuffed.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though. Flushes lost to bigger flushes, massive draws missed, flopped 2 pair outdrawn, blah, blah, blah, who cares right? The important thing is that the break did me good. I am back in profit for the day, I’m playing well (I think) and I feel pretty good.

So, for a change, instead of bad beat, what about a good win…
 

Seat 6: kcizzle21 ( $248.11 )
Seat 3: snoopy1239 ( $378.10 )

Dealt to snoopy1239 [  Jc Js ]

snoopy1239 raises [$8].
kcizzle21 calls [$7].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 9d, 9h ]

kcizzle21 checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$4].
kcizzle21 calls [$4].

** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]

kcizzle21 checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$5].

kcizzle21 raises [$10].
snoopy1239 raises [$10].
kcizzle21 raises [$40].
snoopy1239 calls [$35].

** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]

kcizzle21 checks.
snoopy1239 bets [$131.63].
kcizzle21 calls [$131.63].

snoopy1239 shows [ Jc, Js ] four of a kind, jacks.
kcizzle21 doesn't show [ Ks, 9s ] a full house, Nines full of jacks.
snoopy1239 wins $388.26 from  the main pot  with four of a kind, jacks.


Right, more poker after tea. Hopefully I can turn my small profit into a big one. I wonder how I would have done if I hadn’t taken a break. Hmm…

You seem to be betting pretty small on the flop and turn. What are the advantages of doing that?

I thought I was ahead on both streets and I was trying to tempt him into a reraise. Didn't put him on a nine though!

The K2 vs QQ was a little unlucky mate - he played it soopa sneaky too.

And to think, if I'd have just checked the river, I would have got out of trouble in miraculous style.

I was wondering why you bet so small all the way through and then made a huge bet on the river?

Hi, Bongo.

In that case, I bet so big on the end because I was sure he had a pocket pair and would pay me off. As he called my raise preflop, and checked the river, I really didn't put him on a stronger hand than mine.

I bet so small because I wanted to find out where I was for as cheap as possible. I wasn't worried about a king or ace hitting as, if he outdraws me with one of them, then he probably didn't have a hand that was going to pay me off anyway. I don't mind risking the outdraw in this case.

However, that's all irrelevant because of the strange way in which he played the hand.

Session 3: 00:30 – 03:00

Good News: I’ve a pizza in the oven
Bad News: My heads hurting a bit because of the fluctuations
Good News: I’m up for the session
Bad News: It’s only $27.13
Good News: I’m $96.91 up for the day
Bad News: It took me 5 hours of staring at a monitor to achieve it
Good News: At least it’s not a loss
Bad News: I was a very naughty boy and played for twice as long as I was meant to
Good News: I did manage to eventually pull myself away, when before I would have carried on until I showed a sizable profit or loss.
Bad News: I’ve gone into a cardiac arrest

I don’t know if anyone else experiences such ups and downs, maybe it’s just me, but anyhow, to give you an idea…

($1/2 NLH 6-handed)

snoopy1239 shows [ qs, qc ] three of a kind, queens.
millscoot doesn't show [ qh, ad ] a pair of queens.
snoopy1239 wins $215.64 from  the main pot  with three of a kind, queens.

wdrzich shows [ 6cl, 3cl ] a straight, three to seven.
snoopy1239 doesn't show [ kh, kd ] three of a kind, kings.
wdrzich wins $379 from  the main pot  with a straight, three to seven.

snoopy1239 shows [ 9sp, 9di ] four of a kind, nines.
nummynuts doesn't show [ ad, qc ] two pairs, aces and nines.
snoopy1239 wins $204 from  the main pot  with four of a kind, nines.

MacFierce shows [ jd, 8di ] two pairs, jacks and eights.
snoopy1239 doesn't show [ ks, jc ] a pair of jacks.
MacFierce wins $454.38 from  the main pot  with two pairs, jacks and eights.

snoopy1239 shows [ 8sp, 8di ] a full house, Eights full of threes.
tempranillo doesn't show [ 6sp, 8he ] two pairs, eights and sixes.
snoopy1239 wins $250 from  the main pot  with a full house, Eights full of threes.

TTUBluffer shows [ kh, kd ] a full house, Kings full of fours.
snoopy1239 wins $56.51 from  side pot #1  with a full house, Nines full of fours.
TTUBluffer wins $340.98 from  the main pot  with a full house, Kings full of fours.


Up down up down up down… and this isn’t all of them. Quite a lot of drama for 3 hours play, or am I exaggerating?

Anyhow, there were some really interesting hands played out. The following one was painful, but shit happens. Plus, I reckon I played it poorly at the end. Agree? After he bet the river rather than checking it, I knew he'd hit, but, for some reason, I still reraised. Doh!

Seat 3: TTUBluffer ( $170.49 )
Seat 4: snoopy1239 ( $265.15 )

Dealt to snoopy1239 [  9d 9s ]


TTUBluffer raises [$7].
snoopy1239 calls [$7].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Jc, 4c ]

TTUBluffer bets [$15].
snoopy1239 raises [$30].
TTUBluffer calls [$15].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]

TTUBluffer checks
snoopy1239 bets [$15].

TTUBluffer raises [$40].
snoopy1239 calls [$25].
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]

TTUBluffer bets [$40].
snoopy1239 raises [$150].

TTUBluffer is all-In  [$53.49]
snoopy1239 shows [ 9d, 9s ] a full house, Nines full of fours.
TTUBluffer shows [ Kh, Kd ] a full house, Kings full of fours.
snoopy1239 wins $56.51 from  side pot #1  with a full house, Nines full of fours.
TTUBluffer wins $340.98 from  the main pot  with a full house, Kings full of fours.
>You have options at Table  107650 Table!.


Overall, I'm relatively pleased with how I played during that session. I've had a couple of sets over sets, flushes outflushed, and so on, today, so I think I've done well to churn out a profit, even if it is a small one.

I wasn't happy that I didn't take my scheduled break during session 3, I really should have split this play up. But, at the time, I thought the table was soft and I didn't want to go back to a stack of $200. Sometimes sitting there with more than everyone else can work to your advantage.

Anyhow, I may play for an hour before bed, I'll see how I feel.

I wonder how I would have faired if I hadn't have taken any breaks...

Well, put it this way, when I did that yesterday, I made a loss. Today I'm back in the black. But, the important thing is that I played well, stayed focus, and didn't allow my decisions be influenced by fatigue... which was kinda the point of me doing this.

Now, how about that pizza... yum.

Interesting hand snoops, I'd set him all-in too though. I think you should be prepared to payoff those 2-outers on occasions. ;)

After watching so much poker in Vegas and playing so little, I decided that on my return I would play more poker. Therefore, as this predominantly involves online play, I thought I'd ressurect this thread.

I've always played online, but recently had to cut down due to my obligations with blonde. However, I am now working online poker back into my routine and have played virtually every day since returning home from Vegas.

I hope this thread helped other people, perhaps learning from my many mistakes. I also enjoyed sharing views and opinions with others who play professionally.

I don't play huge levels, so hopefully the experiences I retell are of more relevance to the many blogs out there that just bang on about 25/50 levels.

Anyhow, this is my latest blog entry. I hope people can relate to it.

If you have any comments or you recongise the 'riding the storm' approach, then plese fell free to post on here. Reading this thread was always a good outlet whilst playing poker and kept my feet firmly on the ground.

regards

snoops

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/3596 (http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/3596)

Good post mate.   Have you ever tried Short handed Limit Hold-em?    I presume this is NL

Actually, I went on last night and was in a right state of confusion.

I hunted around for a good 2-4 game, but every time I sat down it wouldn't let me deposit more than $100. I couldn't work out what was wrong.

Then, after going round a few tables and even having my question unanswered in the chat box, I realised that I'd clicked Limit tables by mistake.

Doh

I also made the same mistake in Vegas. I put my name down for 1/2 no limit, a seat opened and I jumped in.

I was there for 15 minutes before I realised it was Limit. 15 minutes!!!

I did ask myself (1) why are there so many singles on the table (2) Why has everyone got so few chips and I'm sitting here with 500 (3) Why is everyone making Limit bets

Even then I still didn't work out that it was Limit!!!

As Jen said after Bolton when I commented that the moon looked very blue this evening before realising that I was looking through the tinted part of the windscreen...

WHAT A DOPE!


On a serious note, I'm not a fan of limit. My edge is bigger in No-Limit where I can get a whole stack. My patience and mathematical ability isn't good enough for Limit. Also, I get bored if I don't see a lot of action and I dislike playing mulit-way pots.

Do u play Limit then? Any good?

No, not really.  I have heard there are big swings in it though

I havent played limit for a long time but it does help you play through the streets and put people on hands.