I know I have touched on the hynotherapy I am currently receiving but felt I would write this as you never know who may stumble across the post and how it may help them in the future.

Basically I am just a massive punter ( but you could apply this to any addiction I guess ) and over the past few weeks have come to realise this having been through a process with George my hynotherapist.  For many years I punted off fortunes as well documented in the early days of this diary and caused a great deal of hurt to many people that I cared about and despite seeing the hurt I caused never tried to really change that bad side of me.

Having met Petra nearly 9 years ago I got taught the value of money again but still punted off to what many would be life changing amounts of money without causing much hurt to myself or our life but with all the changes in our life and what I would love to do going forward in the future coupled with the fact that at 40 years of age I felt I should grow up a bit.

So that meant realising that I never expected to make a living out of punting in any way shape or form and that most of the time apart from betting with Dubai where with this trust that gamblers have amongst each other I would have a balance with him that was never past me owing a couple of hundred and him holding amounts of a couple of grand from time to time that I would then use for entry into Poker tournaments or holidays etc etc but yet all the time I was winning with the selections I sent him, I would be losing as a punter bettng events just so I could watch something at night or just cos I popped into the bookies on the way back from grabbing some lunch.

I'm sure many people can just have a little punt whether it be a £1 lucky 15 from time to time or a £10 ice cream acca on the football on a Saturday but I am one of those with a very addictive personality so tend to take things to the extreme so I didnt ever see the time where I would be happy just having a fun bet with little or no expectation of a return and due to my personality I am so glad that I have never touched a drug in my life or I think I could have been in big trouble.

Over the past 3 weeks I think I have really had for me what is my lightbulb moment and have now not had a single bet during that time which is probably the longest I have ever been in the past 20 years and it is all down to George Oliver!!

If anyone reading this ever thought they had a problem of some sort I can thoroughly recommend Hynotherapy as worth a go as for someone who is generally sceptical about most things in life I went into my first few sessions with zero expectation that it may work for me.

The first few sessions would start with some kind of word association that I guess meant George got some information from that he could use or build a picture of how my mind works and then over to "the chair" I would go and having started by making sure my breathing is deep and from the belly he would work on getting me to concentrate my muscles from the top of my head working down the body to my feet at which point my body is completely relaxed and he then gets me to paint a picture of a place in my head that starts with 10 marble steps down to a sunny garden with a chair for me.

As we walk down each step I get into my hyposis state, now whether I am actually hynotized or am basically completely relaxed in the knowledge that no-one needs me for the next 40 minutes and nothing can happen to alter this state who knows but it is a completely relaxed state that I am left in at which point for the first few weeks he would try and take me back to the first time I can remember gambling being in my life which was as a 10 year old we would drive from Walsall across to mid wales normally Tywyn or Aberdovey ( a journey which I retraced with Petra and Max when he was a year old to see how the place had change) and at Woodlands Caravan park I would spend my money on the fruit machines with my favourites being the ones that had random nudges and 3 bells being a jackpot but normally meant I blew my money trying to impress some girl whilst my younger brother played asteroids or pac man.

Every now and again George would tell me to park that thought and talk about the next thing that came into my head and I guess he was looking for triggers that would make me want to bet or events in my life that made me use it as a way out.  The past 2 weeks he has started to work on my subconscious mind and I suppose re-programme it and as I said a few posts ago for the past 3 weeks a picture springs into my mind every time I feel like having a punt and then since last week where I vaguely remember him telling my subconscious that gambling was not the way forward for me, I really seem to have a different mindset.

I realise that I am likely to make way more money doing other things in my life than I ever could punting as although I win with Dubai it will never be at amounts I could ever live off and never in units I would want to bet more than (happy with £100-£300) but on selective markets so have decided its not worth wasting my time on this stuff and to plough my efforts into stuff that will have a long term affect to the good for me and the family like the businesses and hopefully I will get the same buzz from these as I used to from gambling.

FML really sounds like I'm getting old!!

It also means I can go into poker events without a care as to the result as I wont need to win to pay back what I may have lost over the past week and can sit down at the table in a completely relaxed state so I will be interested to see if this has an effect on my game over the few live tournies that I play.

I would recommend anyone to try it as it has worked for me (so far) without dulling the fact I will still want to play poker 10-12 times per year which from the outset was one of the things I told George was important not to lose my competitiveness when I do turn up.

This new me will be at DTD this Friday so I look forward to seeing a few of you there....

Hypnotherapy is useful for so so many people from all walks of life. I started working with people mainly suffering from stress and depression and was very surprised by the broad spectrum of people that would come through the door. Being a hypnotherapist is an incredibly rewarding way to make a living!!

Ok so I decided to mess around getting on Pokerstars getting used to my new HUD in HM2 - I didn't play particularly badly but was perhaps a little looser than normal. Is losing 5xBI over 1500 hands within "variance" allowance for 1 3 hour session?

I sense a big win story coming... ☺️

I wish!

I've made some good progress with my businesses IRL though and now have some time to devote to the felt both online and at the local donkaments.

I'm roughly £3.5k up in £10-£100 BI tourneys at the local casino but "invested" my money in a trip to Disneyland Paris - it yielded a wife and child so seems like a wise investment tbf.

I've decided to resurrect this diary for two reasons.

1: I've always thought i was "good enough" to be a winning player long term and I'm keen to see over what stakes I can play at profitabley.

2: It's always good to have something to keep a record of thoughts, results, mistakes, feedback and moans.


Today I installed Hold 'em Manager 2 for the first time, at long last I'll be able to easily keep track of whats going on!

There are loads of "Goals & Targets" threads on the net so I'm going to start with a fairly simple one. 888 gave me $10 free as I hadn't deposited for a while. Goal number 1 is to run it up to $100 playing micro stakes of $2nl (& $4nl when my BR hits $80) - It's something I've done many times before so here we go....

Can someone with the appropriate privileges pleas move this thread into the "Diaries" section?

-Many thanks,

[Serena is one of the most manly females I've ever seen in all of sport.]

Serena is one of the most manly females I've ever seen in all of sport. Your argument that she looks better than 3 random Asian ladyboys you just posted is particularly weak.

Call RAISE.. I give you Tammy Thomas...

http://tinyurl.com/ldw6j87

Can I get compensation? Level 1, this was LEVEL 1!!!

Dealt to moi in the BB -  

Lots of limps - I limp too

Flop    

Alll in and a call!

we're racing against  

[ ] We held



I DEMAND COMPENSATION FOR THIS TOTALLY STANDARD & CLEARLY UNNECESSARY SUCKOUT!! UN-BELL-HEAVE-ABLE - IT WAS LEVEL 1 FFS!

Am I being unreasonable? I feel I'm owed at LEAST 49p

4b piling wouldn't be 'thin', it would just be plain awful. He hasn't donked btw, OR checks.

I think it's ok to bet 77 on the smaller side for protection and some value from AK-AQ type hands that the original raiser might c/call with. When the shortstack jams over the bet we're getting such a good price to call, if you do have an inkling that he's a weaker player bet/calling vs him is probably going to be ok.

That's pretty much what happened, when the OR folded to the jam I snap called as already presumed that the shorty was jamming almost ATC to my small bet. So although I got max value from the 77's on this occasion would you tend to fold pre to the 3bet OOP? I'd love to say I played it well but it played itself as soon as that flop hit. I presume it's a totally standard C/F if any A/K/Q hit the flop, ergo rendering the 77's almost dead 3 handed with that preflop action.

Ok so I've realized that the thread title is a bit misleading given the way I've left the hand.

The full hand is as follows -

Arlington NL50 (SNAP)

Hero UTG [$50]
Ribular [$19.25]
WobWubWubWob (B) [$20.49]
Cash1183 (SB) [$49.75]
Dumkin (BB) [$55]

We have just joined so have zero history on anyone.

We are dealt   

Hero raises UTG $1.31

Ribular Folds

WobWubWubWob Calls $1.31, Cash1183 Re-raises $5.74

Dumkin1 Folds.

We call, WobWubWubWob Calls

Pot is now $16.84

Flop comes   

Cash1183 Checks

Hero Bets $7

(Pot $23.84)

WobWubWubWob Goes all-in $14.75

(Pot $38.59)

Hero Calls

Turn 

River 

Hero wins $44.86 with 2 pair T's & 7's
Villain shows 


Ok so we scooped the pot but I couldn't help flipping internally between good call and big leak. Is this a leak? With so little info on the villain I had lots of questions like has he hit a ten, does he have an over pair or was he shoving any flop with AK/AQ hands? I settled on the latter based on stack sizes and flatting the 3 bet. I figured he'd left himself no fold equity once that flop came and I was either crushed with an over-pair or we were racing, either way is it a profitable spot in the long term? I'm feeling a little foggy...

 

Just played this hand on 888 and would like some further opinions if possible..


Arlington NL50 (SNAP)

Hero UTG [$50]
Ribular [$19.25]
WobWubWubWob (B) [$20.49]
Cash1183 (SB) [$49.75]
Dumkin (BB) [$55]

We have just joined so have zero history on anyone.

We are dealt 

Hero raises UTG $1.31

Ribular Folds

WobWubWubWob Calls $1.31, Cash1183 Re-raises $5.74

Dumkin1 Folds.

We call, WobWubWubWob Calls

Pot is now $16.84

Flop comes 

Cash1183 Checks

We should have done what? (FWIW for reasons still unkown I donked $7 at it...)

Firstly, the depth of information and generosity of those inputting to this board never fail to astound me! Thanks all.

SuuPRlim, great post and great points!

Looking at the situation as a whole do you think there's a general misconception that AAxx hands often get beaten  weaker starting hands that end up with straights, flushes, 2pair, sets in Omaha. Does this lead to the AA being played passively as people at these stakes think they aren't as strong as they are?

This is one of the leaks I'm trying to plug in my game. I used to peel a lot in these situations but will mostly fold pre now in similar situations. Not sure it's the correct play in the long term but I find myself in pasty post flop situations and either stacking off or folding - neither add chips to my stack (

imo pre-flop this hand should def be in an auto four-bet range, along with various double suited stuff that isn't in tragic shape to a five bet.

Obviously larger pots are tricky to play but good players manage to do it, so trying to avoid them is going to cost you money and hinder your development.

Wise points. I think as my BR grows into 3 figures I'll start playing the bigger pot situation. I do feel I lost value in this hand though, not so much through the pre-flop action but definitely through not betting bigger. At this point I was still wary of 2-pair or sets hands.

I shook Bill Oddie's hand when I was 9

Hmmmmmmmmmm I'm gonna have  a very hard time believing flat is better against somebody who min3bet here. Reasons mulhuzz?

I flatted because I thought although I had the big A's in there it wasn't as draw heavy as I would like, I find playing tight at these levels works quite well. If someone min-3 bets they usually aren't folding to a 4-bet and it all goes in pre-flop. Getting it all in pre wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but I'm trying to plug the leaks in my game.

With Poker in general I find I have 3 leaks that need adrressing. Calling too light too often & also not getting enough value from made hands. I'm in a frustrating place at the moment so decided to hit the PHA forum..

[Beaver808 bets 2.18,]

Now I would most definitely not raise. We have to take off a turn

Dealt to beaver808 [ , , ,    ]
Runcaster folds
Goamen checks
beaver808 raises [$0.45]
bajadera folds
ferrari_77 folds
valm876 raises [$0.70]
Goamen folds
beaver808 calls [$0.35]
** Dealing flop ** [ ,  ,    ]
valm876 bets [$1.31]


Ok, so I took the turn.  

Beaver808 bets 2.18, villain calls

In hindsight it was a bit of a brick, should I have potted it?