Advice for getting out of the rutt

[cambridgealex]

I like you Alex. You are a nice lad and you think about the game in good depth, I'm sure you will sbe successful no matter which route you go. For someone who comes across so intelligent your view on online poker really does confuse me. I think you should grind online if you really do want to move up the levels.

its not that i think onlne is rigged or nething, i didnt mean that - ive grinded online b4 for a month or two here and there and I just miss the social interaction far too much and find it very antisocial and insular. I really genuinely enjoy playing live poker (even in gala notts generally lol) and I just couldn't play online for a living entirely. Also live is so soft and may remain soft forever, online is getting tougher and tougher esp in nlhe which is the only game im currently familiar...Maybe a mixture of online and live is a good idea though...

[cambridgealex]

very entertaining dave! Echos of the summer I just had. Spent it having a wicked time in Mexico and Guatemala travelling about with these dutch guys, spending all my money except a carefully saved 7 or 8 hundred which got spanked in Vegas at the end. Was an absolutely awesome summer but left me broke. I owed my girlfriend £200 which she lent me when I got back. I got a job dealing in London for the world series of poker europe, and before my first shift dealing to ivey and durrr etc I went to the vic with that £200 and sat with it in a 1 2game. I limped two black aces utg, young guy made it £13, old guy flatted on the button, I made it £51, young guy folds, old guy calls.   , I bet 65, He put me all in. I called. The turn came  , the river  . My heart was on the floor I was gutted. The old guy proudly annouces two pair, and fllips   . I couldnt believe it! (Young guy thankfully folded his A8hearts he said...) For the rest of my spell in london I played £1 £1 everyday before work, crushed it (+ran like god ) and the rest is history.  

Now I'm aware that I ran good in that spell and if I'd lost that hand then who knows what will have happened. I can also see the importance in knowing when to stop spinning up. Most ppl that know me say that I don't have a gamblers mentality at all. I almost never play blackjack or roulette or any -EV game, I'll do dinner flips and prop bets cos I think they're generally pretty EV neutral and they're a good laugh which makes them +EV in fact imo. But that's as far as it goes.

So Im sure that if I do end up taking a few shots in the near future, they won't be stupid and I will have no problems if they go wrong. I have a 4figure roll on stars and I can always grind HU SNGs again there to get my live roll back if I lose it. Thanks for all these responses though, a lot of food for thought. Hope to be posting in a weeks time after monte carlo with reports of miniftops FTs and stacking Rob Yong et al @DTD! Gl me.....

[redarmi]

I have been playing similar level live as you and my biggest piece of advice would be to watch what you are spending.  You may be a better player than me but 5k seems a lot unless you are putting in a lot of hours and even then it is only 20k a year.  That isn't going to cover more than your bills and the odd night out and if

burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn strip clubs
[/quote]

Ha!!!! If I had met you 3 years ago it would have been shortly after the occasion I spent 40% of my roll on a night out at Stringfellows and then went on a big downswing.  Like I said I made so many BIG mistakes but it was fun and I wouldn't swap any of it for all the money others made from staying in but if you want it to be a sustainable living in the long run then you have to change and adapt.  The older you get and the more responsibilities you have the harder going broke becomes and you realise you have to try and be sensible and turn this into a profession.  

[GreekStein]

a lot of guys itt talk about their bankroll in the same way as they do their life monies.

You should keep these separate and not use one for the other

[cambridgealex]

Also Alex realise that live games just have stupid amounts of variance, that you'll never get to the learn term really so you have to accept the stupid swings.

Also stop spending money on anything all monay spent is -ev innit. Take shots with good discipline but you'll also need to start improving your game by playing online and really step up the work you do away from the table.  You could try playing some of the smaller MTT's online but you need to know how to play them + run good + put in a decent sample + be able to afford it etc.

depends what u mean by -ev. do you count buying nice clothes as -ev? or taking your broke student housemates out for a curry once in a while? or nights out drinking etc? all these things have way more value than money and if you're not going to enjoy yourself and do these things then whats the point in having money anyway? id much rather stay grinding 50 1 for a for months more and still enjoy myself, than save all pennies and have a shit time and move up a bit sooner.

[SuuPRlim]

I have been playing similar level live as you and my biggest piece of advice would be to watch what you are spending.  You may be a better player than me but 5k seems a lot unless you are putting in a lot of hours and even then it is only 20k a year.  That isn't going to cover more than your bills and the odd night out and if

burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn strip clubs

Ha!!!! If I had met you 3 years ago it would have been shortly after the occasion I spent 40% of my roll on a night out at Stringfellows and then went on a big downswing.  Like I said I made so many BIG mistakes but it was fun and I wouldn't swap any of it for all the money others made from staying in but if you want it to be a sustainable living in the long run then you have to change and adapt.  The older you get and the more responsibilities you have the harder going broke becomes and you realise you have to try and be sensible and turn this into a profession.  
[/quote]

This is prolly the best line in the whole thread tbh.

and lol, perhaps you wouldn't have been any help to me at all haha

[SuuPRlim]

yh alex i railed your diary was cool, sounded EPIC

you cant buy things like that - in response to the -EV stuff discussion, that's not speicifc to poker like cos said, people with jobs/businesses w/e have money they cant spend for w/e reason (bills, paying staff etc) and money that is disposable to spend, you have to kinda take a wage and thats ur dispoable money, and I would deffo advocate spending that not on poker and enjoying urself, as you say if you dont what is the point.

If you;re trying to move up super fast then ud take less money out of poker.

sigh that it hardly ever really works like this but it defo should lol

[titaniumbean]

Also Alex realise that live games just have stupid amounts of variance, that you'll never get to the learn term really so you have to accept the stupid swings.

Also stop spending money on anything all monay spent is -ev innit. Take shots with good discipline but you'll also need to start improving your game by playing online and really step up the work you do away from the table.  You could try playing some of the smaller MTT's online but you need to know how to play them + run good + put in a decent sample + be able to afford it etc.

depends what u mean by -ev. do you count buying nice clothes as -ev? or taking your broke student housemates out for a curry once in a while? or nights out drinking etc? all these things have way more value than money and if you're not going to enjoy yourself and do these things then whats the point in having money anyway? id much rather stay grinding 50 1 for a for months more and still enjoy myself, than save all pennies and have a shit time and move up a bit sooner.

There's essential spending and there's spending amounts that you can't afford to at the stakes your playing.

I don't see dinner flips as neutral ev either, unless you're going out with these people constantly and the bills are always relatively sized it's just added variance which to a small bank roll is not what you're really wanting is it! IS IT

[SuuPRlim]

Also Alex realise that live games just have stupid amounts of variance, that you'll never get to the learn term really so you have to accept the stupid swings.

Also stop spending money on anything all monay spent is -ev innit. Take shots with good discipline but you'll also need to start improving your game by playing online and really step up the work you do away from the table.  You could try playing some of the smaller MTT's online but you need to know how to play them + run good + put in a decent sample + be able to afford it etc.

depends what u mean by -ev. do you count buying nice clothes as -ev? or taking your broke student housemates out for a curry once in a while? or nights out drinking etc? all these things have way more value than money and if you're not going to enjoy yourself and do these things then whats the point in having money anyway? id much rather stay grinding 50 1 for a for months more and still enjoy myself, than save all pennies and have a shit time and move up a bit sooner.

There's essential spending and there's spending amounts that you can't afford to at the stakes your playing.

I don't see dinner flips as neutral ev either, unless you're going out with these people constantly and the bills are always relatively sized it's just added variance which to a small bank roll is not what you're really wanting is it! IS IT

Wsie words, just buy out unless you an afford to bank some slansky meals

[NigDawG]

Nits the lot of ya's

[paulhouk03]

how many ppl are regs in the game u paly?

also is that chinese tom a winning player? he tilts the hell out of me. Has such a dirty tash and thinks he is awesome

[JK]

also is that chinese tom a winning player? he tilts the hell out of me. Has such a dirty tash and thinks he is awesome

LOL. Your my new favourite person Paul

[SuuPRlim]

Nits the lot of ya's

Im not a nit im broke, its much better

[paulhouk03]

r u like knish from rounders?

[cambridgealex]

r u like knish from rounders?

lol how all poker players must relate other players to someone from rounders.