Degenerate Diaries: The Chronicles Pt. 2

[JK]

is he still playing or is he bemoaning his bad luck and variance now he has to sit there wondering why he never flops sets or makes flushes anymore watching mitch turn is £30k into cheescake and new air freshners for the TT.

Actually admitted today he knocked it in at 1/2 and is now not playing, but sticking to MTTs where hes having a decent amount of success

[zerofive]

sick work sean.

confidence is so crucial, keep it up!! beating any poker game regardless of the stakes is hard, most people are unable to beat any form of poker so keep up the good work then go take all goulders money at 2/5

what are your moving up plans btw, you thinking of expanding online or trying to get bigger games running live?

No immediate plans to move up if I'm honest. I have been working on building the liferoll; I'm aware that's kind of backwards, but I was taking a bit of a career shot to begin with and my net wealth back then wasn't going to be difficult to earn again flipping burgers etc. Now that I've generated two decent size pots of cash, and can start playing at Dusk next week, I guess I might end up playing 1/2 over the weekends. 50/1 deep is providing a bigger paycheck than any of my previous jobs so far, and I'm putting in about half as many hours, so I'm not looking to pile the pressure back on just yet - just enjoying and learning.

[GreekStein]

sigh got muddled with shaun king

If you thought this diary was by Shaun King and commented so nicely after how out of line he was to you then you really are the greatest! Even I still hate him for that!

Btw Sean - this diary is awesome. I love the way you write.

[kinboshi]

sick work sean.

confidence is so crucial, keep it up!! beating any poker game regardless of the stakes is hard, most people are unable to beat any form of poker so keep up the good work then go take all goulders money at 2/5

what are your moving up plans btw, you thinking of expanding online or trying to get bigger games running live?

No immediate plans to move up if I'm honest. I have been working on building the liferoll; I'm aware that's kind of backwards, but I was taking a bit of a career shot to begin with and my net wealth back then wasn't going to be difficult to earn again flipping burgers etc. Now that I've generated two decent size pots of cash, and can start playing at Dusk next week, I guess I might end up playing 1/2 over the weekends. 50/1 deep is providing a bigger paycheck than any of my previous jobs so far, and I'm putting in about half as many hours, so I'm not looking to pile the pressure back on just yet - just enjoying and learning.

Don't think you need to play 1/2 at the weekends, you'll be able to make plenty at the .50/1?

[smashedagain]

sigh got muddled with shaun king

If you thought this diary was by Shaun King and commented so nicely after how out of line he was to you then you really are the greatest! Even I still hate him for that!

Btw Sean - this diary is awesome. I love the way you write.

cliffs on why  shaun king was disrespectful to Dave. was it to do with his AK V fun4fraser

[SuuPRlim]

sick work sean.

confidence is so crucial, keep it up!! beating any poker game regardless of the stakes is hard, most people are unable to beat any form of poker so keep up the good work then go take all goulders money at 2/5

what are your moving up plans btw, you thinking of expanding online or trying to get bigger games running live?

No immediate plans to move up if I'm honest. I have been working on building the liferoll; I'm aware that's kind of backwards, but I was taking a bit of a career shot to begin with and my net wealth back then wasn't going to be difficult to earn again flipping burgers etc. Now that I've generated two decent size pots of cash, and can start playing at Dusk next week, I guess I might end up playing 1/2 over the weekends. 50/1 deep is providing a bigger paycheck than any of my previous jobs so far, and I'm putting in about half as many hours, so I'm not looking to pile the pressure back on just yet - just enjoying and learning.

ssounds like you're doing it right imo, just make sure you dont go stale in these games

[zerofive]

You don't get the truth itt.

[Jrvs]

Long time lurker/reader, thought it was about time I registered and got involved. Just thought I'd say great diary so far Sean, I've pretty much caught up and read all of yours and a few other diarys over the last week and this is a great read. I was up at DTD a few weeks ago and I recognised your face from when you'd dealt to me when I've been up there in the past and I wondered what the story was. Came across this a few days after, keep it up!

[zerofive]

Long time lurker/reader, thought it was about time I registered and got involved. Just thought I'd say great diary so far Sean, I've pretty much caught up and read all of yours and a few other diarys over the last week and this is a great read. I was up at DTD a few weeks ago and I recognised your face from when you'd dealt to me when I've been up there in the past and I wondered what the story was. Came across this a few days after, keep it up!

Hi Jrvs, welcome to Blonde, and thank you for the kind words! How often do you play at Dusk?

[Jrvs]

Long time lurker/reader, thought it was about time I registered and got involved. Just thought I'd say great diary so far Sean, I've pretty much caught up and read all of yours and a few other diarys over the last week and this is a great read. I was up at DTD a few weeks ago and I recognised your face from when you'd dealt to me when I've been up there in the past and I wondered what the story was. Came across this a few days after, keep it up!

Hi Jrvs, welcome to Blonde, and thank you for the kind words! How often do you play at Dusk?

Thanks, no problem I really have enjoyed reading your blog so far, it's interesting to see and read a lot of the similarities and struggles, ups and downs that pretty much every serious/pro player goes through.

Hardly play at Dusk at all, probably <20 times since it opened so I definitely won't be a recognisable face. I kinda put poker on the back burner about a year and a half/2 years ago to focus on uni and my girlfriend at the time planning to use my roll to get me through uni. A few jagerbombs and expensive random weekends away later and I'm down to the bare bones and not enjoying my course too much, so turning back to poker again. Was up at Dusk twice in October for the weekend though and maybe up for the Deepstack this weekend as well, I don't think regular trips will work out very economical though in the long run as I live pretty far away and hotel costs etc

[zerofive]

A night of two halves.

Pre-poker, I spent the day in Birmingham in an attempt to spend lavishly. Ended up buying some jeans, a sweater, and some soup. It was a fun day out with the Beth anyways, even if it did tear it down with rain all day. I explained to her how I always run golden after I buy a new pair of jeans; ergo -

Second hand of the night, I raise to £6 from the cutoff, get five callers. Flop comes , some awful reg leads out for £5, the guy itching to give it away to my right calls, I make it £33. The gentleman to my left calls which isn't good news, basically think he has a small flush. The next guy to act moves all-in for £150~. I saw him do this in the very last hand with a set on the same board texture. Then the original bettor moves in for a bowl, and the next guy moves in for £100~. It's all a bit of a blur from here, but I basically butchered the hand by raising and am now getting ridiculous odds to compound my mistake. I just push my stack over the line and say a little prayer. The gentleman to my left then clearly hates his life for a minute or so and calls. The turn bricks and the river comes the . Yes please. Turns out I got it in versus and , and the was dead. I don't remember exactly what happened next, I just remember everybody at the table shipping their chips my way. Counted my stack afterwards and had about £780. This therefore replaces my third biggest hand (and biggest winning hand) at 50/1 just a week after I set the bar at £625. Must be nice to get rewarded for that outrageous gamble. Thank you new jeans.

As daft as it seems to complain about the rest of the night, I proceeded to run terribly. Lost a flip with AK vs 88 after flopping two pair, lost another flip with JJ vs AQ. I got it in with on and was virtually dead vs . Then I played a pretty big pot with dem aces. I raised to £5 UTG and got five callers. Flop was , I bet £20 and got four callers. I hate my life at this point but figure there are at least a handful of good turns... looks like one of them. I bet £50, two snap folds and one snap shove for another £30. He has and I brick. Pretty sigh to get off to an incredible start and then just lose every pot I play afterwards, but called it an early night winning £400.

Brief review of October: had a few weeks off in the middle due to illness, had a few tilty sessions where I definitely could have lost less than I did, but was never in the red throughout the month and finished it off with a couple of big wins.

Total profit: £823
Total hours: 58.25 (embarrassingly small volume, but I have a decent excuse)
That's: £14.13/hr, which I'm happy with.

Goals for November:

- At least 100 hours please.
- Similar hourly rate.
- Bink the deepstack.
- Finally start up my typography and design website, more info on that if anyone is interested.

[zerofive]

Didn't meet my "bink the deepstack" goal. Was absolutely card dead, and couldn't really pick up any good spots with two aggros to my right, and a combo of nits and stations to my left. Sigh. Had back to back KK - once against each station - folded both on the turn. Went through the blinds a couple of times and found myself with 12k at the 100/200/25 level with the average being 19k. I found a pretty decent spot where UTG+1 who had been opening a lot raises to 525, three callers to me in the cutoff with I make it 2800 and call it off when the OR shoves for 5.5k total. This time he managed to find . Flop ran out for a sweat, then dead on the turn. Shoved 6k twice at the 200/400/50 level and got it through, but when I found a real hand and shoved the button with I ran into the of the small blind. Paired ace high board = gg deepstack.

Apologies to those who had a % that you didn't even get a decent sweat. Maybe I'll pick up a hand next month!

Officially allowed to play cash at Dusk today, so going to go in for an early session, given that I'm inexplicably awake at 8am...

[zerofive]

Welcome home.

My six month post-employment suspension is over, and from now on I will be playing a fair bit at Dusk Till Dawn. The alien feeling of sitting on the other side of the table with cash chips soon went away, but the familiar feeling of hating my life on table 41 soon returned. The powers that be must have seen some of the bizarre goings on in my life recently: winning big pots, the occasional smile on my face, etc. The ceiling on my run good was set relatively low when I was spawned (in actuality I was congealed in a gutter somewhere, but that’s a story for another post) and I’ve been smacking my head on said ceiling recently. This is a fairly tortured metaphor, so I’ll just cut to the point: worst 50/1 session since I started recording my results, in July. Here’s a breakdown.

- Peaked early winning £60 or so. Developed a nitty image.

- Value towned myself on two streets with on . I didn’t think he would check back a king on the flop and thought he would call with draws/pairs on turn and river.

- Tried to run two bluffs against the same guy. The boards ran out perfect barrelling cards and I put him to a two-minute decision on both rivers, but twice he whipped out the cape and called.

- Lost a £350 flip with versus .

- The £8 straddle was on, I find and raise the gun to £25. All of the blinds call. Flop is and checked to me. I make it £55 and call the £150 checkraise shove. He has and gets there.

- Made a pretty terrible call with ace high when I raised pre with , cbet a flopped flush draw on and barrelled the turn. The fell on the river and I gave up, expecting him to check behind with showdown value. Instead, he bet pretty big, like three quarters. I called and he said “you win,” before tabling . Pretty annoying spot where I can defo move in and win the pot, and villain doesn’t have a clue whether he’s value betting or bluffing.

- Nitrolled someone when I called in position with and bet/bet/bet . He check/minraised the river though and I did a little sick. Told the table I hated my life and was ready to instamuck my hand when I called. He goes, “just two pair.” Why is the whole world turning hands into bluffs versus me?

- Declared last three hands, and in the last of the three, I raised on the button and flopped aces full. Won a bowl from a flush draw.

- Finished losing £470. Welcome home, right?

[zerofive]

Can confirm the filet mignon at Soulville Steakhouse is very good. Cooked to perfection, tender, juicy; everything you would expect from a great steak, served up with your body weight in seasoned mashed potato. Obviously wasn't as good as the steak I had from World Service. Anybody who's ever met me when I'm hungry will have heard me harping on about how heavenly that was. In fact I'm salivating over the thought of it right now. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Soulville steaks. Nice setting, friendly staff, nothing too special, but they do simple very well indeed. Recommended.

Have a couple of fun hero call hands to tell you about, but will have to dedicate another post to those a little later. Right now I'm inexplicably peckish.

[zerofive]

How To Hero Call Yourself In 7 Easy Steps:

1: Open the cutoff to £5 at 50/1 with

2: Get called by the spot on the button and by both blinds who feel pot committed because they have a fraction of the raise invested.

3: Check a board, because it hits calling ranges pretty hard.

4: Get a free turn card. Bet this when checked to because we win the pot outright a bunch here/we have the best hand versus a draw/we have the best draw versus a hand. £13 ought to do it.

5: Get a call from the button.

6: Check the river to let him bluff his missed draws. Cry a little bit when he bets the full pot.

6: Sigh and call. Get told you must have the best hand when villain shows .

7: Show your hand to claim the pot to find you actually have . No pair. Congratulations, you can read villain's hand better than your own.

This might be the most tilty thing I've ever done. Even though I could laugh about it shortly after, it's still a ridiculous mistake that I shouldn't be making. I suppose If bottom pair is good, then ace high should be good a lot of the time as well so I shouldn't feel terribly about it. But misreading one's own hand? Really starting to feel my age... The second hand versus the same guy wasn't so much a hero call, but it felt good enough to make the diary. #gloryhunting

Raise the cutoff to £5 again, this time with . Button and blinds all call again. Flop is . Blinds check, I make it £11. The button calls and the blinds fold. Turn is the and I bet £20, he calls. River is a brick, can't remember precisely, let's say the . I bet £38 for thin value, and he tanks for a while before making it £88. Did a bit of a sigh, given my notes on the guy he's raising the turn for value with two pair or better, and calling behind with a bare ace, so he's either rivered two pair or backed into something exotic. I call and he just mucks. "You sure you got a pair this time?" lol wp.

Something else, last night, that was pretty weird: a bunch of people I didn't really recognise were like "has it been six months already?" I apologise if you are an avid reader of this diary occasionally browse this thinly woven thread, offering your sympathy the way you might applaud the fat kid finishing last on Sports Day. If I give you the glassy eyes and the confused nod of the head with pursed lips when you say hi, just remind me who you are and tell me what a terrible person I am. Or just slap me.