Degenerate Diaries: The Chronicles Pt. 2

[zerofive]

Did another win tonight. Played a 3 hour session in which I buried myself in a £100 hole straight away with on versus the of Kate Langshaw. Got most of the way out and left losing £18 for an impromptu curry at Chutney salmon stir fry and new potatoes at Alea. Won the "flip" for the meal, though. I felt like using up any of Alex's residual run-bad in a £40 meal flip, so he can go on and crush the Monte Carlo. Again. Alex, you're welcome.

I went back for round two in decent spirits, and though it started off slow it picked up towards the end of the night. I got out of the £20 hole just before the table broke, then I moved over to a table to sit in between two drunk guys, one of whom stacked off to me on when I flopped top two. The board ran out then for a sweat, but he said I was good. Flopped bottom two, apparently. Story checks out. Won a couple of small pots after that to round up a fairly enjoyable and profitable evening.

Still a little bit surreal that I'm visiting the cash desk these days to hand over chips instead of my credit card, but there are no complaints there. Feels like that downswing was character building at least, and I'm perhaps looking at poker slightly differently now. Hard to say exactly how, perhaps I'm giving the game a little more respect, approaching it with an ever so slightly less cavalier attitude. It will be nice if, in a year's time, I can look back on December 2011 as "that time I was sure I was going to go broke," whilst hopefully continuing to succeed.

Again, many thanks to those who have helped keep me in high spirits. Trying my best not to bok myself by getting exciting over back-to-back winning sessions, but it's been a while since I enjoyed poker. So here's to ending the year on a high. No more pain please. Really looking forward to this weekend actually. The last Monte Carlo weekend was a complete success with me binking a decent score in the £150 side and celebrating Alex's bink. What I wouldn't give for a repeat performance. Get therrrrrre. Only another £550 or so to go to get me out of the December hole!

[zerofive]

Don't think I have words yet.

Pictures will do.

Highlighted is the brutal downswing we were having until six sessions ago.

Please don't self bok one time. Let's run like I did today, for the rest of my life.

[zerofive]

lol disregard that. poker's balls.

[zerofive]

River me this.

Last night was frustrating as hell. Like "why doesn't my iPod go loud enough to drown out screaming children on this filthy bus?" kinda frustrating. On the plus side, my graph is starting to look like a silhouette of the Andes. I just finished an accurate sketch of Aconcagua for my latest week's work. Though, this metaphor isn't entirely correct, as I only just got out of the hole before diving right back in. If I'm honest, it was pretty scary being above ground for an hour or two anyway. Too bright. Too much positivity. We need dejection in this thread. And adaptations of quotes from awesome films.

Sean looks like he's winning.
[stunned silence]
"What did you just say?!"
Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw Sean doing a win.
"What did you see? What happened?"
A big pot was passed to him... And then another that looked just like it.
"How much like it? Was it the from the same guy?"
It might have been, I'm not sure... Why? What is it?
"Sean winning is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something."

I made a mistake early on when I raised the button with , picked up three callers, one of whom donk bet the full pot on , then moved in for approximately 1.5x pot on the turn. This is clearly a fold on the turn. Probably a fold on the flop, but the little fish devil on my left shoulder kept telling me I can't fold when I've raised pre and flopped top pair top kicker. Fuck you, fish devil, obviously he has .

What happened next might have been the most ridiculous five minutes of poker in my entire life. QQ < KQ which was a float flop checkraise turn future value bet for the kingball on the river ldo. At this point I'm losing £400 and not at all surprised that this would happen after a big win. The next hand I open the gun for £5 with , two callers, then the european spaztard slams £150 into the pot. I move the rest in which is exactly £53 more and he goes into the tank. Then he goes "I got a masseev hand, I theenk eet probably ween," and triumphantly whips over . Still not convinced that this actually happened. I know it's getting close to Christmas and all that, but... Wait, don't tap the tank. Next hand is raised to £3 utg and called round, I find the in the big blind and call like a pro. you know. I donk led £10 into £18 'cause I felt like it must have hit someone but doesn't hit combined range hard enough to do the ol' check 'n' raise. Two callers. Led another £24 on a turn and picked up one caller. The river paired with the and I tank bet £50 hoping to get him to shove, 'cause he's been doing that a lot with thin value hands on the river. He just called versus me obv, cause I'm a tellbox, with two aces. Well played. £400 swings ftw.

Last hand of the night was pretty tilty though. Can't hold in a £500 pot with on versus the . I've played with this guy so often and 100% knew he was checkraising a bare flush draw. I think I probably call with ace high here and stick it right in his eye if I hold. One day I'll hold.

In an effort to try and convince my reader(s) that I'm keeping spirits high even though a job at Starbucks would be way less variance, here's a visual representation of poker in December reenacted by David Hyde-Pierce.

[George2Loose]

Classic clip. Frasier is awesome

[zerofive]

Graphaments. Starting to look like a sawtooth waveform. Poker is a bumpy road at the minute, but this weekend has been fun for the most part. Very happy for Alex, of course. Met up with some Blondeites over the course as well. Was falling asleep on the 50/1 table and I get a tap on the shoulder, "zerofive, right? I'm muckthenuts." I love the internet. Also, a big shout out to Suuprlim who crept up behind me and startled the life out of me. Atria confirmed still fibrillating.

Trying to think of some realistic goals to set myself for 2012. Suggestions welcome. In before "get a haircut."

[GreekStein]

I made a mistake early on when I raised the button with , picked up three callers, one of whom donk bet the full pot on , then moved in for approximately 1.5x pot on the turn. This is clearly a fold on the turn. Probably a fold on the flop, but the little fish devil on my left shoulder kept telling me I can't fold when I've raised pre and flopped top pair top kicker. Fuck you, fish devil, obviously he has .

Why is this a mistake? Is it because you told Simon Trumper the result and he told you it was

[JK]

Have a shave

[jakally]

Trying to think of some realistic goals to set myself for 2012. Suggestions welcome. In before "get a haircut."

Three suggestions I can think of :

Step up to £1/£2 -
Not that you should be obsessed with moving up, more because it's v.difficult to make enough monies to justify continuing playing fulltime just at £0.50/£1.
In practice, playing game selected £1/£2 games, with £0.50/£1 as your fallback would be a good target.
To do this you will need a bigger bankroll, and probably a better game , and therefore plans of how you are going to  go about getting these.

Learn how to play MTT's well (if you can't already) and get staked to play some -
Would help towards the first suggestion.

Play some volume online and win? -
Not sure this would be something you would want to do.

Pretty obvious I suppose, but you did ask!
 

[zerofive]

Have a shave

After you Matt.

[zerofive]

Trying to think of some realistic goals to set myself for 2012. Suggestions welcome. In before "get a haircut."

Three suggestions I can think of :

Step up to £1/£2 -
Not that you should be obsessed with moving up, more because it's v.difficult to make enough monies to justify continuing playing fulltime just at £0.50/£1.
In practice, playing game selected £1/£2 games, with £0.50/£1 as your fallback would be a good target.
To do this you will need a bigger bankroll, and probably a better game , and therefore plans of how you are going to  go about getting these.

Learn how to play MTT's well (if you can't already) and get staked to play some -
Would help towards the first suggestion.

Play some volume online and win? -
Not sure this would be something you would want to do.

Pretty obvious I suppose, but you did ask!

Moving up, of course, already on the list. Basically for the reason you've given. Recently there have been a couple of 1/2 games I've been tempted to join, but can't handle the pressure atm. Hoping to get there before July; the halfway point.

stato is going to kill you when he finds out you're the one that suggested MTTs. It's definitely the case that I don't play enough comps, but finding one with a non-crapshoot structure in my price range is impossible, so either need to put volume in online or find a backer. Most likely the former then the latter.

[Eso Kral]

I have looked and been impressed with your Project25 budand was thinking is there no way as a supplementary income you can min produce on say canvass and have someone work a stall or something to bring in a small income that would cover ex's enabling your continued progress as a poker player and also enabling you to step up to the 1/2 as mentioned in Jakally's post???

Although Petra uses photoshop I'm not sure about the copyright thing on your work but its obv something you enjoy and are talented at, so even if you devoted x time per week to a new design that can be produced there must be stall holders or even distributors who would be impressed by the work!

[jakally]

stato is going to kill you when he finds out you're the one that suggested MTTs. It's definitely the case that I don't play enough comps, but finding one with a non-crapshoot structure in my price range is impossible, so either need to put volume in online or find a backer. Most likely the former then the latter.

The reason I suggest getting staked for MTT's is simple.
I am assuming that atm you aren't rolled for £1/£2 (I would suggest £15k if you were buying in for £500, game selecting, and prepared to move back down if your roll dipped below a certain level).
To get your roll up to that level is going to be very difficult just playing £0.50/£1, as you know.
Playing MTT's on your own dime is ok, but your are putting pressure on your current roll in a high variance way.

Getting staked into MTT's gives you zero risk, and gives you a free shot at a big bink, and therefore achieving the bankroll you need to play the games that you want to.
It's pretty much the route that Alex took a few months ago, when he was in a similar spot to you.
You may need to play some volume on your own money online first, to get some history to convince a backer to invest.

[kinboshi]

To do this you will need a bigger bankroll, and probably a better game , and therefore plans of how you are going to  go about getting these.

Rubs from Belper.

[kinboshi]

stato is going to kill you when he finds out you're the one that suggested MTTs. It's definitely the case that I don't play enough comps, but finding one with a non-crapshoot structure in my price range is impossible, so either need to put volume in online or find a backer. Most likely the former then the latter.

The reason I suggest getting staked for MTT's is simple.
I am assuming that atm you aren't rolled for £1/£2 (I would suggest £15k if you were buying in for £500, game selecting, and prepared to move back down if your roll dipped below a certain level).
To get your roll up to that level is going to be very difficult just playing £0.50/£1, as you know.
Playing MTT's on your own dime is ok, but your are putting pressure on your current roll in a high variance way.

Getting staked into MTT's gives you zero risk, and gives you a free shot at a big bink, and therefore achieving the bankroll you need to play the games that you want to.
It's pretty much the route that Alex took a few months ago, when he was in a similar spot to you.
You may need to play some volume on your own money online first, to get some history to convince a backer to invest.

Also play the satellites. Very decent value and this will bring the tournaments with a better structure (£300s, 6-max, MC, etc.) into your price-range.  Then when you do play them, run like Rastafish.