This is a thread to vent my tilt of life in the low stakes.
I haven't played much for a couple of years since switching careers, thus starting the most swingy of general life sessions since birth.
After 8 years in IT i decided to leave my career and find a job that I actually wanted to do. Could I see myself in IT in 20 years time? Hell no. I was only in it because I got offered a job in a start-up company owned by a cousin of mine. I'm a fairly bright fellow and can seem to do pretty well in everything I put my hand to, the problem is that I lacked the drive for IT sales or the studious commitment to keep up with the technical side. The fact is that IT moves so fast that you have to be permanently studying in order to keep up. Again, did I want to keep at it for 20 years? No. I'm a fairly decent saleman with a knack for being able to speak to people, but I get tilted that If I do £6000 GP a month I only keep 20% of £6000 minus my salary as commission. It a healthy amount but I seem to be working REALLY hard to line the pockets of others. Again, not happening for 20 years.
I posted on here a while ago and got some great advice.
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=45561.msg1092009#msg1092009 - but I never followed it up.
So after leaving IT I found myself adrift but supported by a wonderful girlfriend and her 3 year old son. After 3 months of general couch surfing and CV submitting on Total Jobs the only progress was learning a lot about "How Stuffs Made" (Chanel 144 9am mon-fri). That was the bottom of the first downswing. Then, whilst casually walking past an Evans Cycles I saw an add, they were hiring. Remember I have a knack for talking to people? I walked in and asked about the job, Bink - Insta-hired!! Wiiiiiiiiiiiii - Cycling is "my sport" so it was perfect. I now have a job selling something I actually care about. (UPSWING) Doesn't get much better eh? Well, for the first 10 months it doesn't. But remember we have a 3 year old? He's about to start school mon-friday. I'm working in retail so have to work most if not all weekends for the most part. Our Tuesday-Thursday day off work/nursery adventure sessions have abruptly stopped and I literally don't see him for the next 6 months (DOWNSWING). So now I have a job I love, don't ever really go to "work" as such so work stress is at an all time low. The downsides are the hours and practically never seeing the family all at once. Even after a couple of promotions the negatives outweigh the positives and we agree that it's time I got a "proper job" - so back to IT sales it is as it's my only real experience on a CV in a market that is not exactly brimming with opportunity. (Further downswing)
I Bink a job on the first interview selling general IT hardware, software, anything else you can think of IT related - (neither up nor downswing) - and I have 2 weeks break in between my notice and my start date, right in the middle of the summer holidays. Whilst on minimum wage I couldn't play poker, it just wouldn't have been fair. But then I saw the Gala had a 100 FO in celebration of their new cardroom, I speak to the missus and she says that I should enter and a reward for me getting a new job - Wiiiiii. So off I pop on the Saturday lunchtime - arrive at Gala at 12:50 for the 1pm, start. I receive a phone call at 12:55, "Mark, you're Grandad's just died in St. Gemma's Hospice" - FML. (Downswing). To be fair we'd all been to say our final fairwell but now the world was one legend down and my Poker Tournament was seeming insignificant.
After an hour or so of nothing but junk and general sulking I look at Kings, player to my immediate right announces all-in, "what, seriously" CALL. He turns over 94os and I double up. Apparently he was bored. So with a nice healthy stack I call off a min-raise in the SB and the BB completes. I have 34cc Flop comes A25 rainbow. "All-in" by the initial raiser - I call and Big blind is baffled and lays it down. villain turned over trip 5's and I get grief for calling a min-raise in the small blind as big stack against the short stack. Some people!! The general run-like-theirs-someone-looking-down-from-above-to-keep-your-chips-accumulating lasts for the whole two days and we leave in 2ND with a deal done and I take £2.3kish (UPSWING).
I use the winnings to pay off some bills and book a trip to Disney Land Paris. Not many things are better than seeing a 5 year old's face when you tell him we're going to Disney Land, thanks Poker (and whoever was looking down on me that day).
So we have the most amazing holiday paid for by poker and I pop the question whilst we're watching the fireworks at Cinderalla's castle. She says yes, never in doubt and falls pregnant that night (dates unconfirmed but highly likely). (bigger UPSWING)
So now we're in a new job, engaged, expecting, earning more money and future Mrs. is now supportive of my poker playing having seen that a) I'm not degen and b) it Pays for stuff.
If you've made it this far you're doing well. I wouldn't have posted so much but I'm in the office on a bank holiday catching up with some work and watching Hellmuth blowups on You-tube. Thanks for staying with me.
So, I deposit £20 on sky poker to play a bit of poker instead of leaving preggo Mrs. at home while I'm at the pub. Play a few low-stakes cash tables and then see that there's a £5 bounty hunter starting soon. Hmm, I'll give that a go for a £5. Wiiiiiiiiii ship it for £130+ into my account and I'm loving the game. I did the £12k bounty hunter and Mini-Bounty hunter yesterday and got £0 returns. So now I've decided to "do it right" and adheer bankroll management rules. BUT, I know I'm stating short with circa 25 buy-ins for the 02/04 games. This is what I'm going to do, I'm going to grind 4 cash table at a time (Laptop doesn't seem to handle more that that without throwing a wobbler) but it's just sooooo tilting at those levels with people calling off anything - good when you hit, bad for bluffing. I'm new to the Sky micro-stakes but am I right in thinking that playing tight on there is the best way, or is it even more swingy at those levels with people playing all sorts of crap?
Poker has changed in the last 5 years and I'm on a steep learning curve it seems. I'll keep this thread (NOT a diary) updated and may use it to find out about what people think in strategies, levels, BR mgmt etc and all those things.
Thanks for reading, congrats on getting to the end - and no, you may not have those 5 minutes of your life back...
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