In search of double run good....

[OverTheBorder]

I was going to start a new year diary at the beginning of the year but bottled it.  However, some recent factors have made me think what the hell, lets do it. 

These factors being:

1. introduction of the Blog board (which I think is pretty good)
2. my agreeing to a ridiculous physical challenge (for someone of my fitness) which has amended the terms of the diary somewhat
3. the "Ambler" effect, join a forum, hammer the keyboard for a name, start a blog and win $50k

I used to blog quite a lot when I was working overseas and I enjoy puting my thoughts down, even if it is all for my own benefit.

The reason for the diary are multi level, with various poker, gambling, physical and mental challenges.  I sit and read Blonde pretty much constantly but don't overly integrate.  I hope the diary will allow me to do that more and to feel comfortable commenting on this, that and tuther on the boards.

Introduction

My name is Chris Roberts, been playing poker since the day I turned 18, which was unfortunately 12 years ago.  I work in finance (pensions), nothing exciting, but it pays the bills etc etc etc.  I live in Edinburgh at present but spent around 5 years in Hertfordshire so will be known to some of the Luton G regulars.  I was also second WPIL according to the league a couple of years back, variance innit.  I plan to do various diary entries regarding aspects of my life, the purpose of the initial post is to set the challenges and to say hello 

Poker 2012 Challenges to commence Friday 25th January (pay day)

The purpose of the diary will be to monitor my incomings/outgoings through poker first and foremost.  I consider myself a winning live player but in the absence of records, I would like to now fully view it.  I will record a running total of live cash/tournament play seperately.  This is mainly for my own benefit, but I will also post annoying hands, stories and general table banter to keep it going.  My iPhone is usually on me at the table so I can provide some running cashgame commentry etc. My solitary Herbie Mob entry is shown below:

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=178987

The live goals are as follows:

1. ROI of above 10% in local donkaments up to £110 level
2. Show a profit on live cash - this is a weakest part of my game and keen to know if its +ve or not
3. Play at least one GPS, SPT, UKIPT, Scottish Poker Championship and DTD deepstack - I will record ROI on these seperately (including satellite costs etc) likely be -100% lol
4. Gain at least 1 flag (everyone loves a flag)

The online challenge is slightly different, I haven't played much online since about 2005-2007 when I was pretty regular on the crypto network (Hills). My OPR is below:

http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/pokerstars/Rab90/poker/results/DE73855261904DCDAB39932230BCBD63.html?t=2

I started playing stars a lot more last year, I had a very good June-July at the $1-$20 level but blew it due to horrendous BRM.  I ended the year pretty much break even, but think I spanked about $4k from mid July onwards which was more bad game selection and bad play than variance.  The challenge is to deposit £100 on pay day, and each subsequent pay day until I have a roll comfortable for $1-$11 MTT's on Stars.  Any mid month top ups will be minimal and depending on live results.  The aim is obviously to stop the monthly deposits and have a sufficient roll by the end of the year and to show a +ve ROI at this level.  Any Sateliite for live play will be excluded from the stats and attributed to the ROI on live.

I will post sweats, annoying hands and things as i go along, I only play up to 6 tables so tend to be reading Blonde as I play!

I need to stop taking shots above bank roll level and trying to spin up on HU hypers which is hugely -ve the way I play them.  Any ideas on forfeits for failing on these points?

Fitness Challenges

At the start of the year I weighed in at 13st 13lbs with a fairly yuky BMI/bodyfat.  I will go through the history of dieting/sport/exercise in a seperate entry, this may explain how big a challenge this actually is for me!

I have just agreed to do the Rob Roy challenge on June 22nd, details below:

http://www.robroychallenge.com/home/

The general jyst is this "The Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge is one of Scotland’s most successful fundraising events. Covering 55 miles of the spectacular Rob Roy Way, teams or individuals walk or run 16 miles from Drymen, near Loch Lomond, north-east through the Trossachs to Callander, where they switch to bikes for a 39 mile cycle to Kenmore – all in around 8-12 hours."

The aim is to complete the challenge first and foremost and raise at least £500 for charity in the process.  In addition I would like to be doing the 16 miles as a run and suppress the thought of treating it as a walk! which would be very tempting! I also aim to be back down to 12 stone (my fighting weight) by the time I reach the starting line.

The challenge for later in the year will be to have selected the next challenge and to maintain the weight loss (major challenge, I have the metabolism).

Anything Else

For those of you unfortunate enough to have me on FB, you will know I have a habbit of waking up in random places and am not short of a story or two. I will post as many funny stories, my views on life etc etc as we go along!

I also have a habbit of random betting spin ups and I will post stories and updates from that side of things too.

Happy to answer any questions and will be as interactive as you like! I hope this is a reasonable start.  I will work on my first diary entry about me just now....to be titled "Gambling, the Early Years"

Chris

[mondatoo]

Donation to charity when you play hyper hu's ftw.

GLGLGLGL

[zerofive]

Hi Chris.

As a fellow poker player and fitness enthusiast, I imagine I will be following this diary closely!

Is your fitness target simply weight loss and cardiovascular fitness? If so I think we're going in different directions, as I just reached 14st for the first time in my life and I couldn't be happier about it! Still definitely excited to see how you do.

What do you consider to be "good bankroll management?" Everybody has a different opinion on this.

I'm Sean btw. Good luck with your conquests and with this diary.

[chelseaboy]

I like the sound of this.. im in for the ride.. and I love the "Ambler" effect...

Sean 14lbs... You must be huge!

[zerofive]

I like the sound of this.. im in for the ride.. and I love the "Ambler" effect...

Sean 14lbs... You must be huge!

lol edited. I'm such a measurement fish.

[celtic]

I'm a fitness enthusiast too, Chris. Looking forward to it.glgglgl

[booder]

I'm a fitness enthusiast too, Chris. Looking forward to it.glgglgl

^^^^^^^^  like

[OverTheBorder]

Sooooo, first diary post!

Gambling the Early Years

From my very earliest memory, very strangely (and worryingly for my teachers) my main aim in life was to be old enough to put a bet on!

From the ages of 6 till 9 my dad would take me to Powderhall Dog Track every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  It literally got to the point where I would cry if he didn't take me as I absolutely loved it there, the people, the atmosphere, the excitement and the unlimited polystyrene cups of coke and tunnocks tea biscuits!

We sat in the main stand on the middle row, we always had our own seats and would sit with the same people every time. We had a regular lift who would pick us up every time, my dad didnt even have his number, it would just be assumed we would be waiting to be picked up every time!  We sat with Bill Wallace, Hal, Ken Baxter and a few other semi regular faces, I know Hal was, and Bill still are fairly regular faces on the Edinburgh poker tour so some may know them.  Ken was a dog owner (and I believe semi pro Bridge player), he tended to have average graders A5 to A12 but he did pick up one very good dog called News Risk who was a regular on the Scottish OR scene.   I have photographs from those days of me collecting trophies with various dogs, as a constant feature it was common for me to be pulled up when it got to trophy time which was pretty exciting for a 7 year old boy! If I can dig out a photo I will! Still getting used to the updating business.

After the races we would pick up the advance copies of the next days papers and get a chinese if we had a lucky day! (possibly leading to my childhood obesity, we clearly won a lot lol) Coming home with our money and telling the stories to my mum and then off to bed, school tomorrow!  I remember the jackpot was always the win I wanted, I would do that at the start of every meeting and only ever got it once, but oh what a day that was, £17 lol my normal bet was 20p EW forecasts and tricasts if I had an urge! This was actually increased quite a lot as my dad figured out pretty early that I wasnt that bad at picking! I remember my aim was to take one pace dog and one finisher, which is still roughly the logic I use! My dad would go down 2 minutes before every race to place his bet on the rail, always a win, usually £20 unless we were on the bail out race at the end (so we werent ballers).  I occassionally would go down with him and help him spot the better prices along the rail! which I always find pretty exciting! I am still a big rail value hunter, its a nightmare at Cheltenham with so many, but I like to have a good scout before parting with my hard earned.

I was absolutely gutted when Powderhall shut down! Don't think my mum will admit her 9 year old son cried when the dog track shut but it is a true story ha ha even more annoyingly, my dad had agreed to get me a dog for my next birthday, my uncle had sourced a dog, and I was busy working on names when we got wind of the track closure to own a dog/horse has since been a massive aspiration of mine, I know it is -ve investment wise, but how much fun would it be?

Whilst I can understand my teachers concern when they did the weekend activity round up of my pass time, it did stand me in pretty good stead.  I could read an interpret all aspects of a standard dog card at the age of 7 and subsequently showed a high aptitude for maths and English!  I did actually pass the Scottish primary maths test with the highest score in the country (very thin brag), having managed to get 100% which was not overlly common I gather! I gave up on maths when they started mucking around with triangles, never quite got that although would challenge stato on the number game on countdown ha ha

My dad had always loved gambling he used to climb into powderhall on his brothers shoulders from the age of 10 and ultimately went on to own his own bookies in the Polwarth area of Edinburgh.  My mum tells me he was cursed with the luckiest regulars in the world.  These boys would rain in 10 team acculumlators like they were going out of fashion.  Ultimately when kids came along, my dad was instructed to get a more secure income and went on to own a succession of butcher shops.

Following the shut down of the track, my attention turned to horses, my dad would put bets on for me most weeks, usually a 30p lucky 15 and the placepots.  We used to go to golf at the pitch and putt which was code for bookies, sure my mum got it but it was our daddy/son bonding time and he has always been my hero.  I also attended various horse meetings, mainly Musselburgh, Hamilton, Ayr, Kelso etc but also went to Longchamp for the Arc when I was about 10 which was amazing!

When I was 11 I got my first trip to Vegas, this was on the tail end of one of these 3 stop American tours San Francisco, Anaheim and Las Vegas.  Strangely I was more excited about meeting the bright lights than Mickey Mouse.  This was back when MGM had a theme park in the back garden so it was easy to entertain kids.  We stayed in a suite which had two TV's in the room which was like the best thing I had ever seen! the joys of youth.  I was however more excited about the rooms with all the bright lights! I worked a system with the security guards that as long as I didn't stop moving, I was fine.  So I used to do laps round my dads blackjack table with my brother watching him play.  The whole buzz of the place was immense and I knew I would have to come back when I was old enough to enjoy it fully!

The pattern continued throughout my teens until I was old enough to finally place my own bets! I had officially achieved my objective in life and I was 16 with a questionable bum fluff beard ha ha so I had to then pick new life goals.

Just after turning 19 I had the best but worst possible break, I placed a lucky 15 on the 1000 guineas the year Kazzia was successful at 14/1.  I also had First Ballot at 12/1 with 9/4 and 15/8 winners on the same card.  I had been at a friends boxing show and had phoned home to ask what won the race.  Having known that Kazzia had won I was pretty happy with the treble odds return of £53 on my £15 stake.  It wasn't till I got home, checked teletext did I realise what I had got.  I asked my dad what it would pay and as a former bookie he said about £4,070 within about a few seconds of thinking.  It paid £4,058 so he was pretty close lol

Now, winning that much, that early and the feeling of entitlement to winning, leads to some of the issues I will cover in this diary.....there have been a LOT of highs and as many lows over the following 11 years on the gaming front!

I feel like adding whilst the exposure to gambling is probably not parenting 101, this was always my own choice, I loved it, and would be a nightmare if I was not taken.  My parents worked every day of their lives, always provided employment for others, never borrowed a penny and lived within strict BRM conditions.  My dad was never a degen, he just loved horses and dogs.  In addition from the age of 10 onwards I had to work in the shop to earn my money, so I did have a reality check! if you have ever spent your saturday mornings cleaning out tripe trays, you will know how horrendously bad that can be!

[OverTheBorder]

Donation to charity when you play hyper hu's ftw.

GLGLGLGL

That was my thought, can you track them anywhere so I can be policed? maybe a £1 per game played above bankroll level (without staking) or £5 per HU hyper as they are soley used for degen purposes and I am truly awful at them.  Bill to be paid monthly on pay day

If bankroll improves, as will donation amounts.

[OverTheBorder]

Hi Chris.

As a fellow poker player and fitness enthusiast, I imagine I will be following this diary closely!

Is your fitness target simply weight loss and cardiovascular fitness? If so I think we're going in different directions, as I just reached 14st for the first time in my life and I couldn't be happier about it! Still definitely excited to see how you do.

What do you consider to be "good bankroll management?" Everybody has a different opinion on this.

I'm Sean btw. Good luck with your conquests and with this diary.

Thanks Sean, I follow your diary also.

I think 12 stone his healthy for me.  I play Saturday/Sunday league football and a couple of years ago did a full pre season for the first time ever and found that that level of weight comfortable and felt good with it.  I also played better, was Tooting Bec Rovers POY in 2008 (thinnest of thin brags as they are pretty bad) and was part of a promotion winning Saturday team.  I am playing now for St Bernards in Edinburgh but am not making a good showing of myself.  I think the weight is a target aim but cardiovascular fitness is a must to complete this challenege!

BRM I am probably going to take advice on, the variance in these 1000-8000 runner tournies is huge.  My aim is to top up on a monthly basis and until I have a score the BRM will not be healthy as £100.  If I could deposit a £1000-£2000 in one go it may be easier to agree something.  My aim is to build the roll and get up the stakes but at a slow level and to build my game as I do, I think hand review on there will be useful as I have a very bad "spew switch".  My issue last time was taking a $2k score and spunking it on a Sunday session the next day.  That could have been a consistent roll at the games I think I can maybe beat.

[mondatoo]

Donation to charity when you play hyper hu's ftw.

GLGLGLGL

That was my thought, can you track them anywhere so I can be policed? maybe a £1 per game played above bankroll level (without staking) or £5 per HU hyper as they are soley used for degen purposes and I am truly awful at them.  Bill to be paid monthly on pay day

If bankroll improves, as will donation amounts.

Will be tracked on sharkscope.

[OverTheBorder]

Fitness Update

I tried to post the weigh in slip but my skills suck on here.

The start was 13 st 13 lbs BMI 27.7 and body fat 26.7%.  This is on the Boots weighing machines, weight myself at home today and a bit of progress so see what the official scales say on Sunday in "test" environment (same clothes and all that).  Went to the gym Tuesday just to check it still existed and almost died so fitness levels will need a severe kick!

Football restarts tomorrow hopefully.  I play for the mighty St Bernards who actually come with a fair bit of history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bernard's_F.C.

Unfortunatley, recent years are less pretty:

http://www.leafa.co.uk/League-Tables/season-201112-tables.html

Had a really tough run of late missed most of the 2010/2011 season with a broken foot.  Moved back home and played Saturday morning football for a team last season before getting Glandular Fever and missed the season end including a cup final This year getting back into it, but unfortunatley fitness is totally off which is the reason for the challenge.  I love football and need to be involved and would not want to give in whilst I still have a chance of playing! Will do a match report Saturday evening! Last game they lost 17-0! to what was apparently the Fife Harlem Globetrotters...not gutted to miss that game!

Poker Update

Deposited £100 this morning so we have a balance.  This will only really last 2-3 fruitless grinds, as I would tend to play around 20-30 $1-$6 tournaments over a session depending on progress in the initial batch.

I am most comfortable four tabling, my standard game selection is to log in and late reg the four best (highest guarantee) at the stakes.  I then boot up a new game for every bust out based on the available games.  I usually stop reregging non turbos after 2-3 hours, after 3-4 hours turbos and after 5-6 hours Hypers to ensure the session is not going to be longer than 10-12 hours.  I would only go above 4 games if I would be missing a good game i.e. the $2 $10k guaranteed turbos.  I never play rebuys.

My only other criteria is I only reg games with a $1k or above guarantee as I do not concentrate if the 1st prize is below $400.

I also struggle in $1 games cause the play tilts me, which is something I need to work on, as the play is so much softer!

What do people think of this selection method?  is it an issue mixing hypers/turbos/Standard/KO games? I also occassionally do ante up as I find the play very soft.  I filter out Omaha as I am always tempted to play and it messes with my other games.

I will be playing tonight and will post any hands of interest or sweats.

Thanks for reading

[jgcblack]

In on page 1

[zerofive]

Went to the gym Tuesday just to check it still existed and almost died so fitness levels will need a severe kick!

Football restarts tomorrow

That ought to give you the kick you need

Seriously though, when I resolved to do something about my ever-expanding waistline about 18 months ago, I came away from my second gym session so close to unconsciousness that I nearly quit there and then. It's highly unlikely that your levels of motivation are as fragile as mine, but it's all about empathy and support so I apologise if it's a little trite, but keep at it mate. 2013 is the year to make it happen.

Deposited £100 this morning so we have a balance.  This will only really last 2-3 fruitless grinds, as I would tend to play around 20-30 $1-$6 tournaments over a session depending on progress in the initial batch.

I am most comfortable four tabling, my standard game selection is to log in and late reg the four best (highest guarantee) at the stakes.  I then boot up a new game for every bust out based on the available games.  I usually stop reregging non turbos after 2-3 hours, after 3-4 hours turbos and after 5-6 hours Hypers to ensure the session is not going to be longer than 10-12 hours.  I would only go above 4 games if I would be missing a good game i.e. the $2 $10k guaranteed turbos.  I never play rebuys.

My only other criteria is I only reg games with a $1k or above guarantee as I do not concentrate if the 1st prize is below $400.

I also struggle in $1 games cause the play tilts me, which is something I need to work on, as the play is so much softer!

What do people think of this selection method?  is it an issue mixing hypers/turbos/Standard/KO games? I also occassionally do ante up as I find the play very soft.  I filter out Omaha as I am always tempted to play and it messes with my other games.

I will be playing tonight and will post any hands of interest or sweats.

Sorry if this is none of my business, but why only deposit $100?

I will say this about game selection, as I used to have a very similar view to you. Don't stay away from rebuys. Set yourself an honest rebuy limit if you're afraid of knocking it all into one comp. For example, look at a $3 rebuy as a $9 freeze where you're guaranteed a $6 cash if you don't take any rebuys. Honestly rebuys are where the money is at, and I can't believe I stayed away from them for so long.

Also, I wouldn't recommend throwing in hypers so liberally. They're something fun towards the end of a session imo, to either take a quick shot at getting out of a hole or see if we can give our gin session a little tonic. The variance of these things is literally massive and you would have to put in some ludicrous volume to make them worthwhile. I think the standard turbo structure is good and some of those comps get some good guarantees. The KO tournaments get ridiculous guarantees and everyone plays like idiots so from personal experience at the micro and low stakes I would cram just about all of these into your allotted schedule time.

Just my thoughts. Hope it offered some insight.

Good luck tonight, looking forward to some sick sweats!

[OverTheBorder]

Went to the gym Tuesday just to check it still existed and almost died so fitness levels will need a severe kick!

Football restarts tomorrow

That ought to give you the kick you need

Seriously though, when I resolved to do something about my ever-expanding waistline about 18 months ago, I came away from my second gym session so close to unconsciousness that I nearly quit there and then. It's highly unlikely that your levels of motivation are as fragile as mine, but it's all about empathy and support so I apologise if it's a little trite, but keep at it mate. 2013 is the year to make it happen.

Deposited £100 this morning so we have a balance.  This will only really last 2-3 fruitless grinds, as I would tend to play around 20-30 $1-$6 tournaments over a session depending on progress in the initial batch.

I am most comfortable four tabling, my standard game selection is to log in and late reg the four best (highest guarantee) at the stakes.  I then boot up a new game for every bust out based on the available games.  I usually stop reregging non turbos after 2-3 hours, after 3-4 hours turbos and after 5-6 hours Hypers to ensure the session is not going to be longer than 10-12 hours.  I would only go above 4 games if I would be missing a good game i.e. the $2 $10k guaranteed turbos.  I never play rebuys.

My only other criteria is I only reg games with a $1k or above guarantee as I do not concentrate if the 1st prize is below $400.

I also struggle in $1 games cause the play tilts me, which is something I need to work on, as the play is so much softer!

What do people think of this selection method?  is it an issue mixing hypers/turbos/Standard/KO games? I also occassionally do ante up as I find the play very soft.  I filter out Omaha as I am always tempted to play and it messes with my other games.

I will be playing tonight and will post any hands of interest or sweats.

Sorry if this is none of my business, but why only deposit $100?

I will say this about game selection, as I used to have a very similar view to you. Don't stay away from rebuys. Set yourself an honest rebuy limit if you're afraid of knocking it all into one comp. For example, look at a $3 rebuy as a $9 freeze where you're guaranteed a $6 cash if you don't take any rebuys. Honestly rebuys are where the money is at, and I can't believe I stayed away from them for so long.

Also, I wouldn't recommend throwing in hypers so liberally. They're something fun towards the end of a session imo, to either take a quick shot at getting out of a hole or see if we can give our gin session a little tonic. The variance of these things is literally massive and you would have to put in some ludicrous volume to make them worthwhile. I think the standard turbo structure is good and some of those comps get some good guarantees. The KO tournaments get ridiculous guarantees and everyone plays like idiots so from personal experience at the micro and low stakes I would cram just about all of these into your allotted schedule time.

Just my thoughts. Hope it offered some insight.

Good luck tonight, looking forward to some sick sweats!

Thanks Sean, all comments greatly received and will be answered, hope to be as interactive as possible

On the fitness front, I need all the kicks I can get, I struggle to walk up the stairs to work at the moment lol my mates brother just started as a PT at my gym which is cool as I am hoping to agree a mutually convenient deal to get me in shape for this!

The deposit is £100 so about $160, which equates to only 35 games at max buy in which is clearly not enough.  Although I would estimate average buy in to be about $3 so maybe closer to 50-60.  The reason for the amount is life roll, I have a good job but debts means typical "money to play with" is around £900 to £1k per month and I have a penchant for nights out and kids gotta eat! I allow about £300 a month for poker which means at the start of the month £100 is a fair assessment of what I can afford to plough into online.  I will then play 4-5 live tournies at the £30-£60 range.  Any money won at poker, the plan is to plough back in, so results will dictate the increase in roll but without start up capital I am of course limited.  Clearly if you won the deepstack next week I am sorted ha ha the main aim is to eventually have it self sufficient in seperate rolls, but month 1 and until any material change the investment is life limited