Being a Lolpro for dummies.

[Evilpengwinz]

Hello,

Some of you may have seen me lurking and occasionally posting on here slightly more of late. A couple of Sky regs have suggested restarting my diary (I used to have a diary thread on the Sky Poker forum, until I got banned.   ), and from reading the opening couple of chapters of "The Mental Game of Poker 2", I can see ways in which having a diary thread will benefit me, so have decided to create one on here.

I know that a lot of Sky Poker players visit here too, so a lot of people will already know me, but for those who don't, a brief introduction:

I'm Andy, 19, from Swindon. I've been playing Poker since my 18th birthday (October 2011), but learning/studying the game for longer - I remember staying up on school nights with the telly on as loud as I could get away with, making sure I didn't wake my parents up, watching Sky Poker TV. I did misclick limp Kings yesterday, but apart from that, several years of listening to Tikay has served me well

I went to College as soon as I left school, but being gifted, I found the whole education system incredibly frustrating. My life changed when I signed up to Sky Poker and realised fairly soon that I was a winning player. I stopped turning up for College - After all, I hated it, I was only going because my parents had told me it was the only way I would survive (Which I now realise couldn't be further from the truth), and if School was so easy, and College is so easy, then why is University, and eventually getting a job somewhere, going to be any different?

After half-heartedly applying and getting kicked out of colleges a few weeks later for poor attendance, I decided to take the plunge and start playing Poker for a living a few months ago. While I'm still playing relatively low stakes, and my bankroll isn't massive, I still live at home with my Dad, and make enough to pay rent, food bills, and continue building my bankroll, so that one day, I hopefully won't be a lolpro anymore.

Thread will be boring if it's only me posting results every day though, so all posts, Poker or otherwise, are welcome.

[ForthThistle]

In.

GL with this.

1. What stakes are you playing.
2. What games.
3. Any other sites.
4. Favourite Nando's order
5. Best ever day in your Life so far.....

[tikay]

Andy!

Word of advice.

You were doing just fine with your intro until this bit......


several years of listening to Tikay has served me well

Your potential street cred is now in tatters. It is only a matter of time before an internet sheep Posts the tap-in.

Level?


Look forward to reading this, & I wish you well with the Diary, & the poker.

PS - I think you'll enjoy our "Poker Hand Analysis Board" (PHA), here....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

You'll not see me dispensing advice there, it's a bit high level for me, but there are loads of really good respondents on there. Some play the game very well, some teach the game very well, but almost without exception, they are all really helpful. Just avoid posting disguised bad beat stories, because you'll get ripped for those, but knowing you as I do, I doubt you'll do that.

Good luck Andy.

[Tal]

1. How do you have your steak?
2. Last film you cried watching (just a little, manlyish tear, if you prefer)?
3. Walk-on song for the WSOP final table (YouTube link)?
4. Most famous person you've met?
5. Favourite advert ever (YouTube link)?

Thanks and good luck with the diary.

[pokerfan]

How did you manage to get banned form Sky ?

[jgcblack]

How did you manage to get banned form Sky ?

Welcome to the blog section, the very best of luck to you Andy...

Biggest hand won and lost? (stakes or bb's)
Best and worst moment in poker?
Why do you love the game?

Ty

[tight4better]

Welcome good luck with your adventures

[TommyD]

I will be reading Mr Wicked Penguin.

Best of luck man.

[Evilpengwinz]

First Poker update on here - Found it really difficult to start 30NL tables yesterday, nobody wanted to play and there was only one other reg on the 30NL tables at the same time. The rest of the 30NL regs had all dropped to 20NL instead where there was already 20 or so tables running, and after only managing to get a couple of 30NL games running, I jumped on a load of 20NL waiting lists instead.

Ended that session (Only one today) -£9.75, which considering I played the worst Poker I've played all month, is actually a pretty good outcome. Probably helped that I won a couple of flips for stacks but can't remember losing any. Will definitely have to look back through some hand histories though

Aims for the next three days are to pick up another 509 Poker Points on Sky (To get me to 5k for the month = free £90), which shouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully I can do this without having to play on the last day of the month, so that I can use that time to do some more work on my game away from the table instead.

In.

GL with this.

1. What stakes are you playing.
2. What games.
3. Any other sites.
4. Favourite Nando's order
5. Best ever day in your Life so far.....

1 & 2 - Hold'em cash, 30NL on Sky at the moment, with the odd tournament or two thrown in for good measure. I used to grind Sky's "Double Your Money" Sit 'n' Go's, but I'm bored of playing them for the time being. I occasionally play PLO too, but I'm far better at Hold'em.

3 - Most of my volume is on Sky (I'm EvilPingu on there because of the 10 character limit). I use 'Stars Android app when I'm out somewhere and bored to death, but I've never even made SilverStar on there before. Also, can't say no to PKR's lottery freerolls. Possibly getting free tournament tickets for looking in the lobby and clicking the register button? Bargain.

4 - Sadly, the closest Nando's to my house is about 25 miles away - I've only been to Nando's a couple of times, and the last time was about two and a half years ago, so don't really have a favourite order.

5 - Not sure atm, will think about it and answer tomorrow

===========

Bed time so will answer more posts when I wake up sometime this afternoon.

[NEWY]

If its not too personal and intrusive £30 nl seems quite small stakes to grind a living from. How many hands a month do u try and play and what do u consder a good/ bad month in terms of profit/ bbs won? obv feel free not to divulge if i ool. Ty and good luck.

[Evilpengwinz]

If its not too personal and intrusive £30 nl seems quite small stakes to grind a living from. How many hands a month do u try and play and what do u consder a good/ bad month in terms of profit/ bbs won? obv feel free not to divulge if i ool. Ty and good luck.

It is a low level to grind for a living, but at the same time, I still live with my Dad, so the only bills I have to pay are rent and mobile phone contract. I usually only withdraw £300 a month, so 10 BI's really isn't that much. Anything after that goes towards building my bankroll so I can eventually move up.

I've only just moved up from 20NL to 30NL in the last week or two, so I don't have much of a sample size & don't know what my win rate will be at that level yet because I've not played enough hands yet. Generally, I set a target for the amount of Poker Points I want to earn on Sky instead of playing a certain amount of hands. Going to try to qualify for Sky Poker's Priority Club next month which is 10,000 Poker Points (£1 rake = 6 Poker Points). Not sure how many hands I'll have to play to get there, guess I'll find out next month.

5. Best ever day in your Life so far.....

Didn't answer this yesterday because I don't really know, there's quite a few to choose from.

Finally decided on the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 2002. For any F1 fans who are interested, I was in the grandstand somewhere in between Luffield and Woodcote, and I could see the cars coming out of Bridge, through the entire complex and down to Copse (Which meant I could see the start too), so had a pretty good view.

It was really depressing to go to the World Series by Renault meeting a couple of years back and see that spectators were allowed to walk on what used to be Bridge corner, as it isn't being used any more.

Tbh, if you asked me the same question next week I'd probably give you a different answer, because I really didn't know which one to choose from.

[Evilpengwinz]

How did you manage to get banned form Sky ?

I'm only banned from their forum Posted a rant about Customer Care on there.

Welcome to the blog section, the very best of luck to you Andy...

Biggest hand won and lost? (stakes or bb's)
Best and worst moment in poker?
Why do you love the game?

Ty

- Biggest hand won was at 200NL, playing a drunk guy who was just going crazy with every hand, he opened to something like £28 so I shoved £200 with A9 suited, snap called by 55, rivered a 9.
- Biggest hand lost was at 300NL, nut flush draw + overcards vs a really aggro opponent who had a made hand although can't remember what it was. He held.
- Best moment in Poker is one of my tournament wins. Nothing beats winning a tournament.
- Worst moment in Poker was after my first big tournament win for £1.8k, when I thought I was Phil Ivey and had 3-4 consecutive days of being on a massive heater, then managed to lose the profit from my heater and half of my tournament bink before withdrawing.

Why do I love the game? It's always been part of my life for as long as I can remember (Not for real money ofc). Used to have "Vegas Games 2000" on my old Windows 98 when I was younger, used to limp into every pot and not have a clue what I was doing. I would call with 7 high on the river just because folding was boring and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Eventually Sky Poker came along and I started learning the game.

I also love how no two hands are ever the same.

[Evilpengwinz]

Andy!

Word of advice.

You were doing just fine with your intro until this bit......


several years of listening to Tikay has served me well

Your potential street cred is now in tatters. It is only a matter of time before an internet sheep Posts the tap-in.

Level?


Look forward to reading this, & I wish you well with the Diary, & the poker.

PS - I think you'll enjoy our "Poker Hand Analysis Board" (PHA), here....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

You'll not see me dispensing advice there, it's a bit high level for me, but there are loads of really good respondents on there. Some play the game very well, some teach the game very well, but almost without exception, they are all really helpful. Just avoid posting disguised bad beat stories, because you'll get ripped for those, but knowing you as I do, I doubt you'll do that.

Good luck Andy.

Thanks - Not a level, either

I've posted a few times on the PHA board already, although I stay away from the live poker threads as I'm useless live. There's some very good players on here who I can definitely learn from just by reading some of their posts in PHA.

1. How do you have your steak?
2. Last film you cried watching (just a little, manlyish tear, if you prefer)?
3. Walk-on song for the WSOP final table (YouTube link)?
4. Most famous person you've met?
5. Favourite advert ever (YouTube link)?

Thanks and good luck with the diary.

Thanks

1 - Usually medium.
2 - I can't remember every crying watching a film, but I can probably count the number of films I've watched on my fingers (Including the first 45 minutes of The Grinch 3-4 times every year on the final day of school before xmas). The only film which I remember making me want to cry was Schindler's List, but I was a Year 7 kid at the time in a classroom with loads of other boys who would've reminded me about it every day for the rest of my school life.
3 - The intro to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc.
4 - Don't know - Had a couple of Football and Rugby Union players teach PE lessons but that's about it. Don't know who any of them were though - The footballers were random guys from Swindon Town and I only like Rugby League. Apparently one of the Rugby Union players had an England cap so I'll go with him.
5 - Some of the Paddy Power ones recently are brilliant, although can't beat the Cadbury's Gorilla. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo

[tikay]

How did you manage to get banned form Sky ?

I'm only banned from their forum Posted a rant about Customer Care on there.

Welcome to the blog section, the very best of luck to you Andy...

Biggest hand won and lost? (stakes or bb's)
Best and worst moment in poker?
Why do you love the game?

Ty

- Biggest hand won was at 200NL, playing a drunk guy who was just going crazy with every hand, he opened to something like £28 so I shoved £200 with A9 suited, snap called by 55, rivered a 9.
- Biggest hand lost was at 300NL, nut flush draw + overcards vs a really aggro opponent who had a made hand although can't remember what it was. He held.
- Best moment in Poker is one of my tournament wins. Nothing beats winning a tournament.
- Worst moment in Poker was after my first big tournament win for £1.8k, when I thought I was Phil Ivey and had 3-4 consecutive days of being on a massive heater, then managed to lose the profit from my heater and half of my tournament bink before withdrawing.

Why do I love the game? It's always been part of my life for as long as I can remember (Not for real money ofc). Used to have "Vegas Games 2000" on my old Windows 98 when I was younger, used to limp into every pot and not have a clue what I was doing. I would call with 7 high on the river just because folding was boring and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Eventually Sky Poker came along and I started learning the game.

I also love how no two hands are ever the same.

That was really sad. We don't need to go into detail here - please - but as you know, an effort was made to avoid the upcoming car crash......live & learn, eh?

Anyway, very pleased you have found your way here, & good luck with the Diary.

I do actually enjoy commentating on your play, you make it easy for me, as you do, as far as I can tell, the "correct" things. It is not easy when dealing with Clients to say "look chap, you made a right pigs ear of that". They are Clients, & it is so easy to inadvertently piss them off, nothing is worse than being dissed in front of a TV audience, it is incredibly humiliating, so some careful choosing of words is necessary.

I doubt Tesco, or B & Q or whoever tell their Clients "stop, you are doing it all wrong".

[Evilpengwinz]

Sunday update:

Very little to report - Played three tournaments including the Super Roller on Sky Poker last night, (£110 buy-in, sold 20% @ 1.0) Unfortunately didn't cash in any of them, for a loss of £105.50. Cash was pretty much break even, but picked up a few Poker Points towards 5k for this month.

Hopefully, an hour or so tonight will knock off the remaining 87 points required for 5k, then I can spend the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow going through some hand histories and reading "The Mental Game of Poker 2". I've also got a free £5 bet on Zimbabwe to beat Bangladesh in the 2nd Test Match. Zimbabwe need 237 runs with 6 wickets remaining at the moment, so I'm not too optimistic, but fingers crossed.

Yesterday: -£104.39
Sky Poker Points this month: 4,913/5,000 = £78.61