Ragz 2014

[Ragz]

Yes I'd defo be happier in a normal job but after living off decent money for years minimum wage simply isn't viable.

[dakky]

Yes I'd defo be happier in a normal job but after living off decent money for years minimum wage simply isn't viable.

You'd be surprised. Being happier > having more money

[Ragz]

Money buys happiness  

No I was doing some part time stuff with a mate who fits stoves and it was really lax stuff as he only needs help for like 10 mins of the whole day but it's required by law. It's what I was doing back in 08-09, 50-50 with poker and was the perfect set up, except of course for the early morning to late night swapover as playing later is better for poker. Sadly he rarely needs help anymore after switching to a slightly different line of work

[Ragz]

SMALL UPDATE

I'm not at all proud of myself for my work ethic, but I've not really played much since my Hot £55 score, which is one month ago now. There's 2-3 reasons for this. Two of them are OUT AND OUT FEAR! First fear is of my woeful internet failing, as everytime I do log in to play some hypers, it will go down at some point. We are with Utility Warehouse here and over the course of the the 3 years I've been here I must've made 100+ calls about it. It often gets sorted for a short period but is usually buggered again within a week or two. I can't just up n leave them because I'm not the account holder and housemate doesn't want to move it. I am currently enquiring to have a second phone line installed to get fibre optic with Sky.

Second fear is, of course, the INEVITABLE... run hell. And indeed, every single log in since that day has been nothing but pure run hell.

Click to see full-size image.

The third reason has been due to being busy getting my bike sorted and up for sale. After putting it on ebay, gumtree, multiple fb pages, encountering the biggest number of moronic timewasters you could ever wish to deal with, some guy swooped down from the North without even barely asking a question and took it off me for £6.5k. So not all doom n gloom.

[Ragz]

Today has been my first proper grind in quite some time...$800 spunked.

Was kind of inspired recently by a certain reg doing really wel lin the 18m hyper games, and even more suprised by the fact after nearly 3 months of being on the scene there's STILL barely any regs in them. I know the reason for that, it's the 8% rake in a hyper. But who gives a shit how much rake they pay if they're getting twice as much from all the players being fish??

So this specific player made $10k from 5k games in the past two months playing the $25's only, no $10's, showing that volume is decent. Weirdly, the fact they are 10bb starting stacks compared to 25bb stacks in the 6-max versions actually means you can play way more an hour, even though it's 3x the field. I've been hovering from 6-10 tables at a time and getting 65/games an hour (nearly 400 games today)!!! However, that's made zero difference to anything as I've run so horrifically disgustingly that I wish I hadn't seen his graph now. The guy is a renowned sunrunner, bragging on tiltbook the first few months of the year of a revoltingly high ROI in 50-50's, so to be fair, considering the volatility of a 10bb starting stack hyper SUPER KNOCKOUT (the KO part meaning an even huger number of hands go to showdown) then even a 1000000000000000000000000000 game sample probably wouldn't mean jack shit. A 12-14% 18-man turbo ROI like myself has broken even for 10-15 nigh on 20k games, so realistically in these games two players of equal skill could see one becoming a millionaire while the other sleeps in the gutter....just from amaya's massively realistic PN... oh sorry, RNG.

As I'm so many games down on the contract, however, I'm just gonna stick with em and pray for a miraculous day of something remotely close to expectation.

This is my holecard distribution for the past 5 weeks


The first Ace comes in at 28th!

[Ragz]

Well I wish I could post more often I really do, but the truth is poker is just such a landd of hell on earth right now that I've never anything positive to post about. It's literally groundhog day of starting out a trillion % below EV in every session I play, with one day in 10-14 offering a tiny bit of restbite...and then straight back to the bollocks again.

Since the May 9th significant win, I'm now 3 grand down from 4000 games. Granted 95% of that is hyper turbo format, break even in turbos, chuck off the scheduleds and it's +800, chuck of the sickeningly rapey 180's, so mostly 18-45man, and it's +2000 lol. What's funny about that is when I decide to drop all those games and say right, load ONLY 18-45s and those ONLY NOTHING ELSE (as I'm standing at around $2/game for them all year long) I then take an even bigger marrow from Mr JewEliteLeaderMan right up the rectum just for even thinking of game selecting more profitably.

There is nothing I can do absolutely nothing. Card distribution is beyond the imagination and that is simply that. dead

[Ragz]

Another day of groundhog today, in fact nearly matched my record for most 18-man turbos uncashed in a row. Well I had 3 min cashes in 51 games. Tried to remember to boom all the ridiculous housebot hands but didn't get all of them.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19989975_998CB80A99 This one was a classic .

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19990440_922350097B This was for giant CL in a decent buy-in MTT.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19990957_C806F9B761 3 left in a 45-man.

Tons I missed, shoved into AA well over 20 times, the usual. It's just the same pattern of every single 80% RFI reg having the top 5% in every single button v blinds, blind v blind , another v another situation, every defend with 98% is missed flop for me, spike for them, if I bluff anywhere they call down with bottom pair, if I trap check back top pairs or overpairs it matter not, by the time it's got to the river they'd already flopped a the nuts, with their 98% defends, it's just completely unfathomable...every hand.

This was an awesome end to the day, a bubble lasting over 40 hands. With me commentating in the chat box throughout explaining what is about to happen, and it happening bang on the letter. The short stacks all doubled multiple times with 20/80% equities before the flop, then these blinders go down.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19991216_DEE465FE03 First this ICM suicide. But he's obv a housebot and knows what the board is gong to be already.

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19991217_0962ED741C Then anotehr 90%er OTT split which would've saved my lfe had I won (or prob not).

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19991220_A70C0A9D4A Then a 93%er OTT  fucked over. Last few pence was A4 into 99. Fucking mind boggling hysterical shit...daily...since 2004.

Oh and last but not least

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/19988973_4A69C0F2E3 A royal to complete my 100% record of never having a winning day when making a royal. It totals about 17 or 18 lifetime for me, which is wayyy  more than expectancy. yet I've never won on any single day I've made one. Soul crippling, flop to the floor face down in a gutter of shit induclngly impossible. Can't WAIT to do it all again tomoz 

amazing fucking month

Click to see full-size image.

[Ragz]

Since last post I've had the biggest sciatica flare up of my entire life. For those who aren't familiar, it's a gigantic nerve (largest in bod) runs from the back down legs. I first had a left hand side issue in 2012, struggled a good 6 months with the odd day almost completely paralysed, then went long periods of okness (always a slight niggle there even at the best of times) and didn't suffer much at all from... I dunno, around late 2013 until about one year ago when another unexplained flare up came on. I've got to kind of thank it in a way becuz it sent me on what now seems to be a life long mission to find the truth about health, diet and so on.

Well that last flare up a yer ago lasted a short time then recently it started coming on again but this time on the RIGHT side of my bod, bang in the right buttock. Strange how it's swapped sides! From the weekend just gone I was getting worse so Monday I decided to go to a spa with about 5 different kinds of saunas, plunge pools, jacuzzis and so on and do the old hot to cold back n forth trick. Whilst in there the pain goes completely, when swimming it's fine, then that night in bed I suffered THE WORST EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR agony, forcing me to take pain killers which I always try to avoid at all costs. Next morning it took me 20 minutes to get from bedroom to kitchen as each remotest tensing of EITHER leg was full on 100000000000 volts runnning through the entire body. I'd gone to kitchen to get an ice pack, gel ones I keep in freezer...and would u adam and eve it it seems to have done the trick!!! Well first necking 3 ibuprofen and two cocodomol sorts the pain enough to sleep. But upon waking when they've worn off I strapped an ice pack to the area in agony (ARSE) keeping it in place with a velcro back support thingy I also happen to have. The numbing actually began to work after about 20-30 mins and continuing on with it today it has almost completely sodded off!! A MIRACLE I TELL THEE A MIRACLE!!!!!!! The relief in finding something that works is indescribable. I know what I need to do to prevent and cure, it's purely a case of lazy-itus which makes it not happen.

So haven't played much poker, on Sunday I made about $100 and on Tuesday I stuck to $15 6m hypers, short games in case of any attacks coming on. The usual kinda thing happend, hadn't been in them for a while, coming over from MTT SnG's and so therefore ran okish and made another $300. So as negative as it may sound, I prefer to call it cynical, and cynicism is based on realism, I said to myself it's not even worth playing today as I'll lose the entire lot again in this constant game of cat and mouse 9999 steps foward, 9998 steps back. Sure enough that's precisely what has happend today. Started with 6m hypers, realised the half decent run had worn off so switched back to MTT SnG's, got killed in both. Then had the Hot $7.50 as my remaining game, with $3k up top this was for the virtual chip lead with 50 left

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/20067483_C7B0389B4A

Sooooooooo many deep runs end like this, runs that were they on the accounts of such likes as FEDOR HOLZ or..... CHARLIE CARREL... a very very VERY diffferent scenario would be taking place. Sadly, for us UNCHOSEN ones, we must suffer in silence. I can bet the best poker players in the world are completely unheard of.

A delightful hand to end the post, I like to term these "housebot proof hands" http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/20048398_736696BF98

[tikay]

Love this diary, Ragz, though don't post on it often. As in, not at all.

Ugh @ the sciatica, it sounds horrendous. How long does it normally last, & does it tend to keep recurring? I can't begin to imagine what it is to be ill, or suffer from something like that. Even a bit of cramp now & then is more than enough for me. 

Now, poker.

Simply, do you really enjoy it? It all sounds as painful as sciatica.

I can't offer advice to someone with your poker abilities, but have you considered changing to a different (& maybe softer) format? There's still value spots out there, imo. Not sure NLH Hypers & the like are amongst them. Online, generally in my experience, a lot of folks play PLO really badly. Do you ever play PLO?

I'm certainly not dissing how you earn your living, but it almost sounds like a humdrum 9-5 job would be less painful.   

[Ragz]

Thanks for your post.

Well I make these blogs really to do a little bit of venting (although on this forum I wanted to make it a little more about the good side of poker, hence posts being so few and far between), and to just track progress and make a record of the absolute madness that I have very little faith in being real. Everyone has their opinions, I certainly ain't looking to argue about them, bored stiff of that already!

I will never get a 9-5 as long as I can eek something out of this game, but what I do desperately need to do is get into the live scene way more. So many poker tours across Britain atm and with play in them being so horrific I should look to see if REAL cards actually do what they're supposed to, and consistently so. Have recently gotten the Grosvenor client to try and satty into some of their stuff. That said I do have a few mates trialling day trading apps, I've had a little look into but that would need full time attention to learn properly.

I couldn't play PLO to save my life, with so many possible combinations on board I get kinda poker blindness, watching Phil Galfond 4-6 table high stakes PLO HU is absolutely mind boggling to me, I have to stare at the board for a week to figure out what I've got and if I can be beat   

The sciatica will always reoccur until I'm disciplined enough to keep doing the core strengthening exercises and also get a better chair for posture, I want a Herman Miller chair with the old lumber support but I can't bring myself to part with the extortionate amount of cash for one.

Didn't play yesterday as I went to Newmarket Nights for me n a pal's joint birthdays which ended with an hour+ gig from Tears For Fears, their first outing in a 11yrs. IT was a good craic, but once again my terrible luck showed it's head. I'd studied form and shortlisted horses for all 7 evening races, then told me extremely lucky mate which ones to back, and subsequently went with slightly different and more value choices, obviously he won twice and I failed every race, then missed the last race where my would-be selection trotted up no probs  Just couldn't write it. Was quite the experience though, jam packed it was, every 5 yards was a food stall of one kind or another and every single one of them was minimum 30 person queue...ALL NIGHT! £5 a pint, £3 a bottle of sprite, but coulnd't fault the £7.50 burger that was quality!

Consciously made the decision to grind non stop from today til 7th August (end of contract) and the usual has taken place on the felt. Incredible the amount of late position vs blinds set ups there are every hand, the amount of everything that I just can't be bothered repeating today.  Tailed off from regging atm, I'm either gonna start again or go to Westcliff Genting and play live.

[Ragz]

Wrote that post with one game remaining, a $3r 180. Crackin exit http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20098659_CB15B843E0

 

[Ragz]

Didn't end up playing live as I left it too late. So I thought I'd have yet another one of THE  most anger inducing infurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriating sessions of my entire life. It's hard to believe in my 12th year of playing I can still have worse and worser sessions. It's totally unfathomable. I boomed about a million hands so let's sieve through this utter fucking bullshit.

Oh first of all I took this screenshot of a Grosvenor satty I tried out.

Click to see full-size image.

The reason I took it was because precisely as the game started one of my skype chat group buddies randomly, for no reason whatseover posted this



So I was like WTF??? SURREAL!!!!!!!

Anyways that^ KK hand was hilarious. Guy raised to 100 in front of me I make it 300. BB cold call, OR calls. Flop 76Tr, BB checks, OR donks, I raise MASSIVE they BOTH call! Yup, welcome to England   Turn is a brick, I'm checked to and jam. They BOTH call. Oh well I'm screwed then I think, someone's got a set/straight here. Nope. BB's got 87o, OR's got 99. So they've got each other blocked basically. What was the river I hear you cry? A FUCKING 9!!! Jesus wept 2 hands into my first ever game on the site and royally fucked!!!

Here was my equity when it all went in

Click to see full-size image.

So back to integral and reliable old Stars then.

3rd level in the Hot $7.50 http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102379_EAB5548B5B

Two hands in a row vs the exact same player, literally one hand after the next http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102548_5F199D8C26
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102550_79DFAD2AA4  I kid you not when I called again I looked and said I bet he's got A7o. Amazing, just incredible, to be saying it to myself when usually I'd have too many games to notice.

For top ten chips in the last 40 http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102716_7FD3E6D126

3 left $15/18 http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102800_CFCF5C0BB9

For the massive chip leads at $8 180 FT bubble, would've been 7 left after http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20102923_362899591B Just too too too too too real.

Ended up getting 4th in it, here's another realistic board for the exit http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20103164_83B142D732

And then, right at the end I'd regged a few of those $7.10 6 max shootout Sunday Million sats and got heads up. It's WTA. This to make $215 from $7 in 5 minutes. http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/20103476_D052E7C47B

And I end up losing. Finally, the cashier halfway thru sesh.



only 1.8million below EV this month.

Click to see full-size image.

[Ragz]

At the moment I'm feeling rather lost with the game. When every single hand I play I'm just royally stitched up to the max, you can only take so much before you're questioning your game totally, when really it HAS to purely be the runnings and card distribution that's responsible. But like I say after soooooooooo damn much of it to the point you're in total disblief that yet another sickest turn card possible has turned up in this post flop HU situation, and if not the turn card then always 100% of the time THE NUT WORST river card possible, it leads you to start believing you're just shit. I can literally call them almost every hand I'm in a post flop betting situation, and well all the aipf's too of course. But when playing cash it's usually post flop betting. I've opened a unibet account recently plus grosvenor, purely to try and satty into some live stuff. But I've been dabbling at cash on unibet and from the very first hand it's just horrific. Every hand I'm in they flop/turn or river the bollocks. There isn't a single dry board out there ever. Every AA or KK pre, all folds, anything else is pure aggressive 3betting thrown in my face, all flops raised or check raised, or turns, but with a very good hand, nothing, all folds. So you know it's purely the card distrib, but cuz it happens soooooooooooooooo damn much you're like JESUS U GOTTA BE FKN BLUFFIN MAN...nope. I'm talking years and years here, not just "oh be patient it can happen for a few days". Yh I do know what patience is in poker, haven't made $150k on not having patience.

So when card distribution is so awful you feel like man I gotta just play every pot and try to bluff my way to some money...nope, never works. 2d7h3cQdKd run out? Where u bet AQ and get raised turn? oh yh, they got 84dd every time, PERFECT RIVER GUARANTEED COMIN YOUR WAY.  How can you get away from this every hand? How long do you just ACCEPT that you're fucked every hand and fold with huge discipline waiting moooooooooonths for it to change? I ain't got that fcking long man!! I might just try and beg my way into the Fedor camp and see what I can learn all over again. I dunno, just really lost.

[Marky147]

The sadistic part of me hopes you carry on playing, as it always puts me right if I have an annoying day at work, and think I could still be trying to grind it out playing MTTs

Given how anguished you come across in your posts, at what point do you ask yourself if the juice is worth the squeeze?

Surely being convinced that the game you're playing is rigged against you doesn't stand you in good stead, lol.

Best of luck anyway, I hope you manage an unrigged session soon.

[TightEnd]

hi

it seems like you really struggle with mental game, and don't even like playing a lot of the time. Temperamentally, is it the game for you? any session of any length is gonig to be full of bad beats after all.

have you read mental game of poker? thought about any mental game coaching?