That 888 graph is looking good! Have you stopped playing on 888 now?
I would say I'm addicted so speed tables also! Any time I play regular tables I get bored!

I noticed your not signed up to a poker room through PokerVIP. If your not getting rake back your missing out on a lot of value! I'm averaging around 3 Bi's in rake back every week! It makes you want to grind more!

Have you got any November goals?

GL at the tables!

Yeah the software at 888 was awful. It drove me nuts and was costing me BB's from constant disconnects. My internet is pretty bad so I need a stable room.

I'm playing stars now so no RB available I believe. If I move to a new room I'll definately sign up.

November goals I'll think about today and come back on here bit later.

Thanks for the GL!

Man o man whyyyyy would you move back to Stars lol.

Awesome to see a journey and i really hope it motivates you to keep on playing. So would you call yourself someone who plays for fun and not money then? As just looking at those different graphs it kinda looks that way?

So what is it you do with your time outside of poker?

- family life
- social life
- hobbies
- jobs

Basically what does a typical week look like for you?

Back to Stars because where else can I go. I can't play at the fishy but poor software places like 888. If there is somewhere that is stable and decent and softer than Stars (no issues with if this is including Rakeback) I'll take it!

What do you mean about my graphs look like I play for fun not money? They are not that bad! Its true though the money is just a way of keeping score really on a hobby I enjoy. Its never going to be a career for me but would be great if that hobby made some money to spend on other stuff.

I'm a family man now with two girls, 3 and 1 years old so poker is a secondary pursuit. I'm never really able to sit down for a long period so again Zoom on Stars works pretty well for making the most of my free half hours here and there. My wife is a nurse so keeps the perspective every day for me on what actually matters. Oh you lost a BI? Well today some poor sucker lost his arm. Or worse. I work for a multinational in Commercial Strategy which is basically working out how best to spend sums of money the like of which I will never see in real life! The pay is pretty decent as well and there is a lot more I can do in that career hence why spending time learning poker beyond a fun pastime would be big -EV vs the opportunity cost to my working income. Job I neither love or hate but I find I am pretty good at it so that has its own rewards and the people I work with are good people too.

Other hobbies I'm a natural introvert and struggle with people so I like playing guitar (on my own) watching films (at home) playing Xbox (used to be a competition standard COD player) and cooking for my family.

All that adds up to a pretty chilled out guy for whom poker is a way down the list of priorities. To make actually good money I think you would have to live and breathe it in the modern world and I'm not up for doing that right now in my life. Who knows where life will take me though so never say never.

As for November goals.

[] Play Zoom and don't lose (EV).
[] Enjoy it!

I had a good run on Zoom today and got my BR back to $400. Was a great laugh as well so has given me the drive to get back to learning and playing reg tables. I signed up at Stan James after a recomendation in a post in the forum from Jon. See how this goes! Odd that I signed up in £ and it translated my poker funds to $ but I have to play in Euros. Not sure what that is about. I guess its to screw people on currency conversion but we'll see. If there is any of that I'll be straight out of it. I hate underhand crap like that.

First impressions are that traffic is terrible. Their 'Blaze' format has no-one on any tables beyond NL2 and only 40 there. Software looks OK but has already disconnected me once and timed me out. Fortunately I was already all in and it let me win the pot so didn't lose out on this occasion.

Not great so far but will keep at it and hopefully earn a bit of RB. I signed up through this site so if anyone can tell me how that can work I'd appreciate it.

GOGO!

Yo man, loved these posts for some reason. Seeing someone sum their own life up with that kind of clarity is unusual, and it helps give me some perspective as well.

I agree with what you said about to be competitive enough to make enough money for poker to be justifiable, most people are going to have to put in more commitment than their life allows for, and its most certainly not a good idea for many people. I admire that you can treat it like a hobby and if you want to make some extra money the rakeback deals pokerVIP has are something you should certainly consider as they would make a considerable difference to your winnings, and if thats how you keep score rather than how fluid the software is then that would be for you.

Thanks DreadWolf. Hopefully I've done it properly to get RB deals on Stan James assuming I can stick it out playing the same 4 regs on every table at my level.

As for real life, I heard someone say once and I can never remember where (maybe film, maybe real life) so I'm paraphrasing "I may not be the richest or the smartest or the most famous, but I love my kids, I love my wife and I love my life. I wish you my kind of success". Thats all that really matters to me.

Good luck in wherever your life takes you!

Some great posts Paul!

I currently grind on 'Stars 5 and 10NL (Zoom and Reg) but looking to move elsewhere to take advantage of rakeback. I hadn't really heard much about it until reading about it on here and realising how much I'm missing out on !

GL and see you at the tables!

Yeah I've never done it as instead I focused on paying less rake at Stars rather than going elsewhere, paying more and trying to claim it back.

I'm not sure if I've done it right though as Stan James is still saying Username not confirmed and rake is not registering. Hopefully one of the guys who know what they are on about will come and set me right. First go on the tables at SJ and it looks pretty soft. Same regs on every table playing hyper aggressive which I guess is profitable vs fish and I was able to win at a good lick despite getting KK

Whats going on there I can't see all the message?

Must be that Spam filter thing again, limited the size of my posts or something. Bit annoying.

I'm not going to do a long update as it would appear that spam filter hates long entries. I'm still kicking around on Stan James. I'm playing horrendous I think. Still just about winning because the players there are really bad but I'm adjusting poorly and getting crushed in some spots to keep my winrate down. I'm stacking off too light pre as this game is like its 2008 again and AIPF is always KK+ even if they are like 25% 3bet. Also I'm not ranging well in some spots and have been hit by people flatting 3bets OOP with KK/AA again and I don't include those in their range. May just be variance but we'll see.

SJ is a crazy limp fest though. 80/0 and 70/2 whales kicking around, the like of which I've not seen on Stars for a while. If I can't make money here then I can't make money.

How does RB work then? I'm earning rake now but not sure how I get it and what the rules are?

Where did you sign up for rake mate? PokerVIP? send one of the team a message and they will let you know. I can't confirm but IIRC you get it straight to your account. PM the team to get the info though.

Sounds like you're running bad a bit from your comment. I would opt to flat hands like JJ-QQ IP if you think most AIPF ranges are KK+/AK. I remember playing the micros and people never got in less than KK+ unless it was BvB situations.

Whos the team I need to PM. I thought I was doing that automatically by signing up for Stan James through the site and using the code?

Yeah I'm sure thats all thats going on its just when a guy is being so aggro and its BvB I level myself into continuing and its always AA at the moment. Or they flat AA like I say and stack me. Just seems like the nuts a lot at the minute. Sure its just confirmation bias though.

Use the "Chat with us!" thing to speak to the team, very helpful

Great advice thanks. Will try and get sorted now.

Yeah your account needs to be verified by one of the team! Hit chat with us and they will sort it! Stan James has a minimum rake per week tho to get the max value! And its around $200 i think so not low if your playing micros! VC is def a better option for micro grinders!

Ivan on support was very helpful. Thanks Killjoy.