Life can become one big fucking grind.

Sometimes you just have to take the shot and live on the edge.

Haha I should be banned from the forum for giving this advice lol

Took your advice.

And?!

Busto.

Ended up playing NL100.

Joking. Sorry I shouldn't leave that there, last time I said I had some beers I got told I had alcohol problems! I did have 2 last night. Look out!

I deposited $15 to get some KO Tickets on Stars, which are totally stupid. Spin and Go level stupid but they were $5 of free tickets, won one and knocked a few people out so made about $10 out of that. Played 3 tables of NL25 regular action for a change of pace. Got lucky with some horrible players on my tables. Though maybe I've just got used to Zoom play and this is normal on the reg tables. Played my A game I think.




In doing so also cleared $10 RB and another bit from the Stars Daily challenge thing so put about $100 on my Stars BR.

Good advice from Jon. I think I need to keep dipping a toe into other games or stakes just to keep my mind fresh and focussed. That could also be going down to NL2 for a comedy over aggressive session or whatever but just a change.

Didn't last. I got runover today. Could not get a hand to showdown. Either I had cards and they folded flop. Or I had 1 pair or worse and get river x/jammed or overbet donked into. I have a strategy adjusted to call lighter vs two guys but then missed every board so couldn't even get a bluff catcher. Tilt control was decent, open ranges didn't alter out of frustration and I didn't start punting stacks off. Quit when I hit my stop loss (or very close to it). NL25 shot is over though. I think the freshness it gave me was worthwhile but to have a WTSD of 15% and WWSF of 30% when you open 20% of hands is just ludicrous. I'll put some hands in the HH bit so if I'm giving too much respect.

Looked back over the hands and really nothing too major in there. One high variance but plus ev spot I could have called but the guy was pretty hard to range so it could easily have been high variance and break even EV. Couple of spots where I ended up making an OK fold when if I'd sized better I would never have had a choice to make. Just a bad run of villains hitting.

This month there is a good set of bonuses on Unibet that allow you to win decent sized tickets for playing PLO4 so I'm going to donk about on that and try and learn how that game works, how ranges operate on PLO etc. Like the NL25 hopefully a fresh challenge that will keep me focused on improving and playing my best. Good exercise in tilt control as well.

If I get in some volume though it will likely still be on Stars. Back to reg tables I think though. Zoom has lost its lustre for a while.

haha you got me god dammit - felt so guilty seeing the busto comment lol. Brutal

Haha. Great sense of humour.

Yeah, that busto comment got me worried too for a second. Glad everything is (more or less) ok.
.

Something you might be interested in....

Rest v running through it.

Thanks @MinerBoy23 . I'll have a read after work.

Sorry @MattVIP and @Jon-PokerVIP i couldn't help myself. I would imagine with you knowledge of my mental game that would have been believable but I'm feeling good these days!

I'm struggling a bit for poker motivation just now. I played a bit vs Snowie last night as I wasn't switched on enough to play real money poker. I actually had my first ever losing session vs Snowie. I used to think that was odd but I suppose with no rake its not that hard to be ahead. Snowie tells me I played really well though I just got unlucky with cards. Error rate was about 4 I think. I only lost 20bb I suppose as well and I'm still a long way ahead of Snowie since I got it.

I'm finding when I do a warm up for a session the prospect of the grind ahead of me is so uninspiring that it makes me not even open the tables. Partially I think its because my mental game is doing so much better. I think the excitement of it used to partially come from being high or being low. Like if I was high I'd be all like "I can't wait to get on there and crush these fishes, I'm the greatest blah blah blah" or when low it would be "I can't wait to play as I'm due a great session after all the bad beat" or "I can't wait to get on there and put the last bad session behind me". Now I'm more stable and even all the time I don't have that (bad) motivation.

"Lets calmly sit down and make some good choices, win or lose" does not hold the same immediate rush, although OFC its a way better place to start a session.

Perhaps the reality is that without this I don't love poker enough to study and grind enough. I'll be a Unibet Rec player for like 25k hands a year total. I'll be a winning player though. Then I'll stop studying because its easy, and get worse. Hmm. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

The other interesting thing I found was I looked at my sessions by time and date. I did this before I think but then forgot all about it. Its actually got a lot starker as well. Basically I win all week and lose it on Saturdays. I win all day and lose it 10pm -11pm. These should be the most profitable times for me but I get wrecked consistently. I think the 10pm bit is about session length as I never start sessions then. That hour, if I'm playing is probably some time into a session and I've slipped out of A game because I'm winning (so no need to focus I'm kicking ass brah) or losing (so no need to focus they always have it I'll play tight passive). The Saturday thing is more unexplainable except maybe I have more time so play too long sessions. But when I filter by Table session length about 1/2 my volume is under 1 hour and half over 1hour and the winrate is higher in the longer sessions. I guess with tables opening and closing the table session doesn't correlate with actual session but even so something is odd in there.

Maybe I can only play well against weak regs? I can't adjust to fish to get max value from their mistakes and I get more tilted when ones beats me from entitlement tilt. When I reg beats me I think 'good game he is a decent player so no shame in losing' and stay in my A game. When a fish beats me I lose mental focus, how can that idiot be given flopped FH with 63s etc. When they jam I think why would the nuts jam here, my range is capped and weak, must be a bluff, I call. That sort of shite. So the only winnings I make are from fishregs who even I can exploit. Interesting consideration. Dangerously close though to move up where they respect my raises.

I think I need to do some study on exploiting strategy vs aggro and passive weaker players. All this stuff with Snowie is probably making that part at least worse. If I could get that down though I'd be a decent player as I actually win at a very solid winrate on the reg heavy Stars tables almost all of the time. I should therefore be smashing the fish heavy times even harder. Then I'd be a 10bb/100 crusher instead of 2bb/100 fishreg.

I think this weekend I'm going to do the homework Cookie set on Miners journey on flop textures and ranges. The difference being I'm not using Snowie and its reggy lines. I'm going to go on Flopzilla and build plan vs guy who never folds any pair or GS and guy who 3bets 30%, raises flop 40% etc. Often a good bit of study re-ignites the fire. Dangerously though I feel like it gives me back the "I'm the greatest" hype based on the new thing I think I now understand and history tells me that does not normally end well for me.

Have a great weekend everyone and try and enjoy the good weather if you're in the UK (and obvs abroad if you have some as well). Then smash out some rungood, A game, 40bb/100 poker in the evenings.

TLDR - Move up to where they respect your raises, have a nice weekend.

Which level is this? Nobody ever respects raises brah!

Nice post above btw - it's hard playing when you are not inspired to but that's why you have to think why play poker? Maybe your life would be more fun without it.

I've been thinking a lot about it and I'm going to stop playing Poker so much. I'm never going to be any good, and I enjoy the experience anyway so I'm just a rec player to all intents and purposes. It won't cost me much to donk around the cheeseburger stakes with my 2bb/100 winrate, waiting for standard deviation to bust me.

Even if I do lose its still a win for me overall as it saves me having a more expensive hobby and its improved my mental state a lot in the last year so nothing bad to say about the game. Its just not worth trying as hard at for me as I don't want to grind really. Instead I'm going to 1 or 2 table NL10 or NL25 when I want to mess about and just have fun with it.

Fave hand from the day today:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BB: $22.08 (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
UTG: $24.90 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)
MP: $30.39 (VPIP: 21.23, PFR: 16.44, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 154)
CO: $25.02 (VPIP: 20.83, PFR: 14.58, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 102)
Hero (BTN): $25.00
SB: $33.81 (VPIP: 23.66, PFR: 18.49, 3Bet Preflop: 7.95, Hands: 473)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Kh Kc
fold, fold, CO raises to $0.62, Hero raises to $1.90, SB calls $1.80, BB calls $1.65, CO calls $1.28

Flop : ($7.60, 4 players) Ks Kd 2h


SB checks, BB checks, CO checks,




Hero checks

Turn : ($7.60, 4 players) 9c
SB checks, BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $3.30, fold, fold, fold

That hand history GIF expedition is incredibleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Wish more people did these like it was 2010 again!

As for your thoughts on poker all I can say is fair enough! That does not mean I don't think your good enough or anything just if you don't want to do something you don't do it and you just do whatever makes you the happiest.

Lets enjoy some pokers!

I'm loving this simpler life of just playing a few hands on two tables, hitting the low volume awards on Unibet and generally just donking about for a laugh. Not winning much but not losing much either and having a lot more fun.

I've withdrawn about half my roll and put it away and now back up to like $90 on Unibet plus some tickets and about $300 on Stars.

I bloody love a gif or picture thing. Its a shame there are no spoiler buttons here life on 2+2 back in the day. On there, as on here, I enjoyed the dicking about on the forum more than the poker really.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: $35.42 (VPIP: 23.26, PFR: 13.95, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 44)
BTN: $14.61 (VPIP: 30.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 32)
SB: $25.90 (VPIP: 14.86, PFR: 12.16, 3Bet Preflop: 9.68, Hands: 149)
BB: $25.35 (VPIP: 26.67, PFR: 22.78, 3Bet Preflop: 10.39, Hands: 184)
Hero (UTG): $30.25

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Ah Ac
Hero raises to $0.75, fold, BTN calls $0.75, fold, fold

Flop : ($1.85, 2 players) 3c 3h 5s




Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn : ($1.85, 2 players) 9h
Hero bets $1.00, BTN raises to $3.00,




Hero calls $2.00

River : ($7.85, 2 players) 7c
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.00, Hero calls $8.00

BTN shows Jh Qh (One Pair, Threes)

Losing day today but up against some horrendous players at least. Just ran bad I think. Maybe could have saved myself 20bb I think but happy overall. Oddly I'm getting super calling hands. I'm playing my ranges so thats fine, its just odd sample variance but its very strange seeing my stats look like a passive fish!

Love the river sizing and fold on this one bro. He legit tanked and then folded. He had 2bb behind. I suppose he had complete air and the other guy is never ever bluffing so its probably correct but how do you get into that spot, potting the river and leaving 2bb behind!?

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

UTG: $4.23 (VPIP: 44.44, PFR: 5.56, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 18)
MP: $40.30 (VPIP: 24.14, PFR: 18.39, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 88)
CO: $34.16 (VPIP: 35.71, PFR: 28.57, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 15)
Hero (BTN): $25.00
SB: $18.74 (VPIP: 46.15, PFR: 7.69, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)
BB: $34.35 (VPIP: 26.32, PFR: 15.79, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 19)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Qd 7d
UTG calls $0.25, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.90, SB calls $0.80, fold, UTG calls $0.65

Flop : ($2.95, 3 players) 4c 6h 8s
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn : ($2.95, 3 players) 6d
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

River : ($2.95, 3 players) Kd
SB checks, UTG bets $2.82, fold, SB raises to $5.64, fold

Still losing on NL25. Its looking like the end of my poker career if I carry on because I'm not putting money back into it. Which sucks because NL25 is super soft. The fish there are just the same as at NL10. I think my play is better at NL25. There are some better regs and thats not ideal but I'm table selecting better on NL25 and concentrating more so I can leave tables as soon as I'm in the weaker players at the table.

So do I drop back to NL10? Or carry on and hope I start to hit some cards. There is no outplaying to be done vs the guys I'm playing who are limp calling 60/0 for example. It just have stuff like this a lot:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

CO: $8.04 (VPIP: 62.50, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 24)
Hero (BTN): $32.59
SB: $34.52 (VPIP: 48.00, PFR: 4.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
BB: $31.37 (VPIP: 24.35, PFR: 18.45, 3Bet Preflop: 6.00, Hands: 274)
UTG: $32.07 (VPIP: 24.91, PFR: 17.79, 3Bet Preflop: 6.83, Hands: 574)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Ad Jd
fold, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.10, SB calls $1.00, BB calls $0.85 (OH GET STUFFED REG THESE ARE MINE), CO calls $0.85

Flop : ($4.40, 4 players) 6s 3c 2s
SB bets $0.50, BB raises to $2.75, fold, fold, fold

Oh please gawd let me hit a flop vs these guys!

Not smashing flops just now. I'm only down like $8 I suppose from when I started on NL25 which is fine but once you lose a bit the precariousness of playing so underrolled does hit home, and I do still enjoy playing. I suppose I'll have to do the nit thing and drop back to NL10. BOOOOOO