Such. A. Grind.

Basically... today sucked. It's now 5:44am, and I just got done playing. That probably looks/sounds wierd and that I'm being a moany bastard for no particular reason cos let's face it I won 3k.. right?!

I woke up late, didn't get to go out to Brighton to shop, and just instantly got onto the grind. I drop the obligatory 1.5k or whatever, then start to claw it back. I was like 3k up by around 6ish and it was going pretty well. At that point I was up for going to watch the England game... but no-one else was so I decided to get back on the grind and just listen to it on the radio. Obv we won 4-1 and the radio commentators were raving about how good we were, which is good, but I wouldn't have minded seeing it. So for the next 8 or so mindnumbing hours I went up and down and up and down. There was one particular minute where I dropped over 3k in 2 hands. I guess the good thing that can come out of this is, after that, I kept grinding, didn't tilt and got myself back to where I was.

There are soooo many hands in there that I could go over, but to be honest, again, I just can't be bothered.


Good things today: England win, I earn $100 of Hitch because England win, I played 10/20 (albeit in a very soft line-up for not very long at all).

Bad things: I wasted lots of hours of my life. My elbow hurts. Didn't go out of the house once.


Summary: Blah blah tough life blah only 3k blah blah....

Rob

Pretty shitty day.

I woke up pretty late today (like most days). Got in a few hands.. quickly lost $1k, through a few 70/30's (in my favour) then grinded it back to even, before heading out to pick up my new glasses then football training.

Football training was brutal for me. I'm not the fittest person even when I'm in my fully fit state.. but the poker lifestyle isn't doing me any favours at the moment.. we did plenty of running and my calfs were burning!

I get back, eat, and put a session in. I ended up playing 2k hands across 888 and ipoker for a loss of $6.7k. In the words of David Benefield "this made me sad".

I thought I played a couple of hands pretty badly. Butttt for the most part I ran like crappp. It felt like I was getting 3bet CONSTANTLY and I never had a hand. Sometimes I would try to defend with a marginal hand.. but no joy for the most part. Then when I finally got a big hand someone had a bigger hand. I lost count of the time AK missed the flop in 3bet pots, it was disgusting. I won 3 pots over $500 and lost a shit load.

So I'm pretty disappointed. It's tempting to get right back into it, but I don't think I'm in the right mindset, which I think is pretty damn important. So I have finished for the night. I think I'm around +12k for the month which is below where i would like to be but I thinkkkkk I have had two 10 buyin downswings already.. which is not normal in 20k hands, I don't think, and also it's pretty stressful to have two 10 buyin downswings in 10 days.

I think I may go out tomorrow before playing. I always seem to find that sorta gets me ready to start playing a little better, I dunno why, maybe it gives my brain a while to get started after waking up or something. In fact I'm sure thats the case, cos I know immediately after I wake up my brains working at like 1%. So I'll go out to buy stuff for uni as that's like 2 weeks away. I'm not particularly excited or nervous about it, but I'm def not looking forward to moving day.


For now I'm off to put Joe's losing session cure into action..

(22:39) Joe...: think about a lovely slice of cheese
(22:39) Joe...: then go have some
(22:39) Joe...: u will feel better

If 'slice of cheese' is a euphemism for 'wad of thousand dollar bills' I'm pretty sure it would make me feel better.


Rob

Rollercoaster days and Shane Warne nights.

Well today i lost a load straight away.. again, then got it back and some more... again.

It looks like a ride at Chesington!





Pacific emailed me asking if I wanted to go to a party with Shane Warne and play Cricket with him. I was all like mehhhh cos I don't really like Cricket much at all, then near the end it said free bar, and I do like bars. I'm not sure if I will go myself yet or just give the tickets to some mates who are Cricket fans.. I think I remember it being the 26th September which is my first week of uni, which may be another reason not to go, but I guess I'll just wait and see how it turns out.

I actually have some hilarious hands from todays session. Just wow. Like free money type hands.



$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($155.00)
UTG+1		($1000.00)
CO		($2141.00)
Hero		($1308.75)
SB		($990.00)
BB		($1977.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is BTN

2 folds, CO raises to $20, Hero calls $20, 2 folds

Flop: ($55, 2 players)
CO bets $50, Hero calls $50

Turn: ($155, 2 players)
CO bets $130, Hero calls $130

River: ($415, 2 players)
CO bets $440, Hero raises to $1108.75, CO calls $668.75

Final Pot: $2632.50
CO shows:

Hero wins $2629.50 ( won +$1320.75 )
CO lost -$1308.75


He basically burned $668.75... His bet on the turn is bad, his bet on the river is pretty damn bad, then his call is horrific.





$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($2414.75)
UTG+1		($1000.00)
CO		($1312.00)
BTN		($1000.00)
SB		($302.00)
Hero		($1107.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is BB

UTG raises to $30, 4 folds, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($65, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $50, Hero raises to $170, UTG calls $120

Turn: ($405, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $620, Hero raises to $907, UTG calls $287

River: ($2219, 2 players)

Final Pot: $2219
UTG shows:

Hero wins $2216 ( won +$1109 )
UTG lost -$1107.00


This player was a maniac, probably drunk, showing all his bluffs and all that kinda stuff, prob one of the funnest games of poker I have played in a while, people calling $1000 bets on the river with A high etc.

I would normally fold preflop, but as he raised I was in. Flop is great for me, and i wanna get all the money in. Turn was awesome. Check to him to induce a bluff, then shoved. Bet/calling 34 on that turn is up there with the worst plays i have ever seen. If a 5 had come on the river, I probably go ahead and jump out the window. But yeah, he was prob drunk or sth.




$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($1095.00)
Hero		($2622.25)
CO		($2640.00)
BTN		($1025.00)
SB		($990.00)
BB		($915.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1

UTG raises to $30, Hero calls $30, 1 fold, BTN raises to $120, 2 folds, UTG folds, Hero raises to $350, BTN goes all-in $1025, Hero calls $675

Flop: ($2095, 2 players)

Turn: ($2095, 2 players)

River: ($2095, 2 players)

Final Pot: $2095
Hero shows:
BTN shows:

Hero wins $2091 ( won +$1066 )
UTG lost -$30.00
BTN lost -$1025.00



Obv my hand looks like nothing when I call then backraise him like that, but that's why i love that line so much. He prolly coulda picked a better hand than 85o too, i'm sure that has poor equity v my calling range....





$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($2066.00)
CO		($1000.00)
Hero		($1600.00)
SB		($1247.00)
BB		($1030.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 5 players) Hero is BTN

2 folds, Hero raises to $25, 1 fold, BB calls $15

Flop: ($55, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $40, BB calls $40

Turn: ($135, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $110, BB calls $110

River: ($355, 2 players)
BB bets $220, Hero goes all-in $1425, BB goes all-in $635

Final Pot: $2635
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $2631 ( won +$1031 )
BB lost -$1030.00


Honestly there is too much wrong with his play to even bother going through it.



There were a few more, but some of them were against regs, and I feel like I shouldn't be posting stuff like that for all to read really. To be honest I won't be posting any of the really interesting spots, just cos poker is a game of information, and incomplete information, and giving away information costs money.


Rob

Poker is such a strange game.

Today was a strange day. I started off the day by dropping 2k pretty quick. I stopped cos I was playing really pretty badly I felt. I felt myself get agitated.. was playing too few tables and started trying to outplay everyone in every hand, which just isn't really a good idea. I decided I'd go out get some food, then start another session later.

I ate, came back, started a session. Played a few more hands, got disconnected quite a few times which really didn't help much at all, but then found myself -6k for the day. That was also -9k in around 1k hands including yesterday. I had only played a bit but I felt like I had played pretty solidly. I lost a few hands I just couldn't help losing. I decided to quit at least for an hour or two. Had a shower and thought about my play.

Poker has this sickening way of getting right inside your head. I just earned 70k at this stupid game last month, and I'm sat here thinking.. well maybe it was all good luck, maybe i'm really not very good at this game. What if this downswing continues forever etc etc. Nothing else is really like poker.. like if I have a bad match playing football, I just shrug it off or if (when i was in school or college) I had a bad test result I wouldn't really take much notice. The results of one off matches or tests wouldn't really effect the way I perceive my skills in those areas. But when you have a bad session in poker it's all doom and gloom. Even though I sometimes think I'm good at not being results orientated I think there is def room for improvement.. but maybe that will come with playing more hands.

Aaaaaanyways, I decided I'd play again, put my headphones on and grinded - 9 tables, a mix of Pacific and ipoker. Gradually I got it back and turned today into a winning day. I was pretty pleased, cos I thought it could turn into a massacre.





I can't be arsed to post any hands cos most of them are pretty standard - no really interesting spots.

Summary of this: NEWSFLASH - poker requires a degree of mental toughness.



Rob

Boats getting sunk.

Today i had two big hands which were both boats (boat = fullhouse), and I lost them both to higher boats.. obv I had other big hands, but I was suprised I managed such a good day (+7.5k) with some of the hands I lost.




$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($1015.00)
CO		($1649.00)
Hero		($1154.00)
SB		($990.00)
BB		($709.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 5 players) Hero is BTN

UTG raises to $35, 1 fold, Hero calls $35, 2 folds

Flop: ($85, 2 players)
UTG bets $60, Hero calls $60

Turn: ($205, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $150, UTG raises to $350, Hero calls $200

River: ($905, 2 players)
UTG bets $570, Hero calls $570

Final Pot: $2045
UTG shows:

UTG wins $2042 ( won +$1027 )
Hero lost -$1015.00




$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

CO		($1222.00)
BTN		($1020.00)
SB		($1058.00)
Hero		($945.00)

Pre-flop: ($15, 4 players) Hero is BB

2 folds, SB raises to $40, Hero calls $30

Flop: ($80, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $60, SB calls $60

Turn: ($200, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $140, SB calls $140

River: ($480, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $425, SB raises to $818, Hero calls $280

Final Pot: $2003
SB shows:

SB wins $2001 ( won +$943 )
Hero lost -$945.00



That one hurt a little.




Other random hand:


$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

CO		($1071.75)
BTN		($70.00)
Hero		($1138.00)
BB		($1453.75)

Pre-flop: ($15, 4 players) Hero is SB

CO raises to $30, 1 fold, Hero raises to $120, 1 fold, CO calls $90

Flop: ($250, 2 players)
Hero bets $125, CO calls $125

Turn: ($500, 2 players)
Hero goes all-in $893, CO goes all-in $826.75

River: ($2219.75, 2 players)

Final Pot: $2219.75
Hero shows:
CO shows:

Hero wins $66.25 ( lost -$1071.75 )
CO wins $2149.50 ( won +$1077.75 )


You're welcome, Joe.



I won a lot of medium sized pots today. I felt like I played really really well today for the most part, and felt really confident while playing the games.

Rob