sick topic! I think poker is a great exercise and you should definitely keep pushing and learning, things will get difficult at times but every bad session will make you a bit stronger and the good ones are awesome 
check out Power Of Now if you haven't already - great read.
GL on and off tables!
Harrier - Yeah thanks for confirming that for me, I was in two minds wether to just push through or not. Thanks for checking in on my blog all the time! Its nice to have a regular around here! It definitely helps me to have feedback and to know there is someone checking in on your progress, helps me alot with my motivation, which admittedly I do struggle with from time to time. So thank you ♠_thumbsup:
Tolari - Thanks for your comment, helps to hear encouragement ♠_drink:. I never heard of the book, but I had a look when I saw your post and got it on audiobook straight away. Have listened to the prologue and chapter one already and it definitely seems like its suited to me. I am one of those people whose brain is incessantly and eternally active. By the sounds of it this is going to help me in many ways. Thank you very much for pointing me to it. Its going to be +life ev for me, im sure of it. Your post led me to have a quick look at your blog and I believe that that will help me as well, it seems very detailed and even quite philosophical at times with your mindset corner. Am going to read it from the start soon.
Not much to report on today, managed to fit in a tiny session of 350 hands and am down one buy in. Just a case of having to pay for some draws and missing them and also being one kicker behind the villain in a couple of small pots. Didnt really get many +ev opportunities but I didnt play for long so never mind. The only time I got a nice spot I got a bit trigger happy, should've just cold called instead of re raising the turn I think.
I didnt play perfectly or anything though, I thought my energy for the day was about 5/10 but after I did a few things around the house and then sat down to the tables it sank to about 2/10 without me consciously thinking about it. This was confirmed by higher pain levels which became apparent mid session, so I cut it short. Something I will work on for sure, I must pace myself and rest inbetween activities. Oh well, lesson learned, hopefully!
Going to work on my sleeping pattern as a priority from now on as im almost nocturnal and this is not helping my concentration. Part of ME/CFS is your body clock preferring to be in the night time, its pretty hard to fight against, but it can be done. I just must be vigilant and not let anything slip and I will get there. Maybe that audiobook Power of Now will help with that too if I could clear my thoughts easier.
on the tables all
Energy 1/10Been away again for a while! My energy has been at its lowest this week, so I havnt got any play at all in yet, am going to do some hands tonight so im not out of the loop completely. I must say that its very frustrating making plans and not being able to see them through. I have the best intentions for my week ahead, plan it out specifically and when the time has arrived for action I find myself too ill to see it through. It does require some discipline on my part to not just carry on, but I have been thinking about my F-game alot and trying not to play too much while im in it!
I think that because I have had some extra life things to deal with in these past weeks it has taken a toll on my energy. I dont like to feel unproductive this often. I just wish I could get on with it quicker! Think im going to have to get a game or something to pass the time when im at my worst, so im not just hanging around and thinking about how im not on the tables. I do find though, that venting about it on here helps things seem a bit more linear and organized!
As Harrier just kindly linked above for me I made the news this week ♠_thumbsup: Its very encouraging to be reading the news and see your name come up. Things like that definitely help spur me on and look at positives more often. Congratz to Nickycakes for featuring there too and winning the status upgrade, I have been following his blog and he has been working hard.
One important thing that I did manage to change this week is my sleeping pattern. I now wake up at 8am instead of 1pm lol. This has been tiring on my illness, but it will be an important benefit when I settle into my early routine, just need to get used to it. This is going to hopefully help my energy alot and I am hoping my energy scores will reflect that next week. It may not sound like much to everyone, but im always battling the nature of my illness with it messing up my sleeping pattern, so for me this is a big achievement. It should help my poker in many ways to. Sleep can definitely be a big factor to anyones poker game, I believe a stable sleeping pattern can keep you in your A-game more often and can be an important edge.
I have been listening to "The Mental Game of Poker" and "Power of Now" audiobooks this week still, in order to keep me in the game in some way even if I cant play. Both are very interesting and have given me ideas in the way of formatting my blog in the future. Need to get some better organization in here! Both of these audiobooks also help me to keep more positive whilst im unable to play and progress in the way that I want too. I definitely recommend both of them to anyone who is struggling with the mental game.
So it has been a while since I have made any updates. My health has had a dip while changing my sleep around so I gave myself a couple of weeks of total rest and it has paid off. I would rate my energy during this time 1/10 (would be lower if possible!) but now I can feel my energy slowly building back again. I shall be returning very shortly to the grind. I am now in a regular early morning sleeping pattern too which is going to be a benefit to poker and life. My energy seems to be slightly higher when im up early and sleeping early. So I am feeling positive about returning. Am going to give myself 1-2 more days and then slowly get back into the swing of things.
I am going to catch up on the lessons I have missed and warm up on a lower limit until it feels normal again. I am considering moving poker rooms and playing in a softer field as I dont see why not really, will have a think about it.
Was planning to grind today but woke up with alot of pain out of the blue. Nevermind, think I will just play a few tournaments to get myself back into the swing of things and see if I feel any better later on tonight.
I was thinking about looking at grinding welcome bonuses next year as I havnt really done that yet. Have only ever played at PKR and Pokerstars. Will start off with a small bonus as I dont have a huge bankroll.
So I was taking a look at Bet365. Does anyone have any experiences with this room? I think I heard somewhere that sometimes they have software problems but that was a while back so im guessing that would have been sorted by now? Also i think my passport has probably recently ran out of date, so this may be a problem for verification? I heard that transfers are smooth enough so that shouldnt be a problem as far as I am aware. Traffic should be fine as I plan on playing 10nl 6max. Had a little look around for this info but couldnt really find much so if anyone has experience with this I would be grateful to hear it 
So I ended up playing today anyway as I felt my energy rise. I felt calm while playing so thought I would get a good grind in. Had my KK cracked by JJ all in. When will I stop getting all in bad beats I wonder lol. Everytime I get faced with a lower pocket pair when all in preflop it gets cracked on the river. Oh well, it cant last forever like that lol! I would rate my play about 7.5/10, made some mistakes but overall I think I played well. Just $5 down in cash at the end of the day. Did a few tourneys and busted them so $6 down from that as well. Hoping for a luckier tomorrow!
Originally posted by Jakkosh
So I was taking a look at Bet365. Does anyone have any experiences with this room? I think I heard somewhere that sometimes they have software problems but that was a while back so im guessing that would have been sorted by now? Also i think my passport has probably recently ran out of date, so this may be a problem for verification? I heard that transfers are smooth enough so that shouldnt be a problem as far as I am aware. Traffic should be fine as I plan on playing 10nl 6max. Had a little look around for this info but couldnt really find much so if anyone has experience with this I would be grateful to hear it
Hi Jakkosh, sorry for the late response.I have not yet played at bet365, but as far as I know, it's just another iPoker room, and I have played at two other iPoker rooms before (William Hill and Ladbrokes).
It's true that there were some major software problems about a year ago, but there have been a few big and small updates in the meantime, so I believe it should be sorted out now. I recently spoke to some people who occasionally play over there, and they told me that there aren't any major problems.
I wouldn't recommend iPoker if you're planning to play Speed Poker or tournaments (including SNGs), though. Their traffic is quite bad when it comes to that.
Btw, I think this is the first time you wrote about these pain problems. Do you have them more often?
So I am back (at last!) And it has been quite a while since I made an appearance around here. My couple of weeks off turned into a month! But I am feeling better than I was, still not great but getting there.
I am going to make a more structured return this January and think of it as a clean slate. I plan to make this blog alot more structured this time around too.
Over the next few days I am going to break myself back into poker slowly and plan my blog structure and then return properly by next week.
Harrier - Thanks for the info, and sorry for the (very) late reply. Yeah I get those pains every single day, some days worse than others. I should definitely include the pain levels along with energy, its something I should of thought about as its certainly a factor in my game. Pain management is difficult and playing poker does distract my brain from it for a while, but im sure that it has a negative impact on my game too.
I recently heard from a friend of a friend that had M.E that got better when they took a combination of four natural medicines together for 6 months. I am going to try it soon too, so fingers crossed. M.E is a strange thing, and different cures work for different people, its a bit like doing the lottery, you can spend alot of money trying to find the one that works for you. Hopefully this will be it for me though, its worth a try. I am going to combine taking this course of meds with living as healthfully as I can, and I believe poker will help me to do that. If I can build myself a structure with play then I should be able to get a solid routine into all aspects of how I live, day to day, and give myself the best chance I can.
Welcome back also from my side - you are back, are you ?
I hope you have the health & energy back to also rejoin and update us on how your BR challenge is going. See you here and in the https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=1953483#post1953483 !
SvenBe!
Hey Sven,
Apologies for the yellow card! I really should of requested a holiday instead but one thing just led to another. I have been deliberating on wether to opt out or not as I have been so unreliable lately... but I decided I shouldnt give up. My health has been a rollercoaster lately, and I havnt been able to get a grip on anything much at all. Been getting abit of insomnia lately and have been awake for up to 36 hours at a time, so thats had a bad impact on my health. I have been playing some tournaments when I can though, so I guess I will just report on those until I can sort myself out. Its starting to turn around abit again so hopefully I will be grinding again soon.
Sorry again to all for not reporting and not giving more into the challenge. Hopefully I am through the worst of it now. See you all as soon I can.
He Jakkosh,
all fine - Poker is a hobby for many of us and of course everyone should give the biggest priority to the health.
See you around with the next updates, but even if not: all the best for you and your health. I wish that the next sleepless 36 hours are because of a Final Table ....
Hi Jakkosh,
Haven't heard from you in a while, how are you doing?
I like that you stick around and keep reporting in the Bankroll Challenge thread, even though there aren't any poker related results to report at the moment. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm in the same situation, really.
If you would like to take a moment to let us know how things are going right now, I'd be interested to hear it, but you don't have to, if you don't have the time.
Hey Harrier! 
Thanks for stopping by. Yeah I keep reporting my 0 hands to keep a foot in the door, I keep planning to come back and not being able to. So I havnt been reporting in here much, as I didnt want to keep breaking promises of coming back and not being able to lol. Things are looking better for me a bit though, been going through abit of a detox with pain meds and giving up smoking again ( had a bit of a relapse with smoking lately, oops) and sorting out my sleep and have been noticing a little rise in my energy and drop in pain levels. The biggest things holding me back lately has been getting colds and flu, which added to my usual symptoms make it quite a struggle.
Poker wise I have decided to just stay at Pokerstars for awhile and see how the player field is there, will see if it has changed at all like they claimed it would! I wonder if it is more fishy or the same. Been playing turbo mtt sngs and made a few final tables, shame it was just 50 cent games lol. Also played a tiny bit of 6 max cash this week and am a couple of buy ins up. Seems all the info is still rattling around in my head somewhere, guess its like riding a bike lol.
I am planning to get back into to swing of things and maybe switch rooms when im more settled into a routine again. So you should be seeing me more active again soon. Next time im back im going to attempt to be more organized, I feel like I have lost the purpose of my blog somewhere along the way so I will get some structure back if I can.
How about you, how is poker / life going for you lately?
Glad to hear that things are looking better, and it seems like you are doing a good job at the virtual felt as well, congrats! 
I'm already looking forward to your next updates, hopefully things will keep going in the right direction.
About me, I have recently decided to throw in the towel when it comes to poker. Even after taking sufficient breaks, the game is just not as enjoyable to me as it used to be, and I decided that it would be more fulfilling to spend my time on other things. Don't worry, though, I'll stick around in the forums and try to help you and others the best I can.
I'm still playing Mahjong, and even found a local home games group a while back. We meet once a week and it's always a lot of fun. I also try to get started with Backgammon to add another type of skill-based gambling outside of poker, but I still need some practice before I'm confident enough to play for real money.
Apart from that, I'm currently looking around for some sports or martial arts to take up, and of course, there is still the seemingly never-ending job hunt.
Did some hands last night, for the first time in ages. Only about 500 hands, on 2-3 tables of 6-max 10NL, to get my brain used the grind again. I found I was unsure of myself alot of the time, and am a little rusty. I have a few hands here that I dont really know if I made the correct decision on. They are probably nooby trouble hands but I am a little out of touch.
I must get back into learning and refresh myself. Will start at the beginning again and have a look around here for some 6-max video series. Will probably refresh my memory with Lemons beginner course, and move onto weasels walkthrough when I have my silver status back.
BTN: $8.27
Hero (SB): $10.05
BB: $10.00
UTG: $10.00
CO: $12.14
Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with K 
A 
1 fold, CO raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, 1 fold
Flop: ($0.70) 5 6 A 
(2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.33, Hero calls $0.33
Turn: ($1.36) A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70
River: ($2.76) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, CO raises to $10.81 all in, Hero calls $7.22 all in
Final Pot: $20.20
Hero shows K A (three of a kind, Aces)
CO shows 5 5 (a full house, Fives full of Aces)
CO wins $19.29
(Rake: $0.91)
Looking back on this hand I definitely made some mistakes. The villain was a very tricky customer, he was a very aggressive LAG and had a tendency to go all in above the pot in many situations, he had done this even with middle pair sometimes in a heads up pot. My line of thinking was to keep the pot as small as possible so I only called with AKo preflop as he always calls a 3-bet pre from me, and floated the flop and turn, I was oop anyways. But then I found myself with trips and felt like I had to call an all in anyway, I had a feeling I was beat but the hand strength made me call. My question is basically is it right to go with your gut and be scared of that full house or would that be too nitty a decision over time? I guess another question could be should I adapt to the villians playstyle at this limit (10NL), or just play straight and narrow and keep it simple?
SB: $12.22
BB: $10.10
UTG: $8.85
MP: $13.22
CO: $10.32
Hero (BTN): $18.02
Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with K 
K
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold
Flop: ($0.70) 8 5 Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.40
Turn: ($1.50) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.90, SB calls $0.90
River: ($3.30) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $1.80, SB raises to $10.62 all in, Hero calls $8.82
Final Pot: $24.54
SB shows 9 A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows K K (a flush, King high)
SB wins $23.44
(Rake: $1.10)
Here the villian was a whale. Its pretty self explanatory but I wonder if I should of called the small river of 60 cents, even though there was just one card in the deck that beat me. That same line of thought was what made me call the reshove from him too, just one card in the deck that beats me, is that a silly way to think with a four flush board and the king in your hand? I have been caught out by this one before and the same thing happened then too. I wasnt surprised by his shove as he had been acting like that for a while anyway, spewing here and there. Do you just call a small river with the 2nd nut flush vs fish? Probably should of played it safe.
UTG: $9.50
Hero (MP): $10.08
CO: $10.46
BTN: $10.00
SB: $10.05
BB: $11.12
Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is MP with J J
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.30, 1 fold, BTN raises to $0.87, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.57
Flop: ($1.89) 7 5 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.97, Hero raises to $2.80, BTN raises to $9.13 all in, Hero folds
Final Pot: $7.49
BTN wins $7.15
(Rake: $0.34)
Im never quite sure where I stand with this type of overpair, but its a situation I often find myself in. Maybe I should of re-raised preflop im not sure. I suppose it depends on the opponent but the villian was unknown. I thought maybe a check raise would get the feelers out. The way the villian was acting it seemed like a higher over pair, but again, im not sure if im too nitty with certain scenarios lately.
So yeah im getting back into things, but feel like im making some rookie mistakes. I'll just start from the ground up again. Ended up breaking even so its not too bad. Lucked out a bit with quads and nut flush and people betting into me so it evened itself out.
Harrier - Glad to hear you are doing well, I know what you mean with poker, I do admittedly phase in and out of it, going to try and stay in this time! You never know, you may jus wake up and feel different about it again one day. Good luck on the job front too, I know its hard these days to find something. Glad to hear you will still be about though, you have always been a great help! ♠_thumbsup:
Hey mate, how are you doing lately?
I saw in your last report that you tried some tournaments recently. Are you just trying out new formats, or is the switch going to be permanent?
Looking forward to your next update.
Heya Harrier,
