Just one thing can stand in the way of success!

I can officially confirm pokerstars is rigged

managed to finish somewhere in top 100 for $67.62, can't complain

Yo TJ!

I can't believe I completely missed the start of a brand new blog from one of the "good ol' boys". It's great to see you back!

Like everyone else, I really like your positive approach to things, and it's nice to see that you're doing well so far.

Best of luck with your current goals, I'll be following for sure. And congrats on the deep finish in the MicroMillions!

Originally posted by TJtheTJ
I can officially confirm pokerstars is rigged

I've heard that before.

Originally posted by TJtheTJ
managed to finish somewhere in top 100 for $67.62, can't complain

Now confirmed

Cheers Harrier

And ye I agree Laz. It can mean one of two things. Either stars is rigged (most likely) or maybe there's a simpler explanation...

Let's just stick with stars being rigged tho

So now that I have a week and a half off of work, I'm just taking this time to recharge a bit. I've been so busy the last few weeks I really needed this break. No work, not gonna do much for uni and even my regular poker games won't be a priority. I just need to take a break from my regular routine. Will play a short session every now and then to stay in the flow a bit, but volume will be low probably.

However, I have played some MTTs with MicroMillions having started and all, which is a lot more relaxing than grinding cash seriously. Just playing 1-2 MTTs while doing something else on the side like watching TV or listening music is maybe not the most +EV or the best way to approach poker but it's honestly quite nice. It's only 1 or 2 tables anyway and I'm just playing for fun so no need to be fully focused imo

Cashed 3/10 MM events I played so far, the other 2 just being mincashes. I also played a couple of those progressive KO tournaments on the side because they're honestly pretty fun! Played 3 of them, cashed the one with the biggest BI of course so I made like $15 on those, not too bad.

Also played a couple hyper MTTs to fill up to 2 tables because playing 1 table can be pretty boring even when doing other things on the side

I played a $1.10 hyper which I bricked in about 3 hands or so and an $11 one in which I went on to reach the FT and eventually managed to finish 4th for a very nice $545.83 payday

As this is all just for fun and doesn't count towards my cash roll, I will very happily withdraw this money and put it in my savings account later once my break is over

Hmmm. Weren't we just posting about a fish on a heater

Yes the heater is a bit bigger than I thought

Then again maybe the fish is also bigger than I thought

congrats Mr Shark

thanks

also about that fish on a heater thing, this happened yesterday too...

Poker Stars, $6.82 Buy-in (100/200 blinds, 25 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): 4,331 (21.7 bb)
BB: 6,042 (30.2 bb)
MP: 5,403 (27 bb)
CO: 3,093 (15.5 bb)
BTN: 12,946 (64.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5♠: 5♣:
MP raises to 414, 2 folds, Hero raises to 4,306 and is all-in, BB folds, MP calls 3,892

Flop: (8,937) A♠: 2♣: 5♥: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (8,937) 5♦: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (8,937) 9♠: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: 8,937 pot
Final Board: A♠: 2♣: 5♥: 5♦: 9♠:
Hero showed 5♠: 5♣: and won 8,937 (4,606 net)
MP showed A♦: A♥: and lost (-4,331 net)

Nice result TJ Keep the good times rolling

ty sir, will do my best

Good day yesterday, cashed 3 of the 4 tournaments I played including the Sunday Storm and Event 63. All mincashes but still made a profit so I'm happy

BR challenge update:

Week 8
Hands: 1330
Current BR: €48
Previous BR: €47

So like mentioned earlier, low volume and that will stay the same this way. Played a few half hour sessions to get to the above volume and will probably to the same this week. Then after the weekend once my break is over I'll go back to my regular schedule

hey hey tino!
holy moly you have been crushing them tournaments! keep it up! i am jealous at all! ♦

Yea I can't complain!

Gonna try and play a couple more over the weekend, haven't really played any the past few days.

Hopefully there will be a few more cashes but either way I'll have some sweet sweet money for my savings account, being the poor student that I am

How is august going for you so far Tino?

Cheers,
SDK1987

Hey guys

Sad news, but unfortunately the 'renewed' poker journey has to come to an end for now after just a few months. Whether this will be permanent or just temporary I simply don't know yet, but I won't be back at the tables for at least 2 years I'd imagine (read below for more).

There are various reasons for this. First of all and most importantly, I've set some uni goals and I want to get my bachelor's degree within 2 years from now. That's far from impossible, but it will require me to put in a little more time than I've been doing now. That automatically means I have less time I can spend on poker.

I'm also looking at better job opportunities. I'm just not overly happy with my current job. Pretty much worked as an account manager/sales rep which is just not for me. I just don't enjoy it, can't really get any fulfillment out of it. There's plenty of reasons I'm studying business and becoming a great salesman is not one of them. So I want to attempt getting a job where I can actually work on developing the skills I'm actually studying for. Of course in the meantime I'll just stick with my old job to keep a steady income, still have to pay for uni of course

Finally I also want to be able to put a little more time in my social life. I just feel like I've lost touch with some people because I've been spending too much time either at work or on my own studying or playing poker. I'm not saying my social life is bad, but I believe it will go downhill if I keep doing what I've been doing the past few months, and then some more.

I'm also a huge Ajax fan and am a season ticket holder for the first time this season, so I want to visit as many home games as possible. That, too, takes up a lot of time every other weekend. Absolutely worth it, but again goes at the cost of valuable poker time.

All of these things - uni, work and social life - are bigger priorities for me than poker. The past few months I feel like I've been doing very well on and off the tables. I've improved a lot and the results have been good. I haven't posted an update in a while, but I have played and things were looking up! Would even say I was getting pretty close to moving up to NL5. Taking a break a few weeks ago was great for my mindset and motivation (not just in poker either!) and I had been in a great flow, combining poker/work/uni pretty much seamlessly.

Long story short, I've been doing very well the past few weeks in all aspects of my life. Really loving playing the game and slowly but steadily getting a little better week by week. Unfortunately, not all good things are meant to last and times will come where you need to prioritize.

So poker has to go, sadly. I will still have some time left to play, but it will probably come down to 5 hours a week or so, which includes both playing time and studying time. Honestly, that's just not worth it. Progress will be extremely slow that way and I just won't be able to get neither the enjoyment nor the monetary value out of it to make it worth my time. I'd rather spend those 5 hours differently then. And maybe I'll go back to the tables once uni is finally finished, who knows. But that'll still take 2 years.

All in all it was a fun ride while it lasted, did very well during the MicroMillions so I'm still able to withdraw a total of about $600 which will go straight into the savings account as mentioned earlier

Of course I will still keep the same mindset while not playing poker. I still want to stick to the time management that has been working wonders for me so far this year. But most importantly, I want to maintain my positive mindset!

Yes there will be setbacks sometimes, but I will always continue to try to make the best out of those situations. If things don't go the way you'd like them to you can complain about it or you can work towards making things better - I'd say the latter is the better option! For the most part you're in control of your own life and you can make it as good as you want it to be as long as you put in the effort to get to where you want to end up - and that's how I'll continue to live my life as much as possible

So thanks to everyone who has followed me on this short journey and to everyone I learned from, was great fun and hopefully you got some entertainment out of this thread too

I'll try to continue following some of the other blogs on here but can't make any promises...

And with that I'll sign off for now, thanks again guys for the great ride and catch you on the flipside

Now I would sign off with another sad GIF like this:

But remember, we always stay positive and I've already posted enough sad GIFs! So here's the GIF I will instead sign off with:

Also I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't just post a completely random, unrelated but incredibly amazing GIF to end this. So here you go:

That should be enough GIFs for today, later guys

oh no... i just read your last post...
actually i was like "hm you havent seen tino under "recent feeds" for quite some time now, lets acticly search for his blog...
and i had to read this, it completely got under my radar because i was in vacatian that time

best of luck to you and may you have your bachlor in 2 years and find a better job meanwhile before finally entering your dreamjob after uni is finished 4eva

it was a pleasure reading through your blog and learning (mainly mindest) stuff from you.

you have been one of the very few ppl who always stayed positive and focused on what really matters.

keep us up to date (and even if its only once a year) in this thread about your rl stuff!

goodbye for now!

Thanks man, appreciate the kind words

I'll make sure to leave a note here when there's something noteworthy to update you guys on