[Closed] I hate real work... time for some superturbos and fish...

Sorry Waiboy... I have a lot of bitterness built up inside thanks to our cricket performances in big events... I was up in my jammies in '92 almost in tears when we bowed out of the world cup against England thanks to the rain... I screamed and yelled and cried when Donald and Klusener looked dumbfounded standing next to each other as we tied with Aus and left the world cup in '99... 2003 at centurion (same place where we lost to Eng the other day) I drove home from the pub yelling out the window "he didn't know!!!" when Boucher thought the match was won, but actually he needed another run, but the umpires wouldn't allow anyone to deliver the message to him... I have a lotta hurt built up, and I think it can ONLY compare the All Blacks and their disappointments... so wasn't trying to be nasty, but, yeah, but... ok maybe I was

Anyway, to poker... played one little session today, will play a bit tomorrow... but so pleased with where I am at... I feel established at the $33s and $22s and I am happy to grind out these limits for a while... If I can maintain any sort of winrate I am looking at using my profits for a number of purchases over the next few months and putting away a reserve bankroll away from any poker site for insurance against super downswings... I wanna take my overall BRM to somewhere around 300BI and increase it... so I am gonna stick where I am for the foreseeable future, get a decent sample under my belt in one place and really establish both my financial and overall situation before advance to higher limits. Basically over my next 6 months of playing I wanna see what is possible with this stability... and then see where we can take it... I feel excited about the possibilities, but at the same time cautious and reserved... So anyway, that's where I stand... oh and to add, I have recently withdrawn about $1000 in cash and I was holding it just now... It was really cool... also to think that that represents only a % of my total roll... and not even a big one... was kinda satisfied, but at the same time motivated by the fact that $1K is not actually that much... hopefully, with a couple milestones ticked off it'll soon be 20BI, then 10, then... but all in good time... But I do feel like I am capable of moving forward, if the poker gods allow

Awsome progress!

I have a question for you that im not sure you can answer or not.

In jan-march I will be staying in the US snowboarding, can I still logon to mansion or will there be some sort of block?

I am not certain about that... when I have travelled to the US I have always been reluctant to open my iPoker account because they do not allow american players... I would feel better using a stars or full tilt account there TBH...

Where are you going snowboarding? I plan on hitting up the Canadian rockies as mch as I can this winter ♦

Probably just put some money in fulltilt then while im there.

Vail in colorado, I am meeting a friend there, he is living in Aus at the mo so we are going to meet up over there. I was meant to go to fernie at the start of the year but never made it

Originally posted by lennonac
Probably just put some money in fulltilt then while im there.

Vail in colorado, I am meeting a friend there, he is living in Aus at the mo so we are going to meet up over there. I was meant to go to fernie at the start of the year but never made it

I am so jealous... I did 2 seasons in Vail a couple years ago, I think I have about 150+ days on that mountain........ I love that resort....

I have never been in the states or canada only in europe so I am really looking forward to it. My mates say the US and Canada have the best resorts for deep powder ♠_biggrin:

Totally... the powder is awesome... but in resorts like Vail it can get eaten pretty quick at times... unless you know some hidden spots But Jan - March is just such an awesome time to be there... I will get as much rinding done this season as I possibly can... and I am asking the poker gods for a new deck for christmas

Anyway, 35 games today... 1st hand:

No Limit Holdem Tournament
10 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Cambridge Buy-In: $20+$2

Stacks:
UTG spanner242 (1,500)
UTG+1 JVerne (1,500)
UTG+2 gulliohta (1,500)
MP1 patrathecat (1,500)
MP2 pingu3147 (1,500)
MP3 elgoksen1 (1,500)
CO KANGHAI (1,500)
BTN Hero (1,500)
SB Mattpwnage (1,500)
BB ruark (1,500)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-Flop: (30, 10 players) Hero is BTN A♠ A♥
1 fold, JVerne raises to 100, 2 folds, pingu3147 raises to 260, 2 folds, Hero goes all-in 1,500, 2 folds, JVerne folds, pingu3147 goes all-in 1,240

Flop: 10:spade: A♣ J♦ (3,130, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: Q♠ (3,130, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: 7♣ (3,130, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 3,130
Hero shows
A♠ A♥
pingu3147 shows
A♦ K♠

pingu3147 wins 3,130 ( won +1,630 )

Hero lost -1,500
JVerne lost -100

Then I lost flip after flip and couldn't catch a break... caught sight of the roll and with all my tables up and running I looked like I was down a lot... thought to myself that it was about time I ran badly and I played on... finished hot at the end for -$26... felt awesome... checked the graph and I bottomed out at -$220 in 2 places in my session... so feeling pretty good about that...

This is the life.... I am just soooo enjoying today... played a superlong morning session... about 4 1/2 hours... running at BE, with many big hands busted on the bubble... but it's all good... I have set up my second mini netbook in my station and I am watching the London EPT streaming at the same time... Benny just busted Anyway, it is just so much fun... I am totally immersed in poker... Now I have to find food, and take a break as I wanna get another good session in this afternoon......

Glad you are having a good day, my day started badly and got worse.
Loaded up around 6 sng's then my internet went down just as I got the last one open. internet came back 1 hour later. I registered for 1 tourny and it went again!

I am just forgetting today and have been playing $1.20's on stars...normal speed.
Grinding out a poor 100% roi ♠_cool:

Originally posted by lennonac
Glad you are having a good day, my day started badly and got worse.
Loaded up around 6 sng's then my internet went down just as I got the last one open. internet came back 1 hour later. I registered for 1 tourny and it went again!

I am just forgetting today and have been playing $1.20's on stars...normal speed.
Grinding out a poor 100% roi ♠_cool:

Was wondering why you were sitting out... tx for the free chips BTW

Nice day... finished a shorter second session with a decent profit... Overall happy... and looking forward to the grind tomorrow while watching the final table When I sit down to play, I really feel that I am able to thoroughly enjoy myself which keeps my mindset 100% and allows me to bring my A++ game consistently... It feels so good... I feel like I have the game to attack higher limits, but the discipline to achieve the landmarks before I take them on... Having played the $11s for soooooo long I definitely see the value in continuing at the $22/$33 limit for sometime to absorb all the experiences these limits tend to yield... and to make sure that I can really establish myself here... anyway, time to chill, watch some tv, and maybe read a bit...

Nick

Your blog just gets better and better to read... It's awesome to see someone in such a positive emotional state. IMO if you've got the emotional swing thing sorted, you are in an outstanding space to achieve whatever you want out of this game.

Thanks waiboy... I really am feeling good about things...

I really believe that the mental aspect of the game has to be the most critical thing in poker success.... it has been something I have been actively working on... for those that follow, you will know this.... I really cannot stress it enough, but for people developing their poker careers it is something that takes time and effort to mould, and I still believe it is what makes/breaks players eventually....

Today provided a nice contrast to see how far I have come... A while back, when I was playing the $22s I remember getting disconnected during a session and losing about $200 in the session as a result... I was angry, pissed off, frustrated and generally just a whiney bitch because of it... Today I fired up my first session and about 15 minutes in I got disconnected... logged back in and played on... disconnected again... and so on... After the second one I unregistered all the games I was registered for and just wound down my session... I figure I would get some other stuff done this AM... Also was kinda annoyed cos my stream for the EPT is lagging so badly... think they might be connected... Anyway in all I got disconnected about 5/6 times, a couple of them I was on the bubble and in one I got disconnected while HU and 2/1 underdog... I came back to win that one ♦ But at no point was I anything less than happy... I know it is out of my control and I did everything I could to minimise my loss as a result of it... and I even managed to turn a $10 profit It's always good to look back and see how far we come... but it's most important to realise the differences that come from dealing with all the negative stressors which pound on us time and again... deal with these, and as waiboy said, you can set yourself up to achieve what you want to achieve....

On that... I still feel tentative about getting my hopes up too much... cos this is a long term battle... as high as my confidence is at the moment I know there is much to still be discovered... Currently my one wish from the pokergods is to string 2 decent months together... and then look at how we go... I have struggled to do this in the past due to switching platforms mainly, so I am hoping that the stability I am self-imposing will give me a greater chance to achieve this... what is a decent month? ummm, I don't really know... I can't put a $$ figure on or even a ROI% because these really are just inconsequential outputs of the process... I think a decent month is where I can look back and be happy with what I have achieved, happy with how I have played and in general satisfied with things. The monetary rewards tend to come in this game when we have everything else checked and in balance, that really is my goal... keep balance and focus...

Seeing as I have the time, I feel like rambling into some thoughts that I have been dwelling on in recent times... Every now and again I will browse through Sharkscope and check out the super highrollers and look at their graphs and observe.... One things that I have noticed is that the graph of winning players tend to always look similar, the only thing that really changes is the scale... There are some graphs of guys playing $1-5k+ BIs with the 60 BI downswings which are sick $$ amounts but std poker variance... there are super long breakeven stretches and equally some super sick hot stretches... there are some graphs with 100K games on them... and that gets me thinking... The grind, what is it all about? What does it take to play 100 000 sngs.... It definitely takes passion, enthusiasm, desire, mkotivation all of these things... but it all culminates in a point that touches obsession for some... and I include myself in that group... But the way I am beginning to see the game now it is beginning to feel more like an art... to anyone who has seen Andy Warhol's Campbell soup collection, this is my best comparison.

I saw these paintings when I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York a couple years ago, and I must have spent close to an hour at these pieces alone... so simple, a whole bunch of soup tins, each a different flavour. What possesed him to paint these? Why so many? Didn't he get bored? When was it enough? What did he want to achieve? I think there are about 20 paintings in the collection (I may be wrong, I go purely from memory here), and I watched peoples reactions as they came and looked at the pieces... many just glanced, seeming to not really get it, some admired the famous collection, but few understood the true dedicationg it took to complete with the absolute detail and dedeication that must have gone into it. And for me this is what poker is becoming, my line, my graph is my painting, each SNG is a brushstroke and insignificant in isolation but together with all the others they create movement, up, down, to the side, but always forward... Is there an end? is there a final goal? I don't know... Each platform is a new canvas, but for now my desire is to focus on one an try and create something beautiful... something that many will never understand, but can look at and say: "that's pretty cool", and all I can think is, "damn right it is!"... but many will never know, some will be able to appreciate cos they have their own work, some will look on in awe as they have tried and failed or only have a few strokes on the canvas... Some will see the wrong things, like $$ amounts but miss the agonising/glorious story that comes with each change in direction the line takes, and the actual time and effort that goes into creating such a picture...

Anyway, enough rambling from me... I feel it only appropriate now to post my graph... I feel like I am still at the beginning... I missing about 3000 SNGs from my total titan history, but that's not the point, this is the picture I started when I really began to think like this....

Nice buildup and nice graph ♠_grin:

Are these your latest games?

Originally posted by viewer88
Nice buildup and nice graph ♠_grin:

Are these your latest games?

Tx, and yeah these are my most recent games...

Very nice blog Nick. I wish I could ever reach:

Originally posted by Waiboy
Nick

Your blog just gets better and better to read... It's awesome to see someone in such a positive emotional state. IMO if you've got the emotional swing thing sorted, you are in an outstanding space to achieve whatever you want out of this game.

Thanks travoltaJOHNy... and be careful what you wish for In order to be number to the pain you need to experience a lot of it...

Anyway I finally played a session and got to watch the EPT final table... I got back online as it got to 4-handed, but they took a break before HU and showed the highlights of the 1st part of the final table... so that was sweet... I really like watching poker while playing poker... it really really gets me thinking on an awesome level Anyway, session finished and I didn't really feel like playing another one today... played soooooo much yesterday I felt like doing something different... so I started filling out my residency application... which is fairly straight-forward until I got to detailing all my travels outside of my country of origin since I turned 18... Crap... I literally had to get my passports out, write down the dates of the stamps and try and figure it out... Just to give you an idea of the difficulty I am having with this one...

I have been to Lesotho about 20 times in that time (all have to be listed with dates), I have also been in USA, UK, Nigeria, Mauritius, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Andorra and obv Canada, and I need dates for all these trips... I'm not quite done, but I needed a break... so I decided to play a set of 45 mans $6.50s on stars... and wow did I run badly... it was kinda funny cos I would push like 3 hands in a row, 1st 2 were w-i-d-e pushes, then I would get like QQ or JJ and push again and get called by AA... this happened soooo many times... I love these sets that I play now and again, the late stages of these are just soooo much fun as the blinds are huge and the stacks are all so small in comparison and I just feel so confident playing in this situation... anyway played 9 busted OOTM in 8 of them and really just dominated the last one... I felt like I played sooo well, and got to HU when we got this hand:

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$6.00+$0.50

Stacks:
BTN HyPnOeYeS (29,628)
BB Hero (37,872)

Blinds: 1500/3000Ante 150

Pre-Flop: (4,800, 2 players) Hero is BB 10:diamond: 9♠
HyPnOeYeS calls 1,500, Hero checks

Flop: 2♦ 4♠ 10:spade: (6,300, 2 players)
Hero checks, HyPnOeYeS checks

Turn: K♠ (6,300, 2 players)
Hero checks, HyPnOeYeS bets 4,200, Hero calls 4,200

River: 2♣ (14,700, 2 players)
Hero checks, HyPnOeYeS bets 7,000, Hero calls 7,000

Final Pot: 28,700
HyPnOeYeS shows a pair of Deuces
8♦ 7♥
Hero shows two pair, Tens and Deuces
10:diamond: 9♠

Hero wins 28,700 ( won +14,500 )

HyPnOeYeS lost -14,200

It was a soul-read of epic proportions... Villain had been playing pretty well so I gave him credit for a poker brain at least... I wanted to check-raise the flop but... The K brings the flush draw and is like the perfect scare card so obv I check and I expect him to always bet in this spot... on the river I checked and was going to evaluate his bet size if he chose to bet... 1/2 pot size was interesting, a blockbet with like a weak pair or something would be smaller and I felt that if he had the K or a flush he would probably look for more value... for some reason 1/2 pot size looked weak to me because it seems strong... Maybe I played this hand like a donk, because the turn and river bets look like value bets, but I sensed weakness... and I won the tourney, which breaks my horrible run of 2nds on the $6.50s and finally I get the win... and finished up in the session

Hey i'm glad to see your new positive attitude and that everythings going well for you... random but thought you might appreciate this ♦

♦

brand new, ski seasons like HERE im so pumped

Ahhh... I was looking at boards the other day.... it snowed a bit here yesterday... *drooling* I wanna new board, as much as I love my old one, it's time... Although I am not gonna be able to ride until January... I will certainly be working hard for that.......

Well I didn't play at all today, and not much yesterday... today was spent with the Mrs and chatting to Flows... really excited as loads of ideas flowing for the new blog... just can't wait to get it up and running properly, I think it has some awesome potential... I think it will definitely be good for my game and for anyone else who actively participates in the discussions...

Anyway I played a couple sets of 45 mans this evening... they are a nice pass time for me, even though they can be brutal, but that's cool, busting out of 16/18 aint that bad... overall they're still positive, and it really got me excited to tackle some of the psychological aspects later on in the other blog... Anyway, I plan on getting some decent grinding in tomorrow... I feel ready... for now, time to get some sleep......