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Mtts have been going... whats the word.... AWFUL recently. Absolutely terrible. Think i've been playing pretty poorly in general trying to force a win from somewhere.
But tonight it all came together. It didnt start well as i regged for 5 MTTs on stars and only made 1 min cash. I regged all the DTD and spewed in ALL of them. Main I couldnt get going and i finished about 25th or something in mini.
But I decided to late reg the 9pm £55 BH out of pure spite cause I was out of pretty much everything else!
I built a stack... got a tad lucky and was chip leader for most of the tournament. Putting pressure on stacks I managed to FT, get to HU and bink it for £1.1k!
Shout out to Mr Bates who again had another deep run. He was very complimentary of me when I won which is nice! It did help that I had position on him entire final table and could apply max pressure.
Gaz played really well, had position on me and put maximum pressure on me. He knows I understand ICM and put me in a coffin in a few spots when he 3 bet me.
WP sir!
P.S. I still think you are a fish!
Thanks Jac.
Yeah it was pretty annoying my exit from roller... on the SECOND HAND. There was me getting excited about a Super Roller and boom im out after aproxiamately a minute.
I tried to keep the pot conservative pre as I definitely didnt want to get my chips in the middle for a flip pre. Maybe I should fold pre at some point. It may have been the best thing to do when things started to get out of hand with the tournament being so early... however after the flop I think I have little other option than to take a punt at it with decent equity. There are few other flops i'd go with this hand. This just happened to be one.
Anyway... as you've alluded to Jac I ended up having an OK night. Ran OK in mini roller and was 10/10. Managed to get a DU 66 />KQ and pushed on to take it down for a nice bink!
A good night all in all!
Not sure why. Perhaps im just getting a bit tired.
There isn't much (well any) traffic on this thread. Im thinking i'll continue to update this thread occassionally until my trip to Vegas in late May/June, write up my experience and let the thread whither and die in the nether regions on the sky forum.
It'd be a year since I started this thread when I come back from Vegas. Perhaps its the ideal time to call it quits.
Most people read them and just don't post on them buddy.
Been some year for you since you started your "diary".
If you feel it helps stay focussed defo continue it, or if not, you can always come back to it later.
Enjoy Vegas, sounds awesome:)
I have cashed in 4/7 live tournaments recently including a 2 day tourney full of sharks.
I run so much worse online.
They really are two different games. sure learning one provides you with skills you can use in the other but at the end of the day you need to learn to play what's needed. Don't think being a good live player will make you a good online player and vice versa
However there are a few things I have realised.
Cash - it is easy to see who is playing with 'scared money'. People who BI shallow, limp a lot, hate people who raise etc etc. Last night I was on a table of serial limpers, some of which were happy to call a big raise pre... a lot who didnt want to know about it. A guy sits down two to my right and realises he can isolate almost every hand he wants to play pre. Noticing this I start cold 4 betting him. You have to be able to spot those who trying to take advantage of the situation and take advantage of them... the same as online in many ways.
You can't sit and wait for a hand, particularly in MTTs. Yes its better to be TAG at the begininng of the tournament, but if you spot people who are willing to 3 bet J5o you have to be able to 4 bet wider as the tournament shallows slightly... even cold 4 betting as you look so strong. Just make sure you do it in the right spots against the right people. Table image for our opponents and us comes into this a great deal.
It is true that possibly the cards/players havent suited this in your experiences. After all poker (as people keep telling me) is a long game. Online we are able to play 5,6,7, 8+ MTTs a night. Live we get one shot at a time. This can make people play tighter naturally as you dont want to exit, but it also increases the appearance of variance. Without a large sample size... none of this means too much.
Ultimately if we have a reasoning for what we are doing each hand and make the right moves we should be OK long term.
Sidebar - 9 max plays a bit tighter than 6 max. So if you are so used to 6 max it may be an idea to test the waters with 9 max online and get used to what ranges you need to have in each position/situation.
Once the guy bets into us its an easy fold. We dont know what the guy in the SB has/if he is interested and we dont know if we are capable of shifting the guy off the pot anyway. It sounds like SB is quite shallow too which means the float is going to work even less of the time if he's cold called pre. Muck our hand and find another spot imo.
As said before, these things only need to work x% of the time to be profitable. One example shouldnt sway you from doing one thing to another. The real question is if it works long term. If it isnt profitable long term, then perhaps we are isolating the wrong people at the wrong time. We have to be wary of those that have acted before us, but also those behind us. Im less inclined to make a move like this if there are shallow stacks behind and ive priced myself in to call a shove.
Table image then goes out the window when you are forced to show your hand.
Its brutal.
Sets over sets. Flushes over flushes. Quads over nut FHs. Straights over straights. Straight flushes rivering nut flushes. Countless amounts of runner runners and of course all your standard AK<AA KK<AA AA<KK AA<AK all in pre nonsense.
Im not trying to moan. Its just how it is. It really is that brutal.
Im not even tilting. Im just completely numb to it. I'd be holding the second nuts and just know he has the nuts, but I know itd be a massive losing play long term if i folded just in case he had two very specific cards. Its just recently they have it. Every. Single. Time.
Confidence isnt gone. Its obliterated. So's my bank roll on the other site.
Im expecting someone to say 'Thats poker... its just variance'. Well yes but I don't give a fig right now.
I just want to win one bloody hand.
Made a bad call AK v AA all in pre. I knew it was a fold but thought just maybe he had spewed off with worse.
Its no fun anymore. No doubt i'll play in Vegas but as far as online goes im finished.
Done.
Finito.
End.
I'm hoping the bug will hit me again sometime but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Good luck all. Hope youre all doing/running better than me.
As some of you may know I've been working as an Analyst in a Football Statistical Company for about a year now. I've had trouble with contracts/job security/my boss for almost the entirety of this time. Its a start up company so I realise I needed to give it time to grow, and might still need to, however it looks like (with the current boss in charge at least) that the company is going nowhere fast.
I applied for another job 2 weeks ago at Bet365. Its a trading position where they give me training for 6 months then im a trading assistant which then becomes a sports trader role if/when i prove myself. I got an interview and found out today that they want me for the job. Only issue is that the job is in Stoke.
I currently live between Oxford and High Wycombe and my entire social life is in this area. I had thought that if I were to leave my current role I'd get a job in London and move in with some mates... however this new opportunity has arisen.
Essentially I'd like to know if you were me, what would you do? Would you move to Stoke, leaving family and friends for the forseeable future to pursue a career I enjoy in a more stable company - one with more opportunities.... would you stay put and see where the current company is headed... or would you apply to more jobs in London, closer to what you know, cause after all if one company wants you... another one theoritically will want you too?
I've got a week to decide and im not entirely sure. Family think I should take it. Friends less sure. I think its a great opportunity but will have to make a lot of sacrifices including my social life, playing football at the weekends, poker etc
I know its difficult to put your feet in my shoes so if you can relate my situation with one you've been in and give me some advice that'd be great.
The sacrifices you have listed – social life, playing football at the weekends, playing poker – do not have to be tossed aside. Moving to Stoke doesn’t have to mean the end of these things at all – all it really means is that you will have to make new friends and find a new venue to play football. Poker is not bound by geography. And to be honest, there comes a time in the life of most when we must leave those we know and love and carve out our own little mark in this world. Sometimes it happens when we’re nineteen, sometimes not until we’re much older; but live our own life, we must.
It boils down to what is important to you. If career and the furtherance of it tips the scales, then it seems like a move to Stoke is in order; but if you value family and friendship above all else, then perhaps you should stay where you are and try to find something in your local area. This being said, just because you may stay for others does not mean they will necessarily do the same for you.
Say you make the decision to stay ‘between Oxford and High Wycombe’ and then in six months or a year most of those people you have stayed for decide to move on to pastures new? How would you feel then? Maybe you could stay and a similarly fantastic opportunity will present itself in your local area – it happens. But what if it doesn’t? Will you be kicking yourself for not taking the opportunity when you had it, or will you be happy enough to shrug your shoulders and say: oh well, it wasn’t meant to be?
If you do stay, don’t regret not going; and if you leave, don’t regret that either. Make the decision and stick with it, because that’s the only way it will work, whichever side of the fence you land on.
Good luck, and it hope it works out for you - whatever you decide.
In all seriousness, this looks like a very promising opportunity. You're young, potentially about to embark on a new job within an industry you actually enjoy (how many 20 somethings can say that?!). It will probably be a bit daunting at first, but like with most things, time should ease you into your new surroundings. And it's not a million miles away from where you live now, if people want to visit once you have your feet under the table. If it all goes t1ts up, then at least you won't look back wondering what might have been....
Plus its closer to DTD no?
I was in a similar spot to you going back 9 years now. Living in a pleasant little market town between Bristol and Bath at the time. Lots of friends in the area, family just 25 minutes away. Wife, 2 young kids and me all very happy and content.
Got offered a job in Yorkshire, 25% pay rise and much more job security. Didn't sleep for a month mulling over the pros and cons, tossing and turning. Missus said she was happy either way, decision was all mine. Ended up taking it, haven't looked back. Lifes pretty good. Obviously I miss our friends and family from down there but made plenty of new friends and its a small island we live on and you're never far from anywhere. Oxford to Stoke around 2 hours?? Thats nowt.
When I think back now deep down I knew from day 1 what I was gonna do and I reckon you probably do too. Go with your gut and whatever happens don't have regrets, lifes too short.
Best of luck with whatever you decide.
I think it might be the smart decision to take the job. A job in such a big and reputable company like that will give me so many more opportunities in the future than I wouldn't have otherwise. So maybe I can see it as a stepping stone thing where I don't plan to be up there longer than a year or two. Who knows... I might actually like it up there and stick around. I mean its not like I have to decide the next 10-15 years in the next week. I can roll with it and see what happens.
The reason why i've been pondering over it so much is cause im unlikely to be able to come back at weekends to see friends as i'd be working... im also likely to be working a lot of evenings so poker is almost off the table (even if im on a little hiatus anyway). Suppose these are sacrifices i'll have to take to get to where I want to be. Im not going to be happy unless im progressing in my career. I don't like settling for what I have... I always aim higher.
Its still a big move though... and a bit of a gamble... but you know me, i dont like folding much. Meh... guess i'll have to take it. *gulp*
Incidentally ROCK i actually did your AK v QQ card thing. Decided to run it 3 times to reduce variance. First 15 cards out the deck... not one ace or king. Guess that settles it!