Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?

Enut

Have you joined a tennis club? If not do so. Most people are worried that they are too middle class and all the members are brilliant at tennis, nothing could be further from the truth!

Definitely have lessons too. Watching and replicating is a brilliant way of learning too but a good coach will help tremendously as well. Good luck with the tennis, it's a great sport it's also one where you can take it up at any age and still play at a half decent level, if you keep at it, until a ripe old age.

VespaPX

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

 " What pair of trainers should I buy next?"    For playing tennis or for casual? For tennis try PWP, tennis-point, prodirect tennis, tennis nuts websites they occasionally have sales.  I picked up some Adidas Barricade tennis trainers a couple of months ago like these https://www.tennisnuts.com/adidas-mens-barricade-team-4-1192623.html . Recommended retail is something like £70, I paid £30......for 3 pairs. Now tennis trainers normally last me about 3 months before the sole wears through but my first pair of these is lasting quite well so I can recommend them. Shame you're in Bournemouth otherwise we could have a hit. Oh and cracking diary btw, not read it in a week so nice to catch up with it. Congratulations and please keep posting.  
Posted by Enut

I resemble that remark :-)

Donttelmum

I was a tennis coach before playing poker for a living so if I can help with any questions SR then fire away.

Enut, they are definetly the longest lasting tennis trainer out there.  The strengthened toe is the key allowing you drag your foot when you serve and and not wear them out in a matter of weeks.

tomgoodun

How times have changed, I'm old enough to remember when trainers were first introduced ( At least oop North ) think they were called Hi - Tec. About a fiver a pair and folk sniggered if you dared wear em in town, nowadays the price of em makes me wince,and your really cool if you wear the right type

Congrats on reaching your goal, we need posters like your good self here, always a great read and one of the first places I look on the forum , just behind Jac's , Hrry's , Tikays, bad beats, and checking if you have taken all my readers  

^ Last sentence may be untrue. Please post more.

Good luck in life.

Enut

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

I was a tennis coach before playing poker for a living so if I can help with any questions SR then fire away. Enut, they are definetly the longest lasting tennis trainer out there.  The strengthened toe is the key allowing you drag your foot when you serve and and not wear them out in a matter of weeks.
Posted by Donttelmum

Our courts are Plexipave, which I'm sure you know is like sandpaper. If you move your feet a lot (which is a good thing) then they do tend to wear out. I think it was Adidias that did a range a few years ago that actually had a 6 month guarantee, we got a few new pairs through that I can tell you!

Phantom66

Still in the Derbyshire Dales (thin holiday brag) but just caught up.

Well done on hitting the numbers, priority and a very healthy increase in bankroll. VWP sir.

Keep posting please.

Still owed a crying into an egg and a not crossing a bridge anecdote  at the very least.

yourfired

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? :   Hope you make it, man (let me know) and thanks very much for the kind words. Funny you should mention mental health - mine's been in ribbons for the last couple of years and I've been unsure whether or not to write about it. Maybe I will at a later date. Good luck good luck. 
Posted by SR23

Some 4.9k dons later and finally completed with on hour to spare, nearly didn't as was held up at work longer than I would of liked but spat my oversized dummy out and the powers that be relented, The good mental health comment was in reference to my opening gambit about radio phone ins, and frazier crane- his closing line or sign off call to his radio show would be goodnight seattle and good mental health (not sure how old you are so maybe before your time  )

ATB

yfired

Jac35

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Some 4.9k dons later and finally completed with on hour to spare, nearly didn't as was held up at work longer than I would of liked but spat my oversized dummy out and the powers that be relented, The good mental health comment was in reference to my opening gambit about radio phone ins, and frazier crane- his closing line or sign off call to his radio show would be goodnight seattle and good mental health (not sure how old you are so maybe before your time  ) ATB yfired
Posted by yourfired

Good work yourfired

yourfired

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Hi Bud, That graph only looks bad as so many games are condensed into a short period, it's astonishing how much volume you managed. Not going to discuss detailed profit & loss here, if you want the actual details, just say & I'll send you a PM. In over 4,000 games inside a month, you are at around break even (very small loss) AFTER paying Reg Fees. That excludes any Sky Poker Rewards or Prio benefits you have or will accrue, so overall you should be in profit. Good luck with getting those last few hundred points.     
Posted by Tikay10

no its fine sir don't go to any trouble but thanks for the offer, I will attempt to rectify the downswiong in the graph in the coming months,
 I did manage to reg to one of the small ploppers games by mistake ,I think that's what you call them ,didn't have clue what was going on hehe made even worse with 14 holdem tables flashing around it ,the amount of times I timed out of my holdem games due to trying to work out what hand I had and quickly reading up on hand rankings ranges and such  caused some of the players to aim some choice words at me, as the youngsters would say meh water off a ducks back, but I am 1 out of 1 at them now beginner's luck and all that,
regards
yfired

BigHawk89

Well done on making priority and a really good month profit wise. 

What are you going to do with your bankroll? withdraw? Or keep building? Could create a nice little side income for you if you carry on the way you have.

Essexphil

Excellent thread-post more, please

Phil

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Have you joined a tennis club? If not do so. Most people are worried that they are too middle class and all the members are brilliant at tennis, nothing could be further from the truth! Definitely have lessons too. Watching and replicating is a brilliant way of learning too but a good coach will help tremendously as well. Good luck with the tennis, it's a great sport it's also one where you can take it up at any age and still play at a half decent level, if you keep at it, until a ripe old age.
Posted by Enut

Yep, this is me. Locally, there is a scheme where you/your household pay £30 a year to play across 15-ish courts in four locations. This has suited me and I swan around telling anyone who will listen (read: no-one) that I'm a street player who's not into the idea of being part of a cliquey, middle-class tennis club. This is just me being prejudiced and, deep down, I think I'd like to be part of one for all sorts of reasons, not least that I need the exercise, love playing the game, and my football days are unfortunately behind me. 

I'll get on it next year. Thanks for the nudge. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : I resemble that remark :-)
Posted by VespaPX

Tennis? Or livelolcashaments? Let me know. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

I was a tennis coach before playing poker for a living so if I can help with any questions SR then fire away. Enut, they are definetly the longest lasting tennis trainer out there.  The strengthened toe is the key allowing you drag your foot when you serve and and not wear them out in a matter of weeks.
Posted by Donttelmum

This is fascinating, for some reason. I'll drop you a line when I'm in Newcastle and maybe we can have a knock up/go and play live cash so you can skin me live as well as online. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

How times have changed, I'm old enough to remember when trainers were first introduced ( At least oop North ) think they were called Hi - Tec. About a fiver a pair and folk sniggered if you dared wear em in town, nowadays the price of em makes me wince,and your really cool if you wear the right type Congrats on reaching your goal, we need posters like your good self here, always a great read and one of the first places I look on the forum , just behind Jac's , Hrry's , Tikays, bad beats, and checking if you have taken all my readers   ^ Last sentence may be untrue. Please post more. Good luck in life.
Posted by tomgoodun

Ha, yes, I suppose there must have been a point where people didn't wear trainers and then a point where people did. Seems odd, really. Thanks Tom for the messages of goodwill - good luck in life (and poker) to you, too. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Still in the Derbyshire Dales (thin holiday brag) but just caught up. Well done on hitting the numbers, priority and a very healthy increase in bankroll. VWP sir. Keep posting please. Still owed a crying into an egg and a not crossing a bridge anecdote  at the very least.
Posted by Phantom66

Both anecdotes will be hitting the shelves within a month, I suspect. Enjoy the rest of your holiday and tyvm for your support over the last month or so. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Some 4.9k dons later and finally completed with on hour to spare, nearly didn't as was held up at work longer than I would of liked but spat my oversized dummy out and the powers that be relented, The good mental health comment was in reference to my opening gambit about radio phone ins, and frazier crane- his closing line or sign off call to his radio show would be goodnight seattle and good mental health (not sure how old you are so maybe before your time  ) ATB yfired
Posted by yourfired

Ah, I see, clever bookending of comments ITT. Good stuff. Good stuff, too, on reaching Prio - especially with just an hour to spare, wpwp. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Well done on making priority and a really good month profit wise.  What are you going to do with your bankroll? withdraw? Or keep building?  Could create a nice little side income for you if you carry on the way you have.
Posted by BigHawk89

Cheers Hawky, appreciate it - I suppose it helps when you flop two pair and your rivered boat gives your opponent trips. I did run golden for a lot of the month, so was dead fortunate in that respect. 

I've been in the financial trenches since August. I worked for two days in September but haven't worked since, so I'm going to need some of my roll for life stuff (food, booze, tabs, trainers) and Christmas stuff (I've just bought a £116 turkey). My (embryonic) plan is to build up a bit of a roll to play live and play a mixture of live/online next year. It looks as if I have 2-3 months of well paid work in the new year so hopefully I can keep my roll intact. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Excellent thread-post more, please Phil
Posted by Essexphil

Excellent thing to hear - thanks very much Phil. 

SR23

Oh my.

We've all had those sessions, the ones where everything clangs and jars and poker takes on an unreal, almost evil, quality. Sets get beaten up by bigger sets. Combo draws never get there. Overpairs never hold against flush draws, flush draws never hit against overpairs. Flopped two pairs get counterfeited, credible-looking bluffs get routinely picked off, and we always bump into the top of our opponent's ranges. 

These are miserable sessions. My last miserable session like the above has lasted for six weeks. 

I've tried all sorts to try and drag myself out of this poker malfeasance: exercise, cutting down on booze, chanting, meditation before sessions, more chanting, visiting witch doctors who advertise in newsagent's windows and so on. 

I've even gone as far as watching strategy videos, reading forums, reviewing hand histories, thinking about certain spots, tightening up and generally putting in a ton of work off the tables. I know: ridiculous. 

Reviving this diary is my last, desperate shot at turning things around.

Online poker runbad has bled into real-life runbad. Three months of interesting, well-paid, socially benign work that I was due to start at the end of this month has just been snatched away from me. I'm broke. I dress in rags. I cry into boiled eggs. 

But, readers, there are reasons to be cheerful. I'm owed a ton of positive variance. My game is getting by the day. I've just bought a punchbag, reasoning that if you're going to be dumb, you better be tough.  

First goal is to turn this double-figure bankroll (that was one hand away from being a single-figure bankroll) into a triple-figure bankroll. Then into a quadruple-figure bankroll. Then we'll see. 

There will be a handful of life goals too including, but not limited to, reading 100 books this year (current total: 6), crying into food less often, getting fitter, getting happier, helping other people more and improving my tennis game. Oh, and (eek) stopping smoking. 

dragon1964

Welcome back.

Sorry to hear you are on a mighty downswing but if it is the reason you revive this diary, it's not all bad  

You have a very pleasant style of writing, mixed with some great humour.

Your two promised anecdotes are now long overdue.

Good luck on the tables and off.

yourfired

if ever someone warrants some run good its you mate, even if it is only so you update this dairy more  ,I look forward to some run good post's in the near future
as always good mental health ,

yfired

SR23

Thank you very much indeed, dragon1964 and yourfired (it's so difficult for me not to put an apostrophe in there - and an 'e') - I'm positively buoyant after your comments. 

Phantom66

Definitely great to see you posting again albeit sad to read of the life/poker downswing.

I hope things turn around for you soon.

You clearly write professionally. What sort of work do you do? You never know, opportunities can arise from the most unusual of places.

HENDRIK62

I really like this diary, please keep updating. Been on a handful of tables with you lately and I can confirm you have had some nasty beats.

Hope it goes onto a long positive swing soon.

yourfired

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Thank you very much indeed, dragon1964 and yourfired (it's so difficult for me not to put an apostrophe in there - and an 'e') - I'm positively buoyant after your comments. 
Posted by SR23

Lol it was deliberate, for some reason It does tend to annoy folk can't think as to why:), 

Yfired

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

Definitely great to see you posting again albeit sad to read of the life/poker downswing. I hope things turn around for you soon. You clearly write professionally. What sort of work do you do? You never know, opportunities can arise from the most unusual of places.
Posted by Phantom66

Lovely message, ta. And you're right, things can turn quickly and unexpectedly. Douglas Coupland's writing career began on the strength of a postcard he had sent to someone. True story. I think. 

I've written all sorts: political speeches, reports for the FCO, chapters for military text books on psychological warfare, 150-odd poker columns, first-person pieces for the Guardian, knockabout pieces for men's magazines, restaurant reviews, bar reviews, estate agency reviews (!), film reviews, forewords for architectural coffee table books...and so on. 

Jesus, it's even more disparate than I realised. Perhaps I need to specialise. I'm waiting to hear back from an editor about writing several pieces a month for the Scandinavian market on tennis, rugby and greyhounds. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me, either. 

Nice to have you around, dude. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

I really like this diary, please keep updating. Been on a handful of tables with you lately and I can confirm you have had some nasty beats. Hope it goes onto a long positive swing soon.
Posted by HENDRIK62

Hey man, thanks for the good wishes. I think you were on my right during the early stages of the mini BH a few nights ago and I remember thinking, "Hendrik's not going to believe me if I write in my diary that I've been running badly. He will, however, believe me if I say I've been playing badly."

There is a close relationship between the two, though. It's the insidious beats that have been getting to me, rather than losing AA V TT or KK v AK or AK v KJ aipf (although, granted, those have been getting to me a bit too, recently). The near-constant whiffing of flops, the thousands of 20-30bb pots where I've been called down by fifteenth pair, or my opponent hits runner runner whatever, or I'm called down with gutshots and they get there, or by one pair (that I'm ahead of) that becomes two pair (that I'm not ahead of) on the river, or boards that I can't really barrel on or if I do I'm called down light etc etc. 

Always missing flops/draws, long periods of being outdrawn, bluffs nearly always being picked off etc can really mess with your confidence and affect your game after a while. 

There was a time last month where I'd had days of this (multitabling 5-6 tables) and at one point I flopped two pair. I didn't know what to do. I'd forgotten what it meant. It just looked so odd. 

Sorry, I'm rambling. In my defence, Donald Trump's inauguration speech has left me feeling a little deranged. 

SR23

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority?:

In Response to Re: Harebrained November Challenge - from £17.15 to Priority? : Lol it was deliberate, for some reason It does tend to annoy folk can't think as to why:),  Yfired
Posted by yourfired

Haha, this is marvellous. It is actually a bit tilting, so top marks dude. I might have to change my screen name as a sort of homage. Does anyone know if this is allowed? May have to start a thread...

Donttelmum

Enjoying the read SR.  

Oz Open picks?  Did you see Federer this morning, truly incredible.  Nice to see a few Brits going deep into the draw.  Can't see Evo beating Tsonga but then again I didn't think he would beat Cilic.

See you at the tables soon and gl with the run better.