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Straight from the toes - Quickfeet's blog
What a great story that is, & particularly has to how & why you chose the alias "QUICKFEET". I'd never have guessed that in a zillion years, incredible.
Are you looking forward to the new F1 season? Testing starts tomorrow, in Barca. The new spec cars are beasts.
I've never been car racing at Oulton Park, but I went there many a time for motorbike racing back in the day. Lovely circuit, really lovely.
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I love the forum... and you may have noticed I have been contributing to threads more often laterly. I have decided to do my bit for the community by starting my own blog. I am very much a rec and until recently a net depositer in quite a big way... May be the story of someone who was rubbish but is now playing "sustainable" poker will help others.
I have been on SkyPoker, as a complete novice at the game, since September 2009. Beginning with the Saturday afternoon "Soccer Saturday Super 6" freerolls, I made a small deposit. That lasted until the following Spring. When it ran out, I was unsure whether to continue. I had qualified for a freeroll that had prizes of seats in the Friday Night Main which was a Deepstack Freezeout in those days. I qualified and then in the Main I just got into a rythym more less playing every other hand whenever I had an Ace with a painted kicker or pocket pairs. The hands I played mostly won and I had a huge chip lead at the FT which I held on to and won about £1,400.
This was a good and bad thing. To avoid paying a fee on my credit card when withdrawing such a large amount, I applied for a debit card to take out the funds. While this was being set up, the temptation of having so much money in my poker account was too much for me.
I started to fritter it away on SNGs and moved up to higher stakes when trying to recover my losses. The worst thing I could have done... I now know.
I did withdraw £600 in the end but kept playing in the same manner. So over time I deposited the £600 back in and a whole lot more.
The thing was, I was enjoying playing high stakes, it gave me a huge buzz despite the losses. I had a good job in IT and could afford it. I love motor racing and fast cars. If it wasn't for my disability - I have Cerebral Palsy hence the name QUICKFEET because I operate the computer with my toes - I reasoned I would be spending far more money on motor sport than I was on poker.
I was however more of a gambler than a poker player.
A few years ago, the company that was the main customer for my employer was taken over and the job I did went abroad. I was still employed but didn't enjoy my new role.
Around the same period, I became more involved in motor racing at my local track, Oulton Park. I love to write about the sport and my articles became popular - my skills were increasingly in demand albeit on a voluntary basis, as I was covering amateur events. I became so busy, I had no time to go to work.
With income coming in from buy to let properties and peer to peer lending, I started to think about giving up the day job and living off that although it would mean I'd no longer be able to afford to chuck money away on poker.
So I had the choice of becoming a better poker player or quitting.
Around this time, Spring 2015, Sky introduced the Turbo DYMs. These were short enough to have a few games in the hour after my tea and had less variance than the HU games I was playing.
Indeed at first there was almost no variance as many people played the TDYMs way too aggressively, certainly at my £5.50 level, and I was usually winning by not playing a hand as everyone else knocked themselves out in 5 minutes.
This situation lasted about a month but at least it gave me time to evolve my tactics before these games became more sane.
I tell people I have not deposited since April 2015. This is technically true, although during the Winter of 2015 I had a bad run and had to deposit £50 one Sunday morning. I felt I was due a good run (but I thought that for years when chasing my losses) so entered a tournie that afternoon and finished in the top 3 enabling me to immediately withdraw the £50 and still have enough buy-ins for the TDYMs. This is my only deposit in almost 2 years, a far cry from the bad old days when I was reloading every couple of weeks.
I finally gave up the day job in August 2016. With the motor racing season in full swing there wasn't much time for poker and when I found time to play, things didn't go too well. A downward spiral ensued and by the start of October I was down to £45.
Time for another rethink...
Being a little pressed for time, I think I was rushing a little to get the games ended so I tightened my game and from then on it's been a really good Winter. I have added a 0 to the end of the £45 and even got as high as having £540 in my account. I play 2 or 3 tables for a couple of hours a day.
I planned to move up to £10 TDYMs when I reached £500 but I was stuck in the £300s for weeks after Christmas. Happy Hours were giving me a nice little rake back and when they ended I had a lapse in discipline. With a BR of £380, I switched to £10 TDYMs to keep the Poker Points coming in. The angel on my should was screaming what the heck are you doing, you are going back to your bad old ways chasing £s, but fortunately it coincided with an upswing all the way up to £540.
That was quickly followed by a downswing back to £380! But from playing the £5 TDYMs, I knew I could lose 20 buy ins but get them back over time. As that equates to £200 at the £10 TDYM level, which seems a big sum in my mind, that knowledge helped me to keep calm and avoided the dreaded tilt.
In 2016 I gave up the day job and become reasonable at poker but the best thing to happen was that I got a car that I could drive from my wheelchair. Something that was always beyond my wildest dreams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818FV2QIKSA
So there we have it. I am going to try and keep it touch with my poker friends with regular updates at least once a week.
Current balance is £450.57 as I only play a maximum of 100 tournies a week that is probably going to yo yo abit with the weekly updates due to variance (and me being rubbish!) but hopefully there'll be an upward trend.
I just watched that video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818FV2QIKSA
I'm blown away Sir.
You are the greatest.
I am not a massive motor racing fan but have been to several WTCC tracks around Europe and have enjoyed the experience of being there live.
Was driven around Brands Hatch once and remember feeling like we were going to whack into the bridges when we drove under them. You take for granted that bridges on regular roads are designed for buses etc to drive under. The ones on the track are so low to the ground it results in quite a few white knuckle and tensed buttcheeks moments
Nice 1 on the new car too!
Can you explain to us how you operate your computer with your toes, please?
My favourite category is Formula Ford 1600. The cars have no aerodynamics so they are constantly sliding and they can run close together in the corners making overtaking on the following straight possible without the "stage managed" DRS. I'd love F1 to be Formula Ford with bigger engines and fatter tyres!
I look after the following Formula Ford website, www.brsccff1600.co.uk There is a great video on the home page
It also has a trackball in the bottom corner.
I specified the layout of the keys so that the common letters are grouped around the SPACE key in the middle and for common combinations such as "T" & "H" I can use alternate toes for greater speed (I only use my two big toes)
Here is a picture
hi QF
great to read.
my first memory of you is over your first appearance at an SPT. you were torn, i recall. i could quite get you to turn up. next time.
glgl
Now I am independently mobile, I would definitely be up for a gathering in the North West/Midlands
Keep posting with those happy feet.
Bit of a new experience tonight. My long time buddy, who I have known almost 30 years, signed up to SkyPoker this evening after hearing of my good run this Winter and watching me play a session the other week (I must have made it look easy!).
Watching him play took me back to when I started and made me realise how much I have learnt over the years
An excess of power over grip is what I think motor racing should be all about. I'd have taken aero away and kept the engine regs the same but Red Bull complained that it had become an engine formula that Mercedes were dominating while their Renault engine lagged behind hence they threatened to pull out both their teams unless some regulations that allowed Adrian Newey to work his magic in the wind tunnel were introduced
The photo of QUICKFEET's keyboard on page 1 of this thread has now been approved.