Running like Alastair Cragg

That is to say I suck, I run bad, maybe I ran well once, but I definitely amn't now. I beat up on the really bad guys but when I come up against real competition I falter and fail. Ugh wish I had a good FAIL pic for my self-esteem. I'm down 10 buyins, or $2078 in the last 10k hands. Bankroll down to circa 7k. Withdrew $1000 dollars after the last post as well, and was up $500 or so in the next couple k hands. Have $600 or so RB due as well so its not all bad.

Been really spewy the last while. Still playing aroung 24/20 but trying to increase my dollars won without showdown. I always feel I play a bit weaktight, and am definitely down in non-SD pots, so thought I'd concentrate on that for a while. Its working lol but the SD pots ain't so good! Thats natural I suppose though for the change I made, and the fact that I implemented a change at all means a downswing is not unexpected.

Hasn't all been spew though. I've repeatedly run the bottom of my range into the top of villain's, ran bad in terms other than EV, get beats etc etc. Some 60/20 fish ran really hot against me for 3 buyins as well. Sigh.

On the plus side I now have HEM up and running. It is awesomely good. Dunno how I survived without it. Also glad to see that all my stats that were previously unavailable to me are in line with what I would have expected them to be like.

Played live a little bit the last while. Played for bout an hour in Naas a while ago, lost a buyin. Lost a few small pots in really standard situations vs shorties and got TPTK in vs Dennis Reyes's OESD on the turn. He spikes obv. Not as good as it sounds though cos that was the very bottom of his range. My call was actually really close to neutral EV vs his range even when I was getting like 3/1 on the call. That's always a bad sign! Went to the fitz last night for a couple hours as well. Got in early and left early cos I need to get to college these days! Spun €200 up to €1095 for a good session.

Most of the profit was courtesy of the dealer though! Got in a pot vs a huge donk 200BB deep vs a huge donk. I pot it preflop to 11 with AhQh from UTG+4, 4 callers obv. Flop is Q63. 2 checks, I bet 35, donk calls, 2 folds. Turn 2, I bet 80, he raises to 160, I shove, he has 62o. Rivers a 3 to pair the board and give me an 850 pot! Thank you Matt!

Stack him again about 10 hands later after he rebuys, when he tries to 3bet my UTG raise with JJ but doesn't put out enough. End up getting it in with a set vs his QQ which had a OESD on a K high turn.

Few more small hands get me up to 1200, lose 3/4 of a buyin to a gutter, 1/4 buyin when AK < AQ and then win a smallish pot on my last hand to finish up with €1095 for a profit of €895. Only starts to make up for the previous couple of weeks though!

Standard of live is ridiculously bad. Most people who play online find it soul-destroying, but I actually don't mind it. If there is someone there you can talk to its actually OK and there usually is. I'm not a fan of the ipod though cos it makes you look like a prat in most people who play live's eyes. That in itself is -EV. Dunno who said it originally, but I know Kayroo repeatedly says that a happy table is a +EV table. True that. It also makes it easier to bear a couple of hours at the table if people are having fun. That being said I'm not much of a talker at the table but I try not to be a surly cunt all the same! I'm opening a lot more pots these days than when I used to as I am more comfortable playing so just want to create as many opportunities as possible to play pots against the tards.

Whenever I think of a way of trying to explain how bad live is, I always remember one hand. In the fitz over the summer, dropped in for a few hours. Been at this table for about two hours. One hugely bad guy that I keep 3betting and isoraising with position. Table still thinks I'm a nit. I've probably raised more hands than any of the others though. One guy, who we'll call TARD gets pissed off at me cos I ran hot for about 20 hands, which is about the space of an hour. I show up with the goods for like half of these and run up a big stack. TARD says to me "Every time you reraise I just know you have either AA or KK!" Table agrees calling me a rock. So you would assume they would fold a few more hands to my raises???? Obv not. Their live tards. Very next hand UTG raises to 7 7 handed, 3 callers, I repop to 35 from the SB, (with AA!), everybody calls! I was trying so hard not to laugh particularly after what that guy said literally two minutes beforehand! Flop is AKT (BINGO!), I bet out 1 fold, TARD instashoves, 1 fold, I obv snap. TARD has K9. TARD says "I knew you had it but I was getting value." WP sir.

On that optimistic note for the future of poker I'll leave yis to it! Got to do a project and bullshit about website design. Now that is the real beat.

Running Good

Haven't been updating this much in the last while. Got out of that 20bi hole at 0.50/1 and spun up a few more dollars since the last post. I'm now playing 1/2 and doing OK. Bankroll is in or around $9000.

Not going to be playing much for the next 4 months or so cos I've a pretty serious time in college coming up. Its my 3rd year but its gonna be really tough. Gotta get the head down and study. I'll play a little bit but not much! Never was much of a person for grinding anyways!

I've loosened up a little bit since the last time I posted. I'm now playing in or around 24/20 and am making a few dollars in non SD pots. I used to be B/E in them but I'm now a good winner in them I think. I've ramped up the aggression considerably. That being said I still play the odd session like an absolute bitch but meh. Regs at 1/2 are considerably better than at 0.50/1 but imo its still easily beatable.

Gotta give it a shot anyways!

I'll try keep this posting lark up!

Over and out

Out of it!

/mental block

Getting Out Of it FTW

13 bi out of the 20 bi downswing now! Playing well, but I was playing well during the downswing too imo. Not as many coolers and beats though which make the difference! Not running above EV either though so its not like I'm running like god!

Article

http://www.royalflushclubmembers.com/public/390.cfm

Mentioned I did this a while ago. Odd circumstances really. They spammed my email inbox with 2 months ago's version of this newsletter. I read it and one of the articles stood out as sucking a lot imo. I mailed them back saying that if they wanted to spam my inbox at least they should send something that is good advice (in retrospect its not a terrible article, and it is well enough written, I just happen to disagree pretty massively with the argument proposed). The manager/owner of the company got back to me asking me why I thought it was bad advice. I said why and in the following emails I wormed a way into writing this!

Really dunno why I did something on this though cos I really suck at tournaments! I can quote you theory all day but that doesn't stop me sucking! Looking back I should have reedited the article at least once more too cos I'm not a massive fan of how its written but sigh.... Said I'd post it anyway.

Not playing much poker at the moment, too busy with work. Works going pretty well though so I'm happy! Only poker I've played is the Boards HU league. Through to the quarter finals now. Have beaten Lao Lao, GillCarr, WHBonney, and Aegilops thus far. All pretty tough games but they all had a vastly different style. All put me through my paces in different ways. I've been lucky to get this far really cos theres so much variance in HU.

They all play pretty good imo. GillCarr was probably the toughest imo. Very tough opponent. Very good with gameflow and doesn't give an inch. From what I have seen of her play I can't believe she hasn't won something big tbh. That being said they all gave me a few headaches. Some of WHBonneys lines wrecked my head so hard. My bro could attest to that as he heard me giving out from the next room about wtf was going on in so many spots! Confused the hell out of me! Ended up making a Q high call against him in a weird hand that I will post sometime in the future as I think theres a few different levels there and I'm not sure if I was thinking correctly. Can't remember the games vs LaoLao much cos they were the longest ago but I know he play good. I think he ran pretty badly in those games, as in he ran the bottom of some of his ranges into the middle/top of mine repeatedly. As such I didn't get a really accurate reflection of his game, but I know remembering thinking that he plays good. Aegilops plays quite an unorthodox style so I made a load of adjustments to my game, dunno if they were logical or not. It was always inevitable from the game flow that I was ultimately going to get my chips in bad, but the question was who was going to adjust better to a kinda weird gameflow. The question is obviously unanswerable as we only had 3 games, and I got lucky to take it down.

Dunno who I'll have for my next game, but its gonna be tough no matter who it is. I have serious respect for everyone left, and I'm just happy to get this far. Obviously I'd like to go further but I would not be disappointed.

tl;dr again but its more a stream of consciousness. I don't really write with the aim of it being readable unfortunately! I write more for utility, so I dunno whether I should make this more readable or just use this as an outlet to help with moderating myself...

I'll have to think about that one!

SICKNESS

Poker is so fucking sick.

17 bi downswings FTL. I really don't feel like writing anything or posting any hands. I might if I start to get out of it. I'll post a graph sometime soon. Should be fucking hilarious.

Its times like this where I question whether its really worth it. Why the fuck do I bother doing something thats pissing me off and costing me money. I really don't know....

Its just not fun anymore. I see these guys that I used to think were really shitty moving up levels or crushing this one or just raking in the dollars, and here I am stagnating.

This is the third time I've hit 50 buyins at 100NL, from grinding it up from like $400 dollars over a lot of time and hands. Each time I've just killed my roll. Once from life rake and twice from downswings. Have I a fucking mental block for getting to 200NL or something?

I'm just sitting on my bed, two tables open. Just got KK in vs JJ on a Q high flop for 250BB. Obv he runner runners. Make that 18bi. I'm just sitting here pretty down, wondering about shit. Is what I'm doing pointless? Was I just running hot for a while like am I just a marginal loser. It just feels like shit. I dunno whether I'm taking beat after cooler or what the fuck I'm doing.

2nd Nut straight, FD < TP and a gutshot and KK < QJ Q high board with a gutshot while I was typing the last paragraph. This is a doozie of a session. Just standard though. It's actually a good session. I'm only down 3bi. GRRRRRR!!!!

All this other shit is going on as well at home and I'm so fucking tired. Sigh.

I'm really starting to question whether I can beat this level now. Are those fucking TAGfish really that much better than me? Obviously they are.

I'm not gonna post on boards or 2p2 with serious content till I get my head sorted, cos I've no doubt that that has something to do with the swong.

I'll probably delete this post later but whatever.

Started a new job today as a trainee actuary. Turns out I won't be playing as much as I had planned cos I'm gonna have a hell of a lot of work to do! Just trying to grind out a few hands atm. Still playing well and starting to make inroads into that downswong.... More details to follow. Probably!