Not sure what you've done but would recommend:
1) Fasting
2) Carnivore

Combine those two and you should heal allmost anything. And yes, the way they treat autoimmune diseases is basicly pro-drugs without any real consideration on how people are feeling or how they are able to function.

Also good luck with your journey, Ive done 200 to 5k and currently finishing 600 to 5k. Micros are still beatable, just remember GTO ranges are the starting point and people are deviating pretty heavily on your games from those and so should you be.

Thanks. yeah, i have dabbled with both these things. I struggle with the carnivore because my cholesterol is too high, although it's moreorless the diet I'm aiming for, I just intend to eat more veg than meat.

I did a 10 day fast a few years back but stupidly didn't take any supplements. The whole thing ended abruptly after a laughing fit turned into a '**** I'm literally having a heart attack' and an embarrassing trip to the doc.

Might try again when my health's up to it though. The evidence is strong.

I would really not care about cholesterol if you eat somewhat clean diet. I recommend reading Gary Taubes "Good Calories, Bad Calories". Probly not everything is really up to date but overall the cholesterol levels need to be examined way throughly than what the lab for the levels is nowdays. Probly levels work perfect for western diet but don't really take into account if your primary fuel is fat. And I think adding vegs is perfectly fine if your body can handle it, nowdays I'm eating allmost anything as long as I have 14 hour fast. Its basicly just skipping breakfest.

Unfortunately I do have to worry about cholesterol. Fat too. I get weird angina-esque pains that get worse when I eat too much continous meat or dairy, plus my bloods are coming back at warning levels. If I wasn't getting the pains fair enough, but they are scary pains and not the kind I can live with seem almost certainly correleated to meat consumption.

Not saying it can't be done mind. If I've learnt one thing on my food odyssey it's that what kills one person could cure another. So many variables go into what constiutes your microbiome and how it responds to change. So if you've made it to the ultimate goal of 'balanced diet' then that's all that really counts at the end of the day.

Glad to see you've moved out of 2nl for good. Hopefully, not too much longer at 5nl. Btw, if you play zoom, stars do have the 16nl pool, which is a nice step between 10nl and 25nl when the time comes.

Gl with the health stuff. I don't have the same health issues as you, but have to say that cutting out the junk food really helps with how I feel on a day to day basis. The period where you switch from some junk food to none might be a bit tricky, but after a while, you'll enjoy the healthy stuff more. You've just got to rewire your brain a bit to remind it what's good for it.

Cheers pj.

It's the rewiring part that's my biggest problem.

Whenever I detox sugar/carbs my physical symptoms are so severe I'm always convinced I'm dying. So I get stuck in this kind of perpetual detox where the snowballing severity escalates the core dependency which in turn increases the likelihood of capitulation. Like any drug detox really. And whenever I do clear withdrawal (around the 3 week mark but often longer) those same habits kick in and drag me back anyway, even when i feel gud. <shakes invisible fist at the curse of abundance>

Which is why it's so nice to finally hear people (doctors, shrinks) start calling it what it is for some of us: a crippling addiction. Apparently, when the tobacco companies went out of business they ploughed their assets into food wholesalers and explicitly employed Harvard scientists to make everything as super addictive as possible. i'd say they did a pretty good job of that.

But we're getting there. 75% sugar free days this year thus far - according to my habit tracker - easily the best I've eaten my whole life.

Genuinely can't wait to grind long exhausting hours and give poker full time attention.

How is the 16nl pool? I'd always assumed to skip it.

Presumably you mean it's a decent half-way point skill wise between 10-25?

come back to 10z!

I do agree with skipping 16z, I have never played it and don't consider it a real stake.

Great to see things are going well!

Skill and bankroll wise, it fits nicely between 10nl and 25nl. Plus, it's fun because the pool is pretty small, so you get a good sample on your opponents. Don't listen to the haters

Haters gonna hate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quick weekly update:

Sun-run continues and we're about half way to 10nlz now. Increasing my hands daily and playing two tables more often. Still not studying much, although I've noticed I'm getting better at thinking hands through in game, rather than auto-piloting.



Trying to get into the habit of not expecting winning sessions is tough on an upswing. It's funny how you have to mentally steel yourself for both eventualities. CAN'T YOU JUST ENJOY NICE THINGS!!?

no, brain. no i can't

Posted this in fun hands world but reposting here for posterity. One of my favourite ever hands:


PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 93.4 BB
Hero (SB): 116.4 BB
BB: 111.2 BB
UTG: 102 BB
MP: 122.8 BB
CO: 107.8 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A A

fold, fold, fold, BTN calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 5 BB, fold, BTN calls 4 BB

Flop: (11 BB, 2 players) T A 4
Hero checks, fold

Hero wins 10.6 BB

Going to stop being a pussy and give myself some modest targets for the next week:

• 5k hands
• notes on 2 instructional videos
• comment on min 3 x strat hands a day

Topsy turvy week for me results wise, but pleased I reached my modest 5k target and mostly happy with my play.

Had one of those incredible flash downswings the other night. You know when you lose about 5BIs in 100 hands? Blam. Blam .Blam. Overcall. Overcall. Cooler ffs


Even though my mental state was solid and I was mostly laughing it's remarkable how quickly it can affect you out of nowhere, especially when something ludicrous happens like fish start calling overbets with bottom pair. I think my limit for a flash downswing is about 5BIs in a short timespan. Then i need to take a break and make sure my play is still gud.

But things got back to normal after that and we're still doing ok.



I want to stay focused on this routine because it's working for me. If I keep my targets low I tend to hit them, and concentrating on every hand is still my #1 priority for as long as I can get away with it; another solid 5k week is in order. Instead of grinding I'm going to study more. I still have a mountain of 'to do's' on that front. Watch video. Make notes. Write up notes. Learn notes. I mean, this is basically school but w/e

Whatever it takes to get to where I need to be

Food addiction detox going well. Still 'clean'.

Once I get stable enough and learn enough webdev I'm going to dedicate some serious time to putting down everything I've experienced over the last 6 years. Just get it all out there, the depths of addiction and all that. I think that'll be a big part of my rehabilitation, imagining I could help some other poor sod who's been dragged down a similar path by a negligent and indifferent society.

There is a 12 step program for food addiction but every time I try 12 step programs they always sound a bit silly/too extreme to me. Fun fact: the co-founder of the 12 step program actually put his rehabilitation from alcohol down to LSD, although for obvious reasons they don't include that part.

Have a good week all <3

Good week work wise (7k hands), bad week results wise



Getting far too carried away with my triple barrels. Even in decent spots, very non-EV to barrel a non folding fish. See exhibit A:



Solver approved that. I was certain even a station could fold the middle pairs he may have called the turn. but, c'est la vie.

I have to learn how to switch gears and adjust to nonsensical opponents. This shouldn't be difficult at 5nlz but in truth I get bored playing ABC and like to experiment.

Done loads of study though. I now have all my notes from the last two years compiled digitally and ready to print into a small instruction manual I'm designing in photoshop. Logically, you pay $40+ for a poker book so I figure shelling $30 to have your own tailored made strategy book you can keep on your desk to dip in and out of easily while studying/replaying makes some financial sense.

Also, in tandem to that, i've written out an extensive poker MOT checklist in Excel. (for non UK readers an MOT is a routine vehicle inspection). Basically a list of every spot I've covered so far with a corresponding pokertracker filter so I can just bring up say, the last ten hands of OOP SB v BB b/c, b/c, or whatever, and do a direct survey of how I played and whether it matches how I was supposed to play - as per the master plan.


Really enjoying poker at the moment. Going to pump for 10k hands next week as i seem to be exceeding my targets. All of this is possible because my health gets better every day now that I've quit sugar for good.

holy **** man I have severe problems with my left arm and Ive been dyyyying to find a way to activate voice commands

so you just speak -fold- and it will couple with a hotkey software like stack and tile?

and the foot pedals can couple with hotkeys too????

like im so ****ed even a gaming controller gives me serious problems

surely there has to be a pre/post delay setting that allows you to speak a sentence using a command word like -the fish are just not folding today-

it would be silly if that triggers the fold hot key

setting a space before/after for a trigger would be optimal

Doable. Voiceattack is godly and can do almost anything a mouse or keyboard can.. and you can add caveats/logic gates. It does appear to be shite at poker though


Not using the pedals anymore; found they were ****ing up my back just sat down all day shifting weight over and over.

My current set-up is this:

• Small 2nd monitor on a large pile of books at the back of my desk so I can easily stand and play. De facto (+ free) standing desk.
  
• Cheap computer mic clipped to my collar running through VoiceAttack.

Optional:

• A trackball mouse on an old tin can on my desk so that I can reach down and use it for emergencies/manic periods without keeling over.
  
• Xbox controller running through JoyToKey software where all the buttons are set to fold to keep it simple. This is sitting on my desk at the exact distance from my standing position dangling fingertips so the motion to fold is effortless and puts zero strain on anything

90% of my play using this setup is just using the mic + VoiceAttack, but sometimes it's nice to fold using the controller and give the voice a much needed break. On a good day I'll just use the trackball. Best to mix up AMAP

Still want to try one of these. The dream is real

this is surely a joke? in year 2022 it cant possibly be good enough to detect/isolate FOLD thoughts???

nooooo i thought jaaammm yoo c***!

This is my last weekly update on accounts that a) it makes more sense to check in monthly now I'm back up and running and b) there isn't much to be gleaned from 10k hands online.

It was useful to hold myself to account lately because it's forcing me to hit at least 2hrs play/day.



Mediocre week that somewhat went South as i tried to squeeze in the hands to meet my target. I've started to split my hours bewteen cash and zoom (need the monies) which has been revealing. 10nl cash on stars is beaten by essentially the same strat that beats 2nlz - i.e. we only have small bluffs and never ever triple. The fish are unreal.

Turns out I learnt that too late this week:



whhhhhhaaaaaaa bruh



Busy for the next fortnight so not much poker, so I'll set my targets for August now:

• 40k hands
• read 4 books
• that's it!

Right

we're back to 10nlz!



Back where we started? Yes. But I'm better now. Way better I think. Plus nice to know I'm there on merit.

Ended with a 6bb/100 which is fine. impossible to tell over a small sample, confident I'm there or thereabouts.

.....

Not sure how to approach the next stage. On the one hand I want to get to 25nlz asap to test my skill level if nothing else, but... on the other, slightly more realistic hand, I need to learn how to 4-table zoom and hit consistent winrates @ 1k hands/hr - pretty sure that's the format I'll end up doing day to day if this ever goes pro. I've tried grinding 4x cash and 1x zoom and I'm not sure I like... dunno.

Nevertheless, I don't think I'll bother moving down or any of that bollocks from here. I can cover the swings financially and I'm reasonably confident I'm not losing at 10nlz. Will want at least 50BI to grind 25nlz comfortably as a day job probably although I admit if I get to 20BIs I might take shots and/or grind 25nl cash for the extra buffer.

Alright 2+2?

Decent month for me back at 10nlz.



These figures are pretty inflated tbf because I know I played so many hands badly and there were some truly top tier donations made to yer intrepid hero ceres without him doing pretty much anything at all:



lolvariance

Frickin pleased I hit my 20k/month hand target again though and look...



Glorious rakeback!!

At last I understand what everyone's on about. It's a strange feeling to be chasing that figure down towards the end, cheering on the rake. Quite illustrative of how much is getting squirrelled away in the background. Glorious rake! I love it.

So, overall... things are looking good. Still battling the ol' carb addiction but that's going to be lifelong let's face it. Some **** went down IRL I had to deal with which resulted in some somewhat inevitable capitulation for a week or so: a veritable meltdown of bread and glucose. No problemo. Back on the horse. Addiction is a bit like poker; long term progress is really all that matters.

Looking forward to this coming month. Another 20k hands and the same rakeback challenge again would be excellent and signify my best patch (volume/performance wise) in this entire challenge. Then I'm looking to increase hands from Oct to reach my target of 50k/month by 2023.

My Sky client randomly started working again so I might spend some evenings over there for the easy cashgames too. Woot


These are my notes so far for 10nlz:



***********************

Hope anyone reading this is doing ok. The planet has gone to **** right now and for some people poker is the last thing they're thinking about - and yet for others I suspect it can be a great solace to be away from the crueler stresses of the real world. Take care.