Only reason to keep this diary alive is for keeping track of results etc, since it seems to be the least-read thread here Maybe I should PM the mods to change to title to something along the lines of "Drug-Addicted, Homeless and Destitute Soon-To-Be Millionaire Crusher - The Diary"... on the other hand, who gives ****? Anyway, I really hope to be able to hit the casino on Saturday, itching to play but not sure it will work out logistically.

A week ago I decided to take a break from sportsbetting after I lose the remaining money, which was something like 50 EUR, but then I proceeded to pick winner after winner and by Sunday I had 80 EUR in the account and a total of 150 EUR spread out in bets for a total freeroll. Of course, I then bet 50 on some Italian basketball game and before Q4 decided not to hedge although the team I picked was up by 12 and I could have easily secured a profit then and there by betting opposite - needless to say, away team had a fabulous fourth quarter and ran away with the win. And then I rage-tilt-bet the remaining 30 on some baseball long-shot, which of course didn´t hit. Got 90 back from the 150 EUR I freerolled, cashed it out, took a break of a few days and restarted with 75 - with the promise to myself that I will quit until the World Cup if/when I bust.

At the start of today, balance was 55 EUR with 15 EUR yet to be refunded from a cancelled game (not sure why since it was cancelled yesterday) which I guess is OK from one point of view, but mega-tilting from another. For example, I had bet Ebden to win in a tennis game, he lost the first set and then lost his serve so I wrote it off as a loss, but then he fought back to win the second in a tie-break. And he proceeds to win game 1 of set 3 and then take a 40-0 lead in the second game when his opponent retired, so bet gets refunded.

And when I hit my bet limit (I have set a limit of 10 bets per day) I am at break-even with three live bets, but proceed to brick them all - worst one was my combo of Canada and USA to win in regulation in the hockey world´s, with Canada pissing away the lead a couple of times in the third period, that my X2 bet on Sweden-Latvia didn´t hit wasn´t really surprising although it was a surprisingly close game so a good bet anyways.

Today I bet a combo on Braves and Red Sox to win, and a single on Pirates to win. Also bet on Ebden again in the tennis, he is up 4:2 in the first set. Let´s hope to go on a roll now, it would be great to build up a nice sportsbetting roll for the World Cup so I can degen bigger then.

Meh. Got hit for something around 1k last night. Nothing went my way, did not hit a single set the whole evening which is a first for me, in 5C PLO sets aren't that uncommon... Of course I bricked my final hand which would get me in the green, was playing 350 deep and got it in vs two players on a J95cc flop with the nut flush draw, middle pair and gutshot, winner held KQT88 and hit a straight, other villain did not show. Great spot to tripple but what can you do?

So, regarding Saturday's loss, I have been doing some more introspection. Bad thing is that I feel that I am starting to obsess to much around playing, the inner degen is getting a bit too active - partly due to me now having something like 500 EUR of "non life" money left to gamble with. Of course, I can always replenish but I haven't been forced to do that since I started playing again last November so I really want to avoid it.

On the other hand, lately I have been playing exclusively cash and although I enjoy cash a lot, it might also be a sign of my inner degen upping the limits I play, since cash at the local casino is 2/2 while weekend tournaments are usually somewhere around the 100 EUR mark. However, the tournaments usually end somewhere around 5-6 AM and that really messes me up since I can't get enough sleep then.

Anyway, I will probably just take the last 500 to the casino next time I am there and hope to hit some rungood. What makes me feel good about my prospects is that both my large losing sessions actually boil down to losing this one big pot. I mean, if I make my draw against two players on Friday, I am setting in the green on a 1k+ stack. It was just one of those standard PLO spots and I lost, **** happens. Kind of similar to my first big pot I played about an orbit in, I do not recall the exact details but I got it in on the turn with top and secnd pair + nut flush draw + straight draw, brick both boards against opp:s turned top two with no other redraws.

And here is a hand I first thought I played good and got bad-bet in, then I thought I played it terribly, but now I am not really that sure although I lean towards terrible.

Anyway, I called an open with something like A9875, flop was T75 w/ T7 of hearts, I have 98 of hearts for bottom two and open-ended straight flush draw. Original raiser bet 20, I made it 80 to go, he tank-calls with less then a PSB left. Turn 5h, giving me a full house.

So.... I check!??? Opp checks behind. River is the Ad, I check again, opp goes all-in and I snap him off only to get shown AAxxx w/ the naked Ah blocker. He said he would have folded if I push the turn, but whatever - the main question is if he would bluff river if he bricks out, but I think not, which makes my play absolutely terrible. The more I think of it, the more I feel that I took the most super-standard spot (c/r flop, gii turn) and ****ed it up with fancy play syndrome.

Otherwise no really memorable hands, I had quite ****ty aces (AAJ42) allin preflop vs four players playing 500 EUR deep once and I beat only the largest stack at the table (made two pair with J2) so I at least got around 300 back, as far as I know noone else had aces although one of the shorter stacks mucked without showing. Rest was more or less standard hands, standard plays, nothing to write home about except for a large loss. Best starting hand, after a dry spell of ****ty to semi-****ty hands, was AAT97ds with both aces double-suited, flop was of course low, wet and with no flush or backdoor draws for me, so I check-folded after three-betting. Yay me. (And good thing I did since there was quite heavy action...)

At least I am running quite good in sportsbetting, I had a bet on Barcelona, Sweden-Switzerland X2, Vegas Golden Knights to win and a football match that runs today, so that will show with a nice profit (hedged betting against "my" team in today's game) and yesterday I hit a double with Braves/Mets. Unfortunately went to bed since I wrote the bet off after Braves dropping 8:2 down, so I missed this: https://www.mlb.com/news/dansby-swan...ns/c-277569126

Of course, my sportsbets are like 10-20 EUR/bet and parlays at something like 5-10 EUR, so the amounts are nothing compared to poker.

Just recalled another hand where I in the end got it in super-bad, but not sure if I can play it any other way - I bet top two and a medium (like T high or so) flushdraw and gutshot on the flop, something like T9x with two diamonds, turn is a Q now giving me top three pair. Shortstack goes all-in for like 120 into 400, I call with like 250-300 behind and now the large stack pushes over the top, meh. Sitting at home and doing the calculations I probably should fold even though I have to call like 250 to win 1100+, but I need more than just 6 live outs at least a portion of the time and I am not sure that my flush draw is good on a high enough % to get it in here.

On the other hand, it is not unthinkable for both of them to have nuts without redraws and in that case I am printing money by calling. But hard to say if my outs are alive enough of the time. At this time I was stuck so that influenced my decision I think, since a win would propel me into profitland.

Villain with the large stack showed up with KdJdxxx for the nuts with redraw, small stack had QT and maybe the J8 straight (do not recall), we ran it twice and the T paired on one of the boards so I didn´t go broke here, since I split vs bigstack and took 25% of main pot. But as it turned out, I had three outs (9) for win and four (Q, T) for split side pot, 25% main pot. Not really a great place to be in and I felt ****ing fishy for playing like this, I mean I need to either fold to the shortstack allin (which I think is bad since I should be doing OK equity-wise against the shortstack considering the pot size) or push myself (to put pressure on big stack and not allow him to see a river for free with draw, or maybe push him off a hand that I chop with etc) instead of calling and then folding/raising.

Enough ranting, now I have gotten the weekend poker session out of my system hopefully.

So, I did a write-up yesterday of my degening at the sportsbook, but it disappeared before I could publish it, and then I wrote a tl;dr version and managed to close the tab before I published... but yeah, yesterday turned into quite a degen day.

Got to the gym early, was at the office at 8 AM so I had time for a thorough analysis... oh, no, I just looked at whatever the **** was running and bet on Korean baseball. And I binked! And then I bet a bit on tennis. And I binked!

By noon, I had around 260 EUR in my account after starting the day at 115 EUR. Feeling invincible, I spent the lunch break on looking through the night´s baseball games and odds, and then placed bets on baseball and a number of footy games. And when one of the footy bets came through, I spread that out over three more.

Before bedtime, I had 75 EUR in my account and a parlay (14 EUR to win 60) hanging on the Warriors winning, and for some reason I decided to hedge it, so I´d get 40 back if Warriors lost. Basically that meant me going to bed with a freeroll on the baseball, I had bet 50 EUR on Pirates, 40 EUR on Yankees -1.5, 40 EUR on Nationals -1.5 and 10 EUR on Yankees/Nationals. If you follow MLB, you will notice how extremely well these bets did - all of them bricked, only Nationals came close.

So after waking up and dropping of the kids at daycare, I realise that I feel like a ****ing loser even though my balance is basically exactly the same as 24 hours ago. For a while I have been looking at the World Cup odds and I topped up my account a bit to bet 50 EUR on Belgium @ 12.00 which I feel is more or less the only playable odds on WC winners. Maybe you could also bet Croatia @ 40.00 as a huge longshot, but all the other odds really suck. Belgium is of course a gamble and I feel the quarter final will be the huge test here (very likely vs Brazil or Germany if I read the brackets correctly) but if they manage to win this, I think the momentum could carry them all the way (and with 50 to win 600, there are plenty of opportunities to hedge if they make it so far).

Since I have a lot of work to do later today, I have placed a lot of bets and spread out my entire bankroll. If/when I bust, I will take a break until the World Cup. Here are my bets for today:
KIA Tigers - KT Wiz, Hanwha Eagles - Doosan Bears, Samsung Lions - Lotte Giants (17 EUR, pays 115 EUR)
Tampa Bay Lightning - Washington Capitals (35 EUR, pays 103 EUR)
FK Kauno Žalgiris - Žalgiris (65 EUR, pays 96 EUR)
Sh.Karagandy - Kaisar (25 EUR, pays 84 EUR)
Albot - Isner, Daniel - Novak, Lapko - Andreescu, Ivakhnenko - Garcia Perez (25 EUR, pays 98 EUR)

Need to slow down a bit with the sportsbetting degening, after all I don´t want to end up in the Degen Stories thread a few years down the line...

So, I haven´t been playing any poker lately and only been betting quite small, I was up to almsot 200 on my betting account but then hit a cold streak right after the last update, for the past week my balance is hovering somewhere between 35-70 EUR. I have been doing good betting baseball, doing OK betting football and absolutely punting on tennis.

Yesterday I had a close call for a three-team parlay to go through, I had bet Indians -1.5, Dodgers -1.5 and Rays, for a total payout of around 120 EUR for a bet of 10 EUR. Woke up once during the night, Rays were locked in a scoreless draw and Indians won, when I woke up early in the morning, Rays had won and Dodgers were leading 5-4, runners at the corners, two outs, bottom eighth... and after working a full count the batter struck out. Oh, well...

This is the downside of betting baseball parlays from the EU timezone, if I was in the US, I would have the easiest money-printing safe-bet on Phillies +1,5 - do not remember the odds, but I am sure that I could bet around 30-40 EUR on the line and secure something like a 20 EUR profit if Phillies win.

The weather is great so the urge to play has been a lot smaller lately, I mean, the casino loses so much of its allure when it is like +27 outside and the sea is a 20 minute drive away. But I will probably have no chance to play poker in the weekend due to other commitments, so I am thinking of hitting the casino tomorrow or on Thursday for a quick cashgame session. There´s a tournament I would like to play tomorrow (150 EUR buyin PLO) but a deep run would mean going to work on little to no sleep and I can´t afford that. Need to stay sharp and focused.

During the summer I will not go abroad and have no real planned vacation, although we have rented a small summer cottage by the sea July-August, but summer is usually calmer work-wise so I will just take vacation when weather is good and workload is low. And maybe I can squeeze in some more poker then too, since my schedule will be a lot more open. On the other hand, if the weather is good I´d rather be at the beach with my family than sitting in a casino...

If I was superstitious, I would think that life is trying to keep me away from poker. Yesterday I took the kids to the sea - and we had a lovely time - so my wife could study for an exam she has on Thursday. So when we had lunch, she told me to go hit the casino on Wednesday, since I haven't been there for a while and need to have some fun. Great.

And just an hour or two later a cousin of mine, who usually works abroad and when not abroad lives a few hours drive away, calls me up. He has some work in town and wants to meet up on Wednesday evening, visit us and the kids. Oh well, there goes my casino evening. At least I guess that this means that my priorities aren't as ****ed up as I sometimes may think, since I chose hanging out with cousin at home over degening at the casino.

So last chance for gambling this week will be tomorrow evening. Not sure if I can manage it logistics-wise though, otherwise no poker until next week.

Waiting for food at a restaurant near the casino. Check out the kist and there is a 2/2 dealer's choice running... But it is full. Joined as No 2 on the waiting list, hope to get a seat shortly after finishing my meal. Let's ship some pots tonight!

Meh. Get stuck from the start. Get short stacked. Open some semilow semi connected crap in a straddled pot. Nitty player makes it pot (70), I call, flop 8 high giving me pair and straight draw. River two pair to crack aces. Right now in for 400 playing 360. Gotta Love 5C PLO.

Down down down, then up up up all the way to 1,2k (in for 700ish), down to 500 after losing a massively tilting 1k pot, down to 300, up to 1000ish to cash out 600 in the end, and then degen a 100 on roulette and 60 on slots. Result could have been better, could have been much worse. Will post some hands Tomorrow IF I have time.

This was an extremely tilting hand. My stack is 1150, Villain covers. Game is 5C PLO.

Straddled pot (so 2/2/4) and a few limpers, I pot it with QQJTTss, one of the blinds - good aggro LAG but with spew tendencies at times - claims to blind-four-bet (his cards were spread out in front of him as if he hadn´t looked, but him telling the truth is not something I would bet on althogh it is not impossible, let´s put it that way) to something like 60. I consider re-raising, but being in position and deep I elect to just call. As soon as I call, he leads for 80 in the dark.

Flop is J76 with two diamonds and a heart. I have no flush or backdoor flush draws. I once again elect to call, since if I am quite likely to have the best hand, but raising accomplishes nothing. After I call, he blind leads 100.

Turn (Pot: 360): Jh, board now reads JJ76ddhh
So, now I am very likely to be ahead so I raise to 400 for value with 500 behind. He ponders for a while, looks at his cards (could be for the first time although I doubt it), ponders some more and then calls... and checks in the dark.

River: (Pot: 1160): 8h, giving a final board of JJ876 with three hearts and two diamonds.
I check behind. He tables AAxxxhh for the flush and the win. Claims that he would auto-call any push by me on the river, which I think he would.

Tilting as ****, this pot...

There´s one hand that´s been bugging me ever since I played it and I suspect that I should have just shoved it in due to me having a blocker, but maybe I am just results-oriented?

I have 400, Villain covers. Not sure about Villain, from what I´ve seen in a few sessions I am not too impressed. Often passive, bets made hands, sometimes spazzes. And tends to berate dealers/waiters, which I personally hate.

Anyway, blinds are 2/2, IIRC I opened something like AKJ66 from MP, got called in a spot or two, Villain made it 30 to go from BB, I call, shortstack pushes for 45 total, we both call.

Flop is A 8 6 (Pot: 140)

Villain checks, I bet out small (40), Villan makes it 200 to go. I obv have no flush draw and I do not have backdoor spades either.

Push for 350 total or fold? (Calling is out of the question since we both are committed anyway.) His re-raise pre and flop check-raise kind of tries to sell the story of AA, but I hold the blocker. 88 can´t be ruled out, A8 possible as well I guess.

Looking at the above hand in writing I feel so ****ing ******ed. That is a ******play. I got what I wanted when I bet out small (a re-raise slammed in my mother****ing face) because logically thinking, why in hell would I otherwise bet something like 1/3 pot here? Yeah, sure, sometimes I end up getting it in vs one out, but if I am scared of set over set I should just check back the flop and take a free card. And on such a wet board, would really top set - after being the preflop aggressor - go for a checkraise? I mean, it is a lovely way to lose a lot of money against random 97/75/diamond hands, and other draws too weak to bet.

So yeah, I folded, Villain scooped with ****ing A8xxx with no flushdraw, would have won both boards. This was during the height of my bad run and I was in for a lot of money which I guess influenced my decision, ****ing stupid since a while later I was happily pumping 800+ EUR just gambling pre-flop. Lol.

I am such a fish.

On the other hand, there are a few of his best combos that (could/should) check this flop to easier GII vs hands like mine, like AA w/ diamond redraw or a hand like 98875dd (although this Villian isn´t that likely to three-bet this). And if he would have flipped over nuttity-nuts, I probably wouldn´t fret so much. Or if he would have flipped a hand like A8754 which would have made a straight on both boards.

So now I don´t even know if I´m being too results-oriented or not. But since I do have the A blocker, I think I need to GII even if I have no redraws except for some backdoor outs.

I am such a fish.

Yeah, and I have decided to focus more on work and working out and less on gambling. My mentality is going more and more degen and I kind of need that to stop, since work/family doesn´t allow for enough degen to be able to degen somewhat profitably (which would require playing more live poker), so instead I degen on sportsbetting, which takes valuable time and brings no real profits since I bet small and, well, **** that. I have 70 at one bookie account, will look to degen it off tonight - probably bet 2x20 and 1x10 on some three-team parlays with a target payout of around 10-15x bet and then burn the rest on slots - or to quickly build it up to something like 1k and then withdraw it. And then - **** the online gambling, it makes me addicted and takes up my time and feeds my inner degen just a tiny ****ing bit, so instead of occasionally playing poker and small-time degening in the pits/slots I small-time degen all the tieme, craving to play more and to play more poker, and that kind of turns everything to **** since I am never really satisfied.

Rant over.

So, tonight the wife is away, daughter is at grandma´s and my son is still very young and goes to bed at 8 PM usually, so I have allowed myself an evening of online degening. Will fire up baseball on the telly, Stars on the computer and stuff some junk food down my throat when son goes to bed. During my work break I did however start the degening, and look at this:

#LegitCrusher #ICrushMicrostakes #50HandSampleSizeFTW #TheGreatest



Had 80% equity vs two players. Not often you get that in PLO. Oh, and this is some 10-20 hands after winning with top set as a dog (47 vs 53 on flop vs wrap+fd).

Also tried some of that Showtime, and it was actually quite fun and some of the players were like me on drunk tilt. Here is a hand just for the bragging:

#LegitCrusher #ICrushMicrostakes #50HandSampleSizeFTW #TheGreatest



But hey, got to go for that thin value, right?

#BetterBelieveMe #NutsEveryTime #TheGreatest #fu_luck

#ItAintSpewIfItGetsThrough #StillCrushing #PLO500Soon #TheGreatest

#DontBluffTheFish #SnapCall #WhatAreYouGonnaHave #RunGood4Life #PLO500Soon #TheGreatest

#SpewtardStrikesAgain #RunGoodIsReal #PLO500Soon #TheGreatest

#FishGotLucky #WhatAFish #SpewtardStrikesAgain #PLO500Soon #TheGreatest

#ShipIt #SecondNuts4Life #PLO500Soon #TheGreatest



From 80 to 400 today. Good variance. Will take a small break in the degening now. Running like God.

#GoingForGlory #Ca****Big #TournamentAlmostWon #TheGreatest

No, but seriously, I know low-buyin (this is an 11 USD tournament with a 30K guarantee) tournaments are supposed to be soft, but this is just ridiculous. In bigger pots I´ve only showed down the goods so far.

#RunGoodLongGone #BustoSoon #SuchAFish #LosingLoser #WhineyPunk #TheWorst