Brief backstory: Scottish reg that has been grinding ssnl on Stars for 9 years. Moved to Asia at the start of 2019, started doing stand-up comedy again over there after a long hiatus and after backpacking Europe over the winter I've now moved to London to grind like never before.


February results:









Also:








my crib is also just a 15 minute walk from the Victoria Casino so I look forward to grinding a lot of live poker on the nights when I don't have a stand-up show.


Last night was my first time playing live poker in years




In for 300 and out for 395.25





Now that stars are actually giving people decent rakeback again I feel a strong desire to grind my way up the ladder. Still got plenty work to do but I'm London now so I have no choice but to do well. Life is so cheap and easy in Thailand/Vietnam that I couldn't help but coast along with poker and stand-up. Now I'm in a super expensive city where the standard of comedy is also a lot higher so I've got to do my absolute best if I have any chance of making it this town.



LFG!

March results:







Also:












Played about 20 hours of live poker:




Live poker is pretty crazy.

One very memorable hand was at 1/2 and the UTG straddled to 5. An OMC on my right limps and I make it 20 with AKo. Some nice posh chap (who was happy to joke about being a fish in the game) 3bets to 50 and the straddler COLD CALLS the 50 and then I shove for 260 effective. (Both guys had between 230 and 260 and I had them covered) Both of them reluctantly call off.

Board runs out 45T57r

I'm an online guy so I turn my AKo face up before the board gets dealt. Posh boy on my left tables AJhh and announces he's calling it a night and the straddler across the table shakes his head mucks.

And I scoop a 375bb pot with AK high!






Overall I'm okay with March's poker results. I really started to play worse towards the end as I was grinding out 5k hands/day to hit the monthly challenge. A big goal for April is to maintain a better pace so that I don't have to mash volume so hard at the end of the month.


Comedy is going okay but I really do hate the bringer aspect of comedy shows in London. I've done stand-up in so many cities in the world and London is literally the only place I've seen where there's such an inconvenient wall that's erected by the majority of promoters. I got paid 75 quid for 10 mins last week though, so it's got it's pros and cons.

Good to see you back posting in a PGC again mate. What's the bringer aspect in comedy mean?

It means you're only allowed to perform if you bring someone to be an audience member. This is pretty brutal for me as I am new in London and have no friends here


Some more leaderboard run good






So sick though because 4708 is the highest score I've ever had and is a score that would usually scoop first on the 200nl leaderboard so I was honestly a bit gutted to see bronze

Hey man, haven’t played a ton against you in the zoom pools but definitely enough to notice that you’re a pain in the ass to play against.
Will enjoy following your thread and wish you the best settling into your new city.

almost exactly $7000 total online after chests and leaderboard binks.

+ £1300 in live cash game winnings


April was a nice month results wise although I am pissed that I lost like $2k grinding 7k hands a day in the last two days to get that $500 rake race chest. I'm sure most of you have seen/heard that UK based players can no longer auto top up on stars. I'm obviously pissed, but I'm just going try and make the best of it. I'll be grinding much more live poker and I may even finally give GGpoker a go. My lease in London expires on July 13th and then I will 100% be leaving the UK once again (most likely to Prague for a while) I ****ing hate London. Literally the only thing I like about it is the live poker scene. I was thinking about moving away again anyway and this change on pokerstars is the straw that broke the camels back.


It really sucks, because I wanted to play a million hands this year, but now instead of mashing volume for the steady hourly I can use all this extra free time I have to become a much better Live reg, branch out to some other sites and grind these solvers so that when I can come back to stars I'll be better than ever.


If there's any Prague regs lurking itt gimme some recommendations of areas in the city to move to for a 3 month period from July-October

Hey guys, there’s a rake race at the casino I go on from May 1st until June 30th where for every raked hand you win you get a point and the top ten with the most points on July first get £2300 each. I’m just going to grind live 1/2 and 1/3 for 12-14 hours a day to make sure I get it. This is a great way to kill the time and gain the much needed live experience and sample size before I move to the Czech Republic for online poker and comedy. Will post chip porn and daily hands until the promotion is over

Nice thread and gl with the rake challenge.

hey, remember your nick from days when I played 100z on PS, it was 2019-2020, you had thai flag next to your screen name, right?

few notes about czechia:

-Stand up comedy in czechia is on rise, obviously in czech language, but assume english spoken could work in Prague well.

-Currently there only 2 poker sites fully legal (party, stars). On Stars you can play only on .cz client - you can't have 2 accounts on .cz and .com. Yes, you do share pool with .com, but there were certain restrions. Biggest restrions for cash were 1% rakeback, no rake challenges etc. Also you have to verify your identity on check point. I think stars would have to delete your .com account, create .cz and after you leave, you have to create new .com account. I think it's possible, but prepare yourself for long dialogue with stars support.

-if your budget for rent starts at 1000-1500$+ I would go straight for the best. Old town - Praha 1, Vinohrady, Jiriho z Podebrad etc all these are very nice areas with lots of restaurants and coffee shops nearby.

gl man

Really appreciate this. I was aware there was no monthly challenges for Czech Republic players, but I thought you could still get the 25% rake back chests? If rakeback really is 1% I might have to move to Hungary or Austria instead

Yesterday I only played 5 hours.




One interesting hand: Very marginal 1/2 game with 1 rec, 1 omc and 6 regs. I open AKcc utg to 6 and a reg utg +1 calls, another reg in mp squeezed to 25, 5 guys behind him all fold and I 4bet to 65. Guy in between us folds and squeezer calls.

Pot is 140 and I have 240 behind.

Flop: 9h 6c 2h

I C bet 45 into 140 and he jams for 195 more effective. I call it off

Turn Kd

River 8c

He announces “one pair” and flips over 87ss

I turn over AKcc and the omc’s head explodes.


Will hopefully put in a good 10-12 hour shift tonight, peace!

ha nice hand, nice thread and good luck over the next couple of months, quite a challenge with all the hours.

Lost an £800 pot with AA vs JJ all in pre last night
g Image...]



I’m sure a £1300 downswing is nothing (even at 1/2) but I will definitely say that losing a big pot hurts a lot more live than it does online.


Still going for the cash race promotion, but this downswing is already starting to mess with my mind.

Are you playing bigger than 1/2 at all? 1/3 and 2/5 regularly runs at the Vic right? If you're beating 100NL on Stars then you're leaving a lot of money on the table by only playing 1/2 live.

Glglglgll £1300 is just one good 1/2 sesh

Auto top up is back bitches!!!!


Back to the online grind for now

Haha yea, there was a £5/£10 game at the Vic running a couple days ago that had like three regs and five complete whales! I’m sure I’ll dip my toes in the bigger games sooner rather later.





This morning’s game was pretty amazing. I showed up at like 06:00 after a few hours of the online grind. I left at like 11:00 £120 up.



Got a good reminder about how passive 1/2 live is compared to 200nl online.

A rec who had been mostly open limping decided to open to 6 in the co. Another passive rec calls otb and I squeeze to 30 with KQcc in the bb. First rec calls and otb folds.


Flop: Ac7s3d

I Cbet 30, he calls.

Turn: Th

I bet 65 and he tanks and says “You must have an Ace” and flashes me the Cowboys before tossing them to the dealer. We were only 125bbs deep to start the hand.



Turn barrel probably lighting money on fire in these games tbh.


One of the hardest things about adjusting to live poker is being aware that hands that should be 3bet or 4bet 100% of the time.

Low-limit Live poker is significantly easier than online in the sense that you will be put in tough spots far less often, but you can easily get caught out by people doing weird stuff you wouldnÂ’t see online.


Definitely won’t be getting the £2.5k cash race prize now that online is back, but I still look forward to grinding out the hours in the casino before I head over to Prague

Got QQ vs KK 4 handed against the table whale all in pre for a £750 pot. Was very nice to see the Q peel otf




I actually lost a flip vs a reg with QQ vs AK for £400 like 10 minutes later though.


Heading to Glasgow on Thursday so looking forward to seeing how the live games up there compare to London.

Very nice of stars to welcome me back with this heat.



Off to Glasgow tomorrow to see some friends

As someone who played primarily online for years and now is a live grinder I 100% agree. I think the main reason is how slow live poker is. You lose one 400bb pot and unless you run really hot afterwards you're probably gonna be stuck huge for the night.

There's also the occasional 500 hour break even stretch. Those are not fun! GL

glgl, post a video of standup sometime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBK3jz8A3ow


May was terrible for me. Started horrendously with me not being able to auto rebuy on stars, then when they reversed that awful rule for UK players I ran like garbage.


Live poker didn't go so well either, but June has started well


On June 1st, I had these crazy whales on a 1/3 game. Guy was blind raising 5-10x the straddle everytime he was UTG.

Another (only slightly smaller) whale straddles to £6 and mega whale blind raises to £50. Folds round to the straddle who shoves for £375 effective. Blind raise whale tank calls and turns over 54o and the straddler cheerfully flips A4o

and an Ace otf sealed the £750 pot for the straddle.





I played my biggest live poker pot in London vs the same guy.

He opened co to £15 and I make it £60 in sb with AKo, he calls

Flop Ah4h9s and I bet £115 into £125 and he calls

Turn 5s and I jam £420 into £355 and he calls.

I flip over AKo and he has KThh







We run it twice and it bricks both times! That £1200 pot was absolutely excellent after the May results.


Will be grinding live and online everyday for the rest of June, unfortunately stars are no giving me a 40% rake race this month despite losing chunks, but I will be getting an extra £700 or so in rakeback from the casino's rake race at the end of the month to look forward to.


I am also now also on twitter if anyone is interested: https://twitter.com/notesofahack

Nice pot. Good luck this month!

great vid and jokes good luck this month guess you can practice your jokes at the poker table too hehe

Thank you very much for the kind words about my comedy. I haven't done much gigging here in London and I can't wait to get back on stage again when I get to Europe in July!


Some fun hands from the last few days:


Can't remember the last time I was ever happy to stack off Q high pre for 100 big blinds.

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.50/$1.00 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $57.34 (57 bb)
MP: $106.87 (107 bb)
CO: $49.35 (49 bb)
BU (Hero): $100.00 (100 bb)
SB: $217.14 (217 bb)
BB: $491.13 (491 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with J♥ Q♥
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $5, 1 fold, BB calls $4, UTG 3-bets to $9, CO calls $8, Hero calls $4, BB 4-bets to $491.13 (all-in), 2 players fold, Hero calls $91 (all-in)

Flop: ($218.50) 3♥ T♣ Q♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($218.50) 9♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($218.50) 7♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $218.50 (Rake: $2.50)

Showdown:
BB shows T♦ T♥ (three of a kind, Tens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 53%, Flop: 90%, Turn: 68%, River: 0%)

BU (Hero) shows J♥ Q♥ (a flush, Queen high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 47%, Flop: 10%, Turn: 32%, River: 100%)

BU (Hero) wins $216





PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.50/$1.00 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $124.71 (125 bb)
MP: $172.99 (173 bb)
CO: $112.66 (113 bb)
BU: $286.38 (286 bb)
SB: $100.00 (100 bb)
BB (Hero): $105.42 (105 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with T♦ K♦
2 players fold, CO raises to $2.28, 2 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $11.50, CO calls $9.22

Flop: ($23.50) 7♥ T♠ 7♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $11.50, CO calls $11.50

Turn: ($46.50) J♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $17.50, CO calls $17.50

River: ($81.50) 3♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $72.16 (all-in), Hero calls $64.92 (all-in)

Total pot: $211.34 (Rake: $2.50)

Showdown:
CO shows Q♠ K♠ (a pair of Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 71%, Flop: 44%, Turn: 41%, River: 0%)

BB (Hero) shows T♦ K♦ (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 29%, Flop: 56%, Turn: 59%, River: 100%)

BB (Hero) wins $208.84


PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 8 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $220.07 (110 bb)
UTG+1: $199.35 (100 bb)
MP: $301.14 (151 bb)
MP+1: $109.20 (55 bb)
CO: $358.00 (179 bb)
BU: $222.58 (111 bb)
SB (Hero): $267.66 (134 bb)
BB: $259.77 (130 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is SB with J♥ A♥
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $6, 3 players fold, BTN calls $6, Hero 3-bets to $27, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $21, 1 fold

Flop: ($62) J♦ 2♠ 8♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $19.55, UTG+1 calls $19.55

Turn: ($101.10) K♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $32.46, UTG+1 calls $32.46

River: ($166.02) K♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $120.34 (all-in), Hero calls $120.34

Total pot: $406.70 (Rake: $2.75)

Showdown:
UTG+1 shows Q♦ T♣ (a pair of Kings)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 37%, Flop: 29%, Turn: 23%, River: 0%)

SB (Hero) shows J♥ A♥ (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 63%, Flop: 71%, Turn: 77%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) wins $403.95




Month started good and now cash game leaderboards are back!!


Good luck all

Things are going so well both live and online this month that I just couldn't help but punt some of it back


PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.50/$1.00 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $111.00 (111 bb)
MP (Hero): $100.00 (100 bb)
CO: $222.04 (222 bb)
BU: $337.55 (338 bb)
SB: $116.33 (116 bb)
BB: $145.20 (145 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP with 6♣ 6♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $2.30, 1 fold, BTN calls $2.30, SB calls $1.80, BB 3-bets to $14, Hero calls $11.70, BTN calls $11.70, SB calls $11.70

Flop: ($56) 4♠ 8♥ 8♦ (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $26.75, SB calls $26.75, BB folds, Hero raises to $86 (all-in), BU folds, SB calls $59.25

Turn: ($254.75) 4♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($254.75) 5♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $254.75 (Rake: $3.12)

Showdown:
MP (Hero) shows 6♣ 6♥ (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 51%, Flop: 9%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

SB shows 8♣ J♣ (a full house, Eights full of Fours)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 49%, Flop: 91%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

SB wins $251.63


PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.50/$1.00 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $106.32 (106 bb)
MP: $122.53 (123 bb)
CO: $157.38 (157 bb)
BU: $53.21 (53 bb)
SB (Hero): $100.00 (100 bb)
BB: $106.77 (107 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 9♣ A♥
4 players fold, Hero raises to $3, BB calls $2

Flop: ($6) Q♥ 8♠ 2♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $4.33, BB calls $4.33

Turn: ($14.66) 5♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $10.59, BB calls $10.59

River: ($35.84) K♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $22.70, BB raises to $88.85 (all-in), Hero calls $59.38 (all-in)

Total pot: $200 (Rake: $2.50)

Showdown:
BB shows J♥ 9♥ (a flush, King high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 32%, Flop: 49%, Turn: 32%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) shows 9♣ A♥ (high card, Ace)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 68%, Flop: 51%, Turn: 68%, River: 0%)

BB wins $197.50


Did win 40 bucks in the 100nl leaderboard tho


Will get back at it soon