Struggling with 5k times!? Pretty sick looking progression to me...

I’m definitely just blowing out cobwebs, I think any progress from here will be significantly harder. Getting under 25 will be good and under 23 I’d be super happy with this year.

Hey sick thread. I'm going to London next month for a bit of travels, where is the best place to play some NL /PLO games? Heard empire is good, what about aspers? Looking for anything up to 5-10.

Seeing you going for 5k times peaked my interest for sure. Back in my late teens I did a lot of mid/long distance running. I wasn't a world beater but there were times where I consistently ran ~30miles a week and played squash 5 times a week. I managed a 1hr30 Half Marathon at my peak and we had this 20 Mile run at my school where I ran 2hr45. I did 5k training runs during the week and I managed to get sub 19 (could have easily been near 18flat) but never took it super seriously or tracked exact times, just used it to train for longer runs on the weekend. The issue is I got super burnt out after a while and it got boring sinking that much time into running (especially when I was running through London and didn't want to wear headphones because of traffic). It's really easy to pick up little injuries here and there when road running for long distances (at least for me).

When I decided to sack off long distance running I always thought maybe I just try and work on 5ks and see how low I can get time wise, there's less injury, less boredom etc. I decided to become a potato instead and haven't ran for a good 4 years now. I've always thought about picking 5ks back up though and seeing you brush off cobwebs made me think what I could get down to by the end of the year if I took it back up now.

Hey, I'm glad you like it!

Unfortunately I'm not really the best person to ask as I'm a bit out of touch with the games. Here is my best shot from what I knew most recently:

The Vic has a lot of 1/1 - 1/3 NLHE and occasionally 2/5, as well as PLO. The Empire from what I know spreads 1/2 NLHE but I haven't been there for a long time. The Hippo has 1/2 and 1/2 deep games. Aspers I haven't been for a really long time but had 1/1 and 1/2 last time I was there.

I really recommend the London thread on here for more details I'm really out of the loop.

Awesome to hear man! I did a load of sports up until I was 19 but everything fell off a cliff really since then. I don't enjoy running in cities at all so I do everything in the gym. Maybe I'm not being ambitious enough with times but right now something in the 23s seems like a reasonable target.

I've been feeling under the weather a bit recently, I feel like I've been sick more often in the last three months than I have in the last 5 years. I'm not sure if it's the same thing that I'm just not shifting properly or if I keep catching new things. I'm going to rest again this week and stay out of the gym until I'm 100%. I'm happy to listen to my body more now than just ignore it and push through like I would in the old days. It's frustrating that as I am trying to live a healthier life by not drinking, eating better and training more I actually end up getting sick but I'm sure it's just bad luck.

great update. awesome 5k times and sick progression.

Thanks!

One thing I’ve been thinking is that really in terms of ‘Poker in London’, I’ve made practically no progress in terms of playing higher stakes consistently, building a dedicated bankroll etc, while on the flip side, with ‘Life in London’, I would never have expected to be where I am today when I started this thread.

Maybe now I am able to start building more on the poker side as well and see where I can take it as a recreational player who’s passionate about the game. I’d love to be able to write more about interesting poker things but there are so many great threads on here with far more interesting poker journeys! Maybe a 2020 resolution is to put a little more effort into trying to progress poker.

Pretty uneventful week here, I was sick for most of the week so kept out of the gym which is never that great for my mood. Work has been pretty intense as well and everything just felt like a drag.

Headed to the Vic on Friday evening for some poker and the GUKPT main event was on and the room was rammed. The list for 1/1 (and every other game) was long and I ended up spending the evening in a 1/2 game and having a long slow bleed, losing a little over £300. That puts back most of our 1/1 profits from the weeks before but the bankroll got a boost as I moved some money in on the 1st Feb. I know I shouldn't really be playing 1/2 but getting volume in is important and I don't think the games are that different, it's just I'll lose a bit quicker if it goes sideways. Bankroll is a little north of £800 so still comfortable for the rest of the month at 1/1.

I got to a couple of shows over the weekend, Cirque du Soliel's Luzia at the Royal Albert Hall was amazing. It was more visuall dramatic than their recent shows in London but it was absolutely stunning, really recommend it if you get the chance.



The second show I went to see was 'Magic Goes Wrong' by the Mischief Company. This was the last of the company's plays I needed to see after 'The Play that Goes Wrong' and 'The Comedy About a Bank Robbery'. All three were amazing and I can't recommend them enough.



This week is looking like another heavy one at work but at least I'll be back in the gym which helps. I've also found myself playing some Football Manager, I haven't touched the franchise for about 10 years so it's been a rough catch up. I managed promotion from the Conference North and won the FA Trophy in my first season with FC United and have had a decent start to life in the Conference. It's a ridiculous time sink but sometimes I need something to take my mind off work etc.

Hope everyone's having a good week and good luck on the felt!

Been a quiet week, everything at the office is still all guns blazing so I haven't had the chance to get down to the Vic unfortunately. As a result, I've finally gone back and played a little online again, just one tabling Zoom. As you can probably tell from this thread I've never really made any headway in improving in poker and have made a little at live low stakes and generally been pretty poor online. As the foreseeable future is probably going to be busy at work I'm going to try to get some volume in online at 10nl, any higher and I'm probably just going to be completely outmatched at the moment.

Once I get some decent volume in I'll share some stats and results but until then I'll just post a couple hands every now and then. I am keen to improve (I don't think I could really regress anymore) so please feel free to rip me to shreds.

This seems like a pretty standard line for me. I checked the river because I felt that pretty much everything worse than me is going to fold the river so the only way to get any more money was to let him bluff.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 434.7 BB
Hero (SB): 108.6 BB
BB: 109.5 BB
UTG: 81.8 BB
MP: 93.2 BB
CO: 211.4 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J J

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, MP calls 7 BB

Flop: (21 BB, 2 players) 6 9 6
Hero bets 11 BB, MP calls 11 BB

Turn: (43 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero bets 25 BB, MP calls 25 BB

River: (93 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, MP bets 47.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 47.2 BB



I'm not sure if I should be doing something different on the turn but when we get to the river I feel I'm priced to call most cards? Given that should I be raising turn?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 143.9 BB
SB: 157.8 BB
BB: 136.2 BB
Hero (UTG): 133.5 BB
MP: 165.2 BB
CO: 84.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K Q

Hero raises to 3 BB, MP calls 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (10.5 BB, 3 players) T Q 7
Hero bets 7.4 BB, fold, CO raises to 19.8 BB, Hero calls 12.4 BB

Turn: (50.1 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, CO bets 24 BB, Hero calls 24 BB

River: (98.1 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, CO bets 37.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 37.4 BB



I'm not expecting to put any real big volume in but hopefully I can string some sessions together and get a small sample to find my horrendous leaks.

Otherwise, should be a fun week, I'm turning 30 on Thursday and I'm hosting a dinner on Saturday for friends to celebrate. I can see Sunday being a total write off so probably going to be a live poker free weekend.

Happy Birthday for thursday! Welcome to the pensioners club

First week down of playing online again. Getting crushed EV wise but happy with how I'm playing and some adjustments I've been making.



Unfortunately there is some kind of problem with the Mac software and they've told me I won't be able to play until the March Stars update? Feels pretty ridiculous tbh from the biggest online poker site. I can still play on my PC/iPad/iPhone etc but it's a pain as I'll have no HUD and will need to move my HH over if I want everything tracked in the same place.

I'm glad they emphasised March for me just as a slap in the face.



Been a good week otherwise, turned 30 on Thursday so had a night out which may have had a small pit game component... On Saturday we had 30 people for dinner at Annabel's which was great, smashed a load of booze afterwards in the club downstairs and finished with cigars around 3am. Needless to say I was completely out of action on Sunday.

Obligatory club pic



Obligatory cigar pic



We finally exchanged on our house on Friday as well so that should complete in a couple of weeks and then we'll have to start looking for tenants. We'll give it a couple of years or so probably before starting to think about moving in ourselves.

I want to try and sort something out for online poker this week so I'll try and set up an old laptop, or just play on my iPad and request a playing audit to get the hand histories. Not idea but I don't really feel I need a HUD at the level so as long as I can track the results I'm happy.

This isn't a particularly recent hand but one I had tagged from a session last month. You can hate on me for folding but I didn't feel like I was in a great place.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 476.2 BB
SB: 264.6 BB
Hero (BB): 197.7 BB
UTG: 104.9 BB
MP: 221.5 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.4 BB, SB raises to 12.2 BB, Hero raises to 35 BB, BTN raises to 90 BB, SB raises to 264.6 BB and is all-in, fold, BTN calls 174.6 BB

Flop: (564.2 BB, 2 players) 4 9 T

Turn: (564.2 BB, 2 players) 3

River: (564.2 BB, 2 players) 5



Have a good week on the tables guys, hopefully see you on there!

How many 10nl buyins was that box of cigars???

'bout tree fiddy.

I've got my documentation in to verify my account on GG Poker and have re-downloaded Run It Once so I can play across a few more sites. I'll keep a roll on each of them so I'll always be able to find a game when Stars decides to randomly break their Mac software.

Work has been pretty brutal the last few days - I've taken to working from home as I'm finding myself needed to work at all times of day and night with our teams in Asia so being able to sleep when I want in short bursts and not have to commute (even though it's 15 minutes) is a really nice perk.

I've been playing on GG poker while my Stars isn't working and I think it's fantastic, there is so much that caters to the recreational player and little touches that I really enjoy.

1) There are no HUDs! I absolutely love this, there is a small number that shows what % of hands someone is playing but it looks like it only looks at the last 50 hands or so and therefore it fluctuates quite a lot. In rush games it shows the % they're playing even when you're not in the hand. There is also an indicator showing if they're winning or losing, presumably over a similar time frame, a nice touch.

2) Rake chases and leaderboards - These kind of things encourage me to put volume in, it's childish and it shouldn't matter but I like seeing how much volume I can do. There is also a list of all the player in the Rush pool showing how much their stack is. I instantly wanted to make it to the top of the list and was lucky enough to manage in in the 10nl pool today.



Big shoutout to tinydickasian - that's got to go in the greatest screenname thread in BBV.

3) Pokercraft is awesome. It documents your journey in poker and splits up your results into all the different types of poker they offer. I can keep notes on different players just like in Pokerstars and it also functions a little like social media in so much that you have a timeline and can write posts. I haven't used this and probably wouldn't but it's a nice touch.

4) Because there are no HUDs or external tracking software I can play on whatever computer I like, my iPhone or iPad and all my results are centrally tracked on Pokercraft - I always played on one computer in the past and hated playing when my play wasn't tracked on other devices - this is no longer a problem.

5) I'm on the fence about splash the pot (similar to RIO) as a form of rakeback but it was generating crazy action today - I hope it continues. I'll start posting hands more frequently now as some are just getting out of hand...

I'm up 5-6 buyins today and I think this will be my main place to play now, I can't recommend it enough. I really hope they keep this up and don't fall into the trap that Stars has. I haven't played any short deck there yet but I imagine I will jump into those pools as well at some point.

A few HH for fun - no real commentary needed:

My welcome rungood - coolering the crap out of someone:



I don't think I've run this pure for a while:



I didn't get it all my own way though:



After playing on GG for a bit I'm genuinely more excited about online poker than I have been in years. I hope it lasts.

In other news we completed on our house and today was the day we had to transfer the money - painful but hopefully once tenants are in and some money starts flowing back it will feel better. We pick up the keys on Monday!

I need to know what this guy is folding getting 23:1 on the river.

Cheeky escape to the sun - quite enough of the rain in London.

Playing Zoom low volume, hudless, microstakes (2nl to 25nl) can be a lot of fun and straightforward to win (I never use the word crush) if you exploit the very clear and predominant population tendencies (and you can spot/exploit fish...as in the "clueless"...without a hud, which is frankly P1ss eazy.)

Given the stakes (and rake), we're never making money no matter our winrate, so it is purely a recreational pastime and since you are lucky to have access to live poker (I don't ) a way of keeping your hand in.

So these are the population tendencies I go after:

It's an autofolding nitfest...steal wide from all positions (I average around 36/34)

When they start going big, they have it...this population never* bluffs big on later streets

*We both been playing long enough to know that "never" = insignificant frequency

Get deep (I take high variation opportunities to get deep quickly) then hang in and bum hunt (mostly IP) other deep regs...why...coz they don't know how to play deep [there are reasons for that, but that's another post].

Get multiway (esp with fish in the pot)...the regs don't adjust, they are four tabling or more, so they just autobot.

Mix it up (what we once called FPS) Hands like AA/KK don't win stacks in these fields (often enough) so play a very mixed preflop strategy with them. As long as your mental game is strong and you can toss them on bad boards, you'll get more value from them.

Never give a moments thought to being balanced or being exploited. The fields are still huge, no one has any meaningful intel on you and they don't adjust anyway.

Just play every hand on its merits...and fold, fold and fold again to villains late street strength.

Enjoy it...I do.

Thanks a lot for your posts - it all makes a lot of sense! I don't think I'll ever be a mass multitabler - I did have some success when I first got into poker playing 24 tables of full ring on Stars but everyone (including me) was terrible then. I've very happy playing one table of Rush/Zoom now - I see a lot less hands but it's what I'm comfortable with at the moment.

I feel like I have a reasonably aggressive preflop game but I'm probably mistaken. I'm a big believer that when they start putting money in later on they most likely have it.

My goal at the moment is to put in a decent bit of volume at 10nl - see if I beat the game and I'll consider moving up later on. I don't have a bankroll per se but I will be tracking my results and I want to see how far I can take it but mostly I just want to improve. I think my end goal is to be able to sit down in decent sized live games where I probably be perceived as a massive fish but be able to not disgrace myself. Right now live poker is just be having a few beers and having fun - I don't have the time for the volume and I really enjoy playing live low stakes while drinking. Online I'm really trying to improve my game and take the next step up.

hey mate i have started on gg poker also. your points make a lot of sense. is pokercraft showing winnings without the rake taken into account? the iphone app is very cool. the splash pots are a cool dynamic also although i have been caught out a bit. my username is omerta20 so might see you at the tables. GL

Pretty sure Pokercraft doesn't take rake into account which makes me feel better about myself.

What stakes are you playing?

same stakes as you for now. just 05/10 messing around when i have time. seems to be down all day for a software update.

I’ll be honest I’m a couple bottles deep by the pool so I haven’t touched it all day...

I might not be there in person but I’m in action at the vic, come on buddy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Strongly agree with this. Apart from the rake, it's like a perfect hybrid of gambling and a video game. You might see might shortstacking and spamming the "not sure if" emoji over and over. GLGL on there.