Hope you recover soon both in poker and health, Never realized how mentally tiring poker was till I started playing a lot more and its a hard thing to discuss with friends as they dont see how you can get mentally drained playing a "game".

Hope to see you in stream chat for the UO.

Breaking even here and seem to be having a bit of runbad but with the live games coming up lets get that runbad out the way and run like a penguin on a heater for the big games

But what will I do without your awesome HHs! You can turn this around no problem. Good luck

I just want to give a quick shout out to any lurkers from the Ace High Poker Group on facebook and also to wish Jonny good luck in Malta. I'm sending penguin rungood your way, buddy!

I played a little session yesterday and flopped a set multiway on the very first hand and got some fat value, so that was a nice confidence booster.

With Unibet giving out a ton of 10NL tickets last week, that stake level should be very juicy this week, but I'm probably only going to play about 150 hands a day. I'm having various medical tests done (my blood pressure is off the charts, so I need to avoid bad beat stress) and I just want to chill. Today is going to feature a nice relaxing 4 hour game of chess, I think.

Nice way to start the session lol. Good luck with your tests, and hope all is ok. Probably best to limit the playing after hearing that. Hopefully things improve and you can get back to playing more. Nothing wrong with playing some chess though

Sorry to hear about the health problems, hope things turn for the better

This thread reminded me just now that I really need to update my goal thread haha

Hope the rungood returns

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Great thread, subbed.

Looking forward to giving you chunks of my NL25 ticket over the next week or two

Thanks for the support.

Chess was good (I won), and I don't feel quite so worried about my health after seeing a doctor this morning, so it's time for a little bit of poker.

After today's warm-up session, I've completed 7000 hands against Snowie this year.
Beat #1: My error rate is worse than last year.
Beat #2: So is my winrate.
Brag: But I'm still beating the bots.
Variance #1: Snowie isn't very good/accurate when 50bb deep, and I basically crushed it in the sessions with that stack size.
Variance #2: In the last 1000 hands, I didn't raise for value post-flop a single time, and yet still won.



I wonder if an uber-passive style will work against the droolers at 10NL today. It's time to hit the tables and find out!

I may or may not be depositing on that site after seeing these hand histories. Great thread m8, 10/10

Lol, if you do try this, make sure to post your results. I'd be very curious to see how that does.

Good to hear the positive update about your health. Hope it stays positive!

Neither the passive or aggressive style has worked for me this week. All my big bluffs got called, and very few of my traps worked as planned. I've been running horribly again this week and I'm pretty tilted by the way that some of the worst players imaginable have been crushing me with their horrible calls and ridiculous suckouts. I think part of the reason I've been getting quickly frustrated in every session is that I've barely had any days off this month, so there's been no time for any residual tilt to subside.
I just unlocked this "achievement" and I'm posting it as a wake-up call to myself. I was happier and healthier when I took at least one day off (and sometimes two) every week. I'm going to avoid opening the client tomorrow, as playing every day is just making me miserable. I've "earned" a 25NL ticket bonus, so now it's time to relax.

There's no point in posting a graph, as I played my lowest volume yet, but here's the weekly recap nonetheless.

Week 22
899 hands of 10NL. Lost 13.70 euros. (-15bb/100)

I only played five 45-minute sessions and took the whole weekend off, as I wasn't in the mood to grind. I'm not too concerned by the results. I was mostly playing on a free ticket, and while grinding it down I unlocked a 25NL ticket, so it's kind of a wash.
I'll play a bit of 25 this week, but if I run badly again, I might abandon cashgames for a while, cash out most of my roll and do a tourney grind-up from $100 just for a change of pace. Re-learning push-fold ranges at various stack sizes would give me something more interesting to focus on than the "standard" cashgame plays that are boring me senseless. I was also quite inspired by Jonny's grind from zero to hero in the Unibet Open in Malta, as I think he started with freerolls a few months ago. I rarely leave the house, but the idea of freerolling to a $2000 tourney package in a foreign country is kind of appealing. I guess I'll make a decision at the end of this week.

Since I barely played, there weren't many interesting hands in week 22, so I only made a few screengrabs.

A screenname like this is asking for trouble. GiveMeMoney? How about NO?



10NL seemed remarkably reg-infested, but I found at least one mega-donator:



OK, time to go training with Snowie and then I'll take a look at 25NL. Bye for now!

My error rate against Snowie today was 0.08 and I won at 25bb/100, so I was feeling pretty good. The trouble is, when I'm on my A-game, it's always a sign I'm about to get hammered by real-life villains.

The 25NL ticket didn't last long.

First I lose a standard pre-flop stack-off, because I haven't won a flip since 1984.


And then I use my standard value-line against aggro-maniacs.


Clown avatars are well known for...
[x] Floating with total air.
[x] Betting when checked to.
[x] Calling check-jams with air.
[x] Hitting 3-outers.

I've had enough of these ****ing idiots. I'm gonna go and do something more fun for a few hours, as my tilted brain is telling me to insta-cash out my entire bankroll and quit this stupid game for good. Unless I run somewhere close to EV, I literally cannot beat the fish, so it all seems like a pointless waste of time. #SkillGameLOL

That is beyond filth man. What a ****ing, ****ing, *****ing ****fish****er.

Mate, that's why they invented this stuff...

Variance is sky high when you're playing donks like that, but so is your edge. Running cold is temporary, class is permanent - your problem seems to be one of volume ie not getting enough hands in per month.

ps I left Unibet because after crushing it for a few months I suddenly hit such a cooler that I lost all my winnings, and then some; and as a casual player with a demanding full time job I didn't have the heart to put in the volume to (hopefully) let the EV work its magic.

Hey. Its Jamie from ace high! Great thread. Obviously subbing.

Don't let that get to you Arty. As was mentioned, the main issue is volume. Sure, if you're feeling tilted from that stuff, stop playing for a bit until you're feeling better. But the more hands you put in, the quicker these bad streaks will be. And maybe err towards more conservative bankroll management (if you're not already doing so), so that losing a buy-in doesn't hurt as much.

You mentioned the standard cash game plays are boring you... I'd be willing to bet that it's because you've been losing a bit lately. If you were winning, I'd bet that it wouldn't be quite so boring. Just keep the bigger picture in mind. Try to get back into the mindset that you're a winning player, and visualize yourself moving up through stakes and playing higher. Get that motivation back.

If switching to tourneys is really what you have your heart set on, then by all means do so. I'm not here to tell you what to play. I'm just thinking you're a bit disheartened by how things are going in the cash games, and just turned off by them right now. But based on earlier posts, I get the feeling you really do like cash games. Just make the best decision for you. You've been a great contributor here, and I wish you the best no matter which path you choose. Will support you either way.

Cool thread

I'm still on a downswing, two weeks and not a single winning session but already made my peace with it. Don't let it get to you, it can only make things worst. Take a break then come back to the tables with a better mindset, it will get better!

@Fatboy. I wish I could have some whisky, but I had to give up the booze several years ago on medical advice. I miss it so much. Have a few drams for me!

@jalfrezi. Yeah, my lack of volume is a big problem, but I don't have the right temperament (or bankroll) to grind through the downswings. (If I was a professional player, I'd put more effort into sorting out my mental game, but as a recreational, I can just walk away). I've always had this "entitlement tilt" problem. I've been running below EV for almost 5 years (the first 3 months of this year was my only significant period of running good), and the lack of "justice" sickens me. I know I should accept that luck/variance is a big part of poker (without the 'luck factor' the bad players wouldn't play at all), but it just seems "wrong" that bad players can win and good players can lose, and it can go on for months. It offends the logical/autistic part of my brain when bad play gets rewarded, as it just doesn't seem fair. I guess I have to #DealWithIt or quit.

@Dwimmer. Hi Jamie! Ace high FTW!

@Philosopher. I was already pretty bored with cashgames at the start of the year. It was only when I started running well (and was able to move up each time I made 5 buyins) that it started being fun again. I actually hate tournaments (and get very tilted by the terrible players in them), but I could do with a new challenge just so that I have something to work on, because the cash game graph is flatlining now that my heater is over, and I don't want to be a breakeven grinder. I'll make a decision later in the week, but I'm definitely going to make another cashout first, as that always reminds me that I'm a winner.

Hi Banana!

Thanks Mute. I know you've been struggling too. There's a lot of us having a bad time at the moment. Hopefully an upswing is on the way.

Not gonna lie I cashed out fully after getting Doom switched for I think 10 Buyins lol. I cleared up the last deposit bonus and decided I'm going to take a break from online poker for a while only to find myself back online somehow with a small deposit trying to work on my PLO game (which is going surprisingly well lol)

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That sounds pretty sensible to me, Mr Cleanout. I think you'll do well with PLO. Learning a new game automatically forces you to play with more focus, as you're learning the ropes. I enjoyed holdem a lot more last year, because I felt like I had a few "aha" moments as I transitioned from ABC poker to a more balanced, pseudo-GTO style. But now I'm quite bored of that, and I obviously get frustrated when it doesn't work.

Speaking of pseudo-GTO, I just had an amusing hand vs Snowie in my training session. I knew it flats 4-bets quite often (and also flats 5-bets sometimes too, which always seemed a bit weird). Today, it flatted a 6-bet OOP, when I only had 6% of pot (!) left behind. It's basically donk-shoving its entire range on close to 100% of boards. It doesn't make much sense to me, but then I think I "confused" it by not 6-bet jamming in the first place.



I'm about to play a very short session of 25NL to clear a rakeback points target, and then I'll cash out some money and come up with a plan of action. One idea in the back of my mind is to put 50 quid on the brand new (relaunched) Virgin Poker site (UK only, I think) and try out the 4-handed jackpot spingos, as I think they are only being played by (literal) bingo players at the moment. It might be a fun way to burn some time and money, while taking a break from cashgames.

Sounds like you enjoy beating an opponent with the perfectly played line more than you enjoy making money. If you put the volume from playing snowie in at the real tables you'd probably not be grinding 10nl even if you have been running below ev for 5 years (which I'm not sure is true because all your graphs just appear to be made up in excel?). It's quite easy to beat the low and mid stakes by just studying your game in the normal way as well as putting in volume and recognising patterns as a result. I don't understand this obsession with GTO or pseudo-GTO (whatever that is), do you even know what it looks like in-game because I've been beating the mid stakes HUSNG's for years and I couldn't tell you the first thing about how GTO would work when playing, let alone at the stakes you or I play. Does making an over bet when you have no showdown value count as playing GTO? (Serious question) To me it just looks like you're thinking well a PSB won't get him to fold that often so let's try 2.8x pot and hope.

I'm not criticising, you may well be thinking many levels above me but it just seems totally unnecessary. Good luck.

Just wondering what exactly does Snowie do? I see advertisements for it and it looks interesting

Is it worth the investment?

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I tried it today after seeing your post. You can only play £1/4/10 games and they were not running often at all (although this was lunchtime GMT). You also don't know what you can win until your win/bust a la Deal or No Deal. It's very strange. They fill like SnGs as well so I imagine collusion will be rife in the early stages.

To some extent this is true. I'm not particularly motivated by money. I'm more interested in the intellectual/strategic side of the game. I play poker for the same reasons I play chess. My favourite chess games are the ones that are "beautiful", because they involve counter-intuitive 'GTO' sacrifices of powerful pieces.
I've been on Unibet for the past 2 years, and trackers don't work for that, hence the need to use OpenOffice (Excel clone) for graphs. I don't have my database for the hands I played on Will Hill (iPoker) on this PC, but below is my lifetime graph for Stars/888/Party/MPN. Obviously the volume is low, because I'm a recreational player.


Other players clearly do much worse with regard to runbad, but all I can say about running at 80% of my expected winrate for so long is that it's not much fun.
I don't think I'll answer your questions about what GTO might look like (I post a lot in the theory forum, but this thread is virtually strat-free), other than to say it's obviously not just a case of "overbet and hope he folds", although that might sometimes have been the idea with some of the comedy hands I've posted.
It can analyse hands (including scenarios that you "build"), and tell you what Snowie would do in every possible spot, and it can give you a decent training session against pretty tough bots, and then give you some pointers on where you're unbalanced.
The subscription is worth it for me, as I'm a geek that loves studying the intricacies of ranges and strategy, but I think it's too expensive for most micro players, who would likely improve their winrate more effectively by getting a coach or signing up with RunItOnce (or another training site) and studying the videos.

@Sleazy I saw a video that PokerVIP posted, and it certainly looked a bit weird. It appeared to have a "global" chatbox for the entire player pool and everyone seemed quite friendly, but it's most peculiar. I still haven't decided what to do next, but I've played 600 hands of 25NL this week and lost 70 euros, so I'm currently headed to bustoville!