Trains keeps getting delayed and I'm really bored. Got me thinking about my poker history and think it can be defined by 3 events as evolving as a poker player.

1. Actually learning what it means to play with a range vs range. When we were wee boys you-mad-br0 posted a hand where he called a 3b, called a cb on AK6r. Turn is a K and the 3bettor checks and YMB blasts off with something and loses. Villain turns over KJo. When this hand was played I'm pretty sure at the time we gave villain abuse because "who the hell checks trips in a 3b pot? What a fish!" And obviously our coach at the time corrected us and explained how K is better for our range and we all felt pretty stupid. Pretty amazing you could reach small stakes without even knowing how to play against a range In those days.

2. Learning what blockers were. Sauce posted a video where he double barrels on dry board T8dd which doesn't block any of the backdoor floats. At that time it was "you only bet if you got equity. That's all you care about. Blockers are irrelevant". This was pretty game changer for me and now you can't even finish a sentence of strat without blockers being mentioned.

Would insert d7 funny blockers video here. But on phone

3. The tale of analog latka. When I was at MSNL before at a time pre solvers I had quite a large ego and so did most other regs at MSNL. This random reg turns up and basically plays nothing like the current MSNL meta. Looking back he was just a bot or s/w assistance guy who had access to all the solver **** before anyone else did. First few months he was getting reghunted at 6max. He was reghunted starting tables by the WCG stable because he was horribly "unbalanced" for having a limp HU range. We just all thought he was terrible. Some of the things he did (which look standard for any player now but not at that time)
- no cold call range and linear 3betting everywhere. Most regs were 3betting polarised with having cold call ranges in all positions
- opening button 40%. Most regs at the time were opening 55-60%
- way tighter bb flatting range than every other reg. Lolpot odds was in then and the wider you flatted the bb the better and cooler you were
- multiple sizing on the flops including small sizing. I probably spent every other day moaning to foursixfour how the fk this fishreg is playing so many sizings but playing it so well. At the time the meta was mostly polerised cbetting at low frequency. Mostly bought in by the WCG crew.
- overbetting. Overbetting just wasn't a thing there.
- limping ranges HU
- 3betting Axo bvb. If you did that you were trash at the time.

That's all that I can remember. But because he was doing something different than what most of us knew, we all thought he was bad and he's running hot and that's why he's crushing us all for 8bb reg battling everyone. His "heater" never ended but we all learnt we were stupid and that he was a god. After that period I realised I knew **** all about poker and that my ego was detrimental. There's a couple of MSNL who got pgcs who comment on other pepples plays and say it's bad just because they don't agree with it or haven't studied that part of the gametree and I just shake my head. Ego very rarely makes you a better player. It's honestly scary how solver like he was before solvers even existed.

Not really any point to this post but I'm bored.

super interesting post. love hearing about pre-solver meta

Ive got a bunch of things to do over the next week so i likely wont be playing much so ill just call my month.

Month, Pretty good given i started month with a -3.3k$ handicap and ending a week early. +7.3k$ and +9.5kev :

Stars results:



PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 4 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $209.88 (105 bb)
BU: $402.68 (201 bb)
SB: $203.45 (102 bb)
BB (Hero): $203.00 (102 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is BB with 7♠ 7♣
1 fold, BTN raises to $5, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets to $22, BTN calls $17

Flop: ($45) T♥ J♦ Q♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $11.38, BTN calls $11.38

Turn: ($67.76) 9♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $45, BTN calls $45

River: ($157.76) T♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $124.62 (all-in), BU folds

Total pot: $157.76 (Rake: $1.25)
BB (Hero) wins $156.51





reg
PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $200.00 (100 bb)
MP: $234.30 (117 bb)
CO: $432.24 (216 bb)
BU: $456.80 (228 bb)
SB: $227.50 (114 bb)
BB (Hero): $200.00 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is BB with 9♣ 9♥
2 players fold, CO raises to $6, 2 players fold, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($13) 6♣ 5♦ 7♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $9.26, Hero raises to $35, CO calls $25.74

Turn: ($83) K♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $26.48, CO raises to $391.24 (all-in), Hero calls $132.52 (all-in)

River: ($401) Q♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $401 (Rake: $2.75)

Showdown:
CO shows 8♠ 8♣ (a pair of Eights)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 23%, Turn: 14%, River: 0%)

BB (Hero) shows 9♣ 9♥ (a pair of Nines)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 82%, Flop: 77%, Turn: 86%, River: 100%)

BB (Hero) wins $398.25





fk him

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $214.40 (107 bb)
MP: $200.00 (100 bb)
CO (Hero): $276.27 (138 bb)
BU: $217.25 (109 bb)
SB: $200.00 (100 bb)
BB: $160.96 (80 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is CO with K♠ J♦
2 players fold, Hero raises to $5, BTN calls $5, 2 players fold

Flop: ($13) A♠ 2♦ 9♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($13) 5♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $4.08, BTN calls $4.08

River: ($21.16) 6♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $17, BTN raises to $57.58, Hero raises to $240, BU folds

Total pot: $136.32 (Rake: $2.75)
CO (Hero) wins $133.57




Seems close by both of us.
PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $208.95 (104 bb)
MP: $206.78 (103 bb)
CO: $224.45 (112 bb)
BU: $198.43 (99 bb)
SB: $200.00 (100 bb)
BB (Hero): $205.75 (103 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is BB with 9♥ Q♦
4 players fold, SB raises to $6.16, Hero calls $4.16

Flop: ($12.32) T♥ 9♦ 8♥ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($12.32) 5♦ (2 players)
SB bets $19.39, Hero calls $19.39

River: ($51.10) K♦ (2 players)
SB bets $36.89, Hero raises to $180.20 (all-in), SB calls $137.56 (all-in)

Total pot: $400 (Rake: $2.75)

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows 9♥ Q♦ (a pair of Nines)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 26%, Flop: 13%, Turn: 3%, River: 0%)

SB shows Q♠ J♠ (a straight, Nine to King)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 74%, Flop: 87%, Turn: 97%, River: 100%)

SB wins $397.25



Bink:
PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 4 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

UTG: $200.00 (100 bb)
BU (Hero): $200.00 (100 bb)
SB: $200.00 (100 bb)
BB: $200.00 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is BTN with 5♠ 5♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $5, SB 3-bets to $20, 1 fold, Hero calls $15

Flop: ($42) 7♠ A♠ 2♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20.78, SB calls $20.78

Turn: ($83.56) 5♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $41.98, SB calls $41.98

River: ($167.52) 7♥ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $117.24 (all-in), SB calls $117.24 (all-in)

Total pot: $402 (Rake: $1.25)

Showdown:
BU (Hero) shows 5♠ 5♥ (a full house, Fives full of Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 51%, Flop: 44%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

SB shows A♣ J♣ (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 49%, Flop: 56%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

BU (Hero) wins $400.75




PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $1/$2 - 3 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker

BU: $200.00 (100 bb)
SB (Hero): $293.39 (147 bb)
BB: $205.00 (103 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is SB with Q♦ 9♦
BTN raises to $6, Hero 3-bets to $22, 1 fold, BTN calls $16

Flop: ($46) A♦ 8♦ 2♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($46) T♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $28.64, BTN calls $28.64

River: ($103.28) Q♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $242.75 (all-in), BTN calls $149.36 (all-in)

Total pot: $402 (Rake: $1.25)

Showdown:
SB (Hero) shows Q♦ 9♦ (a flush, Ace high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 61%, Flop: 97%, Turn: 91%, River: 100%)

BU shows T♣ 8♣ (two pair, Tens and Eights)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 39%, Flop: 3%, Turn: 9%, River: 0%)

SB (Hero) wins $400.75


Couple of things:

1. Im likely moving off my other site as i feel the past 2 or 3 weeks the games have changed. It just feels off and more collusion heavy. Nothing worse for your mental game when you got collusion stuck in your mind. Its likely all in my head but asian sites tend to move to collusion as time passes so ill be moving to ignition as i wont be in europe for december. Is there anything i need to know? Are HUDs allowed? Do i need to buy anything for H2N? 100nl reg tables soft enough right?


2. Im having problems with h2n with zoom this month. Anyone know of a fix? Ive done fresh installs deleting all app data for both stars and h2n. Ive reverted to older stars versions. Run as admin. It worked for one day then decided to stop for no reason. Ive contacted support and sent of logs but they just linked me to their standard website troubleshooting page which ive done countless times. The hands are logged but no h2n appears. Even the little icon is missing.

Gl to everyone. Will likely be trying to shot take 500nl in the 2nd half of the december as its xmas games if the first half goes ok.

Looool great post about analog latka. That guy was so interesting to play at the time/feel like I learned a lot. I think about his account often and want to go back and look at HHs/compare them to solvers

Cool thread look forward to following

Dude I think about Analog all the time too.

That year I had just gotten sober again and was getting back into poker. Specifics are kind of hazy but after playing in stars for awhile, I was just completely confused by him. He used different 3bet sizings too right? And I remember him 3betting my mp raise with smthg like KJo otb and I was like HE’S SO BAD, ha, but I just could never stack him. I remember everyone in the stars regs thread thought he was a fish too.

Anyways my friend was getting back into 6max from HU and we bought a bunch of stars hands to study....and Analog was absolutely ****ing crushing for like 10bb/100. Then we started to go thru the hands, and we noticed the REAL crazy thing....the f*cker wasn’t adjusting for fish AT ALL. I remember one hand a fish had limped and he checked behind AQo in the BB. My friend and I felt like we had found an alien.

That was the first time I realized how much out there was to learn, because someone could absolutely rape everyone without even adjusting for fish. Anyways yeah he was just the first iteration of solver bot, as far as I could tell. The weird thing was that he had so many sizes, both pre and post, which would have seemed to be too complex for an early version solver....I don’t know.

I always wanted to go back and see if he was different from Oborra, etc. I even messaged k10clubs to ask if he still had hands on him, I would pay a lot of $ to go back over his hands again, more out of curiosity than anything

Anyways GL man will be following

I plan to start playing again on Stars. Look forward to following this thread.

I dont even think analog got banned. Im pretty sure january 1st hit and he decided to just give up poker lol. Just decides his new years resolution is to allow other regs to win some money and gg poker. But then oborra was born. Theres quite a few suspicious regs at 100 or 200 who im somewhat convinced are bot guys. They crush the games insanely hard and refuse to move up higher, its like they just want to go undetected. energyvadym beating 200 for 14bb but decides he wants to move back to 100?

Well poker is a shambles currently. Been on a bit of a bender and been drinking for 11 days straight. Tonight will hopefully be the last night and ill go back to grinding after. Put on like a stone it feels like. So much football over xmas season. Hard to stay indoors



Absolute belter of a song. everything about this video is the opposite what i usually go for but dam its class.




Gl u should move back. The games are very good imo. The regs are sickos but with 4 max table cap it makes the games good.

yeah I think 4 table cap is a weird stars decision which is good for regs, good for fish, and surely bad for them.

good to see you dropped the ego, linus never approved of it. i still remember the time you replied that it would be a terrible idea to create a solver pre analog. how far we have all come.

always rooting for the OG's, goodluck!

gl, totally agree with the dance monkey tune I love it!

Part 1 - Identifying my social anxiety. Its too big of a problem

I probably shouldn't make this post on this forum as people have some extreme superiority complex and jump onto anyone who show vulnerabilities and give a lot of **** if they don't fix things instantly but everyone been kind to me so far so lets give it a go. I will create a journal which may update here semi-reg or just monthly.

Over the past 10 years, year on year its got much worse to the point where i cant socialise with anyone unless its family and two friends. I am 100% not an alcoholic (i can go weeks without alcohol easily) but i am 100% dependant on alcohol for social settings or any social interactions. Its become so much of a problem that over the past few years i will cancel any plans unless ive already been drinking. So many wasted opportunities, so many great people who try to meet me and still do, but ive burned so many bridges by constantly having to cancel.

How this is all i started i dont really know, i was quiet at school but i was almost friends with everyone. I was friends with popular girls, stoners, sporty people, nerdy groups. I was constantly out every day after school and on weekends with different groups interacting fine. And then something just suddenly switched when i turned 18. I sucked at conversation in groups but i was great in 1on1 or 3-4 group setting.

The first issue i remember which contributed to it is that i developed "essential hand tremor". So my hand shakes often, not even noticeable unless its holding a light fork or spoon. My mind became so focused on this, i thought everyone was looking at it when i was eating. So naturally, i started cancelling any plans which included food. And the times i was forced to eat around people, im just constantly thinking of it, thinking others are noticing it. I now take take propranolol which helps the physical effects of hand tremor, but my illogical thought patterns are still there and the damage has been done.

Then i started cancelling plans with my mates when going to play pool which they did a lot. Its a bit easier to mask the EHT due to alcohol being involved. So after 2 pints and the issue was gone. Then i needed 3 pints. Then i needed 4 pints. Then instead of needing 5 pints, i would just think it was easier to just cancel instead. Or i would agree to meet them after i had food and quietly had a few drinks.

So eventually i just kept hiding myself until i had a few drinks to mask certain insecurities but this just makes things worse. You're in your own head even more, different insecurities come out the blue, you're constantly self focused and all the illogical thoughts just get much worse. Your mind is so occupied looking within and negatively. And then the alcohol tolerance goes up.

Then you get the added bonus of losing ALL social skills because you dont interact with others when sober. My mind just constantly freezes, it goes towards a very "safe" answer to any conversation topic. You beat yourself up because you did something wrong in a throwaway conversation and then it just spirals even more. Cant light banter. There is no flow in the conversation. There is just no conversation. The mind is just focused on yourself all the time. You just want to get out of whatever that setting is. Its horrible.

So i bought two books that im going to spend 1 hour a day reading:

1. Overcoming social anxiety & shyness
2. Feeling good.

I think both take a CBT approach. Where you try to rewire the thought patterns of your brain. To not constantly looking at yourself negative and not always so self focused of your movement or the words you say. I will not give up alcohol because im not addicted and i enjoy the social setting of it all. But what i want is to shift it back to how i was earlier, where i wasnt constantly thinking about my insecurities. And how i behave after 5 drinks, is how i used to behave after 0. I know im going to have to put myself out there a lot in sober settings if i truly want to overcome this so hopefully i can.

The annoying thing is, after 5 drinks i behave like any normal individual does, im not drunk (tolerance has gone up), and i can interact perfectly fine. There is no mind block like usual, there is no mind freezes. I get invited to a lot of things, to which i happily agree to. Until the next day and i start to dread the sober setting of the invitation. Most of these thoughts now after a long time are probably best grouped to be "i am inferior to all those other people who socialise so i cant do it. So lets make up an excuse to skip"

I do also think a large part of uni where i would do so many 48 hour all nighters to do assignments as i left it last minute contributed to this problem a lot.

Hoping there will be a part 2 next month where i can talk about some actual progress.

Thanks for posting. I can relate to a lot what you wrote! GLGL trying to overcome it, you got this!!!

Read this and felt compelled to reply as someone who as experienced basically the same thing and know many friends who have too.

The way to deal with this is to just put yourself into as many uncomfortable social situations as possible. Things that you instinctively recoil from just say yes. Just go and do it. If it sucks you can just leave and try again another day. You keep doing this, realise nothing bad is happening and you start to regain confidence and comfort. Sometimes the things we dread the most are the things we most need. This really is the best and most powerful method. Would advise going out with people you know and trust in small settings and build from there. Even just joining a gym and being around people even without directly interacting with them can build momentum.

It's deffo hard in England where we start drinking from a pretty early age and it's just ingrained in the culture and almost every social situation. You get used to being somewhat drunk and then being without drink feels strange.

I would also try and figure out if there is a specific reason you have anxiety. Try and really go deep into what is making you feel this way and see if you can find out anything, it can help a lot. Also would not surprise me if any of your mates have experienced similar at some point in their lives, it can help to just casually bring it up, they will never judge you for it.

Tips -
1) Read Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
2) Vitamin D3 + Zinc (you can research but we are all deficient, especially in rainy countries and if you look at the reviews on reddit etc you will see people having pretty insane cognitive results and I can confirm it helps a lot with just general happiness/anxiety). Zinc helps too.
3) Try and workout, it really does help.
4) Avoiding gluten might help, it can trigger anxiety in some people, even if your not allergic.

Hope this helps mate, no one should have to miss out on the good times. Keep crushing.

I stopped by for the PG&C. I stay here for the Mental G&C. I also thank you for this. I struggle with social anxiety as well, and can relate to a lot of things you brought up.

Most people see me as an extrovert, because I tried quite hard to be likeable before. I have told everyone close to me that I actually feel drained after every social event with lots of new people (or people I don't like), interestingly enough almost half of the people who I've told this can relate more or less. Alcohol makes it easier, and I can relax in a bigger group of people, but I hate myself every time I feel I need to drink 1 or 2 beers before.

2 years ago I became more open about this, and quit hanging out with people I knew didn't make me happy, even if they were/are great people. And people I love knows I do, and I can openly tell them that they make my life better. This was a huge step for me, and a great amount of anxiety disappeared because of this.

For me these things have helped:
- Accept that you don't have to be the social guy that keeps conversations interesting
- Talk about this to your friends, and be open about how important they are
- Do more of the things you know makes you happy
- Challenge yourself by doing some social stuff with your closest friends (sober)
- Be physically active
- Just be really honest. Every day. Being dishonest to yourself and people around you increases your anxiety. Being honest even in uncomfortable situations makes you really strong mentally. Be brave.

I thought I would never be where I am right now mentally, but I still have lots of work to do.

I wish you the best of luck with your poker and mental goals

best advice so far

I have also suffered with Exactly the same issue as you, even the shaking, the amount of drinks I need etc. It seems to be worse with certain people and the longer it has been without seeing people the more nervous I will be. I also have only about 5 people I'm ok with.

I even did 12 CBT sessions last year and the councillor told me to go on meds, which I did for a couple months but stopped...

If we are going down to visit inlaws for dinners, I can't drive anymore and need to have 3-4 drinks.

It will always start off worse when I arrive and have to say hi to everyone but eases a little bit once I've settled in.

I am not giving up completely though, I own a business where I have to meet strangers every day at their homes, I have had a panic attack while doing a consultation at a clients home, as well as at one of our suppliers and had to sit down in their office for 10 minutes...

I think you may be able to get better with CBT, but they may also want to put you on an SSRI or similar drug. Every time you are thinking about avoiding a little thing, it will just make it worse. I feel like I'm going to have this issue for the rest of my life, that may be the case with you too, but wish you luck anyway..

Didn’t see if you have had any past drug addictions trying to self medicate the anxiety? I have used Benzos as well as opiates which I think made it worst long term but somewhat worked short term. If you want any advice or have any good advice for me, or want to talk about it at all, send me a PM. I have found being able to talk about it helps, as well as telling family or close friends. I think a lot of people deal with social or general anxiety, but obviously the level that you or I may be at probably isn’t as common.

Feel for u man, just keep on trying to challenge your fears, work out (gym or any exercise) and do your best at what life throws at you.

Drugs, alcohol or any other supplement is never the solution!

You seem like a nice guy, i hope you do well and nice read!

Gl

Want to say I appreciate all the replies. Really do. I'm on my phone so can't quote everyone.

I bought Vit D + zinc + magnesium as I'm probably deficient like the guy told me, but I've been getting nightmares (which I've never had before) and really broken sleep due to it. Maybe I'm taking too much so might reduce the supplements in half.

And to the other guy, I never taken drugs or been addicted to anything before.

Since that post I joined the gym, went both times at 8am (I would usually go at 3am) and it was **** packed. I nearly walked out. But managed to finish the days. I ended up picking different size dumbells when I went to do bench press . Did 2 sets without realising because my mind was so focused on anxiety of it all. Of course nobody looked and a stupid mistake like that and realising nobody is watching really helped tbh. Ofc still getting nervous all the time still but little by little

After about 1 hour of constantly fighting my thoughts I challenged someone to game of pool after one beer. Then I went same bar day after and played 2 games before I had a beer. Never played so **** bad before but at least I did it. Was scary as fk. 12 people watching. Never misQ'd so much in my life before.

I also met a girl who i used to meet years ago. We went for beers but it's usually the initial step of actually meeting.

Normal things for everyone but something I dread to no end and happy I did it. Been writing down every scary thought and trying to write down more logical and non-extreme alternatives. Honestly makes you feel happy doing something like that. The conversation part sucks really bad still. Struggling on that to unblock my mind but baby steps.

You're beasting it out already! You literally just told us you have really bad social anxiety. Now you've pushed social interactions and went to the gym twice. I've done that uneven weight ****-up too. Nowadays I always double-check.

Keep this up. Actually really proud and you should be too.

Beasting but at same time....2 people say "wrong" comments that I over hear and it feels everything I achieve come crashing down

This **** is so pathetic. I'm going to make future updates about poker only because this **** is hard.

shouldve told me you had a thread.

subbed and gl fish

Happy new year folks. Wish you all the best for the new year and hope real positive changes can be made in everyones life.



On a side note: I moved off asian sites as i was getting tired of account closures + bans for no reason but i logged on stars and found out ive been suspended from deposit + withdrawals whilst they look into my relationship with "gusya777". Has this type of thing happened to anyone else before? 10 years on stars and this has never happened to me. Hes not in my database and i dont even know what games he plays. No idea how my account got linked with him.

I've had it happen before. Just explain that to them and you likely won't have any issues