Not funny again!?

I wrote a bit much blabla the last two times I posted and kind of forgot to write something to laugh about. I apologize for that as I never wanted to be too serious about my Poker exploits in this blog. Last time I also forgot to write about the lesson I learnt in Jan and Feb. As I mentioned several times before I went into this year being super ambitious and motivated to make it a year where I would make some progress in my Poker game. I kind of forced myself to play more online Poker than I would normally do. I read as much theory as I could and adjusted/completely changed my game. I sat down at the tables and was ready to harvest the fruits as I was sure I was on top of my game and would deserve a big upswing. All this bullshit that I told myself and all the changes I did to my game as well as forcing me to play although I wasn’t in the mood made me play shit and deservedly burn money. I started hating the game and it started feeling like something I had to do. As if I was paid for playing shit.

Suddenly I was sick of me playing shit and running bad and playing when I didn’t want to and had lost enough money within the first two months. So I decided to withdraw my online bankroll. I bought myself a Wii with some games from the online money and stepped away from the tables for a while. Because staying in the same environment would have reminded me too much of the horrible times of Jan and Feb I had to change this as well. I moved from 6max LHE and HU LHE back to the roots and started playing some micro stakes NL full ring and tourneys. I only played when I was in the mood too. Suddenly I started winning again. I started feeling confident again being at the tables and enjoyed the game. I found that as long as I am in the mood of playing and enjoying the game it was a lot more easy for me to deal with the inevitable bad beats. They didn’t affect me or my general mood anymore while in comparison to that every bad beat in Feb felt like someone put a knife into me.

Now I seem to have amour against those knives. Obviously I have the aim to play at some proper stakes again but only if I am able to grind my way through the micros. I did it before and I can do it again but I do not care when it is going to be. Will I step up a limit next month? Will it be in October or in fucking 2023? I don’t fucking care as the most important thing is to enjoy this game.

Of course we are playing to make money from the game as this is what makes it interesting and what got us hooked up with the game but as I do not plan to make a living of poker at any one point in my life I do not have to put me under the same pressure as somebody that needs to live of this game. I have no pressure at all. So why putting myself into that? Is it because the human being seems to normally do well when put under pressure? That is true for life threatening situations but not for the way I thought pressure would be good for me. The only thing that I consider as a good way to apply some positive pressure are little challenges like the ones we could hear about the last few months. See Skolsuper’s blog, Nathan’s blog, The durr challenge, Boku87, The guy that played HU in Vegas for like 3 straight days,…
Challenges like that are getting our competitive natures going. It makes the poker feel more like a sport and this is a good thing. So this might be the way forward for me at one point but I need to think about a challenge that will demand some commitment but will still be possible for me to achieve without making me hate the game. I will see. I just wanted to share my thoughts here.

Another thing I will start from now is writing done where I stand moneywise in Poker so I can determine how much I am winning/losing. Especially because I never kept track of live winnings/losses. I will start from $0 on PKR, from -$100 on Stars and from 0 for live cash and tourneys. The results of the last few weeks have been recorded by me and I will do adjustments to the starting figures. See at the end.
Furthermore in the last blog I said that I will be moving to Gibraltar this summer and thought it will need a bit more explanation. I started applying for jobs like Account manager, CRM Manager, etc in the Poker industry and hope to get some Interviews sorted out for June or August. I will be flying down there in August and live at a mates place for few weeks there. Actually the mate is a girl and lives in Gibraltar for two years now already. In that period of time I will try to pummel out a massive amount of job interviews and sort out a new flat. Up until then I need to develop plans for how to get rid of a lot of stuff which I’ve got in my flat. Basically all my furniture. I let you know what happens.

The diet is going well and I am doing 4 miles running at 6 mph + 30min cycling + 5 different muscle exercises 3 times a week. My clothes are getting far too big. I might have to revise my weight loss aim. But first things first, I am now officially registered for the Great North Run and received my sponsorship sheets and stuff going with it. I will be running for Christian Aid. This is a more international charity which is doing a lot of projects in Africa, South America and Asia. I count on your monetary support. I will get more specific on this later.

Well I think there is still nothing funny in this post. Where is my humour gone? Sad enough the only funny thing I remember at the moment is a hilarious hand I played yesterday on PKR: I called the raise from MP with QTss from the button and the BB comes along as well.

Flop: As, Kd, Js

BB bets like ¼ of pot, MP calls I raise about ¾ of pot.

BB now min raises, MP moves All-in, I move All-in and BB calls

BB: AA
MP: KK

The board bricks out and my hand holds and I almost fall of my sofa in laughter. I run so bad!

There is UKSPC next week and I am very much looking forward to it. Its probably not going to be as funny as least year as we are not all staying in the same place. So I will have to play heads up for rollz with Isaac through the nights. Looking at my roll that shouldn’t take too long. Hmmm, we might have to play LHE then. Sounds juicy.

Ok then, keep your panties clean

Truthans

Stats:

Weight lost: 14.4 kg (2.26 Stone)
Weight to lose: 10.6 kg (1.66 Stone)

Poker:

Stars: - $68
PKR: + $51
Live cash: + £2
Live tourney: - £5