Italian Vegas

Everything I’ve played in the last three weeks or so has been horrible. I run awful at NL50 for a week and a bit. I play some micro PLO and run twenty buyins below EV in three hours. Ordinarily I think I’d be bust had I not had such an awesome start to the year and been an insane volume monkey. I’ve had a few extended breaks in between the losses, and over the weekend I have played some tournaments.

I final tabled bubbled the $42k on Full Tilt (although pool topped $60k) taking 11th for ~$500 which was my “best result” of about 15 tournies. I am incredibly sad but not at all downhearted as I have been pretty much shafted in every entry. In that same tournament I lost AQ vs A2 and AJ vs A7 then shove 99 into KT and gg, $12k up top.

What I am most miffed about is the €50r on Laddies. I’ve played it a total of six times I think, twice again this weekend on the Sat and Sun. Every single time I have lost overpair vs underpair situations for top ten chips with less than 100 runners left. Every, single, time. Most recently it was QQ vs 99 for a jillion BBs vs Mongo VI. I’m sure my screenname get’s me tons of action. I’ll win that tourney before the year is out, mark my words!

Last tourney of the day was the €4k on Laddies. I’m 1st-7th from about 40 players left right down to the final table. Second hand in, UTG limps, I check T8 in the bb. Flop T83, we get it all in, him JJ, runs out 9,7 and gg you really played that well. Tenth for £50. Seriously FU. The money on the final table was pish anyway but I really should have been taking down the €1.3k.

Anyway I have a much needed huuuuge awesome break ahead of me, a fortnight all inclusive 5* resort holiday in the Caribbean. Fuck yeah! This could not have come at a better time. I’m taking my laptop but I doubt I’ll play any online poker at all. There are two casinos on site and there’ll hopefully be some decent virtual online gamess going. Not that I’m going there for that at all. This is undoubtedly a R&R holiday, but hopefully the sun will do me some good and I can maybe bring in some $ while I’m out there.

Finally if you’ve read this far you may wish to leave an empty comment making some unfelt remark about an element of my post, just as long as your name links to a gaming website. Well firstly, ask yourself the following questions: Are you satisfied in what you are doing? Is this an effective use of your time? Secondly, don’t bother answering, because I’ll just delete it.

GG all and happy holidays me!

I think the problem is over… will write up something about poker soon a few little wins this week too, Get commenting at last… thanks

Only a few weeks now before i fly to Vegas. I’m staying at Encore and plan playing 5 or 6 of the bigger buy in events, not staying for the main, so i’ll have to buy some percentages in some friends.

Hardly been playing at all online. Its been going well when i have, and i’ve been playing smaller (25/50 down to 10/20), as the game onlines are so much easier than even 50/100. I’ve been running at about 25 big blinds/100 HU in the last six weeks, which pretty unsustainable, but very enjoyable while it lasts.

I’ve put/am putting a huge chunk of my bankroll into a house in London that i’m doing a full refurb on (basement, gym, cinema room, bar etc). That money will never be going back into the poker communuty … organising the work that needs doing is far more stressful than poker has ever been. Its a pretty steep learning curve, and i hope the place will be awsome when its finished in around a year. So many decisions to make……

I really now can’t afford to go on a high six figure downswing now, but i think its refocused me and i’m playing good at the moment. A big tournament score would be amazing at the moment. Fingers crossed…..

My Rocco boy is a purebred Australian Shepherd but he doesn’t know that. He thinks he’s just another one of my kids! Here, he had just woke up and was rubbing his eyes.

How negative momentum occurs
I’d argue that almost no-one is able to continue playing their A-online game while on a downswing. As things continue to go badly we often make mistakes due to lack of focus or by making incorrect changes to our fre online game based on negative results. As our winrate lessens due to these leaks it becomes more and more difficult to break out of a losing streak. Our confidence lessens and we start to expect to lose flips and expect to lose sessions. This is negative momentum in poker.

Creating resistance through a poor mindset
When I don’t accept my present situation I create resistance and become negative, this only serves to be destructive. When I think “I need to have a good session to get back even for the month”, “I would have $XXXX if that fucktard hadn’t 2 outered me”, “If only I hadn’t ran $Xk under EV this month, I’d be a lot happier”. These are all examples of ways I could create resistance through a poor mindset.

As a poker player it’s important not to allow this type of negative momentum to exist.

Taking steps to reduce negative momentum
In casinos you’ll notice guys who hang around the roulette tables writing down the previous numbers trying to formulate a trend. We know there is no trend; each time the wheel is spun and the ball is dropped it’s completely fresh, the past results have no bearing. It’s the same when we sit down to play a session. We shouldn’t be looking back to the past to create a trend, we should be focussing on what’s in front of us right now.

Instead it’s important to take responsibility for everything that’s happened. Accept your situation and act on it. That’s all there is.

I’ve been watching a lot of the NBA/NHL playoffs recently… the commentators talk a lot about momentum and the importance of winning the first online game (the team that wins the first fre online game will win the series over 80% of the time). A losing team with their heads down are much less likely to win than the team who are dominating and confident.

Every day is a fresh day and each session as a completely fresh session, our past results only affect us if we allow them to. My bankroll is not what it was at the start of the week/month/year… it is what it is right now. That one is really important so I’ll say that again… My bankroll is what it is right now. Accept it fully.

What weather for a week off!!! Im not planning to play silly volumes this week, but i have given myself a mini challenge which is to get 15 step 3 tickets. So im going to grind it up through step 0′s then stop till Step 3

So far ive laydown $16 and currently have

3 step 1′s

4 step 2′s

4 step 3′s

Then going too either hit $26 45manners or some GTD’s mmts

WHAT YOU DO???? with step 3 tickets appart from the next step feedback more than welcome

Tonight England will play there final friendly on home soil before the world cup starts in just 17 days. Unfortunately the Wembley pitch is still in such a shocking state that we can almost certainly expect one of Englands players to pick up an injury bad enough to prevent them from playing in the finals. I will be watching nervously. The best outcome tonight would be a very safe and boring 0-0 where no one runs around in order to prevent any chance of injury. (and no you can’t bet on a player being injured tonight, I already checked) so instead I’ve gone for the 0-0 at 9/1

Weather has been fantastic here all weekend and I’ve worked on the boat to get it ship-shape for more of the same. Just spending a couple of hours there made me feel more sane.

Lost finished this morning. I didn’t watch it but having read the “spoiler” write ups I’m glad I didn’t watch for 6 seasons to just have it confirmed in the final episode that the island was exactly what we pretty much guessed it was from the end of season 1. I know some folks enjoyed it and at the start I loved it, but really did it have to go on sooo long !

Off on hols for a fortnight in a few hours. Must admit I want it to be snowing when I go away to piss people off or at a minimum pissing down but we are in the middle of scorchio at the moment so I can’t wind anyone up.
Don’t get to see the sea much in Brum (unless global warming gets a move on) so can’t wait to get going.

Ended up $350 up for May but I’ve been playing like a proper twat the past week and can’t blame bad play by any villain, suck outs etc and I have lost half the $$ I gained playing pissed a week ago. (Going to have 1 more $13 90 man KO around 5ish before we go to the airport to see if I can leave on a positive)

Bankroll at just under $1.4k and though I hate setting targets I could do with getting it to $2k before my next hol (last week July) and approx $5k by Xmas so I can withdraw $3k to pay off some bills and have a free Xmas.

Looking forward to a couple of weeks away from the laptop and see if I come back hungry to play.

I wish anyone going to the WSOP all the best.
Now where are those mini Speedo’s??

2 jokes today . . .

The lead actor in our local pantomime “Aladdin” was arse raped on stage last night.
To be fair the audience did try to warn him!!

A woman is given a hospital tour. She looks in a room and sees a man wanking. “Thats awful” she says to a Doctor. He explains that the man has an incurable condition. His testicles fill with semen so fast that if he doesn’t have a wank at least 5 times a day he is in agony. “Poor man.” says the woman.
In the next room she spots a nurse sucking a mans cock.
“Explain that then” she says to the Doctor.
He replies “The same condition but he’s with BUPA!!”

Thanks for reading – Gav

Have given approx $150 back since a winning Saturday but tonight I have seen some proper shit. I’m obviously not drunk enough in the week as at weekends I must play with a little more recklessness and aggression.
Was playing in a 135 man $11 Rush tourney and was double the average and got dealt AA and raised to 700 (blinds 100/200). Folds to big stack who calls and the blinds fold. Flop Kxx. I bet 700 and he raises all in. He has K8 and turn K river 8. Fuck off but I suppose we have good and bad and that was only one of a few hands that have got on my tits over the past few days.
Okay I’ll piss off now I’ve had my rant.
FT Bankroll @ $1.6K so a few 100 up for the month so not all bad but I want moooore!!

Joke –

A Pakistani has died while training to be a sky diver. Sources at the National English Skydivers Association School have stated that they have no idea how his snorkel and flippers failed to open!!

Mondays clouds have lifted thank god and I can see the future lit in the bright sunshine that has followed them. Summer is finally going to be here come this weekend and I can get to work on making sure our boat is seaworthy and maybe get a nice coast cycle ride in too. The USD-GBP market is doing it’s best to put a downer on vegas but the rate is fighting a losing battle and nothing can dampen the vegas spirit ! Warm up for Vegas in two weeks when we head over to London for the weekend and then 5 weeks tomorrow, ash permitting, we’ll be in the air and on our way. The best news of all, in just 22 days the greatest tournament on earth begins in South Africa and we can spend all day every day obsessing over football !