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  1. #301
    Love the mix of poker vs life in this blog. Keep up the good work.

    Been roasting/grinding/french pressing my own coffee lately and drinking some tasty local IPA beer. Ah... the good life.
  2. #302
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    today has been cool

    • 2hrs of grind early
    • walked across the road for a round of golf here with a mate teeing off at 9am - using the clubs i bought for $30 at the weekend! and after 3 rounds my play is getting slightly less embarrassing.
    • cooked tasty lunch and ate with my girlfriend (she's back in the country!)
    • jumped on my bike and rode to town to meet a friend and run some hills, smashed 16km and went for coma over the last 4km with no ill effects
    • rode home, chocolate milk
    • and now? dunno. Summer evening and life is good!


    Quote Originally Posted by jaxpaboo View Post
    Been roasting/grinding/french pressing my own coffee lately and drinking some tasty local IPA beer. Ah... the good life.
    tasty and tasty!

    also
    There is No Depression in New Zealand - Blam Blam Blam - Music Video | NZ On Screen
    Last edited by daven; 11-12-2012 at 11:58 PM.
  3. #303
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    I took a minor fall climbing yesterday

    talking to an orthopaedic registrar and others in hospital late last night and we talked about best case scenarios. I'm feeling pretty lucky right now. I'm a little sore, but that's about all that's really wrong.

    About 2:30am i was the happiest i've been in a long time when the ability to move my right leg re-appeared. That seemed to settle the debate about whether i'd basically just whacked a nerve too hard and that had ceased information flow between my brain and my hip flexors, and that hopefully the flow would reappear of it's own accord. The alternative suggestions weren't ones that i liked. Anyway, now i'm at home, walking around is just fine (slowly, carefully), so are sitting and standing, the transition between sitting and standing makes me glad i can do tricep dips, bending forward from the waist is a no-go. x-rays are inconclusive, but it looks like i broke my arse (coccyx). Funny.

    so, no running or climbing or riding or surfing or stuff like that for a few days at least. I've got comfrey (knitbone) growing in my garden, so it's time to get all hippie naturopath on it. And i guess i'll just play a whole lot of poker in the downtime. Bring the roll!
  4. #304
    DoubleJ's Avatar
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    Still on that feckin' island!
    nasty

    hope ur back to 100% again soon, mate

    take care
    don't want no tutti-frutti, no lollipop
  5. #305
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    injured daven is grinding daven
    bringing the roll
    25k hands played in 4 days of grind since i hurt myself (took friday off cos painkillers etc)
    winning at an ok clip
    studying some poker

    the surf has been on, friends have been doing fun climbing and trail-running adventuring, i've been stuck at home trying to recuperate. Cooked for a bunch of friends last night to get some sanity back, fun times.

    hoping to be able to run again sometime in december.
    life is trying to not get too grumpy about not doing cool shit outside as the summer rolls on in. And gambool.
  6. #306
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    40k hands in 5 days.
    winrate is best it has been in ages.
    grinding.
  7. #307
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    and today it got even sillier. Yep, that's 10k hands.
    Last edited by daven; 11-22-2012 at 01:12 AM.
  8. #308
    very impressive, sick work ethic etc

    +30BI day is unreal, but considering you played 10k hands in a single day to do it I'm thinking you earned it
    Quote Originally Posted by Carroters
    Ambition is fucking great, but you're trying to dig up gold with a rocket launcher and are going to blow the whole lot to shit unless you refine your tools
  9. #309
    rong's Avatar
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    Man, I hurt my back, took 2 days of work, grinded and lost 9 bis lol
    I'm the king of bongo, baby I'm the king of bongo bong.
  10. #310
    Nice work - it's good to see you back in the zone and talking about the game with assertiveness again.

    Other than a broken arse, would you mind if I ask you what conditions you find work well for you when grinding?
  11. #311
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Bean Counter View Post
    Nice work - it's good to see you back in the zone and talking about the game with assertiveness again.

    Other than a broken arse, would you mind if I ask you what conditions you find work well for you when grinding?
    my setup is pretty simple, clear-ish desk with laptop and monitor taking pride of place. Wall behind so no distractions there. Swiss ball cos it's better than a fancy chair.,

    I think that the most important thing is a state of calm and focus beforehand, and the ability (difficult, and i fail here often) to objectively confirm this calm and focus at intervals during the session, to correct if necessary, and quit the session if calm and focus are gone. Coffee and/or booze are both fine, as long as they are acknowledged and their possible impacts are identified - and sessions quit if these impacts manifest.

    Ideally it's quiet (i used to grind with music, but have noticed loads of variation in my game vs tempo and etc - so do that less often now), i'm not postponing doing anything that needs to be done, internet browsers off - only thing running on computer are hem and the poker client(s). I don't answer my phone or anything like that, i only have it to hand if there is a reason to.

    biggest week of poker play this year i think, that's what being confined to home does i guess. My body is getting better pretty quickly, i'm going to test it with a half hour walk tomorrow. Psyched. Sessions tab from HEM. Red sessions are losing sessions.
    I'm hating those players who quit tables as soon as they get a little reg-infested. I'm usually last to leave cos i don't race for the button much. But, meh. Hate having tables break all over the place.
  12. #312
    Sorry to hear your walking and bicycling days have been held up, hope it gets better sooner so you don't slow that metabolism and become overweight like a lot of poker grinders do, lol.

    I like to get in three mile walks(about 5K), and it's a bear right now until I go to Florida for the winter here in 2-3 more weeks. Been getting in walks at the 24 hour grocery stores , but nowhere near as fun as outdoors. I cough in cold weather. Temp has been no higher than 32 for last couple days. I stay in Florida until April 15th, then decide to head back north slowly.
    It takes 2 years to learn to talk, but a lifetime to learn when to shut up.
  13. #313
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    still pretty heavy on the grind volume - 80k hands since the 15th.
    had a small downswing (about 17 stacks?) a few days ago, but i've won that back plus interest since then.

    looks like it might be a few more weeks than initially anticipated before i'll be able to climb/run/hike/bike/surf/etc. Don't matter. Life is still a good place to be, and i've figured out what training i am able to do in the meantime - i thought chinups would be fine. Wrong. Very wrong. But some stuff is ok.

    a really annoying hand. Villain is terri-bad something like 60-20 and 15% 3b likes to get involved pre and post. I've stacked him twice on other tables.

    7 Players
    Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

    Stacks:
    UTG ($46.37) 46bb
    UTG+1 ($81.90) 82bb
    daven (MP) ($100.50) 101bb
    CO ($100) 100bb
    BTN ($105.16) 105bb
    SB ($146.72) 147bb
    BB ($38.50) 39bb

    Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 7 players) daven is MP
    1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, daven raises to $4, 4 folds, UTG+1 calls $3

    Flop: ($9.50, 2 players)
    UTG+1 bets $2, daven raises to $6, UTG+1 calls $4

    Turn: ($21.50, 2 players)
    UTG+1 checks, ...
  14. #314
    I think I would just call the flop, then now take a free one.
  15. #315
    Thanks for taking the time out to respond in such detail - really appreciated. I think the conditions you mention pretty much confirm the conditions and set-up I need to mirror if I'm going to play my best.

    Interesting that your FR stats aren't that far from my 6-max stats!
  16. #316
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    @ m2m, cheers, yeah, now that you mention it a free card on flop or turn makes a lot of sense in that KQ hand, i was hoping for too thin value but instead just put myself in a spot that was unnecessary and no fun.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Bean Counter View Post
    Thanks for taking the time out to respond in such detail - really appreciated.
    no problem

    Quote Originally Posted by The Bean Counter View Post
    Interesting that your FR stats aren't that far from my 6-max stats!
    i start quite a few tables and am not the first to quit when they start to break. Often i'll play a bunch of HU with a reg cos it's breakeven with a huge potential upside of 3-handed with bad reg + uberfish. So my stats are probably a bit exaggerated. 19-15 filtered on 7/8/9 players

    november. First 35k-ish hands were first two weeks before i hurt myself. Then i probably did too much grinding but didn't really have much else i could do, so....

    Last edited by daven; 12-02-2012 at 07:46 PM.
  17. #317
    MadMojoMonkey's Avatar
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    Holy Volume, daven! I'm astonished.
    How many tables do you play at once?
    How many hours a session?
    Sessions per day?
  18. #318
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    i noted in the bc graphs thread that it's lucky that i'm playing lower stakes when i predict tilt, cos it means most of my losses are at lower stakes. Why bother even playing these sessions? on that note, i'm about to watch a poker video

    Quote Originally Posted by MadMojoMonkey View Post
    How many tables do you play at once? between 6 and 24, depending on my goal for the session
    How many hours a session? mostly 2-3hrs, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer
    Sessions per day? 1-3
  19. #319
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    Ran pretty awful in my first session today, 2nd session i saw villains hit more 2 and 3 outers than i like to see them hit, 3rd session was nuts

    Turn royals, get paid (kinda like flop sets, but more reliable)

    there's a reg who i have at about -5 BB/100 over a very large sample yet who is apparently a winner at 25nl, 50nl, and 100nl. He doesn't deal with me very well at all, not sure exactly why the hate but he tilts a lot around me.
    so, obviously, i sit HU with him whenever i get the chance. And I'm pretty far inside his head. It's rare for fake-block->3b jam to be the best river play with a royal, but here it was crystal clear.

    2 Players

    Stacks:
    SB ($33.58) 134bb
    daven (BB) ($59.40) 238bb

    Pre-Flop: ($0.35, 2 players) daven is BB
    SB raises to $0.63, daven calls $0.38

    Flop: ($1.26, 2 players)
    daven checks, SB bets $0.61, daven raises to $2.80, SB calls $2.19

    Turn: ($6.86, 2 players)
    daven checks, SB bets $4.45, daven calls $4.45

    River: ($15.76, 2 players)
    daven bets $4, SB raises to $8, daven raises to $27, SB goes all-in $17.70

    Final Pot: $67.16
    daven shows a Royal Flush

    SB shows a flush, King high


    daven wins $67.96 (net +$33.08)

    SB lost $33.58
    Last edited by daven; 12-06-2012 at 11:06 PM.
  20. #320
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    read some old threads today
    here's some gold, cheers m2m
    Quote Originally Posted by Micro2Macro View Post
    swapping HH's and talking strat. I try not to waste too much time looking at the 'lol standard spots' and instead I try coming up with hands where I could consider alternate lines in spots where you can get a bit creative with your range and think up different ways to exploit someone.
    Quote Originally Posted by Micro2Macro View Post
    I think the biggest thing in general for guys trying to move up is to just try and understand why you do everything and what makes it profitable. i.e. why do we open a wide range on the button? why do we 3bet here? why is this a good barrel spot? why is my sizing here excellent? - could it be better? If you don't understand why, post the hand or a theory question in general in the forums and there will be plenty of people here to help out.
  21. #321
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    I bought some nova bonus $$ with my stars feeps then withdrew most of my stars roll today, it's time to go to full tilt poker to grind using all those ftp points i've got. I'll keep playing stars until i figure out the details, but i'll probably just buy 16 $200 ring game tickets and start playing plus clearing some bonus.

    time to post some photos

    1 = the elephant that tried to steal my camera in thailand
    2 = the first salad i made from all garden ingredients - now, a couple of months on, and the garden has heaps more stuff ready to eat
    3 = my latest garden addition, a box of happy and willing garden slaves cruising around and making me honey!



  22. #322
    rong's Avatar
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    Nice! I'd be far too scared to go for the honey.
    I'm the king of bongo, baby I'm the king of bongo bong.
  23. #323
    rong's Avatar
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    Also, how's the back?
    I'm the king of bongo, baby I'm the king of bongo bong.
  24. #324
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    Woot. I just activated my deal me in bonus on FTP and bought a whole pile of ring game tickets (after FTP told me in no uncertain terms that my original points to cash plan would result in my account being closed... unfortunate). Cash balance on FTP has increased 600% since three hours ago as a consequence of ring game tickets having a max ticket value etc.

    There aren't a whole lot of games running so it's like playing a small site such as everest a couple of years ago or something - except with awesome software. I'll probably play 3 sessions a day for a while, alternating stars and FTP. Feels good to back at FTP - i've played over 3 million hands on that site so it's pretty familiar...

    Quote Originally Posted by rong View Post
    Also, how's the back?
    back is improving. I've reached the point where i can do rehab exercises, which should accelerate healing. Hoping to go for a light jog at the start of february, optimism is a beautiful thing... In the meantime i'm going to continue grinding out some poker volume.
  25. #325
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    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart
    simultaneously playing the maximum number of tables on stars and ftp is not smart

    I think i'll mostly be on ftp until i clear this bonus. Not going to make the next vpp milestone on stars anyway.
    bonus clear + rakeback + ticket clearing = almost snee rate. Add in winning at the tables and why would i even care that there are only 9 tables running...
    Last edited by daven; 12-23-2012 at 05:01 PM.
  26. #326
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    i have less ring game tickets than i initially bought
    when you make money with them, the money converts to cash when you leave the table. When you lose money with them, the ticket value decreases and can't be topped up. If you lose a few stacks with the same ticket then it eventually reaches a value where you either have to move down in stakes or shortstack aggressively until it's back up in value or busto. Then you simply start over with a new ticket - and i'm absolutely fine with that! FWIW, i have added far more to my cashier balance than the value of the tickets that have been used up. I'm converted. And as for the rakeback equivalent? well, i'm clearing a bonus + receiving diamond edge rakeback - so it's about 65% before factoring in the value of the points i am accruing...

    whenever i feel the urge I'm transferring the FTP money across to my stars roll. I've still got a few hundred thousand FTP points and i'm accruing more - I expect I'll be able to do all of my FTP play using points for a while yet. People talk about not tracking results by checking cashier during a session - tickets are great for this cos opening cashier merely lets me know whether I've cleared any more bonus increments.

    ahh, ftp. I'm back. Still going to keep enough volume on stars for nova etc, not sure which will be my main site in 2013. Debating putting in some time on party as well now that the bwin thing is happening. See what happens...

    it's over 3 1/2 years since i started playing poker for a living. There have been swings. There have been long holidays and many overseas trips. There have been only a few weeks i've played more than 30hrs. I've been a little more busto than i'm comfortable with a couple of times. I've been as comfortable as i like most of the time. I've bought a house and i'm 9 months into paying off my mortgage. I still haven't won a big tourney. I'm still not crushing mid-stakes. I'm still grinding. Poker. It's an interesting game and still teaching me a lot. I'll stick it out a while longer...
  27. #327
    rpm's Avatar
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    yo daven, if you dont mind me asking, why is it you choose to grind a living out of microstakes instead of moving up? i mean you've beat 10-50nl for a very healthy winrate for many years over (i assume) many millions of hands, are you tempted to move up? do you think your hourly is better playing many tables at smaller stakes vs say 14 tables of 100nl?

    edit: these questions arose in response to the "still not crushing mid-stakes" point you made
  28. #328
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpm View Post
    yo daven, if you dont mind me asking, why is it you choose to grind a living out of microstakes instead of moving up? i mean you've beat 10-50nl for a very healthy winrate for many years over (i assume) many millions of hands, are you tempted to move up? do you think your hourly is better playing many tables at smaller stakes vs say 14 tables of 100nl?
    don't mind you asking at all
    there are a whole bunch of reasons, it's one of those how long is a piece of string type of questions. If it was re-phrased 'why are you stuck grinding microstakes instead of small-mid stakes' then a good answer would be 'too much time multi-tabling and grinding and auto-pilot, too little time playing fewer tables and studying and thinking deeply about the game'. Or as red so eloquently put it once (paraphrased) 'everything is because you fucking suck at poker'. Given how much i have learned since he last told me that, and how much i still have to learn, i have to concede that he was absolutely correct.

    For context, I've played close to 2million hands at 100nl+ lifetime, so i've spent some time at small stakes. I've also had some pretty big swings. A few times i've decided to withdraw and start over, last time i did that was due to FTP closing down while i was travelling in Europe and it started out great (from $50, i got given shit about doing so and the points were valid). Late last year i was doing a sweat with m2m and talked about my moving up plans, they were good plans. Then i moved up to 50nl and 100nl and ran (played?) really bad for a week or two. Then things got all kinds of weird when i had heaps of distractions going on around buying a house and other life stuff and I decided to just grind the quarters and fiddies for a while, and, iunno, kinda stuck there. Which is pretty gross now that i think about it. I've been playing between all over the place the last two months, with most of the volume being at 25nl.

    as for max hourly, i don't know at the moment. I hope to figure that out in the new year again.

    Cheers
  29. #329
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    poker is done and dusted for me in 2012. Results? sufficient to support myself and pay the mortgage and travel some and have a few weeks off etc. Insufficient to be stoked about the year of poker.

    It has been a good year in the life
    see y'all in 2013.
    in 2013 i'll graph in dollars rather than big blinds
    here is 2012 - some 10nl, some 16nl, some 100nl, some 200nl, the vast majority at 25nl and 50nl.
    cheers.

  30. #330
    MadMojoMonkey's Avatar
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    Looking forward to 2013. Keep up the solid work.
  31. #331
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    two years of blog here, time for a fresh op
    this one has been an interesting ride
    check in here if you are interested in 2013...
  32. #332
    Don't know what it is about this thread that attracts spam but I closed it. If Daven needs it open he can ask any mod.

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