???

I have absolutely no idea where to play and what game to play...

I'm a poker God!!!!

Results from today's rush poker session:
-hands played: 1124
-won/loss: -$19.25 (38.5 BB)

AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, QQ, KJs, KJo, JTs: - $49 (98 BB)

AQs & AQo, won when saw flop: 0/10

After 17061 hands, I'm still winning but only 0.32 BB/100. I guess I must be happy with this, at least I'm not losing...

Rush time

Just received a $400 bonus offer from FullTilt which expires in 21 days upon accepting. This is basically free money plus I have rakeback so I guess it's time to play some rush poker again...

There is also a reload bonus on Stars...

And I have bonus on Betway...and Gnuf...

I wish I could lock myself inside for the next 30 days and just play poker...

HUNL 25

This was unexpected :)

No, I'm not switching to heads up no limit. I'm clearing kickback bonuses on Merge network playing fixed limit. There is only 2 or 3 FL tables available and the rake counter is going really slow so I started to add one hunl $25 table when I feel I'm focused enough. Since Merge uses contributed method, rake is going much faster on hu tables. It looks like I'm running very good at the moment, I'm 4.25 BI up and I think I haven't played more than 2 hours in total. So far so good, hopefully I won't lose everything now that I've put this on my blog, like I usually do :)

Turning point

Until last month, I was satisfied with myself and my life. I can not say I was very happy but I was satisfied. I have not graduated from college (graduate student with a couple of exams to the end), I don't have a job (live from poker) and I'm still free (because it suits me) but I do various activities that filled me up until now.

Then several things happened in a very short time that forced me to think about myself, which led to a firm decision to change my life. I'm not going into details, but suffice it to say that the main thing is actually one person, a girl (we broke up). Basically, I have firmly decided to change my habits and everything that's wrong with myself. My lifestyle from the last couple of years is now not good enough for me and I'm doing something to change it for the better.

First thing that will go way down on my list of priorities is poker. I'm totally indifferent about it, only reason I still play is because it's important source of income for me. In the beginning it was a challenge, to beat other players and prove myself I'm good in a game I never knew anything about but the last few years I have no fun playing poker. I'd much rather go out and play tennis, ride a bike, watch stars with someone than to sit in front of my computer and stare at the screen.

Another thing is handball. It was very important to me, I love it, I love to train every day but the current situation makes it far less enjoyable than it was 3 months ago, or ever before. I wouldn't mind if we stopped competing which I never thought I could say.

Basically, I'm at a turning point. Probably for the first time in my life, I know what I want and what I'm willing to sacrifice to get it.

LOL

RIP bonuswhores

Bonuswhores.com died this month. Well, they aren't really dead since they were transferred to another domain and changed its design but the new site is awful I have no intention to visit them ever again. Sadly, they were by far the best website with information about poker bonuses and my primary source for evaluating poker bonus quality.

If I remember correctly there was a saying on the old bonuswhores forum that God kills a kitten every time you don't clear your poker bonus. Unfortunately, one kitten will pay for my sins because I will have to abandon my Gnuf bonus. I have 8000 Gnuf points to collect in 2 weeks and so far I managed to collect only 2000 points in 75 days. There is just no way I can finish it in time.

Weather report

It's raining, again. In the last 24 hours it fell more rain than the entire monthly average for June (monthly average is 60 litres; last 24 hours it fell 110 litres and June until today, it fell 205 litres). Apparently on some fields around Osijek it fell around 190 litres per square meter in only one day. It is also very cold. I think June 21st, the first summer day, was the coldest first summer day ever in Osijek, 1.1 degree colder that Christmas last year!!!

I'm playing poker again. After 2 months break, I'm back at the tables with 10k hands this month and showing profit so far. I decided to do another kickback bonus on Chili so I'm playing FLHU 0.25/0.5, which is lower than I usually play but limit tables on iPoker are so unbelievably awful I had no choice but to play this limit if I want to finish this bonus. To show you how awful the tables actually are, players per flop percentage on 0.25/0.5 6max is rarely above 35% and it is normal to find tables with % less than 20. I usually don't even think about sitting down unless players per flop percentage is above 50% and you can find tables this good on other network even on much higher limits than 0.25/0.5.

The very first day I registered with Chili, I found a bot playing 0.25/0.5 FLHU so I complained to their customer support. Apparently, it is normal for a human being to simultaneously play 4 tables of HU fixed limit poker for 24 hours a day, every day and make a profit of 6 BB/100 over 150k hands with a rake of 8 BB/100. Not only that, they are also trying to tell me some players can actually 16-table fixed limit heads up with no problems whatsoever. I guess I'm stupid because I can't play quality heads up fixed limit poker on more than 2 tables at the same time.

I still can't believe iPoker was a fish pond only 2 years ago with best fixed limit tables online and now it's a nit fest filled with bots.

Who will stop the rain?

I have nothing to report when it comes to poker. I've played 11 hours last month, made $19 profit and still have no desire to play although I haven't played serious poker for 2 months.

It's still raining. This is depressing, I think we had no more than 5 sunny days in last 3 weeks. My last bicycle ride was on sunday, 49km in 2 hours and 10 minutes. I came home 1 minute before another shower and it's raining since then. That's 3 days and according to forecast, it will rain until saturday morning. Only yesterday it fell more rain than the June average for entire month.

Rain, rain, go away,...

...come again another day.

It's raining for 3 straight days now and it doesn't look like stopping. It already fell roughly 150l per square m. Please stop raining...

New bike

Handball season is almost over, 2 more games to play and I'm free. In order to keep myself in shape and to have something interesting to do over the summer, I bought myself this little beauty:
Back to poker. I'm still not playing seriously like I used to. It's been 4 weeks now and it makes me worried because I have no desire to play at all. I'm perfectly happy without poker and all the stress that comes with it but to be honest, I could use the money. Don't know what to do in order to start playing again...

April

It's time for another monthly update...

After an extended period of mindlessly chasing bonuses, I finally broke down. I've lost my entire thought process and begun playing like a zombie. Over my poker career, I had a few bad periods in the past when I wanted to quit poker but something like this has never happened before. My friend was laughing at me when I told him but I literally forgot everything I knew that made me a winning player. So after finishing with Betway, I decided to take a break. That was at the beginning of April, on April 4th and ever since that day, I haven't played a single serious session until 2 days ago. I tried to play but after 15-20 minutes I would usually realize I suck so I decided it's best to quit.

I tried watching some poker videos and one old session review from my friends coach, which got me thinking and I see sings of improvements in my game but I'm still not my old self. On the other hand, talking to my friend was a complete waste of both my and his time. When I told him, he probably thought I was joking so he wasn't helpful at all. I can't remember one good advice I've got from him other than the standard reply you get from NL donks all around the world, that I should switch to NL.

April goal check:
1) earn 704 Betway points on Betway
-done
2) maintain Silver star on Stars
-failed
3) earn at least 5000 Gnuf points
-failed
4) I found a good deal at another Microgaming room so I have to start playing there and hopefully I can rake ~$500 this month
-failed

---

Goals for may:
1) my only goal is to find my game and play again like I used to play

April results
-playing: -$102
-bonus: $1025
-rakeback: $0
-kickback: $0

Overall: +$922
Time played: 19h
Hands played: ~7000

March

March was like a rollercoaster ride, I was up $430 after 4days, lost $350 next 8days, my PC crashed, up $200, down $180. Variance was brutal and I believe I was running awful. Hit something with AJs 1/27, QJs 3/37, hit a set on the flop 1 in 8.2 but losing 1.2 BB/100, losing with AQs, ATs, A9s, KQo, KJs, QJs and JJ.

March goal check:
1) earn 13404 Betway points on Betway
-failed, earned 12700
2) maintain Silver star on Stars
-done
3) finish FullTilt reload bonus playing FL Rush
-done
4) finish Europoker kickback
-done
5) hit more sets and lose with them less often
-done, but I've lost more than ever every time I was hitting sets more than I'm supposed to

---

Betway is almost finished, only 704 points left to collect. Still can't decide where to play next. All I know is I would like to move up.

Goals for april:
1) earn 704 Betway points on Betway
2) maintain Silver star on Stars
-I need ~8000 hands on 0.25/0.5 6max to achieve this; maybe go up to $0.5/$1
3) earn at least 5000 Gnuf points
-I'm trying to earn $500 signup bonus with same conditions as Betway bonus (need 10000 Gnuf points for $500 in 90 days)
4) I found a good deal at another Microgaming room so I have to start playing there and hopefully I can rake ~$500 this month

March results
-playing: $41
-bonus: $140
-rakeback: $25
-kickback: $160

Overall: +$366
Time played: 77h
Hands played: ~32000

2 out of 2

2 donkaments this weekend, both times won something. Played in $35k RTR freeroll today on FullTilt, finished 151st out of 1318 players, 216 places paid. Won $42 :)

Donkaments

I've got $50 cashout restricted bonus from Party and after losing $28 on fixed limit tables I was left with $22, enough for 1 tournament buy-in. So, 2 hours before my handball match, I decided to play in a $22 $1k guaranteed bounty donkament where each bounty was worth $5. I haven't played tournaments since..., well, I can't remember. There was 105 registered players and before I had to leave, I was in 6th place out of 13 remaining players, with 2 and a half bounties won. I gave my friend to finish the tournament for me and as soon as I left, he lost with a set of QQ to a set of AA, leaving me in 13th place. It was a nice result for someone who has never played a tournament with a buy-in bigger than $1.

Just to clarify something. I hate tournaments, they are boring and I never play them.

Almost there

I decided to slow down after what happened to me recently so I played a lot less than at the beginning of the month. In first 5 days I collected 4150 points and in the next 16 days only 3800 points. Currently I'm at 15900 points and the requirement for the bonus release is 20250 points. With 12 days left to collect remaining points I should finish this bonus without to much trouble.

Today was a very good day. I made 66 BBs and I'm losing with KK, QQ, JJ and 99. I wish I had my old database to compare some stats but if I remember correctly, in my last downswing I was hitting sets or better on the flop more often than 1 in 8.5. As soon as my hit a set ratio falls below 1 in 10, I immediately show a profit (see my post from March 1st, same numbers, huge profit). Ridiculous but if that's the only way I can win, I wish I never hit a set on the flop again:


ps. Savvy finally confirmed my Europoker kickback after almost 3 weeks. Better late than never.

I'm tired of this shit

First my PC crashed so I had to buy a new one. Since I never made a database backup, I've lost my entire PT3 database, of course, except for a few thousand hands from Stars and FullTilt Rush. On top of that, I can't win for a fucking hand since last friday. I'm down €155 in 2041 hands on Betway (that's right, my wr is -7.6 BB/100; I bet I couldn't lose at this rate even if I wanted to) I have in my new database, overall I've lost $346 in 8 days, playing fucking micro stakes, 25c/50c and €0.5/€1.

If it weren't for this fucking bonus on Betway I have to finish by the end of this month, I would stop playing for a week because I really can't take this anymore. I'm losing every other set I have to a fucking backdoor draws no one with 2 live brain cells would not only not chase but they would never call my preflop raise to begin with. On those rare occasions I hit my draws, I lose or split probably half of them and I miss all my big draws in big multiway pots. Retards are cold calling raises with 32 only to hit trips on the flop when I have AA or KK. Of course you can't fold on a 33x flop, who cold calls with a fucking 3 in their hand!!!! I'm currently down 390$ and I've cleared only 2/3 of this bonus!!!

Some random stats from Betway.
-hit something on the flop with QJs and QJo: 0/21
-hit something on the flop with AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, KQs, KJs and QJs: 2/31
-won when saw flop with AQs: 0%

This is one sick game.

Fixed limit rush summary

I'm done with my FullTilt reload bonus. I won't play there until they give me another bonus, rakeback is just not good enough incentive for me stay there permanently.

Hands played: 8318
Won: $126.45
Win rate: +1.52 BB/100

Rake paid (MGR): $144 ($174.75)
Bonus cleared: $100
Rakeback: ~$24

My experience with fixed limit rush is great (50c/$1 9max), I really liked it and can't wait to play there again. Players are beatable, rake is low and you can play a ton of hands per hour (I usually played 2 tables and have ~550 hands/hr).

What a day

Played 3711 hands today in 2 sessions, first one was 3.4 hours long, on Betway and Stars combined, MT (multi table) ratio 7.37 for entire session. The second session was shorter, 2.1 hours on Betway and limit rush on FullTilt, MT ratio 4.25. This is most likely the biggest number of hands I have played in one day in my entire poker career. And the best thing is, I was incredibly calm and focused for entire session, especially the first one. Here is the combined graph from today:

And a proof I was playing very good when I managed to make such profit with these numbers:


Overall, I did a great job today and I'm very satisfied with everything, the way I played, my results and the fact I earned 1030 Betway points today ("only" 12374 left to earn in the next 30 days).

February

February was a good month for me, not so much in terms of $$ earned but because my game improved a lot compared to how I played in january. No books, no videos, only a pure will to play better and think more when making decisions. I still throw a BB every now and then when I shouldn't but it's much better than before.

February goal check:
1) maintain Silver star on Stars
-done
2) earn 10000 Betway points on Betway
-failed, only 3355 points in 5.3k hands
3) play some NL on Minted or FL on Betfair or EuroPoker
-done, almost finished kickback on Europoker, only 100 points left to collect
4) run better, please!!!
-hmmmm, I'm playing better, earning $$ but I can't say I'm running better than last month
5) play 15k hands
-done, played 26.2k (7k hands played on FL rush in just 3 days)

---

I will have to concentrate all my efforts on finishing Betway signup bonus this month. I usually table select and seat select like crazy but this time I will have to play even when tables are not good enough. At the end of the month, I should clear ~$1400 in bonus plus a few $$ in rakeback from last month, hopefully.

Goals for march:
1) earn 13404 Betway points on Betway
-my guess is I need ~21k hands
2) maintain Silver star on Stars
-I need ~8000 hands on 0.25/0.5 6max to achieve this
3) finish FullTilt reload bonus playing FL Rush
-$20 left so I guess I'll need a 2 hour session playing 2 tables
4) finish Europoker kickback
-only 108 points left
5) hit more sets and lose with them less often

February results
-playing: $244
-bonus: $210
-rakeback: $37
-kickback: -

Overall: +$492
Time played: 47h
Hands played: 26210

Fixed limit Rush

FullTilt gave me a $100 no load reload bonus so I decided to try their new game called Rush. Rush is mostly played in no-limit format but in the last couple of days, they added 2 fixed limit tables, 1 table of 9max 50c/$1 and 1 table of 6max $1/$2. I don't like full ring but since it's the only 50c/$1 table available and there is very little traffic on 1/2 table, I had no choice but to play full ring. I will make a monthly update on monday or tuesday, but here are some interesting screenshots:


261 pairs is not a huge sample, but c'mon, this has to be a joke, right. Or there is something wrong with this PT3 report. Over my entire sample in PT3 database I have played ~188k hands, saw flop with 8.8k pairs and hit a set or better every 1 in 9.o times.

Can I really be so unlucky that I always have to run worse than I'm supposed to?

This small screenshot is from 2 sessions on Betway today. Losing AA 3 times out of 3 is certainly possible, but believe it or not, I have hit a set 2 times with those 3 pairs. Third time I've lost to JJ in a HU pot, he hit a set on the flop.

-----

No comment!!!

$0.5/$1 Limit Holdem - Rush
9 Players

Pre-flop: (1.5 SB, 9 players) Hero is Button A A
2 folds, MP1 raises, 1 folds, Hero raises, 4 folds, MP1 raises all-in, Hero calls

Flop: A K 2 (8.1 SB, 2 players, 1 all-in)
SB checks, BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets, SB calls, BB calls, CO raises, Hero calls, SB calls, BB calls

Turn: 5 (4 BB, 2 players)

River: K (4 BB, 2 players)

Final Pot: 4 BB
MP1 shows: K K
Hero shows: A A

So far so good

Not much to write about. I'm more focused on studying than poker so I'm just trying to grind the existing bonuses with minimum variance. Half way through February I have already covered my last month loss even though I haven't played a single hand in 6 days this month. This makes me very happy but there is still room for improvement since I'm running awful at Betway. That was supposed to be my primary goal this month but I have played only 1.5k hands so far (goal was 13k).

Time played: 20h
Hands played: 10368
Profit: $341

January

With a loss of $295, january was my worst month ever. To be fair, it is mostly because I cleared almost no bonus or rakeback in january, except $10 stellar rewards from Stars and another $90 in kickback bonus.

Goals for february:
1) maintain Silver star on Stars which means earning 750 VPPa in a month
-I need ~8000 hands on 0.25/0.5 6max to achieve this
2) earn 10000 Betway points on Betway (need ~20000 BP for ~$1000 bonus until april 4th)
-I played 4.8k hands in january, earning 3500 BP so I guess I will have to play ~13k hands this month
3) whenever there is no action on Betway, play some NL on Minted or FL on Betfair or EuroPoker
4) run better, please!!!

January results
-playing: -$408
-bonus: $10
-rakeback: $13
-kickback: $90

Overall: -$295

ps. I have to organize my time. I'm a university graduate and have to concentrate on finishing my education this year. This means poker is not my first priority this year (its probably number 3 or 4) so if I don't succeed in achieving my yearly goals, I won't be to disappointed as long as a make a few hundred $$ each month.

What a joke...

...this game is. Another 2 hour session 4 tabling NL10€ on Minted poker, won €2, weeeeeeeee! Since they don't support PT or HEM, I wrote down on a piece of paper whenever I had something.
Results:
1) 4 open ended straight draws = hit ZERO times
2) 2 flush draws = hit ZERO times
3) 1 flush draw + picked up an open ended straight draw on turn = missed
4) 1 flush draw + gutshot = hit, but had no fucking action, whatsoever, everyone folded

Had 31 pocket pairs
Hit a set: 3 times
1) 33 on a AJ3-K-Q board, against 2 players, idiot slowplayed AA
2) hit a set with 66 vs a shortstack = no fucking action
3) 88 on a 877-T-5 board, against 4 players, someone had a 77 for quads

Luckily, I've lost with big pairs only once, so I somehow still managed to end this farce with a profit.

So fucking unreal!!!

No limit and why I hate it

Couple of days ago, I created a new account with rakeback on Minted poker through RakeTheRake, deposited €100 with the intention of playing NL occasionally when I have the time and there's no good fixed limit tables available on sites I'm usually playing at. I have to admit, I'm not the best no-limit player in the world but even I should be able to beat awful players from Everleaf network, right? Wrong.

Went all-in preflop 3 times so far:
1) AA vs QQ, board Qxx-x-x
2) AA vs KK, board xxx-K
3) TT vs 99, 9xx-x-x

So, 3 all-ins preflop, chance of losing all of them: 0.58%

So far, after 6-7 hours of playing NL10€, I've hit 0 sets (except when I was playing shortstackers with less than 1/3 buy-in), I've hit 0 flush or straight draws (well, I don't count super small pots when you're in the blind and no one raises preflop, everyone have nothing and action goes check-check until the river) and lost one flopped trips with 76s (board 662 rainbow) against a fucking 2 outer in a 3way super huge pot.

I don't think I have seen a good player on this poker room so far. If only I could hit something and not lose every fucking time I have an overpair.

Starting bankroll: €100
Current bankroll: €85.13
Won/lost: -€14.87

Open letter to poker Gods!

Dear Poker Gods,

FUCK YOU!

Cheers

OMFG

January will most likely be my worst month ever. Here is a preview of what you can expect in a few days. Microgaming network, 4.3k hands:

Yes, this is correct, I'm losing with a fucking straight after 4.3k hands. Playing micro limits. Against morons who cold call K3o and other crap.

Until last saturday, everything was fine. I was running way below expectation but I was winning overall, although just a few $$ (thanks to a kickback bonus I have cleared). I have cleared a few hundred $$ in bonus and rakeback on several poker rooms which will be paid to my accounts in february and march, so I had every reason to be satisfied although not very happy. Suddenly, on friday someone turned the doomswitch for me and I can't win anymore.

You can live with losses, you can live with bad beats but when your 24 winning months streak is broken and you still have 4d before the end of the month and you know you can't do anything to change that, it's a huge blow for your self confidence.

2010

I'm probably boring with these screenshots but I have to vent somewhere. This is from a 5.3k hands sample played this year on Stars and 0.2k hands played on a new Microgaming site ($1000 bonus, with good release requirements). Just looking at these stats makes me puke but that's not all. From 5 flopped full houses, I've lost 2 and I've lost another 3 times when I had a set. So it's actually even worse than it looks.

I'm losing with 99 and I'm break even with KK, JJ, TT & 88. Few more retarded stats:
AQs hit a flop - 0/10
ATs hit a flop - 1/13
KJs hit a flop - 0/8

So, the start of this year is awful, I'm down ~80 BBs, most of it on 0.25/0.5 on Stars. Overall, I'm not happy with the way I'm playing but I'm satisfied with my results considering the fact I'm running way worse than I should.

This hand perfectly describes my year so far:

$0.25/$0.5 Limit Holdem
6 Players

Pre-flop: (1.4 SB, 6 players) Hero is Button 4 4
2 folds, CO calls, Hero calls, SB calls, BB checks

Flop: 4 6 6 (4 SB, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets, SB calls, BB calls, CO raises, Hero calls, SB calls, BB calls

Turn: 3 (6 BB, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, CO bets, Hero bets, SB folds, BB calls, CO 3-bets, Hero 4-bets, BB calls, CO calls

River: 3 (18 BB, 3 players)
SB checks, CO bets, Hero calls, SB calls

Final Pot: 23.1 BB
CO shows: A 6
Hero shows: 4 4
BB shows: Q 3

New year goals

My poker goals for this year:
1) play 15 000+ hands a month, 180 000+ hands total
2) at least 1 BB/100 at 0.5/1 and 1/2
3) take a shot at 2/4
4) make at least $12 000
5) maintain SilverStar status
6) run better than last year

Fcuk you PokerStars

Played 2300h this year, I can't hit anything on the flop and miss all my big draws in multiway pots. So frustrating. On the bright side, I lost only 20 BB's.