The 2013 Diary of a Semi-LAG Tilt Monkey

[The Bean Counter]

Lol live poker. Some classics I witnessed during last night's mtt and cash session include:

- cold calling a nits 3bet with 74o for a third of your stack because "I just had a feeling that would happen" when you flop 356.

- limp calling 23s oop, donk/calling a jam for 30bb on a 742 rainbow flop because "deuces have been lucky for me lately" and "I put him on ace-king" before spiking a deuce and proclaiming "I knew deuces would come good for me again"

- checking your option in the bb with kk in a 7-player limped pot and c/jamming heavy on a q65r flop and getting called by Q3s.

- checking a flopped boat with initiative 5 way and betting 1bb on ace turn and 1bb on river.

- cold calling a heavy 3bet in the sb and donk jamming 250% pot on 873 rainbow board and flashing 83s

- donk/calling A2 on KQ2, check/calling turn and chk/chk deuce river.

- donk/folding half of your remaining stack on a kjx rainbow flop.

I could go on forever! The standard is so bad at live poker, yet all these guys must play regularly as they all seemed to know each other. What I don't understand though is why they have obviously never made any effort to improve despite all of the resources out there!

Despite being insanely profitable however, I can't see myself ever playing much beyond a social event. Firstly, there's not much cash game action available in the UK, but mainly because I also find it really tiring and a little bit boring too compared to the constant action online (plus you don't have to listen to inane "strategy" talk when sat in your underwear clicking a mouse).

[daven]

The standard is so bad at live poker,

man, my live poker experiences have always made me wonder about this statement
i've been in surprisingly strong line-ups in both europe (sweden) and nz

[griffey24]

Lol live poker. Some classics I witnessed during last night's mtt and cash session include:

- cold calling a nits 3bet with 74o for a third of your stack because "I just had a feeling that would happen" when you flop 356.

- limp calling 23s oop, donk/calling a jam for 30bb on a 742 rainbow flop because "deuces have been lucky for me lately" and "I put him on ace-king" before spiking a deuce and proclaiming "I knew deuces would come good for me again"

- checking your option in the bb with kk in a 7-player limped pot and c/jamming heavy on a q65r flop and getting called by Q3s.

- checking a flopped boat with initiative 5 way and betting 1bb on ace turn and 1bb on river.

- cold calling a heavy 3bet in the sb and donk jamming 250% pot on 873 rainbow board and flashing 83s

- donk/calling A2 on KQ2, check/calling turn and chk/chk deuce river.

- donk/folding half of your remaining stack on a kjx rainbow flop.

I could go on forever! The standard is so bad at live poker, yet all these guys must play regularly as they all seemed to know each other. What I don't understand though is why they have obviously never made any effort to improve despite all of the resources out there!

Despite being insanely profitable however, I can't see myself ever playing much beyond a social event. Firstly, there's not much cash game action available in the UK, but mainly because I also find it really tiring and a little bit boring too compared to the constant action online (plus you don't have to listen to inane "strategy" talk when sat in your underwear clicking a mouse).

Haha amazing. Yah I agree, live play so definitely pretty brutal. I've been playing a bit more live lately and posting about my sessions on my blog. I usually play $1k buyin ($5/5) so I don't see things quite as crazy as some of those hands, but still some pretty dumb stuff happening nonetheless.

I will probably try playing live 1-2 times a month going forward.

[The Bean Counter]

man, my live poker experiences have always made me wonder about this statement
i've been in surprisingly strong line-ups in both europe (sweden) and nz

I've always imagined playing at a table of Swedes to nuts, with pretty much every hand getting all in. I'm basing this solely on Viktor Blom of course, plus all the maniac Scandis that appeared on the scene a few years ago before going broke.

I'd guess you have just been unlucky when you've played live before.

Haha amazing. Yah I agree, live play so definitely pretty brutal. I've been playing a bit more live lately and posting about my sessions on my blog. I usually play $1k buyin ($5/5) so I don't see things quite as crazy as some of those hands, but still some pretty dumb stuff happening nonetheless.

I will probably try playing live 1-2 times a month going forward.

Been enjoying your blog. How do you stay focussed for long periods of live play though? I find I get bored and my back starts to hurt, plus it can be frustrating when you go a couple of hours flopping air multi-way.

[The Bean Counter]

So I think I need to be honest with myself and realise I'm playing badly at 50nl over a sustained period (and certainly not profitable). After a fantastic start playing scared money, I've degenerated into this maniac, dick-waving monkey that assumes everybody is playing back at me. After being up 20BI after 28k hands, I'm now only 4BI up at 50nl after 73k hands.

Maybe I still shouldn't be that hard on myself however. I'm still technically beating the rake in that period of no self-control and there is easily a 1BI loss per 1000 hands that is just pure wank play. If I can cut that shit out, I can beat 50nl fairly comfortably I think. My problem is that I've never gone any length of time when I can cut that shit out!

My plan therefore is to drop back to 25nl as punishment and work on my game away from the table, working mainly on pre-flop play.