PC Probs & some poker stuff

My PC is sick
Fired up my poker PC last night and unfortunately it decided it preferred to shutdown. So have spent a fair few hours trying to get the sod operational. thought I might have a worm but scans proved negative. Still not sure what is wrong but I managed to find a workaround.

The lappy is getting rather elderly so I've made sure to back up my HEM Database and other important files. Think I will need to part with some cash soon for a new high spec desktop. Means I have an option to get 2 decent sized monitors.

Poker
After my recent awful play and bankroll destruction I realised I needed to take a long hard look at what I am doing. I made a deliberately whining post in a forum along the lines of 'how come I can't beat 25NL?'. I have to say the responses were great - generally positive and constructive. There are numerous reasons that contribute to my lack of progress - here's as few... not playing enough, probably don't study hard enough, suffer from tilt (passive and frustration) and stack off too light against passive villains.

I also realise that all the stuff I get taught and read about ACTUALLY MATTERS. All that good stuff is essential if you want to become a winning player.

Hand reviews and posting are right up there as critical tasks. I do hand reviews after most sessions; at very least the bigger pots. Posting on forums is something I haven't done a great deal of but have decided to make the most of it now. I posted a hand on stoxpoker the other day and got an instant response from one of the better coaches. Cool. It was only a one liner but I think his answer was 100% correct - at least it reminded me that there are more creative ways to play a hand.

Sweat Session
Played a good 2 table session with my Scottish poker buddy which resulted in a nice BI win. We played calm, avoided marginal spots and got some good discussion going about a few hands and discussed some poker theory. Reviewed a few hands after the event. Nice one!

Need some career suggestions

Just had along talk with my brother (employer) who told me that he has decided to put his company up for sale. The plan is to spend the next 12 months finishing current projects and trying to add some value to the company and then sell. So after 10 years working with my brother I will be looking for a new source of income. I'm not surprised at this news but I think he really means it which is still a bit shocking. Working for a family business has given me a sense of security and flexibilty that most workers probably don't enjoy but now just like everyone else I will need to earn my corn in a very competitive job market.

I suppose have a lot of experience in the IT sector but don't have formal qualifications. Doing some training in something like project management is an option but it would probably be less painfull to poke my eye with a sharp stick. For the last 15 years I have worked as a freelancer and for the brother so I don't think I would fit into a regular organisation where you get told what to do and have performance appraisals every 5 seconds. That's assuming I am actually employable!

To be fair to my brother he has told me if I want to start taking time off to find something he will support me. Also suggested that he could provide some capital to start a business.

What next?

PS Please contact me if you would like to donate to my retirement fund; I will send you my paypal account by return.

Thanks

October - oops!

Down 7 BI for the month. Only 30 hours play. Total loss of discipline accounted for most of this loss. Playing too long and too many tables sometimes in a attempt to make up for lost time and 'get hands in'. Only myself to blame. I am now 110% committed to sticking to my pre and post session rules. Hopefully November will see a better results.

Despite Octobers results coaching is going well and I definitely think I have improved in some areas. Up until recently I thought progress would happen just by playing and doing some study; I now realise that the commitment required to be successful is substantial. Half measures will not cut it. I now know for sure there is no way I can become a good winning player without serious application.

Shortstackers
I now hate em. Played 2 session today and the tables were infested. To make matters worse there was an unusually high number open shoving which obviously totally ruins the game. In the space of an hour I played on 8 tables - mostly trying to avoid shorties. Usually I can get the better of the little wretches but tonight I got it in behind and lost 40bb. Crap.

Work you don't like sucks

Poker
Reviewed my last session and realised that I ran a little good for a change; flopped some nice hands so I did. Not sure that I maximised my profits. For various reasons the several smallish pots I lost were almost all unnecessary. I suppose that's a positive as I could see that there were better options. Learning to get maximum value on good hands is obviously extremely important but I think reviewing the small loss hands could be just as important. It's too easy to overlook the 5-10bb pots.

Work

Be grateful you mugs

Sorry - this is a bit of a negative post.

Travelled back from Belgium via Brussels Airport. Had a couple of hours to kill before the flight so got some food and wine and then went to the business lounge for more alcohol. For several months In the 90's I commuted every week to Germany via Brussels; so spent a lot of time in the airport. This was before the collapse of the national airline, SABENA (Such A Bad Experience, Never Again) so the airport was a major hub and was usually buzzing. It was a good time for me as it was the first time I earned decent money as an IT contractor. The money was kind of mind blowing as I was making my old annual psychiatric nursing salary in around 2 months. Prior to going into IT contracting my wife and I had been broke for a good few years while I retrained. So going from broke to loadsa money almost overnight made me feel like a milionaire. Good times! Having had this experience I can confirm that despite what some say, money does help to make life sweeter. So being back in Brussels with a couple of scoofs inside me was kind of a melancholic experience. The airport seems faded and a bit grubby in places and there seemed to be more staff than passengers.

I think spending a few days with customers I have know for several years had triggered my mini downer. I looked at them and realised that they were all lifers. All a little older, wearing cheap clothes (same gear 2 days running...), getting ferried to and from work on the company bus, working in a sh*t, dreary grey office. I imagine they have long since abandoned any prospect of a better career, fame, success, money and all that stuff some of us dream of when starting out. They live for their holidays; and by the way in Belgium staffers get a ton of holidays. One guy I spoke to gets 64 days a year.

It was the same experience the previous week when I spent 5 days with a couple of lifers. Two middle aged guys working together in the same office; one bright and ambitious but reconciled to spending the rest of his career working for the company. The other guy is sleepy, sometimes barely coherent and worst of all covered in food stains and a snowstorm of dandruff (hope he doesn't read this...).

The last few weeks have only served to remind me that I haven't moved further forward in terms of my career since my glory days in the 90s and early naughties. Stagnation. Honestly, I don't want to work with these people any more. I really want to sit in my
home office, alone getting on with whatever makes money. Don't get me wrong, I like people but have just run out of patience with the whole gig.

In the last 2 months I have made 6 overseas trips and it has really messed with my routine. Or more accurately I have allowed the travelling to mess things up. Need to get back on the straight and narrow.

3 days in Belgium

Work
Arrived in Antwerp tonight. Got a nice hotel (Radisson) for a change at a good rate. Its got a gym so planning to get at least one workout in. It's just going to be baby workout as I've haven't done a stroke for around a month. Just about to do a little prep work before meeting the customers tomorrow. When I get back to Scotland I am taking Thursday and Friday off to catch up on a few things. Also still got a weeks holiday to take before the xmas holidays but might split it up into a couple of long weekends.

Blurry pic of the hotel


Investments
I have decided to try and sell my wee property empire. Am a bit tired of the landlording but the main thing is that I don't think there is much more capital growth to be had over the next few years. Any profit will go straight into my personal mortgage.

Poker
Played a good session this morning. Much more like the way I want to play. If I do say so myself I think I mostly got the better of most of the regs and loose aggro types. Just stuck to my hour max target and managed a modest 70bb.

The previous 3 sessions have been fairly disastrous, largely through tilt, playing tired, playing too long, playing when hungry, too long and questionable table selection. You name it I did it. So lost around 10 BI in 3 sessions. More discipline required.

The last losing session I had position on a 70 VPIP guy who managed to take around 1.5 BI off me. I couldn't win a hand. The final straw was stacking off in a 3bet pot with AA versus his flopped set. Tiltorama. So for the time being I'm going to try and make a decision much earlier about whether or not I want to be at table with someone like that. It's pretty sick and I should be able to some money from guys like this but at the moment I think I play a lot better versus saner types.

The view from up the lane. What keeps me sane when I am travelling