Hi Prim,
In your post above, you articulate some problems I am also struggling with at the moment. As a recreational player, playing and studying poker takes up so much time in my busy schedule, that I sometimes fear I could be spending my time far more productively.
Originally posted by mostlyfolding
Hi Prim,In your post above, you articulate some problems I am also struggling with at the moment. As a recreational player, playing and studying poker takes up so much time in my busy schedule, that I sometimes fear I could be spending my time far more productively.
This is it! Exactly! And Yes, it is a quite time consuming hobby. Finding time to study is not always easy. During times of high work load I unfortunately don´t have time to study at all. That´s the reason why I decided to go slowly but steadily. ♠_smile: We don´t have to get to the high stakes in a year, right? So just let´s take more time, I´m planning 5-10 years until I make it to........I don´t know....as far as possible.....♠_smile: But if not, should I see that I just don´t have the skills to make good money with poker....then.....so what? Then I play just for fun. No problem!
Especially during downswings I have the feeling I could spend my time with something more "useful" and take more time for my other hobbies or things that have to be done. But it´s important to get afterwards back on track. I personally decided to take a 3 days break from poker and then get back to the tables with fresh cleared mind and fresh patience and strength. For us hobby-players it´s no problem to take a break. If you feel that you need some time for other stuff, why not take a little break? As I said: We don´t wanna become pro within a year or two, right? Now and then we can afford to take a little break to get other things done. We have time: We can go slowly.... ♠_pleased:♠_pleased:
Originally posted by mostlyfolding
That's a good mindset Prim.
Thank you! The thing in my case is that I really like my work, what I absolutely didn´t like was beeing an employee and following orders instead of having responsibility, freedom and space for my own ideas and concepts. So I became a freelancer and I enjoy working very much! I´m not rich but I can make a good living on what I do. Actually that´s enough for me. Don´t need big house, don´t need a yacht, don´t need luxury, don´t need fancy stuff.... It just would be nice to have some nice side-income or having a bit more money saved for old age or so....
Reporting time
Sit and Goes: 44
PLO2-hands: 1.219
Total hands: 3.374
Result: -13,59€
BR: 233, 23
Goal: 1.000€
...can only get better, haha! ♠_biggrin:
Further plans
1) Today: poker break: proceeding with my work
2) Bankroll-split: Will cash out 80€ from Party and deposit it on 888. Why? More :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:, more traffic
3) continue playing at 1.10€ and 2.20€ Sit and Goes as well as PLO2, add PLO-SnGs and -MTTs.
4) hoping that the downswing slowly comes to an end 
Motivation coming back
....looking forward to grind tomorow. ♠_thumbsup: This little 3-day-break did good!
Today I will exercise instead of grinding (exchanged the days: normally Monday grind and Tuesday exercise).
Originally posted by SmellTheCoffee
Nice, good luck with your grind tomorrow.
Thank you, but still no luck at all. Still tons of unplayable hands (no matter if Holdem or PLO), suck outs and loosing against 3-outers and loosing every coinflip. This downswing takes now really long and it´s getting extremly annoying!! And I´m doing this to myself in my free time! Either I´m nuts or a masochist. Urm...no, I don´t like pain, so I´m completely nuts to do this to myself! While I was folding the crap hands or missed the 99999999th flop at PLO and got my 3rd suck-out, I really was thinking about quitting this sh**** and rather doing something else but well, on the other hand: bad luck cannot last forever, right? Let´s see....
Coffee break update
Number 1: I won´t quit of course! Have to pull myself together and continue, falling is no shame but not getting up afterwards is!
Number 2: Created an 888-account and could stuff the hole in my BR a little bit with bonus
Number 3: Will clear a bonus at 888, playing SnGs, DONs and PLO.
Number 4: Will grind today.
Originally posted by Primrose6789
Number 1: I won´t quit of course! Have to pull myself together and continue, falling is no shame but not getting up afterwards is!
Good to see you're a fighter. Keep going 
Originally posted by Kyyberi
Do you play SNG, HE and PLO all together?
Hi Kyyberi, yes I do. I play Holdem and PLO-SnGs, DONs and MTTs as well as a little bit PLO2.
Marta
Good to see you're a fighter. Keep going
Thank you very much, Marta! Yes I am a fighter and I have to develop and improve my strategy how to deal with long loosing streaks - short ones are okay, no problem with those, but the long downswings..... : have to work on it!
Originally posted by Primrose6789
Originally posted by Kyyberi
Do you play SNG, HE and PLO all together?Hi Kyyberi, yes I do.
This is a terrible way to grind and the fact that you do so many such different tasks at the same time or study several poker variants on the same day might be the reason why you were bleeding chips at all of them. Humans are usually rather bad at multitasking and keeping many things in the short-term memory at once.
Focus on one single variant that comes to your mind first - even if it turns out suboptimal for you in the hindsight, its study will be time well spent and you'll still do better than if you stay in the so-called 'analysis paralysis' state that you're experiencing now.
Originally posted by Primrose6789
Number 1: I won´t quit of course! Have to pull myself together and continue, falling is no shame but not getting up afterwards is!Number 2: Created an 888-account and could stuff the hole in my BR a little bit with bonus.
It's great to see you fighting! 
An important thing to understand is that, due to the fact that you have a continuous stream of non-poker income, your BR is essentially infinite (it's limited only by the extent of your willingness to redeposit) so there's no hole in it whatsoever.
What you should worry about is how to become a strong player (and to avoid tough games where it's hard for you to be the best player at the table) but not about the quality of the hands that you've been dealt. As long as you have a positive EV, your infinite BR will survive any downswing almost surely.
For a player with an infinite BR, its management rule is very simple - play in the game and at the stake that gives the maximum hourly winrate considering one's skill level.
E.g. I'm not going to play €10 Twister nowadays no matter how much money I have, just because I suspect that my skill level relative to the average opponents there has become not enough to make more €/hour there than by playing a ton of €5 tables. There are 2 ways to deal with the issue - be coached in order to be able to move up, or continue printing money without the pain of moving up and being outplayed there. When to stop learning to play this hardly meaningful card game, when to capitalise on the already acquired knowledge and when to retire is each player's personal decision.
I haven't heard a single success story where someone plays a lot of different formats. On the other hand I have heard countless success stories where someone puts focus and effort to master one format.
And I have heard from countless "multi-format" players that as soon as they focused on only one format, they realized how bad it was to play a lot of different things.
My advice is to put effort to one format. Cash game (HE or PLO), SNG, MTT, DON's etc. When you learn something well, it's easier to transition to other formats too. And your money purse thanks you as well.
And again THANK YOU for your input, Tony, appreciate it! You´re right: I´m kind of "freerolling", my "daily bread" comes from writing and either I become a good, strong player and win good money or not and then: SO WHAT? Then everything remains the way it is (which is absolutely fine).
As for PLO and Holdem: I don´t play them at the same time: either I play a Holdem- or an PLO-session. But not one table Holdem and the other Omaha. First I play my HE SnGs and then my PLO-SnGs or PLO2. And don´t forget: I´m a recreational player, I don´t wanna go pro within a year or so but rather play and study what I like. ♠_biggrin:
I don´t think that diversity is bad. It´s like in sports. When you do different kinds of sports you can make much better progresses. For example swimming and tennis. Swimming helps a lot for good tennis (don´t know why?). The body needs some variety. Your fitness gets much better and you progress faster.
As for SnGs: weeee, a little plus-session! I hope the absolute bottom of the downie is now reached.
Won a PLO8-6-max, 2 PLO-DONs and some Holdem DONs but in Holdem my hands still don´t hold very well, lost all flips and all 70:30 all-ins.
Originally posted by Kyyberi
I haven't heard a single success story where someone plays a lot of different formats. On the other hand I have heard countless success stories where someone puts focus and effort to master one format.And I have heard from countless "multi-format" players that as soon as they focused on only one format, they realized how bad it was to play a lot of different things.
My advice is to put effort to one format. Cash game (HE or PLO), SNG, MTT, DON's etc. When you learn something well, it's easier to transition to other formats too. And your money purse thanks you as well.
So you think: First learn something very well and then comes the variety?
Alright guys, I was thinking about this. Why not doing as discussed earier? Mainly Sit and Go (NL Holdem) and PLO afterwards just for fun. 2 hours of "serious" grinding and then comes the fun! I I love PLO!
But what I´m gonna very probably kick out is MTT - mostly I just don´t have the time to play MTTs for several hours..... 
Well, if you play for fun, just do what you like.
If you want to see how far you can go in poker and try to become the best poker Prim possible, then you should choose one format to focus on.
There isn't just one right way to play poker. It all depends on your goals. Just ask yourself why do you play poker and what are your poker goals. That tells you what to do.
In sports, if your goal is to be in good shape and have fun (recreational) then diversity is good. If your goal is to compete and win, then focusing on one sport gives the best results.
This is a very good point. What do I want? I don´t know yet....? Don´t wanna make any plans yet while I´m still at the micros. When I see that I beat the 5.50€ limit or the 11€ No limit Holdem SnGs then I can think about that .....
My goal at the moment is: getting out of the micros, haven´t thought about what will happen afterwards ....just no pressure!! Step by step and we will see....
