A lot to do but ....
...managed to play a Mini-freeroll session on Party but of course, I have to get into it again, getting used to poker, to the ranges, to all that stuff. It´s been really a long time. I´ve been absent from the tables for a long time and I have to get used to two and to four cards again, oh boy. :facepalm::rage: It´s always the same: If you´re lazy, you get what you deserve for your lazyness 
Anayway, we gotta get slowly into it again ...
Another big harvest ...
well, not in poker yet, but at least in the garden. Harvested another zombie-zucchini, finally some egg-plants, even more tomatoes, carrots, celery and some zombie-cabbage. 
Another day of hard work yesterday, even though it was official holiday in Germany. Took out all the tomatoes, cleared the field, got rid of most of the weed (Homer helped!), watered the plants, harvested the last tomatoes and sowed the winter spinach, the winter-salads and planted some Pak Choi. Today, I took the chilis in, decided that Sarit Gat (one of my favorites) will come indoor too and will maybe remain an indoor plant, because next year I´m going to grown new chilis. Had some empty pots, that´s why I decided that the Habanero will come indoor too (and stay a pure indoor plant). Took in the Ornamental chili - which is not only one of the hottest ones but as its name says: really an ornament. It´s in my office now.
During my lunch-break I canned PIzza soup (as there will be no sports until Friday, I have time to do that). Guess there´s going to be a last round of canning and that will be it for this year. We got a lot of fruit and veggies stored, canned and frozen down for winter. Until November (maybe December) we will still be able to eat what grows in the garden (hopefully). 
What is fun (and what is not)
So then: Let´s hit the tables! Opened Partypoker today and found that there´s not exactly much traffic at the SnGs. Wanted to play a 9-max SnG but there was no traffic. Decided to play those "Free to play" freerolls and a 1 $ DON. I´m really proud to tell you guys, that I was playing the DON really nicely and patiently. Nevertheless, luck was not on my side today. After waiting patiently someone else to bust at the bubble (which did not happen) and folding the total junk hands, I finally, blinded down to 4 BB, found KK on the BTN. CO folded and the decision was a no-brainer push. But how unlucky can someone be? BB calls and holds AA! And out I was! My patience got not quite rewarded! And I have to admit that that DON was pretty boring.
But that´s not it: There´s good news from the Freeroll-front! 
Managed to get ITM in one of my freerolls and took a 0,55 $ ticket with me! 
Yaaaay! Well, to be honest: The 1 $ DON was for free anyway, because I just used one of those tickets I had had won in those freerolls a couple of months ago. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: Those freerolls can be really fun and they´re easy to play (good when you´re a bit tired). The DONs are not so much fun but German players don´t have so much choice. We´re restricted to one room and to only 4 tables. Not easy to set a goal and build a BR, is it? 
A little free time fun challenge
It´s not easy to stay motivated with so many restrictions in Germany. This is why i created a little free time fun challenge for me, to stay motivated and not to loose fun playing poker: I cashed out from Partypoker about 125 €, leaving only 50 € on my BR. Let´s see what I can make of this.
Goal is to win tickets in those "Free to play around the clock"-freerolls and use them for CG and SNGs (whenever there´s traffic). Today, I used up another ticket for a DON and won it. Well, 3rd place but in a DON this is a winning. Got 0,65 $ in tickets left, which I will use for 0,22 $ and 0,33 $ MTTs in Holdem and PLO8, tried to win more tickets today, but unfortunately, did not succeed. My AA got cracked by a notorious luck box at my table, who pushed every hand all-in and I was more than happy to call with my AA. But as I mentioned: notorious luck box, of course the board brought him a flush. :facepalm::rage:
Little Bowser jr. was not amused.
Decided to watch a nice movie with him, before he spits fire.
And got a little common cold! Yeah, it´s now the season for it and many people in my environment suffer from a common cold. So, staying in bed today, but could anyway play a DON and the 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m and 5 p.m freeroll.
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We watched the good old "Rocky IV"-movie (which was one of my favorites when I was 13). 
So, showed the little Koopa prince one of my favorite movies of my teenage-years. :f_biggrin::f_love:
Originally posted by Primrose6789
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We watched the good old "Rocky IV"-movie (which was one of my favorites when I was 13).
Oh yes, he was absolutely fascinated and enthusiastic. Guess, that´s the way he will play poker in the future. :f_ugly::f_ugly:
Time for family and friends
There was no poker this weekend, but a big Birthday party and family gathering. Fall is always the time of the big family gatherings and Birthday parties, many people in my familie (including myself) celebrate their Birthday in October or November. This is a nice way for starting the off-season, enjoying slacking off on sports, poker and also my diet. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: After a highly active summer season it´s always nice to be a bit sloppy and slacking off on everything.
As I am usually disciplined and active, my body mostly says "thank you".
Bowser jr. sneaked ITM...
Well, yes, we pretty much sneaked ITM. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: Well: That one was not one of the most interesting and action-filled sessions. It was quite boring, actually. We played the Free to Play round the clock freerolls at 2, 3 and 4 pm. today. The session went quite card-dead with some standard bust-outs and some desperately hanging in there and just surviving. As we´re collecting so called "Party dollars" (real money, but only to be used for playing at Partypoker), we´re always happy when we get ITM. I don´t think there was more to be collected today. But the extremely positive and nice thing about my session was that I spent finally my freetime being comfy on the couch! 
That´s a rare thing to see: Prim not being active!
Well, there´s not so much to do in the garden anymore, the time for summer veggies is definitely over, it was raining enough this week, not only the veggies, but also the weed is growing slowly now due to colder temperatures and less daylight time. But that doesn´t mean that I don´t have anything in the garden: got spinach, winter salads, celery, onions, leek, carrots and some kale. Time for the fall- and winter-veggies now. Harvested all the pumpkins (still a lot of pumpkins left) because temperatures had dropped around 2°C at night last week. The freezer is full! Full of frozen summer veggies and we still got a lot of chard (will sustain during winter). Chilis are inside and sadly, I have to inform you, that neither the Carolina Reaper nor Trinidad Moruga Scorpion have fruits. Flowers, flowers, flowers but no fruit. :f_frown::f_cry: Maybe more luck next year? They´re hibernating indoor right now. All the HOT stuff that´s left is some Ornamental chili in my office. The last own-grown tomatoes are riping indoor, sweet pepper is gone, eggplant is frozen down, green beans are frozen down, grapes and cherries are frozen down (LOTS of them!), zombie-zucchini are frozen down and soon we´re gonna eat the last own-grown "Kohlrabi".
Summer gardening season is over, and I already booked the same garden for next year, this means that there will be (hopefully) some winter-gardening. I´m looking back to a successful first REAL gardening season (not only terrace and pots) and try to get better and better!
Nazgos, yes, I do rent the garden. It´s not a "Schrebergarten", it´s only a garden to rent, the project is called "Freizeit Farmer" ("recreational farmer"). You can rent a garden for a year. And here too, some gardening has changed from outdoor to indoor (Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Morgua Scorpion, AiJ Charapita, Ornamental).
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Yes, we have water. We have water butts. You can choose between a 20, 40 or 80 square meter garden. Mine is 40 square meters. We got everything, even some instruments for gardening, seeds (you have to buy it but I have my own), and everything has to be organic! We are not allowed to bring along non-organic plants or even GMOs.
A nice poker (and gardening) weekend
We got fewer and fewer veggies in our garden - still celery, winter salads, chard, leek, some carrots and a little broccoli left. Made an awesome pumpkin cake today. But also the pumpkins are almost used up (only one left). Got also some chard downstairs in my little garden in front of the house and some pak choi on the terrace. The spinach has germinated and hopefully it will still grow a bit. But this weekend we started to use up the frozen veggies. Well, it´s getting colder and darker ... it´s cool and rainy here.
Cold and rainy weather also means: more time for poker! Which in fact did play this weekend! And this weekend I tried out something new, because there was barely traffic in the SnGs and DONs - so, I tried a Spin and Go (or Spin Overdriver how they´re called on Party). Used some of my "party dollars" (= "CG-tickets" or "tournament tickets", you can use them for whatever you want). Registered to a 0,25 $ Spin Overdrive and won it!! It was a 2,7 x or so - and I won 70 cts. I may think about playing those but I have no knowledge how to play them. I don´t have a decent Spin n Go strategy but I guess in the 0,25 $ some basic SnG knowledge could be enough? I don´t know. It´s just something to consider because traffic in SnGs is so poor. Besides this Spin Overdrive I played some Free To Play tournaments and could win at least a 0,25 $ ticket ("party dollars"), which made Bowser jr. happy.
A day off
Today, it´s an offical holiday in some parts of Germany. Here, we had a day off today and I took a little time to play some poker. Played two of those "Free to play" freerolls but noticed that the prices have changed. Now, the first 200 players get payed, but not in Partydollars, but in some idiot satty-tickets (which I don´t want). Only places 1-25 get Partydollars for free use, while the rest who makes it in the prices get a satty-ticket. Those are tickets for some hyper-turbo sattys, which I can´t stand and you can´t even use the ticket for another MTT, you must use it for this Sunday Party Subfeeder satty, which is a hyper. So, pretty much lotto play. 
I don´t know if Partypoker is planning to change the prices of this freeroll permanently or just temporarly, but it sucks! I won one of those 0,55 $ satty tickets and I don´t want it! I hate those hyper-hyper sattys which are nothing but pure gambling!! If the change in the price pool is permanent, I´m going to ditch those freerolls because they don´t make much sense! Wanted to collect those Partydollars and have zero interest in playing some idiot hyper-satties! This sucks guys, this really sucks. Besides, there´s very poor traffic going on in the SnGs and CGs on Party, so, all that´s left for me there are now Spins or MTTs.
I really don´t understand why Partypoker had to change the pricepool in the freerolls, probably there´s not a big interest in those satties and it´s a desperate try to fill them? Let´s see if this change affects only SOME of the freerolls and whether it´s permanent.... but I´m pretty much running out of options ....
Originally posted by Primrose6789
Today, it´s an offical holiday in some parts of Germany.
Not over here, sadly. But that's okay, I just took a vacation anyway. 
Originally posted by Primrose6789
I really don´t understand why Partypoker had to change the pricepool in the freerolls, probably there´s not a big interest in those satties and it´s a desperate try to fill them? Let´s see if this change affects only SOME of the freerolls and whether it´s permanent.... but I´m pretty much running out of options ....
I assume the freerolls were just not worth it for Party anymore, so they started giving out something that wouldn't cost them as much. Come to think of it, I suppose running those hourly freerolls was pretty generous compared to the rest of the industry.
But let's see, maybe it's a temporary thing. If in doubt, you could ask support about it.
Surely the SNG and CG traffic can't be that bad, though? I mean, I have been dealing with some pretty atrocious traffic last year in non-Hold'em SNGs on Pokerstars as well, and it ended up going all right for the most part.
Well, it´s quite bad, to be honest. Anyway, I´m sure I will find something which is fun. It was indeed very generous from Partypoker, but not sure if the change in the price pool is due to financial reasons, as they pay the first 25 finishers now more Partydollars. I looked at those 0,55 $ satties and indeed, just very few people play them. I think they want to nudge people to play those stupid satties.
Looking around ...
Well, it seems to be permanent: The prize pool of those "Free to play around the clock" freerolls on Party has changed and they mostly offer now some satellite tickets - which I do not want. I don´t feel like playing some gambling hyper-hyper-turbo satties for tournaments, I don´t wanna play anyway. It´s really extremely annoying how online poker gets destroyed. I don´t even have big motivation to play! It sucks guys, it really sucks.
This weekend, I found out that I still have an account on 888 - and took a look there, did not play, because I don´t have money there (cashed that out years ago), at least they seem to have traffic on PLO CG, they don´t have the classical SnGs anymore but some cheap MTTs, so maybe it could be worth to try?
Originally posted by Primrose6789
The prize pool of those "Free to play around the clock" freerolls on Party has changed and they mostly offer now some satellite tickets - which I do not want.
Aren't those satties for some kind of tournament series that is currently running? Maybe they will switch back to regular prizes when the series is over, if that's the case.
Originally posted by Primrose6789
This weekend, I found out that I still have an account on 888 - and took a look there, did not play, because I don´t have money there (cashed that out years ago), at least they seem to have traffic on PLO CG, they don´t have the classical SnGs anymore but some cheap MTTs, so maybe it could be worth to try?
Well, you can count on me staying miles away from any kind of PLO cash games anywhere...
888 has always been good when it comes to cheap MTTs, but I lost interest in them several years ago, when almost all of those MTTs turned out to have really long late regs, which is a problem on most sites, but 888 was pretty bad about that.
I still have a lot of nostalgia for 888, since it was my first ever poker site and I had been playing there exclusively for about one year when I was first starting out, but online poker in general has changed a lot, and I think 888 has aged even worse than many other sites that are still running.
Originally posted by Primrose6789
This weekend, I found out that I still have an account on 888 - and took a look there, did not play, because I don´t have money there (cashed that out years ago), at least they seem to have traffic on PLO CG, they don´t have the classical SnGs anymore but some cheap MTTs, so maybe it could be worth to try?
I dislike playing MTTs on 888 because they have excessive late reg
I play the freebies every day though, and I play the PLO8 whenever it runs
Trying out....
As the restrictions here in Germany have turned a decent SnG grind impossible, I´m trying out new things. As mentioned, I still got an 888 account and 888 still runs in Germany, I´m trying the CGs out there - there is infact some traffic on the CGs there. Furthermore, I tried some of those "Blast" SnGs (10 ct) but found out that this is pretty much gambling. Won´t play those. There are some cheap MTTs as well, I may give MTTs probably another chance, at least during off-season, because I have time at the weekends now. On Party, I played that satty for which I had won a ticket and was suprised that it was not so bad. Couldn´t get into the prices but the tournament was quite okay, not the "lotto"-play I had expected.
I took 20 € from Party and put it on 888. Cashing in and out has gotten WAY easier now there, you can do it by PayPal which is very convenient. So, I´m going to give 888 a shot, mainly for CG and MTTs. On Party, I finally found some traffic at the 9-max SnGs, played one for 1 $, but bubbled. Meh. 
Was just card-dead all the time. I think I still may play some SnGs and DONs on Party, as well as some cheap MTTs. Not sure if it´s worth the time to play those freerolls. You still can win Partydollars but you have to get deep ITM to get them. And I don´t want satty tickets, even though I´m thinking about picking up sattys again - could be fun, maybe?
My poker schedule will be pretty much of a "weekend warrior" I guess. I just have plenty of other things to do and all those restrictions do not help with motivation for poker. Everytime I set a goal, some new restrictions pop up or they change something (like the price pool in the Party-freerolls) and I am dissapointed! So, it´s going to be weekend-fun-play at the moment, I may PLO-MTTs also give another chance, and let´s see what we can do. I have 30 € (and a bit) on Partypoker and 20€ on 888. Thinking about BR building makes no sense at the moment.
Let´s try out what is possible, what is fun and what could be profitable and then we can think about a possible goal. But at the moment it´s all just for fun.
The 10 cent blasts are indeed a blast. The trick is to let the other two self-destruct, then pick up the pieces.
I've been using a phone app called "MuchBetter" for deposits and withdrawals. I don't know if it works on all rooms or if it works in Germany.
I does work with 888 though
