We will find a way when it comes to poker. Meanwhile, I found a way to introduce the wine I got:
I did have some lasagna tonight, a nice fit for some red wine. I really liked this wine, very mild and pleasant taste.
Admittedly, though, the lasagna was not my own cooking. I like to visit my mum on weekends, so I will often have dinner at her place on Saturday evenings. At least I was able to bring some good wine to go along with it.
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Especially because it is easy to do in my case. She lives in a separate apartment downstairs from me, so I make it a point to drop by for a few hours every Saturday afternoon, and then typically have dinner at her place in the evening that day.
"Mixed Drinks" for the Season
You guys like Starbucks? I don't... or rather, I don't really ever visit it, but I don't think I'm missing out.
A few weeks ago, however, I heard about their breakfast sandwiches and had a look online for some copycat recipes, which also had me stumbling upon a recipe for their Maple Pecan Latte. Never had that one before, but it sounded very good, and the drink seemed easy to prepare once you have all the ingredients at home, so I wanted to give it a try.
In fact, I don't think I ever even had pecan nuts before. They're not all that cheap.
I tried one of them on its own... honestly, they don't seem to taste very different compared to those regular walnuts that we already have in abundance thanks to the trees in our own garden, so I think I will use those from now on. I still wanted to make one "authentic" version of this recipe the first time.
Here are two of those pecan nuts, all chopped up:
As for the actual coffee, we will simply make a shot of strong espresso and combine it with two tablespoons of maple syrup.
For the Latte part, I think it is finally time to get out that fancy milk frother that I bought last year for around €100 and only used once or twice ever since. One cup of milk should just about do.
Then we simply pour that steamed milk to the rest of the coffee, including that glorious foamy head.
And finally, we sprinkle it with some of those chopped pecan nuts. Might as well use walnuts next time.
A lovely autumnal drink, especially for a quiet Saturday afternoon at home, isn't it? I really enjoyed it, I think I will make it again. It is quite simple, after all.
Square Peg, Round Hole?
I think this was the problem with poker for me throughout much of this year. My daily schedule changed, and so did my activities - and yet, I tried to cram the old poker schedule in there as best as I can.
I could make a really long post about it, analyzing all the details of what went wrong, and what could be better... but it would surely be boring for you to read, while I myself need actions, not words, to change the situation for the better.
To touch on a few important points, though:
1. Sleep! - I'm simply not getting enough on a normal workday, and it's not like poker is to blame for it too much, as it persisted even now, when I was hardly playing. My habits need to change a little, and yes, the poker grind will have to adapt, whatever it will look like.
If you're not familiar yourself, feel free to check out sleepytime, which is a website that can help you figure out when to hit the bed depending on when you need to get up, by counting backwards through sleep cycles. Waking up during the wrong part of your sleep cycle can leave you feeling like a zombie when you are getting up, and end up ruining your whole day. It definitely happened to me a few times last week.
2. Game Selection - It may not be easy to find the right games to play, keeping all of this in mind, but I need to pick something and stick with it. I have analyzed the MTT selection on Stars before, and didn't find a lot that was calling out to me. Do I really need to find a killer format right now, though? I think it is better to simply get some enjoyment back into the game, which brings me to my next point...
3. The Old Mental Game - Fancy anti-tilt strategies aside... why can I take losses at sports, games and similar activities usually in stride while losing at poker often feels like losing a war to me? It is a card game, as I like to keep reminding myself. Forget about profit goals for a moment, I need to turn poker into a positive experience once again before we can think about anything more ambitious. Before that happens, I'm just spinning my wheels.
And that's what I will be trying to do in the next few weeks, taking these points into consideration. I already have a few ideas, let's see where they will lead me...
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Thank you very much for the support. 
Maybe I have been overly negative in the last few days, but 2023 was actually a very successful year for me in general... just not when it comes to poker.
I think my only poker-related goal for the rest of the year should be to make poker "work" again, to turn it back into a positive experience. If this means becoming a "rec" or a weekend warrior, then so be it.
Breaking Quads for Fun and Profit
When you get a Fantasyland deal in OFC, you can repeat it by getting quads or better in the back, trips or better on top, or - as an additional house rule on this particular network - also by getting a full house or better in the middle.
It can be tempting to simply put your quads in the back when you do get them, but sometimes, there are situations where you want to break them, in order to achieve an even better hand that still repeats Fantasyland.
Other times, it's much more obvious, like in the hand below. Using one of the four sixes for a straight flush is already a no-brainer because it is the better hand anyway, but it also allows us to make a full house in the middle with the other three. The fact that the full house allows us to repeat FL under house rules is irrelevant since we already do this with our straight flush anyway, but a boat in the middle is simply a pretty damn good hand.
With such good hands in these spots, it doesn't matter if our top sucks - and even less so if our opponent ends up fouling.
Breaking quads - only in OFC. (In lowball, I think the best move is snow, show and troll)
Well, it turns out quad 6's can do pretty well in other forms of poker too.
PokerStars, $1.76 + $0.24 - 5 Card Draw Pot Limit - 15/30 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat
UTG: 1,500 (50 bb)
MP: 1,455 (49 bb)
CO: 1,567 (52 bb)
BU: 1,413 (47 bb)
SB: 1,390 (46 bb)
BB (Hero): 1,675 (56 bb)
Deal: (45) Hero is BB with 6♦ 6♠ 6♥ 3♦ 6♣
UTG raises to 105, 1 fold, CO calls 105, 2 players fold, Hero 3-bets to 300, UTG calls 195, 1 fold
Draw One: (720) 6♦ 6♠ 6♥ 6♣ K♥ (2 players)
BB (Hero) draws 3d, UTG draws 1
Hero bets 390, UTG calls 390
Total pot: 1,500
Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows 6♦ 6♠ 6♥ 6♣ K♥ (four of a kind, Sixes)
UTG mucks 8♦ 8♠ 8♣ 3♣ 2♦ (three of a kind, Eights)
BB (Hero) wins 1,500
I could ask in the Pokerstars sub-forum, but I don't expect it would get too many more views over there either: Is it still possible for you guys to open up SNG lobbies on Stars? I pressed on the tournament lobby button, but nothing happened, in any of the listed SNGs. I could only reg via the Play Now button.
Was that just a random software failure, or is this option simply not available anymore, either for German players or in general? It would be nonsensical, but it would be perfectly in line with some of the other restrictions, like the erasure of waiting lists on cash tables or the obligation to play a certain number of hands before leaving a table.
Several trips are always a welcome sight, especially together with loads of flush cards. Being able to put trips on top in OFC is always huge.
We had a possible straight here too that would leave the trips untouched, but what I didn't realize until I was placing the cards is that we also receive an additional pair which we don't need to work into our flush. As a result, we can even put our better trips on top, which are the 2nd best possible hand in that spot, and score a huge hand against two opponents.
...and sometimes, you don't even need Fantasyland to get a massive hand.
Any hand with QQ or better on top is already a good hand in OFC, since it qualifies you for the Fantasyland deal, which should be your goal whenever possible. Quads are great, of course, but a full house in the middle? You don't see that very often outside of Fantasyland (and even there, it's pretty rare).
Oh, and speaking of big hands... do we dare to continue drawing for the straight flush here? Or do we chicken out and play it safe with the straight?
Nah, I played it safe, putting the 7 in the back and the Queen on top to get me some additional draws for Fantasyland, which I figured was more important.
Did it work out?
Ah, no, we would have gotten the straight flush... and the player in front of me received one of the missing Queens, no Fantasyland for us either.
Too bad, but if I had received a King without any helpful cards in the back (or the Queen, though I could have at least bailed with that one to make a straight), I would have been "Monday morning quarterbacking" even harder, I expect.
Still, now that I think about it, there should have been plenty of regular flush outs still alive to give my an additional escape hatch (as evidenced by the fact that I got three of them here), maybe I should have risked it after all.
Plenty of OFC posts tonight...
Well, I just played a big session against two known opponents against whom I had some good success earlier, which is the reason why I didn't mind joining them at the next higher stakes, which are four times higher than what I would usually prefer to play.
The result was a very good session with 390 points in profit, each of them corresponding to a µBTC. My opponents still kept playing after I left, but I had been playing for almost two hours by that point, so I wanted to take a break, even though it was a great table.
I believe this would already amount to a two figure USD amount, but more importantly, remember my bankroll goal of 1K µBTC?
I had given up on it, but one great session can make all the difference.
Of course, it can be lost just as quickly... but it's a big milestone. It would also put me at double the minimum withdrawal amount, so I could start getting some cryptos, if I liked. Note that I never bought any myself, the ones in that bankroll are all built from freeroll winnings
I think I will stick to the plan, though, keep those µBTC safe in there and use them as a buffer zone for those OFC stakes, though I am prepared to drop down in stakes again if I get a few bad sessions.
This hand may be a better example of facing a decision about breaking quads:
We are in Fantasyland, and we can easily stay there for one more go if we simply put our quad deuces in the back. But what else do we have for the other spots? We could put a broadway in the middle and some garbage on top, to at least have a decent middle hand. Less ideally, we could got for a simple JJ in the middle and put AKQ on top, hoping that it will win against non-pairs.
What else can we do? You may have noticed the flush potential, with five hearts and five diamonds. Unfortunately, they would both require us to break our quads, even though they could result in some good hands - we could either build two flushes and put a pair of deuces on top, or use three deuces for a full house and put a flush above it in the middle.
Is there any way to put valid trips on top? Yes, there is - you may have found it already. We can use one of our deuces for a 5432A wheel, put a KQJT9 straight below it in the back, and put the remaining three deuces on top. Solid hands in all three spots, and we repeat Fantasyland.
Oh, can you believe it? 
The player to our right, who was also in Fantasyland, had a similar idea - and they had even better hands in all three spots. Wow...
Bad news for BlackMoon to our left, who was not in Fantasyland and did not manage to finish a valid hand, leaving them 49 points in the red in this hand. Luckily for us, that still left us with an 11 points profit overall, after receiving 22 points from unlucky BlackMoon.
Back the hand above, though. Let's have a look at the math, for the different possibilities we discussed. For simplicity's sake, we will only take a look at the royalties we would earn with our different constellations:
Case #1: 2♣:2♦:2♥:2♠:3♦: in the back A♥:K♣:Q♦:J♠:T♥: in the middle, J♦:9♥:5♥: on top.
Royalties: 10 for 2222x, 4 for AKQJT. Total: 14 points
Repeats Fantasyland
Case #2: 2♣:2♦:2♥:2♠:3♦: in the back, J♦:J♠:T♥:9♥:5♥: in the middle, A♥:K♣:Q♦: on top.
Royalties: 10 for 2222x. Total: 10 points
Repeats Fantasyland
Case #3: A♥:T♥:9♥:5♥:2♥: in the back, Q♦:J♦:4♦:3♦:2♦: in the middle, 2♠:2♣:K♣: on top.
Royalties: 4 for AT952, 8 for QJ432. Total: 12 points
Does not repeat Fantasyland
Case #4: 2♣:2♦:2♠:J♦:J♠: in the back, A♥:T♥:9♥:5♥:2♥: in the middle, K♣:Q♦:4♦: on top.
Royalties: 6 for 222JJ, 8 for AT952. Total: 14 points
Does not repeat Fantasyland
Case #5: K♣:Q♦:J♦:T♥:9♥: in the back, 5♥:4♦:3♦:2♥:A♥: in the middle, 2♣:2♦:2♠: on top.
Royalties: 2 for KQJT9, 4 for 5432A, 10 for 222. Total: 16 points
Repeats Fantasyland
As you can see, the math in on our side if we go with option #5, which is the one I picked in the game.
Note that there is more to making points in OFC than just collecting royalties. Other important factors are accessing Fantasyland, which is theorized to be worth around 8 points alone, and the ability to scoop, which earns you an automatic bonus of 6 points, in addition to winning all three lines. Even if we go beyond pure royalties, I think the option we chose should be our best bet in all regards.
Ohhhhhh, speaking of trips... here we have a very rare opportunity to put them on top in a non-Fantasyland hand.
Now, if one of those three cards had been a club, we would have a decision on our hands. We absolutely need a flush in the back, with only one draw left. If we don't get it, our entire hand collapses and becomes invalid, no matter how good it would have been. We are drawing relatively live here, with only two clubs visibly dead, but it would still be a judgment call whether to play it safe and lock up our ticket to Fantasyland with KK on top and a made flush in the back, or put down the trip Kings and risk not making the flush, therefore losing it all.
The way it was, though, there was no reason not to play the trips. We either get our flush or we don't, whether we have KK or KKK on top, and neither choice influences our draw.
Nice, we got it. 
As I said, we were drawing very live. A 7-outer may not sound like much in other forms of poker, but keep in mind that in this situation, more than half of the deck is exposed already. According to a chart I have, a true 7-outer* in this situation has a 75% chance of getting there**.
* We have no information about our opponent's discards, which are dead cards, and we don't know if any of our outs are among them.
** This assumes 32 known cards, therefore expecting us to keep track of our previous two discards. Only 30 cards are visible in the first screenshot where we made our decision.
What a monster... and none of our opponents had anything to fight back with. The result was a whopping 66 points payday for a single hand, 42 of which came from the trip Kings alone. Not to mention that we unlocked a Fantasyland deal in the next hand, giving us a further advantage.
After seeing how huge such a hand is if we make it, I think it would have been worth it to risk a busted flush draw if it had been a decision we would have had to make.
Some nice success at OFC these days, right? Well, yes, we managed to win around 109 µBTC at those lower stakes last night, after a 437 points profit session. Sounds great, but today didn't go so well. I played higher stakes again, against two of my favorite opponents who normally don't do very well against me, but ended up 102 points/µBTC down, undoing last night's progress again.
We are still in a very good position, and most of it was likely down to bad luck today - my opponents made some outrageous draws, getting rewarded for questionable moves, while my own Fantasylands left a lot to be desired throughout the whole night. Still, it was a tough pill to swallow.
If I can stick around, I expect I could bring in a good profit in the long run if these players remain, but you can't be sure of that. Let's check the lobby at those hours again in the next few days, it would fit my intended sleeping schedule better anyway. No Badugi at the moment, OFC is not a good game for multitasking, so I had to stick to it after I was lucky enough to get some tables.
Ah, and I heard the uBTC is a much more common abbreviation for micro bitcoins than µBTC. I guess I will use that one from now on then, in solidarity with all people who don't have a µ-key on their keyboard, or can't bother to find it.
Going for it!
If you have ever watched (or even played) American football, you may be familiar with the excitement of going for a run or pass play on 4th down in a decisive situation, risking an immediate turnover if you fail, rather than settling for a safe kick to make some distance or put a few points on the board. That's how I always feel in OFC when I have the opportunity to lock up a safe, cheap hand, but instead try to go for something bigger at the risk of losing it all.
In this hand, I just received K♥:K♦: and could have locked up the flush in the back with the K♥:, therefore guaranteeing a valid hand, with a slight chance to draw for another king on top. But come on... I'm sure the 8♥: is still out there! Besides, there should still be plenty of outs left for the flush, and putting KK on top guarantees Fantasyland if I do get it - let's go for it!
So... did we get it?
Oh my goodness, that's even better! 
I didn't even think about this - we can now put valid trip kings on top.
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Nice!
Any idea what the odds are?
According to the handy-dandy odds sheet I have, at the time I made the decision, it should be 20% to draw a third king, 10% to draw the 8♥: for the straight flush, and 52% to draw any flush to complete the hand. Add the remaining 8♣: for the gutshot, and it goes up to 58%.
All of this assumes that all outs are fully live - and that I am looking in the correct column in the chart. The column I'm looking at assumes 23 known cards and three cards left to draw, which implies that my own discards are known (note that only 9 of my opponent's cards would have been visible at that time - I don't know if any 8's or hearts got added during his draw that happened until the time I made the screenshots).
The chances of drawing any flush plus any additional king should be 8%, or 9% if we include the extra gutshot out. Drawing both the 8♥: and any additional king should have had about a 1% chance.
Still up so late on a Sunday night? Well, I'm actually on vacation until Wednesday. I guess I can use a bit of a break too, it felt as if I had been on the move all week long, including the weekend.
OFC is still the only kind of poker to be played, but it is not always running. Tonight, what started out like a bad session turned into a quite good one, when I managed to "stack" another opponent at my higher stakes by getting them to hit the 100 point loss limit for a round. This was just enough to make me pass the 1,000 uBTC profit mark for this year on that site - I recently learned that uBTC is a more common abbreviation for a millionth of a bitcoin than the µBTC I had been using before.
At the current rate, this should be more than $30 too, so together with the winnings on CoinPoker when the games were still running, I should be about $100 in combined profit, which is another big milestone, and certainly not bad for such a low traffic game that I didn't even play for big chunks of the year.
I should collect some more stats and put some graphs together, but this should have to wait until the end of the month, I believe - and it can look entirely different by that time in this swingy game.
Speaking of which, there was an interesting situation tonight after my opponent left following their 100 points loss. They went to immediately sit down at another (empty) table with stakes five times as high. Each point would have been worth 5 uBTC over there, so a round's maximum loss (and minimum buy-in) would have been 500 uBTC, though I typically bring two "stacks" to the table, meaning that I would bring all of this year's profit, and most of my bankroll. As tempting as it was, considering that I just did quite well against this opponent, this wouldn't mean that it would happen again, so forget about it - BRM is important, as we all know.
Originally posted by Harrier88
I recently learned that uBTC is a more common abbreviation for a millionth of a bitcoin than the µBTC I had been using before.
Yeah, but technically incorrect. <sigh>
