Double Trouble with Prim and Harrier - Poker, Sports, Cooking, Gardening, Mixed Drinks and more

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by nsavov
Why is that message popping up in a tournament where you are forced to take breaks every 55 minutes anyway?
How is sitting you out of tournaments helping with your "gambling addiction"?

Not much point in trying to look for anything reasonable in government-enforced regulations like that. To the minds of the people who came up with them, poker is most likely interchangeable with roulette and slots, so let's not even imagine them caring about game formats.

Originally posted by nsavov
Where is the word retarded in that long post?

Maybe my anti-tilt zen is better than I often give it credit for.

That's ok, I tilt for the both of us.

I still fail to understand why PokerStars wouldn't synchronize that message with the break. Yeah, the government are a bunch of dumb fish but stars were supposed to know a thing or two about poker...

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by nsavov
I quit stars as well. But since it has literal monopoly in my country, I "hafta" quit playing altogether.
To those still playing there - beware the Canadian collusion ring!

Oh no! What did I do now?!

You haven't done anything wrong. But I have my beady eyes on you.

Well, if I do indeed have some "anti-tilt zen", it is definitely being tested today.

The Prelude

It was looking very good for us at the end of late reg. A bricked draw in both directions set me back a little, but then I get another opponent right where I want him, with a concealed pair that develops into trips - which even end up ahead of my opponent's trips. Seems like a great situation to be in, but there was one draw left...

So that sure was a setback. I still managed to make it to the FT, only six players left with 5 ITM. I am in 3rd place and there are two shorties. It sounds fantastic, but it turned out that this wasn't just any final table. It was...

The Final Table of Hell

Here we are in one of the first hands there. A monster of a draw against an obvious high only hand usually calls for more aggression, but given the situation, I took a slightly more careful route. Really would be a shame to just bust out here on the bubble now, right?

Well. that was a bit of a troll... but at least we kept the damage small. The next great hand is right around the corner, and this time, we nail our draw, and absolutely nothing can go wrong - this hand will surely guarantee a good stack.

...except if our opponent "rivers" us again, leaving us stuck with only one half of the pot. It's okay, we're still going strong - and shortly afterwards, we grab yet another huge monster draw right on 4th street, this time against the shortie, so no holding back. We got them, this is so over...

Except we get another massive troll-runout... ending with me as the shortie.

We can't fold ITM anymore, the next good starting hand must do...

Phew, we made it... looks like I can river some draws too. We are no longer the shortest stack... and the new shortie appears to be capable of some pretty questionable moves, in my opinion:

Come on, it was so obvious that the big stack in Seat 4 had KK! Why would you challenge him with only 22? Backdoor low draw to the rescue...

That puts us in last place again, but not to worry - we immediately pick up a hand we simply must play:

You cannot be serious!!!

It is no exaggeration to say that this FT was one of the sickest things I have experienced in a poker tournament so far.

I don't think there will be any Badugi tonight, not after that. And I'm afraid the Stud8 losing streak found a way to continue, against all odds.

Ah, I forgot the chip graph. Here's how things look like right now, with two players still duking it out heads-up:

Why did you cap the trip 7s in Stud8? Was he a massive fish that raises 2pair/trips in Hi-Lo?
It looks like you may have the nut low, so I understand a raise if he bets, but a bet-3bet??? I don't think any decent player would raise trip 3s there. No way he raise-folds 8-low too.
You said "a bit of a troll" but it looks like a bit of a throw tbh.

Why the cap? Mostly because he only had about 1/8th of a bet left, it would be pointless not to go for the last remaining 104 chips. With deeper stacks or in a cash game, I only would have called the re-raise on 7th.

As for the rest of the hand, I was initially putting him on a low draw, so the point was to isolate him early on and put pressure on him if he catches bad, which he did. The 3♥: on 5th didn't seem like a helpful card for him either, and I hit my trips right afterwards, at which point I believe I had every reason to think I'm ahead. What was he supposed to have on 6th that could beat me? A full house with T's or 8's, or quads even? That's a long shot.

Checking back on 7th would have been way too tight too, I think, especially with my trips being so well disguised. If anything, my previous action should lead him to believe that I have split aces. And like I said, after the re-raise, not going for the rest of the stack would have been pointless with so few chips left.

Are you advocating a bet/fold on 7th? I don't agree with that. Apart from the reasons mentioned above, people tend to get desperate with their last few chips in a tournament. Besides, I disagree that only a "massive fish" would raise two pair or trips in Hi-Lo. These hands gain a lot of value when a low hand is impossible or even just unlikely, and my board didn't really look like a low hand, did it? I don't even think it implies any high hand that would beat trips.

Yeah yeah, didn't see it was 100 chips more. My bad. Nice hand.

"Are you advocating a bet/fold on 7th?"
Don't insult me

I think it would be quite hopeful for him to raise 2p but like you said, people tend to get desperate for their last chips and do some strange stuff, myself included

Originally posted by nsavov
"Are you advocating a bet/fold on 7th?"
Don't insult me
Assuming deep stacks, of course. Like I said, my line would probably be bet/call in this case. Not sure if I would raise if my opponent bets into me here, I'd probably just call.

Originally posted by nsavov
I think it would be quite hopeful for him to raise 2p but like you said, people tend to get desperate for their last chips and do some strange stuff, myself included
I do it too, and I think it's reasonable. I don't know if ICM is a thing in fixed limit tournaments, but either way, a similar principle should apply here. You're kind of screwed if you lose anyway if you have so few chips left, so you can at least try to make it count if you win.

I would have loved to get my revenge in Stud Hi-Lo today, but I took over a short shift of lifeguard duty on short notice again.

Special plans tomorrow, so there won't be any games then either, which includes the "Boogie". Got another shift on Sunday, but next week should be a lot lighter in that regard, if things go according to plan, so we may see some intense poker action again very soon. And hopefully, some more final tables, with better results than yesterday.

Also, away from the tables, the local indoor pool should open again next week, so while the track and field meetups are still on hold, we could see more Trollympics already too.

Originally posted by nsavov
I quit stars as well. But since it has literal monopoly in my country, I "hafta" quit playing altogether.
To those still playing there - beware the Canadian collusion ring!

Well yes now the only option is live cash game of course, or Windscribe VPN to get past the Turkish government...

Originally posted by taavi1337
Well yes now the only option is live cash game of course, or Windscribe VPN to get past the Turkish government...

In general, I don't recommend VPNs to get around poker room restrictions at all. I have encountered even several regular websites before who can detect when I'm connected through a VPN, so I'm pretty sure most poker rooms have a way of knowing it too, which means that you are almost guaranteed to eventually get into hot water in the long run.

Prim and I had an enjoyable, though occasionally perhaps somewhat hectic meetup today, which included a big swimming challenge for both of us. I have explained it here before, it's about swimming continuously for one hour without any breaks whatsoever, which was done at the bathing lake where I normally work my second job as a lifeguard. It even marked the first time I went to this place as a regular visitor this year, not as an employee.

We pulled through, even though the water was more than a little chilly, and there was even some light rain when we started out. The mere fact that we were the only two swimmers in the entire lake should already tell you that those were not the most pleasant conditions. Interestingly, there seemed to be certain spots in the lake where the water was pleasantly warm after all, and then other spots where it was icy cold. Not sure what the science behind it is, but I suppose it's common in natural lakes.

Pics of the badges will follow tomorrow, I believe, the lighting isn't great right now. We may or may not do some follow-up challenges this year, it depends on the weather too, our next planned meetup actually isn't even too far from now. So yeah, more on all of that tomorrow - ideally, together with some news about crushing Stud Hi-Lo tournaments.

"In general, I don't recommend VPNs to get around poker room restrictions at all. I have encountered even several regular websites before who can detect when I'm connected through a VPN, so I'm pretty sure most poker rooms have a way of knowing it too, which means that you are almost guaranteed to eventually get into hot water in the long run."

It is the governments I guess, who are not interested in my high-risk adventures I guess, and wish to hire to maintain ~normal society. Their political agenda is failing though, people tend to love and prefer international fast adventure, risky fast action, mysterious travels etc. The only government I have seen in my life that has handled it well was in India, they were able to provide both very well. Here people are like laughing at the gov's attempts of "social and friendly", it has turned to "males escaping through a dungeon".

But this is just my opinion. I can't even send those messages anymore through my phone service provider, anytime gov is mentioned in a bad way, the phone message is blocked by the phone company in Estonia.

Originally posted by taavi1337
It is the governments I guess, who are not interested in my high-risk adventures I guess, and wish to hire to maintain ~normal society. Their political agenda is failing though, people tend to love and prefer international fast adventure, risky fast action, mysterious travels etc. The only government I have seen in my life that has handled it well was in India, they were able to provide both very well. Here people are like laughing at the gov's attempts of "social and friendly", it has turned to "males escaping through a dungeon".

But this is just my opinion. I can't even send those messages anymore through my phone service provider, anytime gov is mentioned in a bad way, the phone message is blocked by the phone company in Estonia.

Just for the record, Primrose and I are strongly opposed to the increasingly worrying amount of government intervention in people's lives, and we absolutely share your concerns. The fact that we're using a VPN at all (at least I do, not sure about Prim) should already suggest as much. So yes, we definitely feel for you and we are not justifying any of those actions. At the same time, we have always intended to keep our blog as politics-free as possible, so this is not something we would normally like to bring up here, nor do we prefer to elaborate much further on it.

Regardless of what's right, however, I still maintain that using VPNs etc to circumvent restrictions by poker rooms, as bad as they may be, is a disaster waiting to happen. They certainly have a way of detecting that (if they don't, their amount of security is probably bad enough that it's a concern in and of itself - who knows what else they can't detect), and if you're found out, you're likely to lose your bankroll at the very least.

Playing online poker requires a lot of trust in the room where you're playing at, so if the trust isn't there, it's really better not to play at all.

Yes, I am absolutely opposed to "Nanny state" - and I defied it many times! But that´s not the topic of our blog, which we want to keep light-hearted and fun! So, let´s get back to topic:

Like always: A dessert-pic means: Let´s change topic, please!

No feerolls today, but social life!

By the way: no poker today. We have an event with our tennis-"trolls" and -"trollettes". Should be a little "summer festval", but it´s a bit more like a "spring- or fall"-festival (according to the weather). After a massive heat wave in June and the beginning of July, our summer appears to be gotten "out of breath". I don´t mind, I don´t like high temperatures, as regular readers know, so, I´m not sad that we don´t have 30°C or more. Nevertheless, a tiny little bit more summer-like would be nice indeed. Yesterday, when I did the swimming challenge with Harrier (see above), it was more like fall than summer. We swam outdoor, but the water is freezing cold, it was raining and overcast. So, no "summer feeling" there! But we had a very nice meetup anyway! :f_thumbsup::f_biggrin:

Yes, I just can't get this question out of my head, why do they do that? I was doing really well on Facebook, advertising, talking to friends, when BAM! 1000 government people / a day spam my view with discussion about EU. I tried to remove that alien source but I couldn't. So I left that platform and chatroom altogether. I don't find it very polite to intervene like that. But yes end of rant and this is the last time I discuss non-poker on your wall

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Like always: A dessert-pic means: Let´s change topic, please!
It's when I used to post squirrels. Again, we are not trying to be dismissive of your views at all, taavi. We seem to be largely in agreement, but like I said, we don't feel our blog is the right place to discuss such matters in greater length.

Back to our previous topic, here they are, our hour-long swimming badges, also known as the "Skull and Crossbones" badge:

Note that the certificates are not filled out yet. It's because my lifeguard colleague had to end her shift before the end of our swim, and the guy who filled in for her didn't know anything about what we were doing. I figured it's best to have the person who actually watched us for all but the final few minutes sign our certificates, so I think I will just wait until we are working a shift together again and take care of the paperwork then.

I did hand out the badges already to Prim and me, since I was the one who bought them anyway. Check out the glittery bronze one on top - it's a fancy alternative version that I got for the two of us, in addition to the regular ones.

Next step would be getting the Silver version for swimming for 1:30 hours. Let's see if we can get to it this year, it depends on finding enough time for such meetups while also getting lucky with the weather. At least when it comes to having the stamina for the swim, it seems to be quite easy for Prim, and while I originally thought that it was harder than expected, I eventually got used to it and also left the water thinking that I could have kept going if I had to - ignoring the fact that I urgently needed to pee.

That's it for the swimming for now, then. Stud Hi-Lo tonight, I think - time to attack the "Snowman" again.

Originally posted by taavi1337
I was doing really well on Facebook, advertising, talking to friends, when BAM! 1000 government people / a day spam my view with discussion about EU. I tried to remove that alien source but I couldn't. So I left that platform and chatroom altogether. I don't find it very polite to intervene like that.

Ugh... Yes, you definitely have our support when it comes to that.

Originally posted by taavi1337
But yes end of rant and this is the last time I discuss non-poker on your wall
Non-poker stuff is completely fine, as you keep seeing from the two of us. But discussions about issues of a more controversial nature should be kept short here indeed.

So how about that Epstein list?

Originally posted by nsavov
So how about that Epstein list?

Only made it to one of the two possible satties to the Snowman today, and I think I did very poorly there. My problem may be that I am getting way too tight, which not only leads to a gradually shrinking stack as I am waiting for the perfect spot to pounce, but may also - especially with my lack of experience - ironically lead to me eventually pulling the trigger when I am simply not ready, possibly out of impatience or even boredom. It's like, you have passed up so many spots that you just feel compelled to go ahead with a somewhat decent hand in an unfavorable situation. Doesn't make sense? That's why it's a bad play.

Whatever it was, poor showing from me here, and I am beginning to doubt my skills in this game more and more. I am still forcing myself to give it more time. Prim always tells me that I give up too easily, while I tend to see it as a kind of "knowing when to fold" in the metagame. Still, if these games really do have as much potential as I had hoped, I really do need to stick around at least a little bit, and if necessary learn from my own mistakes.

At least Badugi had a sneaky final table tonight with a 7th place finish and a small bounty - and probably some much too tight play from me here too.

I continue to look at good ways to successfully expand into mixed games MTTs of various kinds. Stud8 still seems like the best bet, but there may be more. I will continue to read up and take notes, it will likely require several more weeks of both studying as well as trial-and-error at the tables. It remains to be seen whether the effort will pay off, like it did with Badugi, or if it will be remembered as a failed experiment, like much of my OFC misadventures.

Lifeguard duty tomorrow, so unless the weather cuts my shift short, the only feasible game that day will be Badugi.