Originally posted by Primrose6789
Of course, I picked Vorpal, too!
Of course you would - he's in your "party".
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Stats Time
We are a few days late, but I got the November stats ready. In MTTs, this is how things look like overall:
Courchevel should be pretty much done, so the results above should be the final ones for the year.
The month did finish with a profit, but only a very modest one.
At least we are still on an overall upward trend since June.
Not surprisingly, Badugi carries the day.
For what it's worth, here are the Courchevel graphs. As you can see, I can usually only achieve sporadic success in there.
I also started SNGs last month, and I already mentioned that the results were quite poor. The losses may not look like much in comparison to the winnings from previous years, but those were mostly Five Card Draw SNGs, so they cannot be compared.
6-max Hold'em only has to compete against some break-even results from 2022.
It remains to be seen whether they can be saved. Or should I try Five Card Draw SNGs again?
Either way, those are the stats. Maybe I can now actually find my way to the tables again some time.
It´s gonna be a surprise ....
We have no idea which trollettes will show up tonight! Very probably my "favorite" trollette is gonna be there, one I know very well and with whom I get along very well, so if I play against her, it´s gonna be BIG FUN and a great match! But it´s not sure that I´m gonna play against that trollette. The other team has some really really good trollettes and some beatable ones. And we don´t know who will show up .... Suprise box!
Let´s see what happens tonight ....
Run, Run, Rudolph!
After exercising to an almost obsessive degree earlier this year, I have mostly been neglecting it recently, apart from my 1-2 karate sessions per week and the daily 100 pushups. Most noticeably, I have been completely absent from my usual jogging track. After working so hard for my half-marathon last summer, wouldn't it be a shame to let it all go to waste? Wouldn't I want to go for further challenges next year?
Problem is, with my work schedule and the sun setting so soon at this time of the year, it's difficult to find the time for it - my agricultural jogging track is unsuitable for running in the dark, with zero lighting and plenty of bumps in the track. I better make those weekends count, then, if I want to stay somewhat active around Christmas. Let's run - like Rudolph.
I made sure to get at least 5km in, and also timed myself, even though I wasn't really going all out. It was harder than I expected, and my time of 31:40 minutes was pretty abysmal, even trailing behind my untrained performance around Christmas last year. However, it should be noted that I accidentally ran at least an extra 200 meters, and like I said, I only went for a light jog rather than attacking a certain time, so I'd say my performance was comparable. Nevertheless, it needs to be improved.
I think I will make sure to keep getting some runs in on Saturdays this winter after getting up, and also try to hit the pool at least once per week. It's important to build habits, I just saw first-hand how easily your performance can take a dive if you drop those habits for a longer time.
At the poker tables, I instead saw that it's a bad idea to get back to the games just because you haven't been there in a while and feel like you have to. My game was terrible last night, though a lot of it was caused by a single hand where I was distracted and made a bad call. Still, you obviously need to be in the mindset, otherwise it's better not to play at all. I already decided to focus on other things during the holidays, but I do try to get a few more games in before that - as long as I'm prepared next time.
Is Primrose prepared? I'm pretty confident that she is, she should be on the indoor tennis courts as we speak. We left out the usual pre-match analysis this time because we didn't really know anything about her opponents anyway.
Getting back into running, getting back into swimming, getting back into poker... we should have plenty to do before the big Christmas vacation. And there could be even more coming up soon.
BIG fun and fitness...
..but I had no chance against THAT trollette! But: She needed 2 hours to defeat me, because I fought hard - and we had a lot of fun, great games, but there was nothing more I could do. Well, so be it! It was a very interesting, exciting and fun match anyway! What I won yesterday was fitness!! 
Same goes for the doubles, while I have to say, my fellow-trollette (who is not such an experienced player yet) and I had big fun and party on the court. We were "sacrificed" for the team result, so that our dreamteam could win their doubles. We stood no chance, of course, but: Our goal was no zero and we got there!! Same for women´s singles: My goal was no zero and there was no zero! 
A bountyless final table bubble in Badugi that returned slightly less than the buy-in the other night is normally hardly worth posting about, but with this little volume at the moment, it will have to do. I don't think we will see any "fireworks" until the end of the year - literally - but who knows... sometimes sick runs come when you least expect them.
But maybe we should get back to another thing that has been completely neglected on this blog, one of my projects from early on in the year. Do you remember? I'm talking about the bonsai.
Yeah, what happened to them? It kind of went like this: I originally wanted to take care of them in my bedroom all by myself, watering them after work every day, but probably due to my lack of experience, I went from watering them way too much (you weren't even supposed to do it every day, I think) to not watering them enough, and eventually decided to bring them to my mother's apartment so she could take care of them while I'm away at work.
She did a good job saving them and I figured I could at one point take over again, but then it seemed like the plants that were sprouting were not trees at all, but some other plants that must have gotten mixed up in the soil. It was enough for me to consider this project a failure, so I quietly moved on from it - I remember taking a bit of a break from blogging during that time anyway. The plants were not discarded, though. They were kept in a place outside near the house entrance, and by now, they look like this:
The Australian pine does look tree-like.
And I assume the plants in the pots for the African wisteria are the real deal too.
Maybe there was no reason to give up yet. But what to do now? Well, I figured that we should at least move them back inside for the time being, while I maybe do some reading to figure out how to deal with them at this stage. I'm not sure when it's time to start pruning them, for example.
This is likely not a project that I will remember as a success story this year, but it may still have some potential after all...
"It doesn´t count anyway..." :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:
Coming up this Saturday: Team Trollette will compete again, well ...I don´t know if I should call that "competing" because it´s already clear, that we won´t have the slightest chance! :f_ugly::f_ugly: We will be up against the number 1 team, the strongest and most experienced trollettes and our team captain already predicted that "the matches will be quick" :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:.
If I´m really really lucky, I will play against a trollette who is 8 ranks better than me, with a bit less luck, it will be one 10 or 11 ranks over me. 
I will consider that next event a great fitness-training! And last but not least: This is a great opportunity to learn! You can only learn when playing better trolls and trollettes!
So, as I won´t be able to attend tomorrow´s tennis practice - due to high work load!!* - I plan to at least go for a nice swim, what I normally don´t do a day before competetions (swimming makes you tired), but this time, I already told our team captain: It doesn´t count anyway! :f_biggrin::coolface:
*Usually I take Fridays off, but tomorrow this won´t be possible!
Ok then so good luck on Saturday for this Tennis Match. Im sure it will be great competition and something to learn. There is always something to learn.
Been away for a while 
Overstrained my knee, making it hard to sit at my computer
Received my 12 'water units' this week. They support a 60x60cm square planter each, providing them with water for 1-4 weeks.
Hope to install them in my planters soon, so I can use them coming year 
Here's a link to the site selling them (no money in it for me, just a tip)
https://makkelijkemoestuin.nl/shop/waterreservoir-ombouwsets/los-waterreservoir
MASSIVE trolling ... 
Yesterday, I proved that I´m a REAL trollette!! Can´t believe it, but it´s true: I WON! xD:f_ugly: You know, when you go totally relaxed into a match and you think: "Aaaw, doesn´t count anyway, just wanna make her sweat" you develop unexpected powers! I played the VERY BEST tennis of my life and in women´s singles, while staying totally cool and calm, Villainesse was nervous and made a lot of mistakes. Gladly, I had a trollette as Villainesse who was "only" five ranks over me - so I got lucky this time. I fought hard, because my goal was to fight as hard as I can! And eventually, after about 2 and half hours and a brutally hard match, I managed to win! :f_biggrin::f_ugly: It was a VERY close one and it easily could have turned around the other way. It was exciting like a crime story! But my skills were good enough to snatch the win.
And because one brutal fight is not enough, same goes for women´s doubles. Played with captain trollette against both our Villainesses before in singles. They were ambitious, they were determined - but so were we! Everybody in that match was at least five ranks over me, so I didn´t really care, was just determined to play my very best! And that´s what I did, despite EXTREME fatigue after my brutal singles match!! Captain trollette was cheering me on and that´s what I needed, that what helped to fight against fatigue! So, here we went: another 2 and a half hours of brutal fighting! It paid! We made it! Another a VERY close one but another win in doubles!
We trolled them!!! MASSIVELY! 
And of course my own ranking looks a bit different now ....... ♠_ugly:♠_ugly:♠_ugly:♠_ugly:
Originally posted by nsavov
Cheater... you played in women's singles but we all know you got a hubby.
Yes, but he´s injured at the moment! 
There was no way to cheat! :f_tongue::f_ugly:
Awesome job in those tennis matches, Prim! 
When I wished you best of luck in those matches, just before you left, I remember how you told me yourself that you wouldn't stand a chance anyway and that it's all about having fun. And now look at that... you even proved yourself wrong.
Thanks for covering for my lack of content on the blog too, because I still have no more poker to report. There are just too many loose ends to tie up before the holidays, and on the rare occasion when I would have time for poker, I don't feel like I'm in the mindset. I hope I can get a few good games going before the big break, but one thing I can promise already is some good old "stats porn" either way. 
Also, welcome back Zeezout... but sorry to hear about your knee! 
If it makes it hard for you to just sit at your computer, I assume it also affects you in other areas, possibly gardening too?
I guess you returned just in time for my bonsai post, though it was less on an update and more of a confused "well, let's see what I can do with this now" post.
Hibernation!
It is finally time for my big winter vacation. My employer has graciously accepted my request for an uninterrupted vacation until January 14th, giving me almost a full month of nowhere to go. What more could you ask for?
So far, there has still been no poker, and I am not completely done with all of my preparations yet, but with that much free time on my hands now, I should hopefully by able to get to both of it. There will also be a lot of stats to prepare, which will eventually put the games on another temporary hold, but there should be plenty of time for a couple of games until then.
I am looking forward to a healthy dose of sleep, a much more relaxed schedule, and one final meetup with Prim to wrap up what was, frankly, a less than optimal year. Surely things will look a lot brighter after a few weeks of rest, though - right?
Originally posted by taavi1337
Employer? I thought you are a mixed games pro.
Nope.
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
sounds like bliss
It should do me a world of good, I hope. So far, I am still having trouble getting into the vacation mindset. Just earlier today when I went grocery shopping, I instinctively grabbed my work pants instead of my jeans.
I have made some progress with my preparations, though. Look who has been a good grindette this year:
Woooow, these are big ones!!! ♠_o:
Two new cuddly fellows for my collection must be in there, maybe some explosive ones? ♠_smile:
I have no idea! I will see .........tomorrow...! Excited!
Christmas Market on the Balcony
Public Christmas Markets raise their prices to an unreasonable degree these days, while getting increasingly rare as they often struggle to stay afloat, most likely due to a combination of people reaction to these prices, having safety concerns, or simply not being in the mood anymore. I have had such a bad experience at the small one in my home town this year that I already decided that I won't be returning in coming years.
What to do? You simply do your own one at home. It's what Prim and I did yesterday at our last meetup of the year. I was a little baffled by her decision that she won't need any "desserts" - no crêpes, no waffles, no mini-donuts or anything. Normally, those are among the main attractions when it comes to food at a Christmas market, while people buy the more hearty stuff to make sure they had a proper meal there.
Either way, our bratwurst and fries turned out great, so Prim and I got some of my trusty takeout-style plates, put on our winter clothes, and stepped out onto the balcony, where we were enjoying our Christmas market food with appropriate music.
The lighting features may have been less than impressive at that time of the day, and the weather didn't exactly cry out "Winter Wonderland" either, but the latter would have been a problem at a commercial Christmas market too. Our mulled wine could have used a little more sweetness, I believe, but Prim enjoyed it a lot.
Our Lumumba, however, turned out very good. We were still sipping on it as we started our Mario Kart session - where, I should add, Primrose and "Baby Peach" got their first unshared overall tournament victory of all time. 
I was kind of cooperating with her on the last track, making sure to take out her rivals, but other than that, it was mostly a fierce battle between the two of us, so the victory was well-earned.
It was great to spend one final fantastic day together this year. 
And thank you very much for that bottle of Dneproff Premium Vodka and that Silver plushie - who looks like he already may have had some in that picture.
I actually don't know a lot about Silver, other than that he debuted in the widely panned Sonic '06, which I never played, but he makes a fine addition to the rest of my Sonic plushies - which, unlike Prim's collection, is not usually on display, but I made sure to gather them all for a group photo here. Silver is a little small compared to some of the others, but that's okay.
I think we may see some poker from the grindette later today? But first, I believe she may have some pictures to share too.
HARRIER!! SPICY!!!
Now, you may wonder what was in my present boxes? Well, of course two new cute fellows for my collection, but one of them had brought a very special gift with him: SPICES! HOT spices of course! Which I already used for:
this delicious chicken curry. Brought you by:
Spoiler
HAMMER BRO!
The spices were a funny reminder on the game "Let´s cook together", where you do some cooperative cooking, while each of the cooks has a spice cannon, which shoots a mix of Indian spices to the partner. So, anytime you need spices, you gotta ask your partner for them. And I always use to yell: HARRIER SPICY!!! And in honor of this funny and cool game, I made a dish from it: Indian chicken curry! Used non-spicy curry for Homer but of course the HOT Habenero-curry, which I got from Harrier yesterday, for me! Yes, it´s burning hot and absolutely delicious!
But there were two presents: Who is in the second box? Well, let me tell you honestly first: My guesses were totally wrong! There weren´t any "explosives" like Bomber Bill or King Bob-Omb in there, but somebody lovely:
Spoiler
Look! It´s the Trollette!
Well, here name is Toadette, but she´s my mascot for Trollette Open.