Meh, 50nl. I got selected for the blackbeltpoker first grading, which was nice as i know a few people that didnt make the cut and feel priveledged (sp?, deffo sp) to get a shot. Got to play 6 hours of 50nl a day 6 days a week. First 2 weeks 50nl, 3rd 100nl, 4th 200nl. I am away in week 4 in Cephalonia with the family but they have a decent internet connection and my sister just got an awesome new lappie, yoiiik.

Well so far the grading has been a nightmare. Im playing my usual hours anyway (babay got to eat right) so i tend to play ipoker after midnight till 6am, sleep till 4pm, get up, mill around, get on betfair by 8pm etcetc. Its a ridiculous schedule and taking its toll on me, i dont have time to go to the gym and i feel/look like shit, but i keep telling myself its only a month and this is probably going to be my best shot for a stable long-term backer for live events for life. Im not even hugely fussed about the whole vegas with $20k thing to be honest, i just want domestic/ odd european sponsorship in smaller fields..........

Well, its nearly the end of week 1 and any graders reading this, dont worry, im losing. Infact today i just tilted for the first time in a while, most likely due to the insane hours im putting in, zero excercise and no real timeout. Im down about $350 which is a bit of a see you next tuesday. My main problem is boredom, i know i shouldnt be concerned but when i see yet another 12/7 reraise my cbet from $2 to $4 on a super dry K high board it tilts the absolute life out of me and i just have to see what hes doing (holding AK). He has a set. Simple answer. Always. Like seriously a raise from any of these weaktight regs is at the bare minimum top 2, i see them checking back AA in a 3bet pot on the river of a 33K34 board. Seriously. How these guys get enjoyment from playing such a retardedly mind-numbing brand of poker is beyond me. also the software is a fucking joke, i just bought minimaxmod to try and save me from the tilt-inducing graphics, irritating "ping" when its your turn to act and a miniview that wont fit my HUD and a full view that i am forced to overlap. Which tilts me.

So starting from now im gonna change this shit. Im gonna cut back to 4 tables and play in 3 sets of 2 hour sessions with breaks inbetween. Im going to go to the gym everyday while im doing this grading, as hopefully the endorphins will protect me from wanting to stick rusty nails in my eyes as a preference to playing these arseholes. Honest to god this network is the worst iv played cash on. Table scanner at 11pm on a saturday night (peak fish traffic time) revealed 40ish tables of 6max 50nl, with only two having a vpip above 30. I didnt believe it so i made it run every 2 minutes for another hour. Yep. WHAT THE FUCK. Contrast that with like 50nl on fulltilt. errrrrrrr.

So i am being forced to play a different kind of poker of late. There is no real levels of thinking, because 80% of the regulars play faceup. They all basically try and see a cheap flop, flop/turn the nuts, min/checkraise or min re-raise the turn to build the pot then shove the river. Thats their plan. And its worked on me mostly :). I thought about it a bit, did a little homework and iv decided to just LAG it the fuck up. Im gonna play a much looser 35/30 game and open basically every CO/Button and SB with 90% of holdings. Im gonna stop bluffing a guy whose vpip is half a 200nl regs prf. I mean his calling range crushes most of the regs i play on betfairs 3bet range, so guess what, hes not gonna fold 1010 on 245 (unless i barrel the K/A/3 turn ldo). Im going to coldcall the button a bit more/ 3bet in position more than i normally would player dependantly. Im going to be ludicrously tight from utg and mp. I will have a super tight 3b range oop as they dont ever seem to fold to cbets in 3bet pots (coz they have AA obv) and i just cant fuck them over like i can IP (coz they cant handread very well and have no idea about my percieved range v actual range).

Anyway, its like 9am and i should really be going to bed. Night night.