Hi mate,

From just reading this, the issues are obvious and you even addressed them yourself.

First off, bankroll management. This is key to not going busto. It may not feel worth the effort to play much less buy-in's than what you have been, but if you're just losing this money anyway then this is probably the single most important aspect.

Second, do you study? What do you do to improve your game? As an identified losing player (which is good thing, vast majority of losing players stay in denial of this fact) you have a base to work off. Look at your game and where you lose, where could you improve?

Would be interesting to see your Hand history, and straight away we could probably give some basic pointers as a starting point.

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Goliath festival, I'm there from the Thursday to the Sunday, happy to meet up and have a chat. What sort of schedule are you looking at?

Recognizable in many of my friends. Even though they have more poker knowledge and experience, I usually have more discipline, which makes them think I have a better chance to make it further than they do.

For my job I am a Personal Trainer and I can relate to your post as a lot of clients treat a weight loss goal: they want it here and now and as fast as possible. But everyone knows: there is no quick fix. Just like in poker: there is no quick way to super easy money for the vast majority of ppl.

Good luck overcoming this issue and good luck in Coventry!

@AshVIP thanks for the response!

I'm alright in terms of cash games and live and live comps it's online that I struggle with
It doesn't feel like real money when you just see it as virtual numbers if that makes sense?
I've put limits on my account today where I can only play a maximum of $20 SnG as this is where the problem lied just simply trying to win a huge amount of money in a short amount of time. Hopefully this addresses my degenerate gambling side!

I watch videos on YouTube and read articles online and when I find them useful I print them off and put them into a folder.

I'm going Tuesday to Sunday and I'd definitely be up for chat if you're free?

@guzzlegutz123 your post has made me think having a weight loss goal in conjunction with a poker one would be a good thing to do so for every goal weight I succeed in I'm going to treat myself to a DTD200 or similar event

I'm hoping by posting my progress on here and updating it twice a week will allow me to overcome a problem I should of addressed a lot earlier!

Hey mate, deffo up for it, I'll let you buy me a drink Where are you from anyway?

In terms of online, $20 SnGs, and looks like you might have been playing higher, is definitely a fast way to lose money. You are also likely to come up against good, heads-up specialist players so you will just get rinsed.

The money issue, especially in tournaments or SnGs you shouldn't look at it as money anyway. You have your chips, and you want all the other chips available. It doesn't matter how much you paid for those chips. You shouldn't be thinking any different then if it's a £220 buy-in in Nottingham or a $2.20 buy-in on Pokerstars.

There is no fast and easy way to win money at poker, unless you bink a big multiplier on a spin and go. You're only young so you have the advantage of having plenty of time to learn and develop as a player. Surround your self with like minded people who play poker and take it seriously and want to learn.

Join our PokerTube Whatsapp group, if you PM me your mobile number I can add you in

@AshVIP
I'm from near Birmingham what about yourself? I know there's a lovely free vending machine at the Ricoh 😉
I used to gamble a lot and then I stopped and progressed in poker winning on cash and tourneys but losing online has been a continuous thing the past few years! I know regardless of what stakes they are you should play the same and honestly think my venture into Hyper HU SnG has made me a much worse player than I was!

I have set myself 3 clear targets:
- Address the bankroll management issue
- Play more online cash rather than SnG's
- Spend 10 hours a week studying the game

Thanks I'll send you a pm now 😊

Hey @UnknownProdigy. Super interesting thread. You might want to rephrase those three goals that you posted above. Not that they are bad or anything like that, but they are not very precise. We all wish for good things to happen to us but a long term success is usually a function of regular, disciplined effort. So instead of thinking "I have to address my bankroll management issue" think about some practical steps that will help you achieve that.The optimal steps will depend on your particular situation and they may range from a rudimentary behavioral therapy (you can, for example, try wearing a rubber band around your wrist and snap it every time you catch yourself registering a hyper turbo tournament) to locking yourself out of the games you don't want to play. Similarly, instead of setting a 10 hour weekly goal for studying think about your daily schedule and include 30-60minute study sessions in it. Good luck sir! I'm looking forward to your future posts.

@MattVIP after reading your post I have come up with 3 new targets and 3 goals. The goals being very broad and somewhat unrealistic but the targets being manageable and achievable within the designated time frame.

Targets for the summer:
- Spend 30 minutes a day understanding the Conceptual Models of Problem Gambling (this should be relatively easy as I have university paper on problem gambling to do).

By doing this it will help me understand why I do what I do and assist me in combatting the issue in hand.

- Spend 30 - 60 minutes daily studying, make notes and organise my poker folder.

This will help fix leaks in my game and will slowly make me a winning player

- Organise the week ahead of me.

I have a weekly schedule planner that is very simple to use, by doing this it allows me to make the most of my spare time and make plans in advance.


Goals for the summer:

1) Make day 2 of the Goliath!

My record in multi day comps is around a 20% success rate in getting to day 2. I've played the Goliath 4 times and never made day 2. Hopefully this year my luck will change!

2) Lose 12kg.

In my best shape I weighed 77kg but over the past 2 years whilst struggling with depression and anxiety I have got up to 92kg still a long way off my 110kg I weighed at school. It's something that needs to be addressed and any help in doing so would be appreciated!

3) Find a new job.

After working in the gambling industry for many years I think it's time to move away and find a job related to my degree! After sitting counting money everyday and watching people lose £100's and £1000's it's no wonder why I have no concept of the value of money and leaving would be best for me as a person.

So after talking to a friend (one who's coming to the goliath with me) he thought what I was doing on here creating a place to document my poker journey is an extremely good thing.

He's currently in America so has been unable to play online as a result and he asked me a very good question "Do you play poker because you enjoy playing poker? Or do you play to gamble?"

It made me think I genuinely like sitting down and playing poker regardless of the stakes, at the time of this conversation I was playing a $1.1 satellite on PartyPoker. So I genuinely don't play to gamble but it ends up as such in only Hyper HU SnG's something that I identified as well as people who have commented on this thread.

I had started a journey previously, a few quick things in that, that I shall quickly sum up below:

- I got involved with home games that ended up purely on credit and for thousands of £'s although it always started off with a £30 buy in with blinds .25p/0.25p. These home games turned to be rigged in what started off with what I considered "friends" at the time and I caught someone fixing the deck in a hand when I had a big decision to make for £100's. Safe to say I told them I would not be playing the game anymore along with other choice words.
- The above brought the gamble back into my game when previously I would consider myself a solid player and now more loose than is ever good in someones game
- The above incident led me to growing distant in poker and not loving the game as much as I once did.




After realising this in recent month's its nice to meet upbeat people within the PokerVIP community rather than the people who are cancerous to your life that I have previously had.

My friend (I will refer to him by his name Matt now rather just friend) and I have today booked Vegas for June 2018 for 10 days. Price is £900 all in, but if anyone thinks they can find it cheaper please let me know!




The reason we've booked Vegas is due to him being over there for University and getting a Student loan making it the first time its been a realistic option. I went to Vegas in December 2014 and it was amazing! I genuinely can't wait to go back! I'm planning on taking £5k just for poker however I am thinking of splitting this up into Cash game funds and Tournament entries? Would this be a good thing to do? Got plenty of time to decide what to do so no rush!

After rejoining the PokerVIP community I feel as though I am already getting back into a good place even though it's only been a day. I have planned out my entire week, printed off articles I wish to read and booked Vegas for next year!

Great post. How's your progress going? I've actually never been to Vegas but it's on my bucket list! Hopefully, I'll be able to make the trip in the next few years.

Sorry @MattVIP very hectic week!

In the last week we've had a few big cashes!

Chopped a local Grosvenor comp for £450 each!
Come 30ish in the Big $33
and 3rd in the Bounty Builder $33 for $1400 (including bounties!)

So overall a very good week!

I feel as though me investing more time into poker and studying the game more has significantly improved my game!

The importance of studying cannot be undervalued!

Nice couple of wins!

What are people's opinions about playing live?

Obviously most people don't have anywhere near the correct bankroll to be playing live but we all do it!

I was playing a £1/£1/£2 (straddle was basically compulsory and sometimes up to £8 was being done)
I wouldn't play these stakes online however does the softer player pool make it a more viable option?