One last run

I just read some very disturbing threads on 2+2 about Lock Poker.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/...-all-well-calvinayre-article-1326194/

The cliff notes are basically that they lost a ton of player funds in the Cyprus Banking crisis and are virtually cash broke. As a result they are emailing people who received p2p transfers and telling them that they will not be able to cash the money out. There are also transcripts from Lock Support stating that there is no amount players can play to be eligible for cashing out if they received transfers.

"Steven
APR 27, 2013 | ***PM EDT

Hello,

Thank you for your reply, there are no wagering requirements; player transfers are ineligible for payouts. Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

All our best,

Steven

---
CSR, Lock Security"

So yeah basically the site is a huge scam and they are trying to stop all cashouts so they can get enough fresh deposits to somehow save their site. FTP all over again basically except on a smaller scale. I was fortunate enough to cashout 2k from the site last year. I left like 1k on the site in case I felt like playing poker at some point in the future. Hopefully I can get the money off the site.. keeping my fingers crossed. I knew the risk when I deposited so this isn't like a big surprise or anything.

I am somewhat optimistic because I saw a blog post from MDoranD on card runners that he just received a cashout from Lock like last week. Also I never received a transfer on the site.. I just deposited and then ran it up. Oh well we will see what happens. If you still have money on Lock you better cashout ASAP!

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Comments (9)

I've been trying out 50NL on the new Lock Poker revolution network. It feels absolutely fantastic to be grinding online again. I've been playing 4-6 tables and feel like I have a large edge in the game. Playing so much live poker has helped me discover the fold button... which is pretty important IMO!

I'm not sure how much of a roll I want to keep on the site. I would like to grind 100NL but not so sure I want to keep 4-5k on there. I realize it is a big risk to even be playing online in the USA right now. The main reason I'm doing it is to keep my game sharp and to test myself against good players. I guess making decent money is a plus too. I guess all I can do is cross my fingers and hope the cashout goes through when the time comes. From what I have read it is taking about 2 months and requires countless e-mails to the support team.

Here are the results so far. Running good and playing good!

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Don't worry I'm not busto ROFL!

I just watched the video of Brad Booth talking about how he has a gambling problem and is in a huge amount of debt to countless backers. He also admitted to straight up stealing money from WCGRIDER. He was crying and looked like he was at rock bottom.

It got me thinking and I decided to share some of my experiences.

I definitely used to have a horrible gambling problem and was in denial for many years. I have never played a pit game in my entire life but I used to constantly play high stakes cash games while on tilt and under rolled. However I only did this with my own money, and never on the money of other people. If I had people feeding me an endless stream of cash I never would have learned anything. I was only staked one time for 3k back in early 2007, and it went really well and my backer was paid back 6k and I profited the original 3k. Unfortunately when I was back on my own money the next day I tilted it playing 5/10 and was broke again. My backer, Ket, told me that he was cutting me off for my own good because I would never learn anything if I continued down this path. He told me I need to learn the value of money and that I should grind 1$ sngs until my fingers bleed. I knew he was right and that advice stuck with me even though I didn't follow it for a long time because my addiction was so powerful.

I eventually got to the point in late 2008 where I was completely broke and I had no way to get in action. I was at total rock bottom. My credit cards were all maxed out, I had 2-3 bank loans of like 2-3k each, and lots of school loans. I had too much pride to start messaging my poker friends begging them for staking money. I talked to my parents and they agreed that it was time for me to grow up and get a real job. I went and got a job and for 9 months I lived with my parents and 85% of my income went into paying back debts. The road to recovery was long and hard. I had a lot of time on my hands and read countless books and spent many hours working out. I started practicing meditation and spent many hours analyzing myself and trying to understand my addiction and its triggers. Yomer from LP gave me 200$ to play 10nl on and I doubled his money and paid him back. From that point on I never went broke again, even though I did have a few relapses where I would lose 40-50% of my bankroll I never put myself in the position where I had everything on the line. As time went on my tilt control started to get better and better. I started meditating more and more and had a few really huge breakthroughs and realizations. The first time I read the book Siddhartha it was essentially a religious experience for me. It opened my eyes to so many things, and I no longer view the world in the same way. I finally made the decision to quit trying to move up in stakes and to just grind the small stakes games and be happy with what I had. This gave me a lot of peace, and I was finally able to release much of my ego.

Post black Friday I worked two jobs to save up for a live poker bankroll. When I had enough money saved up I continued working 7 days a week and when I would get off work I would go grind at the casino. I got about 3-4 hours of sleep a night. This continued for about 3-4 months and I had a huge run where I didn't lose for 5 weeks. I completely paid off all of my credit card debt and school loans. I'm now completely debt free and am looking to potentially buy a house or condo soon. I quit my second job about 3 months ago and am very well bankrolled for 2/5NL cash games live. I still work a full-time job that I really enjoy, and I just play poker for the intellectual challenge and enjoyment.

I'm a huge bankroll nit and take absolutely zero chances with my money. I will continue working on my game and trying to improve because I really do enjoy playing. I have no desire to play poker for a living, and have no delusions of trying to become rich from it. At this point it is just a nice source of income that I can get from doing something that I enjoy. I no longer feel the gambling sickness inside of me, and when I lose I just accept it instead of feeling the sense of "desperation" that I used to.

I was certainly lucky in the sense that I had parents who allowed me to stay with them while I got back on my feet. I was also able to discover Buddhism and use my time training my mind instead of coming up with schemes to get back in action. I would say that I am probably in the minority of people who are able to overcome the sickness. I think that in the case of many people they would be much better off giving up the game completely.

I am extremely happy with my life now and to be honest I have no regrets. Without my experiences I wouldn't be the strong person that I am today.

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Comments (20)

I decided to deposit on Hero poker a few days ago and have put in about 3000 hands so far at 25nl. I'm really enjoying being able to play online again even though it is risky. The money I put on is insignificant so if Merge gets busted I won't be hurt or anything. I accept the risks. The games are "alright" I would say. When I get 50,000 hands played I will post a screenshot of my progress. I just like being able to play an hour or so in the evenings when I don't feel like going to the casino to play live.

I have done well in the local live games and have booked a 2 week vacation to Vegas from 6/22-7/06 so I am looking forward to that. I will be grinding a lot of 2/5 and maybe some 5/10 if the game is really good. Around here 2/5 only runs like 1-2 times a week which is kind of annoying. It's very deep because it is uncapped and a lot of the time it plays like a 5/10 game. It will be awesome in Vegas to be able to grind it on a daily basis.

It feels good to play poker for fun and not have to worry about anything. Getting a regular job was definitely the right move for me. Stress free is the way to be!

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I would like to get some protoss coaching if there are some good players out there (which I'm sure there are). Let me know!

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Comments (9)

After more than a month of grinding live poker 5-6 days a week my biggest problem is getting my wallet to close and fit in my pocket because its so full of money. This is a good problem to have. I love you live poker!

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Comments (19)

I am starting to think black friday was a good thing for me. I had to better myself by getting a higher paying job, and keeping the one I had as a part time gig on the weekends. With the large income boost I created a second bank account and began saving money for a live poker bankroll. I began playing about two weeks ago and have only had one losing day (which was actually my first session). The games are so good that it is actually pretty hard for me to lose. Mainly because the donks don't know how to value bet their hands. Also I play late at night and almost everyone at the table besides me is intoxicated lol!

It has been killer though because I am working 60 hours a week and then when I get off I go play poker every night for 6-8 hours which leads to 4 hours of sleep at best. Down the road a little bit I will certainly leave my part time job. For now though I will suck it up because I am banking pretty hard.

The quote unquote "regs" in these live 1/2 games couldn't break even in a 5nl game online if their life depended on it rofl! I have only seen 2 people in the games that I felt had a clue what they were doing. And just from talking with them at the table they are former online players.

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Comments (3)

I would really like to play in the sunday million 5 year anniversary tomorrow. If anyone is interested in staking me let me know.

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I took a nice little break from poker after getting promoted at my job. I am finally enjoying poker again and just play when I feel good. I am pretty happy right now and don't have any desire to move up quickly.



I am gonna start taking Muay Thai classes soon and getting in tip top shape. I also just signed up for some tactical handgun and marksmanship classes. I will be looking to buy a pistol soon if anyone has any recommendations.

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Comments (6)

I need to transfer 600 from stars to FTP. Anyone interested?

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