An amazing building - Review of Grand Lisboa Casino, Macau ...

Yesterday I should have seen all the warning signs. I kept drifting out of it while doing research and eventually stopped entirely to scratch an itch to "finally watch Man of Steel" -a movie I've never before cared about and didn't care about as I watched it. For reference, my girlfriend and I don't even own a television. After about 15 minutes I realized I wasn't even watching the movie but just playing with my phone and more just listening to sound effects in the background. I had no idea what was going nor was I bothered to find out. Instead of realizing I was experiencing burnout and unregistering what I could and setting an ideal lineup for the rest, I instead decided that maybe it's for the best I haven't seen any of the modern Superman films and took a nap.
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None of this was typical behavior for me.
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I normally love researching sports data, in fact, I did it even before I ever played DFS. Fangraphs was my default landing page on my browser in college. I used to spend days on end projecting baseball outcomes just for fun. I'm the kind of guy who reads a biography on Napoleon, finds details lacking and then will spend 12 hours straight pouring through online archives of statistics compiled by battlefield surgeons during the Napoleonic Wars because the author didn't give me a satisfactory level of insight into how prevalent bayonets were in actual combat. See, I'm already getting off topic, the point is that I have basically no interest in films like Superman and love absorbing deep and nuanced data. I also never take naps. Something was clearly afoot but I failed to recognize it.
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Bayonet wounds compromised 2% of recorded wounds in Napoleonic warfare if you were wondering.
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What I should have noticed was days earlier I forgot to check in around lock for PGA to scour the site for overlay, bad players making h2hs, or generally weak fields as I normally do.
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I also ignored that recently I'd not been paying as much attention and doing things like forgetting to double check on guys who were probable.
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Tellingly, I also didn't know Boban was starting. I literally passed off all the Boban chatter as sarcastic and never bothered to consider people were being serious.
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And earlier that morning, I forgot to double check on my soccer lineups so had some guys on the bench on my team.
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All of this was ignored. Sure enough, still in this DFS malaise, I not only don't set a real dummy lineup but don't even bother to check in on it before lock. By the time I realize what's going on, some of the games had already started and sure enough, I had button mashed in the backup NJ goalie in my dummy lineup. I normally put in a strong dummy lineup because it helps introduce the upcoming slate to me before I start research in earnest.
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This phenomenon is called burnout. It costs me money every couple months when it appears. It likely does the same to you. You've probably often seen the gpp lineups that never got filled or when someone starts someone against you in h2h that was ruled out long before lock - that's almost always burnout you are witnessing.
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The key is catching it before it hurts you financially. This is easier said than done. Despite all the warning signs poking me right in the face, I just ignored a series symptoms as unrelated events. A few times I even asked myself if it was happening but convinced myself that wasn't the case. It wasn't until the financial consequences became meaningful that the gravity of the situation had set in and I was able to accept what was going on.
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Fortunately for me, the upcoming hockey and basketball slates are very weak so it's easy to fade. It'd be a lot more tempting to just continue playing through it if there weren't only 3 NBA games today. That's my first step in my process of getting out of burnout. I'm still going to play, but instead of having multiple lineups in each slate, I'll switch it up to a single lineup put in sparingly for a fraction of the amount I normally play. I've personally found it's best for me to stay involved, just not for stakes of any significance. I won't start playing with a normal amount again until I find myself naturally and eagerly wanting to research the upcoming slate.
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Burnout was always much easier to deal with during my poker days. In fact, it never was a major problem for me to the extent that it hurts my DFS. I think the reason for this would be that poker requires active involvement whereas DFS is more like a Ronco product with a set it and forget it. It allows you passively partake, something that enables you to keep going on when you really shouldn't. Playing shitty poker takes just as much effort as good poker, playing shitty DFS takes up no time at all whereas one could otherwise spend an entire day preparing for it.
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When I was playing online poker, it was a very simple matter, I'd realize I had no interest in what I was doing and just log out of each table once my big blind came around. I'd then try to spend a bit more time outdoors. I'd go for a walk or a hike and if that wasn't enough, the next day I'd pack up some things and go on a trip. However, with us all having 9-5 jobs, you can't just phone in to the office and say you need some time off to relax and confront your burnout :). So these days it's just a matter of staying involved by playing for like $1 and wait for the urge to research comes back. No road trips to Moab, Utah or days on the beach.
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Sooner or later I'd start feeling that itch again and things would be back to normal. When I was playing live it was another matter. Usually being in Macau, there wasn't really all that much for hiking or camping on a congested island. Furthermore, never being a permanent resident there, each day I was there I was paying for rent back home and a hotel room/airbnb over there - in essence, burnout simply ate into my ROI. I'd view time not spent at the tables as time that was wasted so I created a one day break with a test afterwards to determine whether I kept playing or packed up and went home.
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So when I began not feeling like myself at the tables from these constant high stakes sessions, I made a habit of hitting up the Clube Militar De Macau. This was a fascinating place, it used to be where the Portugese Military hung out during the colonial era and these days it's just an out of place building surrounded by the older casinos, an alley of Philipino tranny hookers and fake jewelry shops that pretend to sell you stuff but really just give you unofficial cash advances on your credit card. I always got a kick out of that, all the pomp and circumstance which used to encompass that building and the people who used to occupy it... always wondered what they'd think if they knew it's become a derelict just barely hanging onto survival with a very reasonably priced lunch buffet. Without fail, it's always empty.
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I'd sit down and order a Vinha D'Alhos along with a bottle of wine and just soak up the setting, think about my recent play and keep drinking until I thought about something else. Sometimes, I'd need to get a second or third bottle of wine. Then I'd go on a walk through the old city, see the free standing wall that remains of the old cathedral and then loop back around and hit up the evil empire of degeneracy that is the Cystal Palace Casino.
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Now Macau has many casinos, some were big in the past that are largely empty today, others are modern and luxurious ones that are crowded today. The Crystal Palace is neither of those. It's a tiny little place crammed into 2 rooms on the 3 floor of the Hotel Lisboa, not to be confused with the Grand Lisboa, which is across the street. While most of Macau is baccarat and high stakes (most places the min bet is over $50), the Crystal Palace fills a little niche of broke degenerates offering min bets for less than $10. This is where I'd happily take the amount I'd normally play in blinds in a single orbit and stretch it out over several hours of mindlessness. I'd start off with Blackjack and then once too inebriated to be counting accurately (like with burnout, probably never realized until well after it'd begun) I'd then switch it up and play baccarat as no amount of drunkeness can screw that up because there's no way to impact the outcome one bit. They will however let you touch, bend and play with the cards, which can actually be fun after a couple drinks.
Afterwards, I'd head back to the hotel and lay down in bed listening to my current audiobook - usually science fiction. I'd drink plenty of water, eat some healthy food and get very well rested and sleep for a very long time. The next morning I'd again hit up the Crystal Palace, but this time go straight to the poker room and get on the list. After an hour or two playing the low stakes poker they offer, I'd make a decision over whether I was still feeling it or rather thinking of blackjack and baccarat. If I was back in the mood for poker, then I'd head off to the Wynn or another casino with a poker room. If I wasn't, then I'd cash out, book tickets home and play more baccarat and blackjack until it was time to leave for my flight.
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That's really how I could tell whether or not I was still going through burnout. If I felt more attracted to much more mindless and instant gratification pit games than grinding away at the poker tables. For DFS, there is no real active involvement, so I don't have that indicator. It's much more subtle. It's a lot harder to detect when burnout is occuring, and it's much more difficult to confront. Since poker is active, I just had to do something else and wait for my desire to return. But for DFS, there's always that "oh I should set some lineups" mentality that's basically automatic process for most people. For many of us, a day without setting lineups is like a day without lunch, it may happen, but it feels abnormal and while one can sit down and play poker when not into it, DFS is orders of magnitude easier to passively do and that's the danger, that you could be burning ROI before realizing you are burning.
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So whenever you start feeling different, be it getting bored while doing research, wanting to play some baccarat or oddly have a desire to watch Man of Steel, try to pay attention to it and reconsider whether or not you should be playing DFS for more than a token amount that day. It's easier said than done, but recognizing burnout and taking proactive steps to limit the damage are essential for any sustained DFS grind in which we all partake.
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I still have yet to find a new way to bring my mind back into the game, which is the primary reason I'm writing about it here. I'm hoping this can help. Most likely though, I'll just wait it out and sometime soon be thinking hard about researching Harden's game time status again, and then I'll know it's safe to play again.

Top 5 Best Casinos in Macau you can visit:

• Ponte 16 (SJM)

Ponte 16 is the only entertainment venue located in the cultural hub of the Inner Harbour, forming part of the ‘Historic Center of Macau’ area.

• The Grande Lisboa Hotel (SJM)

The Grande Lisboa Hotel occupies an iconic modern building in the heart of Macau, with easy access to the city’s various sights and experiences. The Hotel’s golden lotus-shaped tower is a distinctive landmark and the tallest building in Macau, rising out of a huge dome and lit a variety of colors at night

• The Hotel Lisboa (SJM)

The Hotel Lisboa, sitting across the street from the Grand Lisboa, was built in the 1970s and for decades remained the most famous entertainment venue in Asia.

• Wynn Macau (Wynn Group)

The Wynn Macau brings a touch of American style to the Far East, with a meticulous attention to detail and a stunning Performance Lake running shows every five minutes, all day, in front of the main entrance.

• MGM Macau (MGM Group)

The MGM Macau, run by MGM Resorts International and occupying some prime waterfront property in the burgeoning center of the Nam Van district, offers unparalleled entertainment from a global name.
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