Straight Flush

Goddamit

2010-06-24T18:49:00.001+01:00

I've had to change my profile.

I'm not 43 any more, and haven't been for nearly eleven months.

How time flies when you're errr, enjoying yourself. I think that's what they call it.

Hope you're well dD ;)

Happy New Year

2010-01-26T17:45:00.002Z

I've had to sign in to rid myself of the amazing amount of spam which, for no apparent reason, appears to have started flying my way.

I know that just about the only real person that looks at this blog (including me) is dD, God bless him, so this short update is dedicated to my most loyal and only reader. Thanks mate. I wish I was as loyal in return .

I miss playing poker regularly. The steady road upwards with the predictable stumbles which felt like total disasters at the time, but weren't. The cut and thrust of the game, the highs the lows, the sense of community with other bloggers.

But those days have gone. I'm now spending my time catching up with every episode of House and Lie to Me, and Larkrise to Candleford's back on now, so that's the rest of the winter and spring lost on a Sunday night (ref previous posts :p).

I do play occasionally, but losing doesn't hurt, which means I'm inevitably going to lose in the long term. No discipline in my game equals no game at all.

Anyway, happy new year to anyone that is connected to a human brain rather than a spam bot. January 26th isn't too late to say that is it? ;)

All the best :)

Too much to take

2009-09-15T21:16:00.003+01:00

Aggro opponent, showing bluffs etc etc.

I read him right. I sat there before the river and said. It.Can't.Happen.Again.

Well It Happened.

Again.

And it's just not fun any more.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4695604

Out of the darkness?

2009-06-22T18:37:00.003+01:00

Goodness knows if anyone checks this blog out any more. I certainly haven't, so why would anyone else? On the assumption that someone somewhere looks in occasionally I can confirm that I'm still alive.

In the three months since I last blogged I fell totally out of love with poker, and perhaps life in general. I seemed to spend my life at work and then vegging in front of the television, with precious little time or inclination to do anything else.

The (English) football season finished disappointingly with a play off semi final defeat over two legs with the ever delightful Millwall. No promotion this year, and you begin to wonder whether we'll ever even be taking the field in the second tier, let alone the Premier League. Hope springs eternal I guess.

I lost two staff at work and because of the credit crunch they weren't replaced, meaning that I ended up trying to cover their work. Doing 16 hour days and working for hours, unpaid, at the weekend wasn't doing me any good. I've put up with a fair deal of crap in my working career but I'm not getting any younger and don't have the stamina to do this any more without it taking its toll. I'm suffering from insomnia at the moment, something that I've never had to deal with. I could sleep through an earthquake normally so clearly there's something wrong which I've got to get sorted out if I'm not to end up stir crazy!

With all this going on the thought of concentrating on poker wasn't really very appealing - I've always said that I won't play over my roll and I won't play tired. At least I've kept that promise to myself. I have started playing a bit again though, although whether I'll ever get to the level I was at before I don't know. I tried a sit and go today and sitting there with A7s v A4o on the bubble I was delighted to see a 7 flop. Somehow he managed to river a low straight and I remembered just why I stopped playing the stupid bloody game.

Deep down I know I love playing the game, but deep down I also know I can sleep. Convincing the subconscious mind is a whole different card game.

I've lost touch with so many people and blogs - all I can say is that I hope that things are going well for you at, and beyond, the tables.

Unintended consequences

2009-03-16T18:16:00.005Z

Why isn't life ever simple? In my last entry, more than two months ago for goodness' sake, I wrote the following.

Now I’m able to play poker in the lounge, be part of the family and get more volume in. There may be a slight loss in edge as there are distractions, but overall it’s working well.

Hmmmm...nice in theory. In reality a poker nightmare. As time went by I started looking forward to certain TV programmes. I've watched Larkrise to Candleford (FFS!!!), Hustle, Spooks re-runs, even Waterloo flipping Road. I had avoided the addiction of television for so many years I forgot how easy it is to get hooked back in. And it's killed my poker game.

In the beginning I was in the lounge, but I wasn't really there. I was a corporal presence but my mind was on the tables. However as my wife became used to this strange person being sat on the opposite sofa so she started talking to me. I talked back. We discussed plotlines (so far as there is one in Waterloo Road). Perish the thought we started talking about our days, what we were going to do at the weekend. Put simply we interacted like man and wife, rather than being strangers who went our seperate ways once we had dinner.

Good thing, right? Well yeah, but poisonous for poker. I'll give you one example. I'm dealt aces. Standard raise pre-flop. Called by one player. I flop another ace but there are two clubs on the board. He checks and I put out a bet just above the pot size to discourage villain from the draw. If he has a lower set then bring it on!

Villain calls. The turn is a blank for me and for the draw. He checks and I put in another pot sized bet just as my wife asks me some trivial question about my plans for the weekend. I say I haven't really thought about it and she tells me that I really need to because...blah...blah...villain calls...WTF?

Now my Spider sense doesn't like what I see. In the back of my mind I now know he's on a club draw, or a donk who simply wants to donate his stack to me.

Blah...blah...blah...I have no idea what I'm doing this weekend...can I just finish this hand...club on river...shit!...well we need to sort it out because your Mum & D...villain goes all in...ad are coming...Noooooooooooooo...now I'm flustered to hell because I KNOW that I'm beat, but he could also have a set. So I replay the hand in my head...beep beep beeeeeeeeeeepppppppppp...Stars is getting impatient...I'm impatient. I snap back. She snaps at me...beeeeeeepppppp...beeeepppppp......beeeeeeepppppppp
I press call...knowing I'm beaten but too stubborn and distracted to be disciplined enough to fold.

I lose to the 3,4 of clubs. I'm incandescent because I put him on the draw, but he called me all the way with crap, and I read it perfectly. But because of the white noise, the lack of concentration, the disorientation...I make the call and look exactly what I was. A donk.

I closed the table. Well I say closed it...I clicked the X on the Stars software without even bbothering to actually leave the table (your hand will be folded, do you still want to leave, the little message on the other table pleaded) and slammed the laptop shut, thanking my wife for losing me a full buy in. Actually I don't think she'd describe it as thanks...more like borderline abuse.

Yeah, I apologised and I'm so lucky that she is totally with me on this poker lark because at least deep down she understood.

But it's tainted things for me. That's not what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to sail the clear blue seas, continue my upward progress and rediscover what it's like to talk to my wife having hidden myself away for the best part of three years after 9pm.

What's happened is that my concentration is shot, and although I'm $50 up since January my normal results pattern should see me $150 up by now, and that's no mean difference at NL5.

Dotting the Is and crossing the Ts it's not hard to work out that I've barely read anyone's blogs (banned at work) and have lost touch with the poker world.

I still do love the game, but I think that I'm simply going to have to withdraw from the lounge whenever I want to play a serious session and just donk around with some double or nothings when I'm downstairs. I'm not even sure that my wife would complain. For years she's watched whatever telly she wants to without me pursing my lips of telling her how crap the plotlines are in some of her favourite programmes ;).

And so it is that I'm upstairs on the main PC now. Time to write my blog, to play sensibly. Just like the good old, bad old days :).

Net gains

2009-01-11T19:39:00.001Z

A bit late for happy new years wishes, but never the less it would be rude not to, regardless of the date. I hope your personal and poker lives prosper in what is bound to be a testing twelve months.

It may seem strange but I actually forgot about my blog, everyone else’s blog and Raise the River for about a month. Christmas, New Year and, of course, work, completely blunted my desire to read about poker. That and the fact that I’ve been playing the game whenever I can as opposed to reading hand histories, tactics and other such stuff.

However when I went back to work last week all the old habits came back as I sat at my desk munching on my sandwich of a lunchtime, save for looking at blogs which I can’t do at work.
The poker world goes on. The same tricky positions with as many people saying fold as say call as say re-raise! It’s the nature of the beast of course, and none the worse for that.

Today I’m having an absolute nightmare. 600 hands in and loads of missed flops, outdraws and maniacs. It was like that for a while just after new year, but then things turned, as they always do.

2008 was a year where I changed from a micro-limit sit and go player into a micro-limit cash player. To say it was the right decision is an understatement from my perspective, although I suspect that the drudge of playing 60,000 hands of mainly NL5 would be more than many could bear. However it suited my lifestyle, and having railed a few tournaments and S&Gs of late, just to watch and learn, I realised that luck constitutes a good 50% of these games. I don’t want to be a hostage to fortune, and at my levels I can guarantee a long term profit without having to spend half of it on bandages required after banging my head following a one outer defeat on the bubble. Each to their own eh?

I started the cash trail in March, starting with games above my roll, but finally seeing the light when a couple of hands in a row rivered away a third of my bankroll when well ahead. I couldn’t stand that so NL5 it was. I ended the year $445 up.

I averaged 10 Big Bets/100 hands consistently, and just after Christmas, realising that the dollar rate was very favourable for a cash out withdrew $370, leaving $150, added my Christmas money and bought a laptop which was on offer at a very good price. Poker had actually bought me something, and something I’d coveted for a long time.

Now I’m able to play poker in the lounge, be part of the family and get more volume in. There may be a slight loss in edge as there are distractions, but overall it’s working well.
I look at that laptop with a sense of pride. It was purchased with the fruits of my grinding, a tangible symbol of what I’ve achieved. I will never be a great poker player, but I’m good enough to actually buy something meaningful now and again.

I guess that’s why this blog is so peripheral these days. I just grind away every night, taking the rough with the smooth but knowing that in the medium term the graph will point only one way. I don’t have the buzz of the tournament player’s poker life, but I generally don’t have the frustrations either. When I feel the need for a bit of STT action I play a Double or Nothing (80% hit rate so far, but as you barely play a hand to win pretty boring).

Thanks for reading. Along the way virtually all of you have contributed something to that laptop :)

Little by Little

2008-11-17T17:13:00.003Z

One of the reasons that this blog appears to be on its last legs is that I used to do a lot of the writing on a lunchtime. Then the powers that be decided that blogs were an evil waste of time, even when someone is technically not working, and that access would be denied.

I know I’m not alone in this (Burnley Mik, for one, has the same problem) somewhat random censorship. I can log into many sites, but nothing related to gambling, which poker seems to be according to WebSense, though Raise The River is for some reason exempt. Anyway, I’ve decided to type this at work today and e-mail it home. Why I’ve never thought of this before I don’t know…

The other reason is that compared to the high octane world of MTTs & STTs cash really is the poker equivalent of a tortoise. You have great hands and rushes such as I highlighted in this thread on RTR but generally you plod on at my level, which is NL5 for those who don’t know or who had forgotten that such micro-stakes exist.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy playing the games I am, it’s just that it doesn’t make for an exciting narrative. The few S&Gs I now play aren’t exactly sexy either because they’re the Poker Stars ‘double or nothings’. Despite having had next to no practice I think I’ve cashed in 75% of those I’ve entered (about 4 in total lol) and am convinced that if I refined my technique and really gave it a go it would become a money maker for me. In fact, let’s face it, virtually any of the people I know read this blog (hello to you both!) could guarantee a profit. When you have people who will push with marginal hands when well placed on the bubble, and even more importantly people who will call, you can sail through them almost without playing a hand. But let’s be honest poker for most of us is not just about making money it’s the thrill of the chase etc.

So, cash it is, and it’s going mighty fine thank you (he said modestly). I can’t see my last substantive blog update (towards the end of October) but I believe that I was looking at hitting a Stars roll of $400 by the end of my holiday. I’m now up to $452 and over 25,000 hands am averaging nearly 11Big Bets per 100 hands, or, with the Big Blind at 5c, 1c per hand, every hand. I’ve had eleven winning weeks out of twelve and the one losing week was where I played very little.

Unfortunately this comes at a cost that I am very aware of – my overall poker skills are becoming flabby. The way to win at NL5, even 6 max, is simple. Play tight with trash, but if you get half a decent starting hand (such as any suited ace or even Kx suited sometimes) it pays to limp. Raising is pointless as you actually want opponents in the game when you hit big. My pre flop raise percentage is about 7%. If you’re raised then throw it away and try again. This is completely against the conventional wisdom, but then NL5 isn’t a ‘conventional’ game. It’s full of exploitable players who are easy to read as a large print version of Thomas The Tank Engine. The essential bit is to get to the flop if you can and take it from there.

Generally speaking it’s easy to tell what people have – chunky raises pre-flop turn into weaker continuation bets and then often become merely a token. If I’m in a hand with a paired board, for example, I might check call if I’m uncertain as to the strength of my hand. When the overbet comes in on the river 99% of the time the guy might as well send me an e-mail that he’s hit and I can get away. If my hand improves I’ll hang a bet out there which will make him call. And so it goes on.

All of which is lovely, were it not for the fact that even at NL10 the play is better and anywhere above that would see my milking style of play obsolete. I’d get fried alive. So I’m playing passive poker for the most part which is making me some decent money in my terms, but is probably harming my game overall.

I suppose I’m at least aware of it, and as I’m happy to see the profit graph at a 45 degree angle all is good I guess. Poker isn’t a vocation for me, it’s a wee bit of light relief. I don’t ever feel the need to smash the monitor or kick the cat if we had one. It’s like a game within a game, and it’s one which I do well at in relative terms.

Why would I want to change? The answer is obvious. I’d actually like to be winning at higher stakes, but am hooked on low value but easily beatable games. I have $30 left on Party – perhaps I’ll experiment a bit on there to see what adjustments I have to make.

But all in all poker life is good – little by little.

Good luck at the tables and thanks for reading :)

What credit crunch?

2008-11-05T22:46:00.005Z

Eat your heart out Amatay :))))

He he. The tightest 10c short handed S&G ever, taking around an hour to complete. I love Cardoza. All is forgiven!

Breaking records (amongst other things)

2008-10-23T17:31:00.004+01:00

Until last Saturday I'd never broken a bone, or at least not had one officially diagnosed. It's quite possible that I've clattered a toe on a couple of occasions, but as there's precious little a hospital can do I never actually found out.

It was a combination of my 12 year old son kindly polishing the laminate flooring at the bottom of the stairs, a fresh pair of socks and the fact that I'm a fair sized unit that led to me crashing down, cracking my elbow on the stair and looking a complete idiot! I eventually gave in to my good lady wife who implored me to get it checked out on Monday and lo and behold, a suspected fracture. They're not actually sure because of what are know as 'fat pads'. Cheers for that...what my stomach has to do with my elbow I don't know, although even my best friends say I don't know my arse from the same joint, so who knows???

No driving for at least two weeks. I can type despite having a sling on because in most planes of movement there's no pain at all. Twist it laterally and it's like being burned in hell. I can't use a fork and am getting sick of comfort food and having solids cut up for me. 43 years old and it comes to this...Hah!

I was going to be on holiday next week anyway, and I've now extended it to Bonfire night, 5th November, which is when I go back to the clinic. The up side of this is obvious. I can't do anything practical at all, not that my wife ever thought I did. But I can click a mouse with my right hand, so poker is most definitely not only a release from the pain (that's the way I'm spinning it, OK?) but also just about the only thing I CAN do to keep alert...don't even talk about TV. Ugh. 'Nuff said.

It's been a mixed month since I last updated. I started my NL20 staking deal, promptly got smacked in the face by a villain who continually out drew me and my confidence drained away. I tried again a few weeks later and the same thing happened. It's not as if the stakes scare me. Out of my 45,000 hands since March I've played nearly 10,000 hands at NL25, but due to the quickfire losses of a fifth of my then bankroll gave it up having broken even. No, the fact is that playing with other people's money can impose a responsibility on you which you don't have when it's your cash. In the end I played around 500 hands, losing at a rate of 22BB/100 hands. A ludicrously small sample, but it simply didn't feel right. Cardoza players at that level are freaks, and for a steady plodder like me, well, it just wasn't working.

Rather than carrying on I've ended the deal on good terms with Mik, and perhaps some time in the future we can arrange another stake where I feel comfortable. Thanks to Mik, though, for being very matter of fact about it and understanding that it just wasn't working :).

Somehow I managed to lead a team of four to victory in the Raise the River team challenge which involved heads up and S&G tourneys. The word to note is TEAM. Individually we were up against great players like Amatay (the new Sky Poker star) and Matty H, erstwhile poster on my blog and responsible for much of what I've become as a poker player (but I won't hold it against him!). However, assisted by an APAT champion amongst others we took a 1-2-3 on the final table of the final match and shared the spoils. Small fry for many, but the winnings boosted my bankroll by 10% and I had a whole load of fun.

So far as the grinding is concerned that's exactly what it felt like early in the month with cold cards and flops leading to what i felt must have been a losing start to October. However my stats showed that I did in fact manage to win a few dollars, aided no doubt by the fact that I can fold two pairs on a straightening or flushing board whereas many opponents at micro-stakes can't.

However it all came right and from October 10th I've increased my Stars roll to such an extent (proportionately) that I'm looking at hitting $400 by the end of the holiday. In March it was around $100. I've had only one losing week in twelve. Not too shoddy for a NL5 player who only ever dual tables and yeah, I'm pleased, especially after the Cardoza disaster.

No hand histories, because Amatay said on television that they're gay :p.

Good luck at the tables :)

Like A Fish Out of Water

2008-09-21T21:42:00.004+01:00

I decided to play the Brit Bloggerment tonight. I hadn't played for months because I generally don't play S&Gs any more - just six since the beginning of August.

I was dead money. Totally out of practice. A novice. I hated every hand because I simply couldn't get into the right frame of mind having forgotten everything that had once come naturally.

Practice makes perfect. Lack of practice makes you a fish :)))

Perhaps my frame of mind was best summed up in the cash games I played afterwards. I was only really playing to reach my Party Points total for the week (why bother, I ask myself, as their programme is totally crap). I was surfing away, and watching the real players battling it out on the Brit Blogger final table.

Twice I clicked a link on a web page only to find that an instant before a table had popped up and I'd raised the pot with trash. Once I was forced to follow through as it was about $1 to match an all in where I was priced in to call. I lost miserably, being unable to suck out with the nuts that 95 & 75 offsuit represent.

A fishy night indeed :(

AIG = All In Gamblers

2008-09-16T22:19:00.006+01:00

For those of you who live on top of Everest who don't know there's a 'credit crunch' out there. Just at the moment the target of the financial vultures is American International Group (hey, if that doesn't get me some Google hits nothing will!).

Apparently AIG have 24 hours to secure significant funding before they hit the buffers. This is a company which was the biggest insurer in America and a global presence who not many people know of in the UK save for their sponsorship of a football club around 40 miles from where I sit lovingly known by we Leeds fans as 'Scum'. For the rest of you that's Manchester United, a club which itself is sitting on approaching £1bn of debt.

If AIG go down then the shock waves will be massive. Anyway, enough of the Wall Street Journal stuff, the other reason I'm interested in AIG is that they happen to underwrite much of the business that my company works on. If they go belly up I quite honestly don't know what the ramifications would be for me and my company.

I admit openly that I'm rather scared.

But anyway, this is a poker blog, largely, so what's the link? In fact it's quite tenuous. As I was playing tonight I had the CNN Share page in the background showing AIG's shares. It was a massacre. The share price changed every second falling to around $1.80 a share and then rising as computer programmes decided to buy at a perceived low point. Then it rose, and rose and rose. It got to a point above where it started ($4.76) and then eventually settled down at $3.75 at the close, still a quarter down. Now, in after hours trading, it's down to $1.83.

I guess my mind might have been somewhat distracted, though if it was I didn't particularly realise it. However 600 hands later I've endured the most frustrating, most annoying and utterly jaw dropping session ever. No matter that I couldn't hit a thing. No matter that, once again, with the money in the middle I had a full house cracked by quads - the ninth time in just over a month. What really got me was the utter disorder of those who came and went on the tables.

I like to think of Stars as a bit of an institution, where on the whole the cash play is as sensible as you can get at the various micro-limits. In fact I make a lot of my money on that basis. Tonight we had all ins flying around like the playesr were buying and selling AIG shares. There was no rhyme nor reason to it. Pocket 5s would clash with straight draws for $20 pots (at NL5, by the way). A limped table would react to a button raise by re-re-re-re-raising until we had yet more all in shenanigans. $8 pots with three players would see two of them fold to a 10c bet on the end! Just craaaazzzzy! It was like someone had actually paid people to make a mockery of the game.

There was such a parallel between what I was seeing and the rollercoaster ride on the AIG shares. No real rhyme nor reason to it all. Gut instincts, a lack of discipline and, given that AIG is the custodian of phenomenal amounts of funds but not in a position to realise them at short notice, an evident problem with pot odds and bankroll management.

I avoided most of the fall out apart from a $12 pot, but I still ended up losing at a rate of about 35BB/100 hands. In a poker sense I feel shell shocked. This isn't how it's supposed to be. It's not how it was yesterday and it's nothing like it will be tomorrow.

I can only hope for my sake, and for everyone's sake, including the 100,000+ employees that AIG have, that a certain order is restored in the worlds that drew together for me this evening.

The poker donkeys and the city traders have one thing in common. They're like headless chickens who get caught up in hysteria. And through their idiocy most of them lose money and drag down those who want to 'play it straight'. Like the Traders, some walked out of the session much richer without quite knowing how they got there while for others like me it was a case of right time, wrong place - if I'd had decent hands I'd probably not be moaning now :)))

Since the last update the after hours price has gone up to $2.30 from $1.83. Is the company worth 26% more now that twenty minutes ago? Is it really worth nearly 40% less than it was this morning? Of course not, but when people leave rational decison making behind finance, as poker, becomes little more than a lottery.

The missing month, and the challenge to come

2008-09-07T16:25:00.008+01:00

August came and went without so much as a post. Apparently one or two people still stumbled across my blog, but it really has been a case of radio silence at Cell Towers. In early August this collection of ramblings passed its second birthday without a telegram from the Queen. In fact its author forgot, so you can't blame anyone else! Of 251 posts three quarters of them were penned in the first year.

Apart from being pretty busy with life stuff I've played an awful lot of poker. My fantasy of playing on the laptop in the garden in the sunshine surrounded by tumbling baskets of flowers and with a glass of something chilled was a bit off the mark, though. It rained for 26 consecutive days in August and even allowing for 2007 which in itself saw a horrible summer, it was the worst I can remember.

I've had a look back over many of the posts that I've made, and some of them seem so fresh in my mind I could hardly believe that they were written in 2006. The complete obsession with sit and gos after my first faltering steps following my first deposit is as laughable as the views I held on cash games, given the fact that I've played virtually nothing else since March this year.

We poker players are consistent in one thing - constantly changing goals and priorities!!!

Anyone looking in who has read the blog before will know that while I've played a little outside my finances the basic rules of bankroll management have been numero uno. That means that I've sat playing NL5 more or less exclusively without any threat at all of going bust and slowly but surely growing my roll. But even at a rate of 12BB/100 hands consistently for six months it will take me around a year to be fully rolled for NL10. I had considered moving up when my profits hit $250 (they're currently $190), but before I had the chance to put that into effect something else cropped up which has changed everything.

BurnleyMik approached me with a staking deal - to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. Recognising my predicament (which I'd mentioned on the Raise The River Forums ) he offered $400 on Cardoza at NL20 which obviously opens up all sorts of avenues for me. Full details can be seen in the Staking Forum on RTR, but having spoken to him at length on MSN it's clear that he knows the risks, views the stake as a long term commitment and is prepared to lose the lot. I very much hope that won't be the case, but poker is an uncertain game.

I'll do another entry on how this has changed things for me, the pressures (yeah, even at NL20!) and the opportunities at a future date. The major difference is that I'll be able to change my naturally conservative play, increasing potential rewards without the worry of the downsides. That in itself presents challenges because it takes a while to change a style of playing which has developed over six months.

Interesting times ahead, for sure, and I extend my thanks to Mick for giving me this opportunity.

The Lord giveth...

2008-07-29T19:35:00.007+01:00

...you know the rest of the phrase.

I had two windows open at Party NL25 6 max last night. Simultaneously (check the times) the following hands occurred.

Firstly a nice standard bullets hand which, to be honest I played fast because villain was an absolute fish but also because I was concentrating on a rather less standard hand where I got myself into an extraordinary amount of trouble.

The Aces http://www.pokerhand.org/?2963949
The trouble http://www.pokerhand.org/?2963961

In the second hand you have every right to ask what the hell I was doing flat calling with ace rag. If you're going to play with crap like that, even six handed, make 'em pay. Even if I did, though, trouble was going to hit me in the end. I know what I should have done and in a perverse way I got what I deserved. It's taught me a lesson, even though statistically I should have won the hand.

Now I hate RiverJo's minimum raise pre-flop. He has queens which is hellishly vulnerable against donks (blush) who play ace rag. I have to call.

I pair my ace, but even now I realise that I'm not necessarily in great shape. He checks. I'm grateful and the turn peels off another queen. I'm not minding this so much unless he has a queen. His next action will tell me. He bets 25c. I HAVE to call. His betting makes no real sense.

And then...and then...the river. It fills my house aces full of queens. He bets 25c. I re-raise and expect a call. He then goes in over the top and I'm lost. He can't know what I have (though he must suspect trip aces) but obviously knows he can milk me. And like a herd of Jersey cows he induces my all in. Quad queens. Bloody quads. And he stitched me up like a kipper because I had a hand which wins 99% of the time. Hell and damnation lol.

So, literally within the space of seconds I win $17.77 and lose $16.25. +EV :)))).

I really did expect to end up winning both hands, and the quads knocked me sideways a bit. I donked off a fair bit more and then realised that I was on tilt and that I had to switch off.

Idiotic for calling with ace rag. Lucky for villain in the end, but if you don't play chicken on the motorway you don't get knocked over.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was pretty much at ease with what had happened when I woke up this morning and viewed it as a learning curve thing, but I do think that it was symptomatic of a more general problem. I've played pretty non stop cash for four and a half months now, and am grinding my way up. Still profitable, still OK at my level. But I can't play NL5 with much interest any more. It's frying my head. I would dearly love to roll myself up to NL25, but that would take a deposit of several hundred dollars. That isn't going to happen.

I suppose I could really do with a decent score like Acorn, who scooped over $4000 in a MTT ($50 buy in) and Mair who went better than that (in terms of prestige if not cash) and took down the APAT title in Blackpool. This is a woman who, not so long ago, was short on confidence and motivation and didn't want to play. It just goes to show that with support and confidence things can turn around very quickly.

Her name is in lights here, and quite rightly - http://www.apat.com/index.php

Also a big congratulations to the Raise The River team who put in a cracking performance. I don't go on there much any more (I have never felt part of it, which is probably more to do with me than them) but still look out for their antics, trials and tribulations.

Great stuff from all concerned :)

Sit and Gone

2008-07-19T18:35:00.004+01:00

I'm home alone until next Wednesday evening, so you know what that means...

I sat down to play a bit of NL25 and after a dodgy start ended up ahead of the game, despite never hitting a set in 500 hands. It did become a bit boring after a while, so I decided to re-visit the micro sit and gos on Stars for a bit of variety.

In the first game I played a real donk move with AQ - two all ins and as it was the first hand I decided to call on the off chance. Win that hand and I'm set for the rest of the game. Suffice it to say I come up against Aces and it's goodnight Cell. Not fussed, it was worth a go.

In the second game I decide to be a little more sensibly, until the god of Aces decided to tempt me...

Seat #9 is the button

Seat 1: Coalbary (2855 in chips)
Seat 2: Beatme2day (1695 in chips)
Seat 3: umdenbusch (980 in chips)
Seat 4: Woody518 (1690 in chips)
Seat 5: MAUSILIGHT (1035 in chips)
Seat 6: jimelic (1240 in chips)
Seat 7: caddywayne44 (1205 in chips)
Seat 8: prarack (1435 in chips)
Seat 9: Cell 1919 (1365 in chips)
Coalbary: posts small blind 15
Beatme2day: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to Cell 1919 [Ac Ad]
umdenbusch: folds
Woody518: folds
MAUSILIGHT: calls 30
jimelic: folds
caddywayne44 folds
prarack: folds
Cell 1919: raises 240 to 270
Coalbary: folds
Beatme2day: folds
MAUSILIGHT: calls 240

I don't mind a call I suppose, although bearing in mind I was told a long time ago by 'those who who know' that standard raises are pointless as they'll get a call, I am entitled to assume I'm up against something of a hand. Anyway...

*** FLOP *** [8c 2h Jd]
MAUSILIGHT: bets 150
Cell 1919: raises 690 to 840
MAUSILIGHT: calls 615 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (75) returned to Cell 1919
*** TURN *** [8c 2h Jd] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [8c 2h Jd 9s] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MAUSILIGHT: shows [2c 2d] (three of a kind, Deuces)
Cell 1919: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
MAUSILIGHT collected 2115 from pot

I'd like to think that his bet of 150 was a little trappy, but in all honesty I think it was useless. It worked of course because I didn't put him on jacks or eights because he'd raise pre-flop. The flop sealed my fate. His call of my raise with deuces stinks. I don't care what anyone says. If you're really going to play that hand with 1000 chips, push them all in pre-flop after my raise. I'd have called, of course.

Severely wounded I try not to throw it away, and top pair crap kicker seems about the best I'm going to get.

Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: Beatme2day (1665 in chips)
Seat 3: umdenbusch (620 in chips)
Seat 4: Woody518 (1460 in chips)
Seat 5: MAUSILIGHT (2615 in chips)
Seat 6: jimelic (1240 in chips)
Seat 7: caddywayne44 (1355 in chips)
Seat 8: prarack (1375 in chips)
Seat 9: Cell 1919 (330 in chips)
MAUSILIGHT: posts small blind 25
jimelic: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cell 1919 [8d 9d]
All fold except Cell 1919: calls 50
Woody518: calls 50
MAUSILIGHT: calls 25
jimelic: checks
*** FLOP *** [3s 2d 9c]
MAUSILIGHT: checks
jimelic: checks
Cell 1919: bets 280 and is all-in
Woody518: calls 280
MAUSILIGHT: folds
jimelic: folds
*** TURN *** [3s 2d 9c] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [3s 2d 9c Tc] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Cell 1919: shows [8d 9d] (two pair, Nines and Threes)
Woody518: shows [Jd 3d] (three of a kind, Threes)
Woody518 collected 760 from pot

There will be people I'm sure who say that his call pre flop with J3s is perfectly justified by the odds...or some such wisdom. Forgive me if I don't agree, even though he has position and wins the hand. I guess his call of my bet is justified because I could have anything. He does have outs and what do you know...three of a kind.

So I sit playing oodles of cash and fail to hit a set or trips and in just a few hands on a sit and go I find people willing to play with trash and then come up against a one in seven/eight chance hitting twice.

In the global scheme of things it matters not. But it did give me a major reminder as to how utterly crap micro sit and gos are. The only time half decent players have an edge is later on when stack/blind ratio can be used to make the better players make decisions for their lives. Getting there is another matter.

You simply don't get such play at cash tables as the following hand shows...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2915960

Ahem! I'll be honest. I had lost faith in my hand by the river, believing I was up against a set. It was soon after I joined the table and I didn't have any reads. It soon became clear that it was a very loose set of players. Loose isn't my nature, but having studied the stats and patterns carefully I absolutely knew that I had to go outside my comfort zone to take what I could. If I lost? Reload and try again.

So...this one fell beautifully for me it has to be said.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2915979

I didn't need to go all in to get Dazzle to put his stack in, but I didn't want him to think I was considering the hand too carefully, so I made the bet instantly and bless him he called with his AK.

This has been a hand history free blog of late, because I really do believe that (at the levels I play) unless you have a feel for what was going on when the bets were flying in the theoretical approach in hindsight can be confusing. You may think I played these hands badly, well, or anywhere in between, and you're probably right!

EDIT: On Sunday I continued to make money very slowly in the cash games, but my attempts to master the S&G format were laughably bad, helped by the usual river madness. I felt the kind of rage and frustration which were instrumental in me taking a break from poker at the beginning of the year. On only one or two occasions can I honestly say I've felt like that playing cash and they involved two stacks going down the pan when I was well ahead when the money went in.

Situational, contextual and sometimes irrational. It's what makes poker great :)

The post with no meaningful title

2008-07-14T13:07:00.001+01:00

I genuinely can’t think of a witty, appropriate or relevant title for this entry, so I thought it was best to admit to it ;)

This blog isn’t quite dead, though I guess it’s on life support, and deservedly so. If you don’t update regularly and you don’t comment on other people’s efforts then what can you expect? I used to be very good at this but got a bit dispirited that some, though by no means all, people, never even had the courtesy to leave their calling card here even though I was pretty sure from the statistics that they were viewing.

Sometimes it’s difficult to comment – continually typing ‘good luck’ or ‘bad luck’ becomes a bit transparent and tedious. Mind you I suppose it’s better than nothing.

Perhaps people didn’t enjoy it? It’s hardly riveting stuff when I do post, and Pud’s assertion that my ramblings were akin to Shamus’s excellent and frequent offerings was highly flattering but undeserved in equal proportion.

Who knows? It matters nothing in the grand scheme of things. I’m still here, I feel inspired to write today, all be it I don’t have a lot to say. While one person who I’ve never met reads these pages it’s worth it, or at least that’s what the egotistical side of me says.

So…what have I been doing these past few weeks? I guess my transformation from a micro-stakes S&G player to a micro-stakes cash player is more or less complete. I rarely play sit and gos any more which is ironic given my early blog entries weren’t exactly complementary in relation to cash. I suppose that’s the online poker player summed up. Our tastes change, usually when we’ve reached breaking point on the game we’re currently playing.

I played Bloggerment the week before last out of a sense of history more than anything. It’s attracting very few players now and I don’t want it to die. Last night I tried to find the table but it wasn’t (for me) listed anywhere and I ended up searching for the players I guessed would be involved and got there just as registration closed. There were eight players. I missed the end as I was clearing up on a six handed NL25 table where there were many pots to be won as long as I concentrated. I believe Weegem or Mair won – congratulations J.

Anyway, back to the week before last. I wasn’t really attuned to good quality single table play, but gave it my best shot. I was comprehensively outplayed by Mair with her set of 7s which was disappointing. My natural game is to be tight, but I really believed my top pair top kicker was good at first and then I made a crying call I didn’t need to and I was down to a few chips. It was a bit embarrassing really – possibly my worst hand ever in Bloggerment, though that should take nothing away from Mair who did me like the proverbial kipper.

I’m so used to playing cash where such a call may be +EV in the long run (depending on opponent etc) that I didn’t value my life nearly enough.

I’m playing just about every micro stakes NLHE cash game there is in an attempt to find a blend which I can win at but at the same time learn things from. I even had a few hundred hands at NL50 which is so far out of my roll it’s unbelievable. I wasn’t out of my depth, but equally a few hands here and there where draws didn’t come off etc showed me the error of my ways and I withdrew gracefully with little damage done.

On an average day I can hammer the NL5 tables. The main problem is extracting value without letting people in for their draws. 95% of all bets can be read for what they are. There is very little value betting. People who go all in on the flop with about 50c in the middle are either very inexperienced or very stupid, and can be easily avoided until you get a hand and then more often than not it’s help yourself time. The same applies to NL10 although there is an appreciable increase in sensible play on the whole which means you need to be on your game a bit more.

As for NL25? As mentioned earlier I dabble a bit, but when I can have fun AND earn a bit of money at lower limits it seems a bit pointless. I’m never going to rip up the tables. There are internet professionals who started with less than me who were playing NL100 and higher within milliseconds of first logging in. Perhaps if I had been a student today rather than in 1987 I might have had the time and stamina to make something of myself in the game.

As it is I am perfectly satisfied with being a small scale winning player. In a world which appears to be collapsing around us (who outside the US had heard of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae before this morning?) it provides a welcome distraction, a bit of mental exercise in a totally different way to when I’m at work and unlike my salary will go on and on unless I pretend I’m a far better player than I am.

If you’re still reading then thank you very much indeed. I’ll try to stop by on your blogs as well, even if it’s only to post something brief and seemingly trivial. It all counts :)

Days like this

2008-06-28T18:20:00.002+01:00

I should have known better.

The wife's gone to London for the weekend. She'll be in the vicinity of the Adelphi Theatre having a drink or two before going to see Joseph as I type.

The lad has been playing Super Smash Bros on the Wii all day.

The weather is dark cool and drizzly. Outside jobs can wait.

So what better opportunity was I likely to have to rack up some serious poker action (well as serious as NL10 can be...)? I sat down, positive mental attitude to the fore. I even decided to multitable. That decision had very little to do with what follows. I could have played one or a hundred tables, but if what happened to me today was anything to go by it would merely have been the scale of my humiliation that would be have been different, rather than the humiliation itself.

I can save a lot of blog space (for a change) by summarising the statistics below. One particular indicator of how things went were that I went to showdown with two pairs eight times and lost seven times...to a higher two pairs - none of which were on the board. Straights, flushes, full houses, fair enough, and indeed I've been happy to fold two pairs in the past when I think I'm beaten by those hands. But how often do you get two hole cards matching up with the board twice in the same hand?

Anyway, for anyone reading on a Sauturday early evening, or indeed at any time, here goes. I don't mind if you laugh. I am.

8hrs 31 mins table time
538 hands

AA dealt 0
KK dealt 0
QQ dealt 1 (yay!)
JJ dealt 0
AK dealt 4
AQ dealt 3
TT dealt 1

Full houses at showdown 3
Full houses lost to a higher house 2

Hit the flop (any card) 26 times (I believe the odds are three to one to hit soem part of the board?)

Not suprisingly I lost, though somehow I didn't tilt. I suppose it's because of my overall attitude that it's just a game. One day I'll have the day from heaven, although I must admit I could do with it soon ;).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and good luck at the tables.

The mind is a funny thing

2008-06-09T18:32:00.002+01:00

As if any of us needed reminding that spongy material between our ears is a wondrous machine. It translates everything that we see, everything that we do. It controls our responses and each person's is individual to them. It is our very essence.

It can also do some pretty damned funny things. It allows us to become addicted, to block all other things out and at the extremes can force us to be self destructive. We have very little control over it in many ways. Ever woken up in the morning'not feeling right'? For no reason at all something nags away at you and you can't shift it. Ever been in love? Ever been lovelorn? You get the idea, as if you hadn't thought of this already ;).

For more than two years I played poker whenever I could. I read about it and even became proficient at a very basic level. And then at the turn of the year I'd had enough. When I looked at a poker table instead of seeing a game I saw the enemy. I saw conspiracies when I knew there were none. In short it made me miserable.

After a short while away from the game my brain decided that I hated S&G poker and that I would play cash, and enjoy it. But things were never truly right. I never fell back in love. It was a mechanistic process, going through the motions.

And then, in the space of five hands, everything changed, and I mean absolutely everything. They were two regulation suckouts when I was 90%+ favourite and they cost me two buy ins at NL25. I looked at what I was called with, decided that I'd played the hand fine and logged out.

My last entry, more than a month ago, may have been just before or just after that, but you can smell the depression. One or two decided I was having a bit of a pop at them. They were wrong, but whatever, I didn't care. If that was how it was viewed then so be it. It was more a dig at the way for much of the time poker is a grind, and an all encompassing grind at that.

You can't dip in and out of poker if you want to win. You need to keep the spongy tissue lubricated. If you don't want to win then you're not really a poker player at all.

So the moment that the cards were turned face up on that second hand in five my mind switched off. There was nothing I could do about it. The affair was over and there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. I felt a sense of loss, yes, but also of intense liberation. No longer was (as I perceived it) a slave to the PC screen. No longer did I go to bed invigorated by a good night at the tables, but equally I didn't lie there replaying lost hands ad infinitum.

Now I play NL5 for kicks. It's the next best thing to play chips. I might go days without playing, and equally I might dual table for an entire evening. Whatever fits in.

It's funny how the light switches off. I'm also aware that the switch could easily go the other way.

So for those of you that care (and thank you for that), I'm still here. Still playing, but at a level where on average I can win a few dollars most times I play. Losses are shrugged off, wins simply chalked up without that sense of achievement that used to happen.

I hope things are going well for you and that you retain the love for the game that I know you have. I still love it, of course, and I wouldn't pretend otherwise. But my brain won't let me loose any more. I have as much control over that as I had control over my obsession that lasted over two years.

Take care and stay healthy - that's far more important than anything else :)

Spinning

2008-05-04T22:19:00.004+01:00

Grrrrrr....

Just played Bloggerment and came fifth. Reviewing the stats I never had a pocket pair above 4 (and they all folded to me when i had that!) and had AK three times. Apart from that nothing at all.

The final table was full of people spinning a line, telling obvious porkies. Can't blame 'em of course but even so... All I needed was a hand - half a hand. Pah! No chance. Easy to read so difficult to play back with nothing. Fold fold raise fold, hand after hand.

That's the joy of tournament poker I guess. Now where's that frustrated smiley?

Overkill and a short sharp shock

2008-05-01T17:51:00.003+01:00

Is it really two weeks since my last entry? Where did the time go? Ahh well, it's May now, the days are longer and there's the prospect of a few summer's evenings and weekends with a cool beer in hand and the laptop outside (if the wireless works out there). Sounds good to me.

Somewhere in the dim and distant past I'll have posted about just how much I hated cash games. I was exclusively a micro-stakes S&G player learning the ropes. The adrenaline rush provided by that format fitted my lifestyle very well, and I did OK. However after my early year crisis and an inability to cash in S&Gs I kind of fell into playing cash as a way back. I could play for as much or as little time as I fancied. When I finally sorted out Poker Office for Vista (not terribly compatibel with the latest version of Windows) I got an insight into my game that hadn't been evident by simply ploughing into two table games - they were disposable. Cash games provided a consistency which must have suited my psyche at that time.

I played, initially, at NL25 6 max and the bankroll increased at a rapid rate. I've posted before about this so I won't bore you again. It was too easy. It wasn't that I was getting a rush of cards, it was just that when I did get the cards I found action, and that's a heady combination. I was dual tabling on Party, and then Stars, and cut out all distractions (no MSN for example). Like a new relationship it was exciting and rewarding.

And then it happened - I took my eye off the ball. I opened up MSN. I listened to the Raise The River Podcast. I was in the middle of a chat with someone and made the dumbest, crassest, most idiotic call you could ever wish (not) to see. A four flushed board, I had the 10 but there was only the Ace on the table. The K, Q & J would beat me. I also had top pair. Villain goes all in, I'm in two MSN convos and listening to Mik & Co talk about cash players grinding it out. I believe I'm immortal and make the call knowing, heart of hearts (or clubs!), that I'm so far behind it's laughable. I reckon he's bluffing or has middle pair...

$32 down the pan. I can't take those types of losses on my roll. I was so gutted that I nearly cried at my ineptitude.

Fast forward...I took the decision to play NL10 because my discipline was slipping and I couldn't trust myself. When I thought about it I realised that I had been playing too much. I've cleared 8,335 hands in April. Others will tell me whether that's a lot or not, but it felt it.

And there's the key. I'm playing for playing's sake. I'm mentally tired through work and every day life crap. I'm making bad decisions, and something has to be done. I'm just not sure what yet.

So, the scores on the doors, which don't read badly for all that I've said. Please bear in mind the micro-limits I play at.

NL10 Profit of $71.15 at a rate of 10.5 BB/100 hands
NL25 Loss of $15 helped in no end by the above pot

To put that in perspective if I go back to when I installed Poker Office until the end of March the figures are

NL10 Loss of $1 in 100 hands
NL25 Profit of $86.24 in 1068 hands.

Overall I'm well up, having nearly doubled my roll in six weeks, but the message is there.

I also took down Bloggerment a couple of weeks ago which always makes me feel happy!

Thanks very much for reading and for your comments, whcih are much appreciated!

No need to be embarrassed

2008-04-17T13:13:00.002+01:00

I’ve been spending quite a while looking at blogs in the last seven days or so. Many of those that I link to haven’t been updated for a while (I know Matty H has lost his password and ‘can’t be arsed’ to retrieve it lol), so I took a look at some links on Amatay’s blog (there are many of them!) and my goodness there are some good reads out there.

Shamus has always stood out, even if some of his posts are nauturally US-centric, and he plays rather a lot of pot limit Omaha, a game which would no doubt send me into the loony bin even earlier than my existing reservation allows for! But there are so many good ones that it would be impossible to link to them all (though as I said Amatay does his damndest!).

One of the blogs that I’ll be linking to is one of the plainest looking out there – Ex Poker Pro . However what it lacks in format it makes up for, in my opinion, in content and depth. It’s not aimed at my level, of course, but whatever stakes you play at there are some universal truths, and these are brought out very nicely in the posts I’ve seen. One slight problem is that I can’t seem to link to the ‘comments’ – can anyone help, because the author, pleasingly, responds to comments made rather than leaving them hanging there?

It is these universal truths that relate to the title of this post. I play NL25 and I’m not actually rolled for it. There are people for whom that level isn’t even worthy of consideration, but whatever the level insecurities about how hands are played, bankroll management, tilt, suckouts etc etc are common. There is a comforting link between the high rollers and the micro-stake plodders. At the end of the days it’s 52 cards, 13 of each suit…

The seed of this entry followed my post on Raise the River where quite understandably my play was criticised for limping with J9. Yes I won the pot but my limps were major leaks if that’s how I was playing all the time. Except I wasn’t playing like that all the time. How much recent experienced at NL25 6 Max had the people who were responding? Can they identify with tables where playing ABC poker will get you blinded away if nothing else, where mixing up your play in a different way to NLH500 is required because some people have just won $200 on Blackjack and haven’t the faintest idea how to play poker? Does it matter?

The answer is in the question, or more specifically why I asked the question. I knew I’d hit lucky – it was certainly no brag post on my part – and I wanted to get an external perspective on what was in my opponent’s mind. The answers I got back were textbook of course, understandably so, and were very much appreciated. But poker is situational, and sometimes simply posting a hand without any real context is like eating food without a sense of smell. Sterile.

So was it a pointless post? Certainly not! It made me look at my Poker Office Stats very closely. It’s only 5,000 hands, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at what I’ve seen. I actually do have a style. I’m remarkably consistent in terms of the times I put money into the pot and smoothed out the profit curve is upwards. PO says that I’m tight aggressive pre and post flop. You wouldn’t believe that if you judged me by the J9 hand lol. The trick will be not being TOO predictable, although the chances of coming up against people who've played me before (and remember) are minimal.

I’ve realised that I shouldn’t be embarrassed at the level I play or the way I play my hands. If I put them out there for people to comment I should learn wherever possible but temper it with my own experience, and continually review my results and any change in my behaviour. For example I’ve had a pretty average week. I found out that my starting hands were poorer than they had been, the number of hands I was playing had fallen and when I tried aggression it was rarely successful. At least I know why it’s been fairly flat, so as long as I don’t go chasing money I hope that eventually it will come to me – I have to be alert and fresh when the cards change.

Thanks once again for reading this far. Your reward is a nice pot I took down. Three handed I absolutely HAVE to call the all in. Unlike on S&Gs the hole cards stay face down until the river is dealt. The first Ace made me queasy. The second had me shrugging my shoulders in resignation. The showdown was as surprising to me as it no doubt was to the unwise (and unlucky) pusher. What odds that the initial raiser had an ace in the pocket, by the way? If so, how sick was HE feeling?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1768826

Enjoy the weekend and good luck at the tables.

Mind over matter

2008-04-10T14:06:00.003+01:00

Many moons ago some of you may recall that when I made the first tentative steps from play chips to cash I played enough hands on Pacific Poker to get a year’s worth of Texas Calculatem. This is one of many gadgets which theoretically advise you on what cards to play, the odds, outs percentages etc. As with any prescriptive aid it was a blunt tool but at the time it helped me get a feel for the tables and drew my attention to silly things like double gapped straights/draws (where the board is, say, TK8 and villain holds 9J for example). Although it may not seem much now the transfer from play chips to cash meant that instead of Stars telling you what hand you held you had to work it out for yourself. Yeah, I know, daft, but it was very real then.

As time went by I realised that Calculatem was only really as good as the settings that you provided the programme with. Did I ever monkey around with those settings? Of course I didn’t because if I had been good enough to know what to do then I wouldn’t have needed the damned thing in the first place.

As time went by I would forget to switch it on, and then one day I did fire it up and it told me that it had expired. No surprises, I think, that I did not renew my subscription. If anything it dumbed me down once I had learnt to watch player behaviour, appreciate position etc.

I flew free and still won. A few months later I hit my downswing of course, but it was nothing to do with a lack of mechanical aids. It was just me and variance squaring up to each other. Variance inevitably won (it had nothing to do with my play you understand, oh no…).

When I was doing some challenges on Titan I cleared enough loyalty points to get a year’s subscription to Poker Office. But for whatever reason it never seemed to work. Strange messages came up on screen and it seemed it was all related to Vista. So I closed it down and never thought about it again, as the information that I could gather from it for my (then) preferred S&Gs was really limited.

For the past two weeks I’ve played just about exclusively cash on Party. I’ve cleared a re-load bonus in 24 hours, and played 3,300 hands at NL25 6max. Not a lot for many players, but a real concerted effort on my part given the time available. As you know, I was winning, but I wondered how this would translate into statistics. It’s easy to fool yourself when you win a few big pots but bleed chips at all other times. So I tried Poker Office again and BINGO! It worked, live tracker and all. All that remained was to download all my hand histories since I started playing cash (thankfully only a fifteen minute job) and there I had all my statistics to peruse at my pleasure. Excuse me for being like a kid in a sweetshop, but I LOVE statistics (although am never a slave to them). Those of you that already use it, or PT, will be rolling their eyes at this point…of course it’s good – you already know it.

I haven’t even begun to exploit the data available, but I do know that over a very small range of hands, I’m profitable from ever position except the Big Blind. The small blind figure surprised me, although I know I’ve hit two sets from that position and won big style, so further analysis will probably show the usual leakage.

My most successful hands? 66 followed by 33 (sets again). AJ is a big loser for me, even though I THOUGHT that I was playing the hand with caution. My current BB/hand is just under 8. I have no idea whether that’s any good, but even if it is time will ensure that it heads south unless I can get more fish to overvalue their top pair shit kicker. I’ve been dealt AA 12 times, T3 just three times, but the might that is T6 a massive 48 times. You just have to look at the difference to realise what a long term game poker is.

I’ve won a bit of late, though nothing spectacular. Taking away the amount I re-loaded with and adding my $14 bonus my roll is $200. It’s five times higher than it was a fortnight ago and is now bigger than my Stars roll (I’ve only played Bloggerment there in the last seven days). All in all I have around $500 spread around various sites. I deposited, in total around $200, perhaps $225 – can’t remember precisely.

On Thursday evening I came across my first seriously losing session. Ironically I got married to top two pair and arrogantly called before studying the board and crediting my opponent for...a gapped straight! Perhaps I should get re-invest in Calculatem lol.

Two other hands saw an ultra aggressive opponent mega raise me when the board was paired. On one occasion he had the set, I'm sure, and on the other despite once again having top two pair the flush and set draws on the board alongside an all in bet made me muck with quite a bit invested. I reckon I saved money rather than lost it overall by folding. That's life.

I decided to end the night with a quick sit and go on Stars and of course I was welcomed back with a bang. Good old Stars eh? Strange how often when there are so many high cards out the software seems to lose the bottom half of the deck. It's happened so many times :))

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2415281

I’ve managed to update my blogs list on the right, correct some links and delete those which appear to be inactive. I’ve also managed to look at a number of the links and spread words of love and happiness ;). As ever any comments you leave are most appreciated.

Good luck at the felt – I’ll see many of you on Sunday, 9pm sharp. See Little Acorn’s blog for details.

Best by far!

2008-04-07T14:02:00.003+01:00

Weeks like this I can definitely cope with!

I came second in Bloggerment a week ago and ended the week (well ten days more realistically) over $100 up on Party playing NHLE25 6 max. I’m dual tabling as well. I think that it’s blunted my edge slightly, but overall I haven’t posted more than a few dollars loss on any session which can’t be bad.

I still only have six buy ins, so although I’m quite happy to overbet when I think I’ve got a good read on an opponent, or pick something up in the betting patterns that don’t make sense, I’m still playing reasonably conservatively in my opinion.

I spent a cracking weekend in London watching Leeds own Leyton Orient and filling the gaps around the game with the odd pint ;). I got back early evening and fired up Party to get myself loosened up and took a few dollars before sitting down for this week’s Bloggerment instalment.

When I was dealt rockets in the first hand I knew it was an omen, although it wasn’t clear whether it was a good or bad one. Resisting the temptation to get clever (it doesn’t suit me) a standard raise saw me take down the blinds, a massive 30 chips.

I made some decent chippage from the few hands I played. I felt a bit rotten check calling Rosie from the blinds when I hit top pair on the flop against her because she must have thought she’d take the pot with her second pair. Sorry Rosie :(.

I doubled through further a while later and sat atop of the tournament leader board for quite a while. However a combination of high blinds and dead cards meant that when the bubble broke it was pretty even – something like 11k,10k and my 9k. Then after the second break it all went wrong –not just for me but for the game.

Weegem had been playing well, as had Acorn, and a pretty intense battle was under way. Then, out of the blue, Weegem went to ‘sitting out’ without passing through the ‘disconnected’ phase. Acorn and I did all we could to wait, but we had no idea what was going on. By the time he came back he had just 1K left and pushed to oblivion. The problem from my perspective is that the dynamic of the table had been altered beyond recognition. Acorn was sitting to Weegem’s right and picked up thousands of chips (through no fault of his own) when I folded – as I had to do with the trash I was served.

It also occurred to me that, with all due respect, if I went to war with Acorn I could end up being beaten by a player who hadn’t played a hand for twenty or more circuits. I didn’t really know what to do and limped my way into second place. One double up wasn’t enough by far for me, and Acorn took it down.

So, mixed feelings for me. I cashed again, and would have come at least third even if the disconnection hadn’t occurred. But it ruined a bloody good game of poker. There’s nothing we could do, and well done to Acorn for his victory. I know he would rather it had been otherwise, as would I.

I feel that the very least I can do is ship Weegem $5 as a gesture. This at least would mean he came equal second in monetary terms. I don’t know what his blog link is, otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned it here. If anyone can give me his link I’d appreciate it.

Good luck at the felt. The law of averages says that things will equal out a bit this week. I’m ready, if not willing, to accept variance’s chilling embrace.

----------------------------------------------------

EDIT: I came home today, sat down full of confidence and then hit nothing. Remembering TK's mantra of 'patience, patience, patience' I kept my cool despite a certain degree of frustration.

Then IT happened, although to be honest I'm almost embarrassed to claim this as a victory. I bet small on the flop because it didn't look too scary and I took the risk with the diamond draw. I kinda ruled out him holding 45, although given what he showed down I'm not so sure!

Money is money though I guess!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2398154

Rubbing it in...

2008-04-03T23:46:00.003+01:00

I still hadn't hit a set all week. This was to be my last hand of the night. The law of averages told me to call pre-flop even if I know the odds made it a long term profitable move. Check fold if I don't hit and there are overcards and then off to bed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2378812

I move all in more than hope than expectation, but if you don't bet it you can't win it.

A very loose call of my all in, but the six on the river extracted the urine somewhat, don't you think? I was never behind though.

;)

Cashing In

2008-04-02T08:52:00.001+01:00

It’s been a funny old week…

The hand in my last post is an occupational hazard of cash play. Raising with air, calling a re-raise and then hitting the flop hard is something that happens once in a blue moon. I’m only grateful that he started the hand light because I would have undoubtedly burned a full buy in on that hand.

What happened afterwards was far more palatable. I can’t remember the exact session figures but after re-loading I recouped my losses and made a decent profit, more of which later.

About six months ago I bought a new PC, and only ever bothered loading up Stars, FT, Party and Titan. The amount of money I had on Ladbrokes, Bet 365 and Pacific was no more than $50 between them. However last week I decided to re-load the software and see if I could have a bit of fun. On Pacific I spun $10 up to $25 on NL25 fairly quickly but was then hit by two hands where the same villain hit four cards on the board to flush me away despite being behind until the river to a set and two pairs. Nothing you can do about that. Funnily enough he had the same hand, K8 off suit, on both occasions. I bet it’s his favourite starting hand now…

Bet 365 and Ladbrokes were a real blast. The tables were easy to read and there were no end of loose passive players available to feast off. I’m writing this at work but I think I’m up to $70 on those sites without trying very hard. However I hate the software, but the money left behind will be useful on those nights when I fancy trying out some different moves (LAG, for example).

That leaves me with two sites where I play most of my games – Stars for S&Gs and Party for cash. We can pretty quickly dismiss the Sit & Go analysis at the moment. No matter what I do I can’t cash, or even threaten it. Just variance, but annoying all the same. I did come second in Bloggerment on Sunday and was very happy with my game. The trick was that one hand apart my hands held up, as I’ve mentioned before. I was pretty card dead but when the situation allowed I think I made the right bets and folds. I was helped by a loose call by the ultimate winner whose Ace rag didn’t improve against my 99. It was a fairly low turnout meaning that I won $22.50 but as that represents 16% of my Stars roll it’s very welcome indeed.

Mainly, however, you’ll find me at Party single tabling 6 Max NLHE25. Actually, knowing the calibre of player who might be reading this please don’t find me at all, because I’m enjoying the fish thank you very much. I originally deposited $50 there, which got down to about $25. In a week I’ve spun that up to nearly $140. On Monday night I played the best aggressive poker of my life, especially post flop. Reading my opponents, putting them on hands and watching betting patterns means that, for the moment at least, I can call virtually any half decent hand in position and get away from the hand if I’m bet into. I can also see when someone’s playing back at me and lay low for a while. Patience, patience, patience, as Tony Kendal said when he was doing the Sky Poker adverts.

I turned $25 into $60 on Monday. A couple of the hands follow. One is a nice pot for me when I hit lucky in the blinds and the other shows how passive the table was. I was only worried about aces and whatever they had it wasn’t enough for them to get involved.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2370512

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2370519

Lots of small pots equal a big one! In well over 200 hands I NEVER hit a set, a straight or a flush. Quite what that means I don’t know, but it shows you don’t have to hit the nuts to make money.

And then it all went a bit flat. I couldn’t get any fish to bite because they wouldn’t get involved in a hand where I was aggressive and when they led out strongly I instinctively knew when to get away. Essentially I got bored!

It’s a fairly sobering thought to consider that In under a week I’ve made more profit on cash than I have in approaching 1000 Sit & Gos on Stars (though I reckon I’m up on Bloggerment overall which doesn’t show up on Sharkscope).

Equally I know for a fact that I’ll never ever go bust on Stars if I carry on at the same micro-levels I currently play at, but oblivion on Party is just six buy ins away. In no way am I rolled for NL25, so I’ve got to take care not to get carried away.

So, that’s the story of how Cell 1919 now owns the cash tables and has become an overnight cash table sensation. My tongue is so far in my cheek it’s pushing my teeth out through my eye sockets :))).

Still, it’s nice to be able to bring some good news for a change. Good luck at the tables.

My week summed up in one hand.

2008-03-29T22:26:00.001Z

Not just my poker life, but everything else as well. Do you think raising to $4 or $5 would have chased him out of the pot? No, me neither ;)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2351149

Humbling

2008-03-24T11:23:00.003Z

I had one of those days at the tables yesterday. No bad beats, nothing of any note whatsoever. My hole cards, whether at the cash tables or in S&Gs were trash and when I did get something playable the flop ensured I simply lost a bet. Where I did make a play I was looked up and where I didn't I would have hit the board hard.

It happens and I have no complaints - all part of the fun. I simply stopped playing, meaning that I didn't enter Bloggerement as I just wasn't in the mood. I did miss it, but it was the right decision.

This morning I opened my e-mail to find out that someone, who will remain nameless (my guess is that he or she would rather it were that way as they're not attention seekers), had made a fine and spontaneous gesture out of the blue. They didn't need to do it - in fact I'm not sure why they did, save from the fact that they are clearly decent and empathetic and of the highest calibre personally.

From the bottom of my heart thank you. They say it's the thought that counts, and never was a truer word spoken. I'll probably never meet you but I'll never forget what you did.

You made my day :)

You wait and wait and wait and just sometimes...

2008-03-21T11:33:00.003Z

After what seems like fruitless observation and weighing up the table you find the call you want.

A hundred or more hands sat there patiently. It was time to get on with a few things around the house and this hand turns up.

I dare say some of you would say the all in move was rash, but what the hell...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2305329

Believe you me that's a big pot for little old micro-limit Cell 1919.

Some good news to start the Easter weekend with. Have a good one :)

And still they come

2008-03-20T17:45:00.002Z

Beaten by the mighty Q6. Lovely turn and river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2301444

Sorry, but what can I say?

No tilt, just sorrow.

Take a close look at this hand...

2008-03-19T19:06:00.003Z

Context? Two previous games, both sucked out by a set of sixes when I had my opponents dominated.

Then this.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2296145

What do I do guys and gals? I know the answer...keep on plugging away. But with reference to the post I wrote a couple of days ago I'm losing out on these situations so often. I mean HOW do you play against people who will call their stack off with those hole cards?

Limahl has pushed all in with KQ off suit. alves calls with 94 off suit (clearly a serious player lol). Naturally I put them all in the middle and jotobo, who'd merely called my raise before decides the odds are in his favour with the pot so big.

So nearly 6,000 chips are in the middle in a pot I can't control and obviously couldn't have even if I'd gone all in pre-flop. That's the message here. Forget your standard play - the odd big blind extra here and there makes no difference at all.

It's truly amazing though. I can't even get particularly angry. I just feel like I'm Stan Laurel, scratching his head in idiotic bemusement.

I think this post should be dedicated to cadmunkey. I'm sure he'll be richly entertained ;)

FAO Rosie

2008-03-18T18:57:00.004Z

Why I hate Jacks...

Second and cruising to the money.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2290249

I could have re-raised a bit more pre-flop, but I didn't want to go silly and force him all in if he has Kings or Aces. As it turns out he flops the straight draw (three outs) and the second nut flush draw. I gave him odds of three to one. I couldn't read what he had except, possibly, rockets, in which case he re-raises all in. As it is by the turn he's milking me. Would it be too much to ask the board to pair? Just for once? I've seen it happen often...just not in my direction ;)

So anyway, it's pretty much fooked me up, and I end up putting it all in to a re-raise because I've no fold equity.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2290312

No overcard suckout for me, oh no.

So anyway, the game's up, so A3 next hand seems as good as anything. I could always suckout couldn't I? I hit my aces but so does he, and despite me needing a 3 the poker dementors rub my nose in it by letting a 2 and a 5 come down.

Hero to zero. Happens all the time. Ironically all because my first hand improved and he happened to have hearts. Clubs spades or diamonds and it's mine, all mine.

This self indulgent post was sponsored by Rosie and is intended for her eyes only. If you inadvertently read it please tear it up and place it in the nearest recycling bin. Thank you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

PS - If I thought I was unlucky....(please note my call pre-flop was speculative and the bet on the flop was a misclick!)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2295743 BOOOOM!

Why I do it

2008-03-17T19:29:00.004Z

I love my statistics, as anyone who knows me will tell you. They aren't the answer to everything, and in the wrong hands can lead to completely the wrong result. However I believe that I use statistics pretty well.

Sharkscope seems to add to its array of available data every week. One of the sections I've found is entitled 'Miscellaneous data'. It tells me that my ROI (including rake) is a little under 3% while the headline rate is 5%. Nothing fantastic about that, but over 1,000 S&Gs it does at least show a profit. At one stage it was 12% before the slump which has now sort of lasted a year (when my games played has fallen by 50% or more). It's not good enough, and it doesn't show me that I'm a good poker player - gotta be looking at much better than that before I could realistically move up within my bankroll restrictions. However some of the other statistics are illuminating.

My in the money ratio is 30%. When you take into account the fact that I consistently lost money for the first 100 games and only broke even after around 330 games I don't think it's too bad. The same principles apply to my 'percentage of field beaten' which stands at nearly 60%. Take out those losing days at the beginning and I don't think the figures are too bad.

So why am I scrambling around now trying to win money when I am pretty confident that I have the game to make a good return at micro-limits? Well, laugh if you will, but the breaks do tend to go against me. It doesn't need to happen often for that first place to become a third or even fourth. The number of times I'm dominant when the chips are in the middle and get an undercard beating me is phenomenal. Ask Rosie, who took down Bloggerment last night but wiped me out in that fashion and then won two crucial hands heads up in the same manner. I know you won't take it the wrong way Rosie if I say that the flips went your way. You played a fine game of poker but I don't think I did much wrong either. I bubbled and it hurt, a lot. If I was getting my fair share I'm a sensible enough bloke to realise that these things happen and the odds say that they'll benefit me in the long run.

The micro-limit world is full of pitfalls because people will call you down with trash and get lucky. They won't respect your raises, meaning that often your only choice is the push, despite knowing it's theoretically not the optimum move. Essentially I'm playing a game of chance, and my edge is very small because unless my read is very good I don't gamble my life away, allow myself to benefit from the same suckouts that my opponents prosper from.

I see losing players gambling and building up huge chip leads. they might cash 10% of the time, but when they do they do it bigger than I do. I plod along trying to play sound poker with a bit of devil when the circumstances allow. I had Jacks last night and raised. Rosie re-raised me significantly. After long thought I folded them. I might have been wrong but given what I assume Rosie knows about my play I judged that it would have been hellishly audacious of her to re-raise in that spot. I folded them. Now I could have been totally wrong, and if so hats off to Rosie. But at best I was in a race in my opinion and I wasn't prepared to give my tournament up based on the message I was being sent. If I'd been a micro-limit hero I'd have called and probably hit a Jack on the river. I made the best decision I could but didn't, couldn't, benefit from the chance of a suckout.

In the long run I will win if I keep playing my game. The statistics tell me that's what's happening anyway. What I need is to go on a little run where the cards run for me, where I suck out a bit. The bankroll will respond to that very nicely. The odds tell me that will happen, but statistics are for the long term. Can I stick it out long enough for variance to balance out?

I think the truth is that I'll never really make any serious progress while I'm playing a game of chance.

But I do love playing and the Bloggerment game is a rare chance to play against decent players. I've had a first, two thirds and a fourth last night, so I'm probably not losing much, if at all, given that I haven't played them all by any means. A place in that game means more to me than any S&G win.

I march on. After a good little run the cards are now cold and I'm on a downslope again. I just pray that I can win a few and get that bit of outrageous luck that we all need to nail a few games.

Good luck at the tables and thanks for reading.

A day at a time

2008-03-13T22:39:00.002Z

Yesterday was good, even if for some reason Sharkscope refuses to acknowledge two S&G cashes. I even won a six handed limit game I inadvertently entered.

However I kind of knew tonight wasn't going to be my night. A wee bit of tiredness creeping in, a certain lack of focus, so I scaled back a bit. I didn't really hit any hands which doesn't help while you're trying to get the adrenaline going. I think it was four cashes last night. Tonight, barely a sniff (sixth being the best after I ran AJ into AK in a battle of the blinds).

I think I'm going a wee bit stir crazy as well. The wife is away in Hong Kong and China until Good Friday. It always starts off OK when she goes on these jaunts, but after the third or fourth day you can get a bit sick and tired of having no-one adult at home to talk to.

Tomorrow is yet another day. I think I'll take the afternoon off, although my playing record through the day is pretty atrocious for some reason. No doubt I'll start posting my 'bad beats' up here about two o'clock!

Nearly the weekend! Good luck at the tables :)

Up-set or set-up????????

2008-03-10T18:32:00.005Z

Yay! Another nasty beat post. Yippeee....

I came home today and decided I'd try and continue my recent improvement (nothing epic, but OK). I've decided to play a little more aggressively in the early stages in the micro-stake S&Gs because overall there's value to be had, and in the long run I'll make more money in the games I fill up with chips early than I will by limping along trying simply to get in the cash.

Everything was working nicely in game one. When I had the goods or when the position was right I jammed. Despite the table being crazy generally of course I got no takers. I got Big Slick in the small blind raised three times the BB. He raises all in and I know I'm in a race at best, but I might be dominating AQ or something, so I call. He turns over queens and as ever I don't improve. He' on the other hand, rubs my nose in it by hitting a set of the flop and filling up with a paired board.

Grrr....I don't mind losing a race but so often my opponent improves, just to make me feel worse.

Anyway, that's poker and all that so I join the next available game. It's very early on and I get dealt Jacks. A horrible hand. Play it hard or call and hope to hit a set is my motto at the moment. Ahead of me there's a minimum raise and a minimum re-raise. WTF? Ahhh bollocks...push 'em in and see what happens.

This is what happened

What happens is that mini re-raiser decides he's good for all his chips too. Hmmmm.

Live by the sword, die by the sword etc etc, I know. But I honestly can't remember the last time I went in underdog and came out winning. They say that if you get your money in good you'll win in the long run. Yeah...

If I'm tight I can't accumulate chips, and when I'm loose I can't profit from the dominant situation I'm in. Most frustrating.

And the worse thing about it? The absolute worst thing? The lucky sap displays a Manchester United avatar. And he's from Denmark. Well he wouldn't be from Manchester would he? Retard.

My Leeds club badge was down to 40 chips and because I needed a pee I donked them off and decided to write this.

Still, it's early evening, plenty of worse things can happen yet :p

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh sweet Jesus! Who the hell have I pissed off so badly?

Game three...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2246724

A source of never ending puzzlement

2008-03-06T22:41:00.003Z

I think you'll know why I went all in, and the attempt to isolate was fair enough. The call by rana61 beggars belief. Guess who won? He went from 4-1 underdog to 99.67% favourite in three cards.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2224711

And I'll say nothing about all the tens being in two players starting hands. No sets for either of us...PokerStars does like its little joke every now and then :))).

PS - what's even worse is that he ended taking down the game.

If a tree falls down in a forest does it make a noise if no-one's there to witness it?

2008-02-28T13:48:00.006Z

I don’t have a TV in the study where I play online poker, so when I watch the box I’m never playing. Last night I was so shattered that I sat down and watched Middlesbrough v Sheffield United in the FA Cup despite the fact that I knew it was going to be the most god awful game in history. I wasn’t disappointed in that respect, but the legs and brain wouldn’t work, so there I stayed.

Before Paddy Kenny helped gave Boro a one outer win on the river (side) I switched over to Sky Poker and for no particular reason decided to check out their online TV service. When I dabbled with ‘The Open’ a while back I never even knew whether I had a hand shown on TV for the reasons above.

Logging in was easy enough and although it was too late to play the main tournament I thought I’d try a little cash action as an experiment. I joined a 4p/8p limit table and shoved a couple of quid in – last of the big spenders.

It must have been about eight hands in when it happened. I’m dealt AJ of spades in the small blind. I call and the flop comes down 10s, Kh and Ks. Hmmm…because it’s 4p/8p and I’m donking about I call whatever bet is made, to say nothing of the nut flush draw whatever. Turn 9c. I certainly called whatever bet was made before me, and the river card was a beautiful Qs. UTG checks (sadly), I bet, and am raised. Because I desperately want to actually show this down I consider whether to re-raise or simply call. I suddenly remember that this is poker and the idea is to make as much money as possible, so I do indeed re-raise. The victim resists a further raise and I show down the Royal Flush. I would have had one before in a hand I folded pre-flop on Ladbrokes a long time ago, but this was my first to go to showdown.

The irony of this wasn’t lost on me. I won about 60p after rake, and because it was on the TV I couldn’t even screen capture lol. There wasn’t even a chat box for someone to go ‘wow’ etc etc. Sky Hand histories are either non existent or hidden away pretty well. Bloody typical eh?

EDIT: Found it. My memory of the hand was slightly flawed so I've edited the above: when I copy and paste this is what comes up:

55367962
2008-02-27 21:24:34
£0.60
Card.write('ZW');
♠A ♠J
Card.write('VLYhX');
♠10 ♥K ♠K ♣9 ♠Q
£0.28
Cell1919 won £0.57 with a Royal Flush

Two hands later I river the nut flush against the same opponent and he disappears off the screen, closely followed by Cell 1919 who wearily went to bed wondering how to spend the pound he’d just skilfully extracted from his opponents. *Blush*

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your comments on my previous entry. I still haven’t got round to commenting on many other blogs, so it’s gratifying to know that people still bother with mine. I will find the time one day…

In response to the comments.

Doom – I didn’t really WANT to put him all in with that board to be honest. I’d hoped to take the pot there and then because of the texture. There were so many hands which could beat me, or were drawing to beat me whereas I had only another 5 in the pack which would have made my hand any better unless the board paired (which it did, to my cost in the end). I appreciate the tip though *thumbup*.

Nice to see Fuel55 here, although I suspect the entry wasn’t intended for me, or that thicko here has completely missed the point…thanks for dropping by anyway!

Matt – I agree entirely. If he’s calling my bet then he surely has to wonder what I’m holding. He shoves or lets it go. Or, as I suggested in the main entry, he doesn’t really know what he thinks or why. I know where my vote goes ;)

Amatay – cheers for the shout. I’m so busy at work that I’m living on the sort of edge I imagine occurs on drugs when I’m not entirely sure whether what is going on is real or not lol. Hard to describe, especially to a man of leisure like you :p.

Good luck at the tables everyone :)

The return of an old favourite

2008-02-26T22:19:00.003Z

The (vaguely) bad beat post.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2172440

I limp in with 5s and hit my set. I hate the diamonds and when he bets I have a decision to make. I ask the question and raise substantially. He calls. The diamond on the turn gives so many outs that I can't compete against including the straight flush draw. He checks, but what do I learn from that? He'd check if he had the nuts, so I can't read anything. I've given the hand up to be honest.

And then the bloody river. Pairs the board and I reckon my full house shafts his flush. Little did I know.

I can understand his bet when he flops two pairs. I struggle to keep up with his level 4 thinking in calling my raise (why not push all in if you think I have an overpair, and if I have the flush or flush draw, well...but no, you weren't really concerned about trivial things like that were you?). When the diamond comes on the turn I guess that was my chance. But could I really commit chips there? If he turns over a diamond I wouldn't expect much sympathy - perhaps you think differently?

The river looks after itself.

Ironic really. A four diamond board with no diamonds and full house over full house. I love this game, I really do!

Perception is everything

2008-02-21T18:54:00.005Z

I think I get better cards at Site A than I do Site B. These sites shall not be named because the poker Dementors are no doubt watching ;)

Yeah, I know. That's a load of bull, and of course rationally I know that to be so. I'd first suspected it when ever I popped over to B to try something different away from my main bank roll. However because that was a relative rarity I paid little attention to what was happening because I knew it was an insignificant sample.

After my early year crisis I hardly played. I was paralysed by fear which is really silly, but on the other hand it was surely a sensible course of action to avoid something that was making me miserable and that if I'd persisted with would have cost me my small bankroll.

Apart from Bloggerment my first tentative steps back were on the cash tables at Site B NL10. Believe it or not I wasn't even rolled for that with just $30 in the bank, but I reckoned that I could afford to lose that and I just needed to concentrate on playing decent, six handed, micro-stakes poker. Getting back on the bike, if you like.

I noticed that my initial feelings about the type of cards I was getting were better. I don't mean I was getting AA all the time, but I'd get AQs instead of A5os, JTs instead of J5os...etc etc. I've been playing a fair bit over the past four weeks, and have doubled my roll, which is harder than it sounds because just to provide me with a security blanket these NL tables are capped at $3 per player. I know, I know, it's not real poker, but it has done me good, and that's what's important.

I went back to Site A for a bit of S&G stuff, and instantly remembered why I left in the first place. The situations were reversed it seemed. So, I thought, I'll keep a check sheet to see where in the hand rankings I was on both sites. Lo and behold...

...no real difference whatsoever! You're surprised, right? As if, lol :)))

So why do I feel that way? My guess is that on A I play S&Gs which see less hands and every hand counts. On site B I fold whenever I fancy on cash and have faith (I really do!), that I'm better than most that play on those tables and will win in the long run - especially on the cap games, because if I make a boo boo...I lose $3. Wow!

Perception is crucial in poker, as we all know, but it's not just other players that are involved. Like a footballer on a run of form if we feel confident we make the best of situations we'd muck up if we were feeling down on ourselves, despite the opportunities presented being the same. And for me that confidence stems from sitting down only when I want to, knowing when to stand up (sometimes five hands in if it doesn't 'feel' right), and selecting a table that I can exploit (usually loose passive or maniac).

As my first 'normal' post for a long time I hope it makes sense, was remotely interesting, and that there are still some people out there tuning in.

Good luck at the tables :)

Just when I was enjoying it again...

2008-02-17T16:58:00.006Z

...day after day of crap smeared on me. It had been going so well for a day or two. Poker welcomed me back into its loving embrace and then used me as a toilet roll.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2116352

Yeah, yeah, when he hits the nine I'm in trouble. But why not roger me up the backside while you're at it Mr Big Stack? You got 10,000 of your chips the hand before with a rivered flush holding T2s against three players calling all in with top pair no kicker etc. You're a class poker player ain't ya? Trouble is I'll never be able to find you again will I? Some other idiot will be along to take your place. You've lost $600 in 1200 S&Gs. Despite coming across people like you I STILL win money, though God knows how.

As ever, I hope any remaining readers are winning loads of money.

...sneaks in the back door...will anyone notice?

2008-01-21T20:54:00.000Z

According to my statistics one or two people still look here every day, no doubt looking for a link to Pud's blog or something. So to both of you, many thanks...this is for you.

My state of mind when I last posted was similar to Matty H's , except I don't understand half the words he wrote in his 'Rubbish' post (which wasn't rubbish), mainly the ones beginning with S, F & C ;). I think we've all been there in one form or another, and I didn't for one minute think that I was telling anyone anything new. But things had changed for me. I was going to bed thinking about outdraws, one outers and people pushing my aces with 35s and flopping the flush. In short it was getting waaaaaaay to serious and even worse was beginning to mentally affect me. Honestly, no matter how daft that might sound.

So I hid away, made a post, not as a sort of cry for help but a genuine explanation for the people who have followed this blog since its birth. Whether I was missed is a moot point, but then how many of us really blog for other people? We generally do it for ourselves.

It's only 15 days since that last post but it feels like a couple of months. Since then I've played when it's suited me, mainly cash, cleared a bonus, had the night from hell, had several decent nights and sometimes haven't played at all. I can leave the table when it's right to leave it, when I'm tired, not when my eyes are on matchsticks.

In short I've become a recreational poker player and don't suffer guilt ridden pangs if my Sharkscope statistics keep heading south. In fact I haven't even looked at Sharky this year.

So why have I posted, today of all days? Obvious isn't it? I came third in Bloggerment last night. Wowee I hear you all say, and quite rightly. But there's more of a point to it than minor bragging rights. As those who played against me will testify I won my share of races and when I had something good in the pocket I occasionally found myself with a raiser before me instead of being under the gun and raising which normally leads to quicker folds than a deck of cards in a hurricane.

Did I play any better last night than in my other S&Gs or Bloggerments? Hand on heart, no. When Rosie (gawwd bless her) called what I perceived to be a re-steal on my part with AJ my KQ had a chance. Neither of us improved and out I went, but with no bitterness, no anger at unreasonable calls, no resentment at all. I enjoyed the game thoroughly. It was played in good spirit, but seriously. Cogs & Rosie fought out a hard heads up and the Bristolian lady took it down. I was dead chuffed though felt a bit guilty as Cogs was a gentleman.

The moral of this tale? I'm not the type of player I was, and nor do I have the desire to get back to that state of obsession. But it kind of re-affirmed the impression I had that given a fair wind I can do OK. I haven't lost it, whatever IT is, and I haven't found it. But last night I REALLY enjoyed it, and that's got to be good.

I've not read anyone's blog since my self imposed exile and hope to catch up. I trust the poker Dementors have been good to you thus far in 2008 :).

Cheers.

Message Ends, well sort of...

2008-01-06T22:22:00.000Z

I originally penned this post last Sunday (30th December), published it, and then withdrew it, thinking that things would be better in the morning. The truth is they're not. I don't actually detest the game - it just doesn't engage me any more. As I'm never going to get the time to develop my game I'm just going to donk around the micro-limit cash tables, win $5 here, lose $4 there.

Given the mass of e-mails and comments asking where I'd got to (yes, my middle name IS Pinnochio) I thought it was only fair that I sign off, wrap it all up and leave no loose ends. My good wishes to all are genuinely made and felt. There are some damned decent players playing Bloggerment and posting on RTR, and on the whole they're friendly and constructive.

This Roman Candle has emitted its last spark. It's fizzing out. Here follows my post from last week, arrogant warts and all

'Information is a matter of degree. And as you become better informed, the decisions become harder.

I don't know whose quote that is (I nicked it from somewhere else), but never a truer word was said. As I knew more I won less, because others were ignorant and fearless and didn't care about their game or about the miniscule amounts of money. I didn't get the rub of the green often enough to punish them for their lack of understanding. It's been fun. I ended up winning. But it's not fun any more.

Thank you for your support, your contributions and for your advice. I lapped up every word. Sadly, for me, a little learning was a dangerous thing. I was far better when I knew less.I don't have the money to spend and risk at higher levels, and I detest the players at micro-levels.

I have nowhere to go except out of the door I came through 16 months ago.I might yet go out in a blaze of glory. My roll isn't big enough to be worth cashing out. As of this moment I detest the game to the core of my soul. That's my problem, not yours, but I couldn't go without at least saying goodbye and giving my thanks.

Cheers, one and all. A happy new year to you :)'

It isn't necessarily the end of my blog, nor my poker exploits. But there are enough decent blogs out there that actually have something interesting to say without me posting some crap from a NL10 table or whatever. I've been playing cash and although the 'big' score (at my levels) hasn't happened yet I do feel far more comfortable. It suits my domestic life as well.

We'll see... :)

Have a good one!

2007-12-23T22:16:00.000Z

Not even another Bloggerment suck out (AQ beaten by 89 - just the two pairs for the 89 you understand) will divert me from wishing each and every one of you a happy, peaceful and enjoyable Christmas.

I just don't have time before I go away to the far north west of Cumbria to visit all the blogs I normally frequent and leave a personal message, so this will have to do.

I would say don't drink too much, but that would be pretty pointless :)))

As the title says, have a bloody good one!

A bloody mess!

2007-12-18T07:57:00.000Z

What a mess my poker game is at the moment. An absolute bloody mess. No plan, no structure, no real concept of what I'm doing and why.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Those with families know just how disruptive Christmas can be in terms of getting any consistent play time. Last night was a good example. I picked up my son from school and got home at around five. Kettle on, PC fired up and a good couple of hours before my wife came back. I decided to hit some cash on Full Tilt because of the double points bonus between now and the new year. Actually I'm not sure why that was particularly persuasive as I'd need to play for about six years to earn enough to exchange for a FT pen, but there you go.

I opened two tables - NL10 & NL25. Played tight and made some cash on the NL10, was slightly ahead on the NL25. By the time my wife came home I was around $10 up and had an really good read of all that was going on. I didn't want to leave but I should have. Suddenly where there was peace there were conversations, plans, goodness knows what else. And I started dribbling chips away. I was about to sign off for a while when I was dealt AQs in early position. Contrary to the advice of one particular Bloggerment player on Sunday I raised it up and found two callers. The flop came down rainbow JKT. Broadway. I can't remember whether I checked or bet, but it all ended up with $25 in the pot as the turn and flop came down. One guy had two pairs, Aces and jacks, but the other, with a pair of Kings his best hand on the turn, rivered the second nut flush and I was down on the session. I was so distracted that I hardly realised I'd lost the pot. Unlucky I guess.

Broadway did for me again on a S&G last night when I was up against AK. The rivered Ace gave villain the full house and my fate was sealed when my AJ came up against KQ and he flopped the queen. Funnily enough that was how I managed to die against dD (I believe) in Bloggerment. Exactly the same way now I think about it.

KQ has seen me off in three of the last four Bloggerements. Each time I held an Ace but didn't connect. Each time my opponent has hit his queen. That's poker life I guess, but I was annouyed to go out fifth. If the hand had stood up on Sunday I reckon I was in the money as I'd have had around 5,000 chips with dD short stacked in fifth.

As BurnleyMik said in the chat box I seem to make the final table most times. Equally as Matty H said to me last night I have a reputation for being tight and playing premium hands. I think I won about 20 pots on Sunday, but the only showdown was the one I lost. I've tried to vary it - limping with Aces, Kings and over betting in position. Whatever I do I can't seem to get paid off on the hands that matter. Twice I put one particular player all in after he'd raised big before me and twice, after long thought, he folded. Good play him, and certainly not the type of discipline I'm used to on the micro-stakes table.

It's traditional to do some form of analysis of the year that's gone and to set some aims for the next year. As I type this I'm presuming I did this at the end of 2006, an dwill take a look at how I've done before the 31st December. I know one thing though. Since March things have, on the whole, been one hell of a struggle and there are times when I've loathed the game. I guess that goes for all of us.

Thanks for reading, good luck at the tables and don't spend too much in the next six days.

Links updated

2007-12-12T13:59:00.000Z

Hopefully all links on the right hand side of the page are now updated. If not, please let me know, and in the unlikely event of anyone fancying an exchange please also post it here.

Cheers, and good luck at the tables.

Christmas is coming...

2007-12-09T10:11:00.000Z

Which means that there's virtually no time for any pokery at all.

I've played some six handed games with predictable results. Win a couple, lose a couple. Variance at its extreme. Fits the time schedule though ;).

Played Bloggerment 38 for what it was worth. Was chip leader for a time but then whenever I raised on position I came across a re-raise (why does everyone else meet no resistance? lol) and wasn't strong enough to push.

QQ and KK came with no takers so I push with AJ, having given the impression I was wanting out of there and playing with rags. I get the call, but A3 hits the three on the flop and of course I go away once again with my tail tucked between my legs having been beaten by a vastly inferior hand. I ended up seventh, not that I care.

I keep saying one day, one day. I don't believe it now. Usual hard luck story I know, but you're welcome to post any hands where I've sucked out on you at a crucial time in the game. You'll be looking a long time.

Can't complain...

2007-12-03T07:47:00.000Z

...mustn't grumble

Help yourself

To another piece of apple crumble

<<<<<<<<<<

Bloggerment 37 came and went. No outrageous suckouts, a couple of hands held up for me, but I got into a war with a LAG next to me and folded, leaving myself short stacked as I entered the final table.

A simple QQ v AK race saw a K on the flop and it was GG me. Out in 9th. Enjoyed it.

Played one other game and when forced to push with K8 suited with little fold equity ran straight into KK lol.So, still running bad, but not playing too badly.

Good luck at the tables this week, and thanks for your kind comments on previous entries. As ever they're much appreciated.

The Poker Dementors

2007-11-29T13:28:00.000Z

Let me say that if you're not into Harry Potter then you won't know what a Dementor is. All you need to know for the purpose of this entry is that it sucks the souls out of people - a sort of emotional vacuum cleaner.

Reference to poker 'Gods' no longer suffices for me. Gods are noble, sometimes vengeful, often generous and forgiving. A Dementor has no redeeming features. It exists (as much as any fictional character exists, in case you think I'm going mad!) for one purpose and one purpose only. To do its dirty work and move on. I support this assertion by pointing out that for every winner there are losers, so the Dementor is always busy.

Now this isn't about bad beats as such, though I would hardly be posting this if all was going swimmingly. It's about THAT feeling. When Pud sucked out on me (see below) I could barely believe it. I really was shocked as the wheel reeled off. If you're playing live you can react and more importantly get a reaction, whether it be sympathy (lol!), empathy or simply some playful mockery. A chat box is no good for that at all, especially when the table closes up because you've just bubbled the final ten! I eventually found the remaining table, told Pud that I hated him more than he could ever know and realised, that for a split second I actually meant it. Gulp! There's the soul gone. The Dementor doing its stuff.

Then the Full House v Quads hand came and went, and I remember just staring at the screen. I couldn't scream or throw anything. I punched the wall a wee bit, but the wall won. I had to get it down on my blog there and then. It was the only catharsis I could devise.

I didn’t drink the whisky and I didn’t lose any sleep over it. It’s only poker and no spook is going to stop me from sleeping lol.

I played a couple of games last night – not very well as it turned out. I was a bit unlucky on a four table qualifier for the Sunday Hundred Grand when my AQs ran into AK four from the ‘money’, but that’s merely apprentice Dementors at play.

At the moment I can’t suck out on anyone. I’m usually ahead when the cash goes in, and I usually lose the important hands. So be it. As BurnleyMik has identified if you’re not enjoying playing and you’re not aiming specifically to make money (and shed loads of it at that) then it’s time to give it up.

I can’t let this post go by without posting my Titan Challenge results. I would prefer that I could have buried them, but if it had been successful I’d have been very happy to tell you lol.

Here they are. Pretty poor results.

15/11/07 NL $1+20c 2nd $3 +$1.80
16/11/07 NL $2+40c 5th - -$0.60 QQ v 88 8 on river
16/11/07 NL $5+50c 3rd $10 +$3.90
16/11/07 NL $1+20c 6th - +$2.80 KK v AQs A on river
16/11/07 NL $2+40c 3rd $4 +$4.40 Runner runner full house
22/11/07 NL $1+20c 9th - +$3.30 KK lost to AA all money in pfp
22/11/07 NL $2+40c 4th - +$0.90 No real hard luck story!
22/11/07 NL $5+50c 7th - -$4.60 QQ v TQ – Flop A7K Turn 6 River J
26/11/07 NL $1+20c 2nd $3 -$2.60
26/11/07 NL $2+40c 4th - -$5.00
27/11/07 NL $5+50c 6th - -$10.50
27/10/07 NL $5+50c 5th - -$16.00
27/10/07 NL $2+40c 9th - -$18.40
27/10/07 NL $1+20c 2nd $3 -$16.60
27/10/07 NL $5+50c 4th - -$22.10 Quad beats full house in crucial hand

‘What ifs are pretty pointless, but I’m, still going to say ‘What If those crucial hands highlighted had gone for me?'. I’d have made money, that’s what.

The other thing you’ll notice is how long it took me to play just 15 STTs. That’s the way it is. Family, work and social life are busy, and whereas a year ago I was hiding behind poker due to other problems I no longer need it as a soul mate. And even if I did the Dementors would only suck it out ;).

A wee edit for those that are observant. I played a quick game on Stars and managed my stack very well in the face of a cold deck. I'm on the bubble and despite reading villain absolutely correctly I raise 'to win' with middle pair and lose. He has matched nothing, but with an Ace on the board, JQ in his hand the turn is a King, the river a ten. Keep sucking - no matter how they try to make me give up the game entirely I won't give in. For weeks now correct decisions have met with outrageous defeats. It HAS to change.

Expecto Patronum – literally ‘I await a protector’.

Driven to drink

2007-11-28T00:06:00.000Z

I've got to get this down in writing so that I can sleep.

Bubble time - I'm chip leader - only two of us in good shape.

I'm dealt AA and raise. A re-raise from the guy in second place. I scratch my head, but push as there's precious little left to play for in either of our stacks.

He turns over AK. I'm not unhappy.

Flop AK7. Miles ahead.

Turn K. Hmmm, surely not...

River. Awww c'mon, this is MY blog. You know the score by now.

My AAAKK pwned by KKKK.

It's actually worse now that I look at it in type.

What do I have to do? If poker were Russian roulette there would be six bullets in my gun chamber.

Part of me wants to laugh. Part to cry. Whether I'll sleep very well I don't know. Time to hit the Johnnie Walker Black Label for a wee dram I reckon.

Mugged

2007-11-25T22:17:00.000Z

I travelled 175 miles after the Cheltenham v Leeds game on Sunday and watched my team well and truly mugged. I managed to get back well in time for the Bloggerement game, but wish I'd got stuck in some roadworks instead.

For the second week in a row a far looser game - I think people know each other too well and are trying moves to add some spice. It's certainly not the '$50 tournament' some thought it was when there was a Raise The River thread querying the standard. Some of the showdowns were truly worthy of the $1 tables IMO.

My demise? Just your common or garden runner runner runner suckout.

Anyone who starts talking about odds to call is missing the point. The point is what happened...again...not why.

I feel sick.

PS - particular commiserations to dD whose AK was rivered by a queen in an all in (???) confrontation with QK (that bloody hand again). I think he was as happy as me.

Why?

2007-11-22T23:10:00.000Z

Why do some people think it's fun to double up the short stack?

Why did the person (and I use the term at its loosest) in my game decide, having got himself into a winning position, to double up four of my opponents with utter trash?

Why, when I pushed with a genuine hand (QQ) and he called, as he was always going to, did he show QT?

Why did the board come down A7K6J?

Why did his mother ever sleep with his father?

Why does this keep happening?

Why are my good decisions punished and other's bad decisons continually rewarded?

Why oh why indeed.

Fuming

2007-11-18T22:57:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I posted about my worst ever call (7th October).It was bad then and it's bad now.

Imagine my joy and delight at being on the opposite side of that same call tonight in Bloggerment. Granted I only had AT, but as villain had been raising with paint and my stats were on the tight side

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 193 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 31 times while in big blind (16%)
- 2 out of 30 times while in small blind (6%)
- 12 out of 132 times in other positions (9%)
- a total of 19 out of 193 (9%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 28

my all in should, in theory, be respected. But oh no. We'll go to war for virtually our entire stacks . And of course the call gets the reward it didn't deserve. Once he calls it's 60/40 at best, but...oh well. Yeah I cashed. I'm glad about that. I'm not backwards in criticising myself when it's appropriate so on this occasion I'll pat myself on the back, say well played and shuffle off back to the micro-limits where such calls are routine.

Taking it all too seriously? Probably. You can't be nice all the time :p.

The Challenge takes a break until at least Wednesday night. I'm going to a management type course (aka piss up) in Derby, so for the time being (because I know you're sitting on the edge of your seats!) this is the current status (with details of some shitty little beats where I deem it to be appropriate ;). Good luck at the tables.

Titan Challenge

15/11/07 NL $1+10c 2nd Win $3 Net Profit +$1.90
16/11/07 NL $2+40c 5th -$0.50 overall QQ v 88 8 on river
16/11/07 NL $5+50c 3rd $10 +$4.00 overall
16/11/07 NL $1+10c 6th - +$2.90 overall KK v AQs A on river
16/11/07 NL $2+40c 3rd $4 +$4.50 overall Runner runner full house

The Challenge Continues

2007-11-15T17:43:00.000Z

Firstly can I say thank you for the very kind comments in response to my previous entry, and also the various references to it elsewhere. Most of us are attention seekers by nature :p. The 'hit stats' took a real boost, although I'm still pretty small fry in the blog stakes. That said if someone had told me that I'd have in excess of a hundred views in a day when I started I'd have assumed that I was posting porn links like Amatay ;).

So...poker. I completed the first challenge within a week and a thousand hands on twelve tables. Mainly I had two tables running of NL20 six max. Towards the end when I was near the 250 player point target I moved to loose looking full ring tables, played tight and let teh points look after themselves. Ironically it was at one of these where the challenge stopped being a total disaster and got me back to where I was last time I blogged.

Villain had been going all in without resistance and I was praying for a hand to face him up with. I'm dealt cowboys and raise 7xBB. He only calls. The flop comes out 859 rainbow. First to act he duly pushes. My entire stack ($22) to call. Nothing for some of you, but I still had to think as long as the time bar allowed me before calling. I could certainly see him holding any of the matching pocket pairs, but I just decided that if I folded there I wasn't a poker player at all. Everyone got out of the way and he turned over 69os! I actually had plenty of ways to lose with that hand, but joy of joys the turn and river blank him and I took it down.

The end result was that I lost $32. When (or is that if, as I've not received any response from Poker Office as yet, and some may remember my trials getting Calculatem to come good on a similar deal) the theoretical cost of the software is taken into account that's a gain of $47.

It wasn't looking good at one stage. Six max is a horrible place to be if you're up against people who have no fear of losing, your hole cards are crap and you're hitting the flop once in a blue moon. I learnt a lot though, because cash is not my natural game. 1,000 hands in a week and no S&Gs is completely alien to me. I'll definitely be back to cash once I get Poker Offfice, and will spend time actually analysing the stats rather than just looking at pretty graphs etc.

The next challenge? Well I did play a couple of S&Gs on Titan and they appear to be soft at the micro level. I even won one last night for a massive $4.20 lol.

Challenge Two therefore, is to play 15 STTs divided between $1, $2 and $5. The total cost will be $24 plus $1.10 entry fees. The aim is to make a profit. Durrr, of course it is lol. Setting precise targets over such a small sample is silly. Profit is profit, after all.

Good luck at the tables and thanks, once again, for reading and commenting :)

End of an Era?

2007-11-13T16:48:00.000Z

I've just had a little look round some blogs and was shocked to see that Burnley Mik has hung up his boots. On closer examination the blogging world that is closest to me is all but falling apart, it seems.

Microlimitdonkey - gone without even a goodbye
Cadmunkey/Spunksock - gone for the time being
Exile57 - No posts for five weeks
Kenny's Bad Beat Cafe - Nothing since September
Miasdad - nothing for a month
Rosie - nearly a month without a post :(
Counting My Outs - last post October 3rd
First Rule Of Poker - nothing since July
The Cloud - still alive and kicking but no longer a poker blog

Life moves on, I know, but I still find it sad that the little community that we had has fallen to the wayside somewhat. I guess that's partly due to Raise the River, but IMHO that's no substitute for a blog. And the less people who blog the less people there are to enter comments (which is half of what it's all about if we're honest).

Are we all pokered out? Are we sick of the apparently rigged RNGs? Has the novelty worn off?

I don't know. I find it sad I guess.

I'll carry on while I still get viewed and get comments. Without them there really is little point for any of us, is there?

So, where now?

2007-11-12T16:43:00.000Z

Thank you to those of you that were able to take the time to post so thoughtfully on my last entry. Before I move on, I’d like to deal with one or two of the points that were made.

Defining ‘very good’. Well, of course I was a bit sloppy with my terminology. It’s entirely subjective. I’m clearly not ‘bad’. On my day I think I can be ‘good’ (but those days are rare and very often card rather than situation led. Give me some good cards and I think I can play them quite well, being aware of when to bet, check and even check-raise. I would hazard a guess that any of you could do that…but what many of you also do, as I mentioned, is maximise the marginal situations. You have a positive EV in those scenarios where I might fold when ahead but faced with a big bet, or bet when being sucked into a pot I’m behind in.

Does that make sense?

Yes, I reckon I’ve done OK at Bloggerment (damn it for starting at 8pm last night – I was well up for it when I logged in at 8.40pm lol!). I don’t make donk moves in that company, and a bit of ‘hammer’ fun apart, neither do most at the table. What I have found is that I very rarely ever get to showdown (and thereby maximise the value of my hand) when I have the winning hand because there are virtually no calling stations. We all know the feeling when we look down at bullets in late position and every bugger passes meaning you’re up against the blinds who will usually fold to any raise. If you slow play and the flop comes down 689 then the value of your aces diminishes greatly, especially against a bet from the blinds who are quite likely to have some random hand like 57.

I don’t feel bad about this. The standard is much higher than I’m used to. If I played that level all the time then, well, who knows.

I agree with exile & Shamus entirely. If it’s not fun, then why bother?. Last time I checked Amatay’s blog he was suffering from some real negative variance having just decided to go pro. Rightly he’s taken some time off, and when his head is clear he’ll rip the tables up without doubt. But for me it’s just fun and must remain so.

So…what of the future? Well the future actually started a week or so ago when I deposited on Titan. Why? Well I was looking to invest in Poker Office ($79) and noted the ‘free year’s licence’ offer if certain conditions were met. Of those sites I was not already a member of Titan seemed to have the easiest to clear conditions. So I set myself a challenge. Deposit $100 and play NL$25 Six Max until I’d either gone broke or achieved the necessary points. I would play there and only there unless I got totally bored, and I would play cash only in an attempt to learn a new skill.

The basic equation is that if, after I get the 250 player points, I have more than $21 in my account then I’ve won the challenge. This is probably highly simplistic, but you have to understand that the challenge is the important thing. It’s relatively short term and has a defined aim. There is also an imperative for me NOT to go bust before I get the relevant points so my play has to be as spot on and disciplined as I can make it.

As it happens Titan only do NL20 which cuts down the rake slightly (if I ever take up cash big style I’ll sign up to a new site for rakeback by the way!) but I tend to pick loose tables, play tight and watch the player points mount up.

My challenge started well, with a few dollars profit on the first night. On the second night I dropped $40 which hurt. However I couldn’t get away from top two pair against a flopped set of fours where villain called a 6xBB raise from the button with A4 in his hand. Equally when I flopped a set of sevens a few hands later the turn and the river completed his straight which he chased despite some pretty hefty betting. You can’t do anything about that except observe and learn.

Last night started in the same vein, but slowly but surely I read my opponents, made the odd move and ended up on two tables by about $12. I have just over $70 and am half way through the challenge.

I like the Titan software and the multi table facility is very neat, helping people like me who aren’t used to it.

Once the challenge is complete I’ll think of something else. Perhaps I’ll try a series of £5 buy in S&Gs at regular blinds and set a target ROI. I may start learning PLO, although that’s a longer term aim given my total ignorance of the game.

Any ideas that you may have would be welcome. The tasks have to be realistic and achievable and relatively short term (a couple of weeks is fine) and relevant to my bankroll ($250 for arguments sake)

For the time being at least I’ve stopped drifting, playing the same old things and feeling hemmed in by the inherent limitations of my stakes. I think I am absolutely bound to learn something and improve.

I mentioned my ‘wish list’ in the last post and suggested that it might be unrealistic. But here goes anyway. What I would really like is to be mentored. I honestly believe that with decent teaching and commitment on my part I could become a decent winner. That might sound arrogant, but you have to be confident in yourself at the same time as recognising your weaknesses. One without the other is –EV IMO. It’s not likely to happen, but it’s an aim. Perhaps one day I may be able to subscribe to PXF, for example, a decent half way house. At the moment that would smash my bankroll management so it’s a no-go, especially give the ongoing monthly cost.

As ever, thanks for reading, and for any comments you may feel disposed to make.

Have a good week at the tables.

Just for exile, by the way, 1072 words ;)

Honesty is the best policy

2007-11-09T13:11:00.001Z

This is not a bad beat story. It’s not, as such, a moan about the type of players I’m up against at my levels (although this clearly has an effect). It’s not in any way negative, although at one level it may appear so. It’s not designed to induce sympathy or compliments, come to that. It is, quite simply, an attempt to be brutally honest about me as a poker player. In some ways it could be seen as an obituary. Alternatively it could be viewed as a turning point. The day it all made sense. The day I stopped worrying, once and for all.

I have a number of you to thank for this although you may not realise it.

Matt H, always there in the background for me. A fine, profitable player both online and live, and someone who once taught me a valuable lesson by getting me to trust him on a play chips table. He ripped me off. I hated it. But in retrospect it taught me precisely the lesson it was intended to. You have no friends at the poker table.

Microlimitdonkey (MLD), who got me into poker in the first place and spent hours talking to me and showered me with poker books out of the goodness of his heart. Sadly he is no longer blogging and we have lost touch, but that in no way diminishes the impact he had at the beginning.

Cadmunkey/Spunksock. He introduced me to the live game, rips the piss, but a conversation the other night on MSN clarified so much for me even if he didn’t realise it.

Yorkshire Pud. He was my second contact on the blogging scene and his was the first mutual link exchange after MLD. I think we have a lot in common, although it might not seem so when you compare blogs. He also encouraged me a lot at the beginning.

BurnleyMik. Was friendly early on. His recent post on the standard of play at levels well above those I can aspire to (we’re talking $27 S&Gs here) brought me to my senses. There is no level of poker that I can play on my roll that doesn’t involve a significant proportion of the players calling an all in with bottom pair and a gutshot. It resolved all my concerns about where I should go. My answer, more or less, is nowhere.

If your name does not appear above that doesn’t mean you haven’t helped. The contrary is true. Exile57, Shamus, Doomswitch, Amatay, the list goes on. All of you have in your own way been brilliant.

So…where the hell am I going with this? I’m not sure. I know what I want to say but whether I can express it appropriately bearing in mind that poker is a game of situations and hidden information I don’t know. I’ll do my best.

Basically…I’m not a very good poker player. I’m not a bad one, but I’m not good enough. In important areas I simply don’t have the skills or gonads. We ALL suffer suckouts. We ALL go spare when we see what people are calling us with. I do not believe that over the last 15 months I’ve suffered any more bad beats proportionately than anyone else. The reason? Good players make more of the other hands than I do. They maximise their winnings, duck and weave, take risks. Although I’m profitable to an extent there are no real signs that I can grasp this game by the balls and move on. In table terminology I’m weak. I intrinsically feel that the other guy has a better hand (or else why would he be betting??? – don’t answer that ;)) or that I’ll get sucked out. Or I misread. Or I don’t steal enough blinds. All the ‘X’ Factors that make many of you, dear readers, significantly profitable. YP said it in so many words on a comments a week or so back. I’m a solid fish! That probably means I’m in the freezer, thinking about it!

I don’t play enough to be committed to the game. A suckout here and there has a far greater impact on my roll and results than it does to someone clearing 1000 or more hands a night (not an excessive figure in itself). Money isn’t a motivator. If it was then I’d have moved up. I have exercised bankroll management as well as anyone in the entire game I would imagine because I don’t want to ever reload due to losses. I may deposit on new sites (indeed I have this very week, more of which later), but that’s different. I’m a recreational player who doesn’t want to a significant proportion of my roll.

How could I ever hope to succeed? Brian Townsend spun it up from nowhere, and yet he started from exactly the same bankroll as me. He’s hardly been playing any longer than me for heaven’s sake! I’m not sure how he actually got there, but I would imagine he approached it from the perspective of spending considerable amounts of time multi tabling. Time I simply don’t have and more importantly am not prepared to sacrifice. Look at the major internet winners like him and Annette15. They’re young, with time on their hands and an obsession with the game. If internet poker had been around 20+ years ago perhaps I might have had that chance. We’ll never know.

And before this sounds too self pitiful (it really is intended to be a ‘Road to Damascus’ post, not a depressing one) I ought to point out that I have my talents at the game. The fact that I’m profitable at all puts me at a certain level. I find my reads, down to the pocket cards, to be improving at a rapid rate. The trouble is that all too often it’s because I’ve made a crying call, just to see. Information like that can be useful, but only if you play regularly and for long sessions. You lot tell me that I don’t look out of place at the Bloggerment table. You could just be being kind, but best say nothing than falsely praise me I would have thought?

Word Count tells me this post is 1,159 words long. I did warn you ;)

I’ll post about where this is all taking me over the weekend most likely. I do have a plan, and a wish list (which is unlikely to be fulfilled, but if you don’t have a wish it can’t come true!). It’s helped me to set down in a reasonably coherent manner what I wanted to write. I hope you haven’t been too bored.

Enjoy your poker. Just about everyone who comments on this blog is a winner. What’s there not to enjoy eh?

;)

The night the Sky fell in

2007-11-05T21:33:00.000Z

I haven't played much at all since my last entry as life's been so busy. However this week my wife is on some form of management course in Switzerland so for the first time I'm able to use our new wireless connection along with my my son's laptop and play The Open which is shown on Sky Poker without any marital grumbles.

It's Sky Chanel 846 and if you're quick you might just get to see the hand which klled me early on. It will convince you that I'm not arseing around with some of these hands I post.

It's a fast tournament, £10 buy in, with 7 minute blinds (ironically slower than the five minute blinds I normal play, but over a much longer time period if you're to progress through the 650 field). For the first couple of levels I got no real hands and sat tight, deciding ABC poker was the best way to go early on. The play was generally horrendous it has to be said.

I can't pull the hand history for some reason, but it's burned on my memory. I'm in the big blind and get dealt AK. I raise it up and am called by one player. The flop comes down JTQ. Genius! Broadway for Cell. Naturally I check and villain puts in a bet for around half my chips. I push and he calls instantly. He turns over JT. The turn comes down Q and, to my amazement, a ten pops up on the river :(. The hand played itself I guess once he bets his two pairs, but at a time when I'm in poker hell anyway it's ultimate cruelty.

This time I can't even blame the Stars RNG ;)

It's a case of striking it lucky

2007-10-30T22:34:00.000Z

The Cell study has witnessed more than its fair share of anguished screams tonight. I'm used to most things the pixellated screen can throw at me, and to be honest I'm usually pretty immune these days. I sort of don't expect to win any more, but always in the back of my mind there's a little voice which says 'remember the good days'. It's not that long ago I was reporting a good run, but I've hardly cashed since. Variance isn't a squiggle for me - it's either a sharp upward or downward spike, with little in between. On the good days I know I can play a wee bit, but when the cards spit venom I feel like a kid with his fingers in the cookie jar.

Tonight's session, in isolation, mean nothing. In the general scheme of things it's a reiteration of a truly depressing scenario. Get my money in ahead, end up behind. Alternatively go in with a premium pair and come up against one of the two or three hands that are better. Tonight QQ has come up against KK, JJ against QQ and KK against AA. Rather less dramatically as I type my 77 raise has been crushed by a TT hand that merely called the BB. Notably not one of those hands saw a rescue card come out on the board.

In my most frustrating hand I'm in the BB and am dealt AQs. I'm middle to lower stacked and all folds round to the cut off. He raises just as I would have if I were stealing, 3xBB. SB folds, so it's time to test my read. I re-raise him. He thinks and then re-re raises me. I have to call (and cross my fingers) because I'm sure he's bullshitting. Bear in mind he's put 80% of his stack on the line, but could have folded to my original re-raise without too much damage.

The cards are turned over and he shows, err, K8 os. So I'm slight favourite. I turn a Q but, of course, he rivers the K. I'm out. What was going through his mind? I truly have no idea. But I know one thing - he won't stop until he gets battered time and time again, and it just doesn't seem to happen because poker is a game where any hand can win if betting is ignored. I play too straight. I might try and steal the blinds, but if significantly re-raised (unless I had a read) I'd put the hand down.

So it's not just variance that gets me but the fact that at these silly levels you're faced with cards in the hand which shouldn't be there in the first place, meaning there is a maverick element at play. You may as well pump the place full of smoke for all the clarity there is at times. When I play badly I get punished (correctly) and when I play well I have to jump hurdles which act as traps.

It all reminds me of a quiz show that was on TV a few years back - older readers will recall it - Strike It Lucky. The link tells you how the game was played, but essentially at the 'showdown' you had to answer questions and pick the 'top, middle or bottom' screen. If you answered the questions and avoided the hotspots you got the big prize. But it was amazing how often the 'hot spots' were hit. I doubted then just how 'honest' the location of these spots were because people seemed to hit more than they should, on average. I understand oh so well just how some poor old dear felt as three hotspots came up in a row to dash her chances of winning a moped or a fondue set.

No depression or tilt here. Just wry amusement at the overpair scenarios and a little regret that what little edge I do have is reduced to negligible levels because other people simply don't care what they're doing.

GL all and thanks for reading :)

Still around

2007-10-29T18:12:00.000Z

But virtually no poker played.

It was Alex's 11th birthday last week and he couldn't just have one party, he had to have four! Add a wee bit of football, the pleasure of exile57's company on Saturday night after yet another victory for Leeds (sorry dD), and a busy Sunday and there's been no time for poker.

I've learnt through bitter experience that the 'odd game here and there' can lead to slow but sure losses, and I'm doing badly enough as it is without snatched games at the end of a night when I'm knackered.

When the curent storm subsides I'm definitely going to join Spunksock for a live game or two at Huddersfield, and of course it won't be long before DTD opens in Nottingham.

I'm also completely off the money when it comes to the blog scene, so I'll try and catch up as and when I can.

Good luck at the tables :)

Better to be the raiser than the caller...

2007-10-22T22:42:00.000+01:00

...unless you've been playing this donk. I knew I was on a coin flip at worst.

Yeah, it's a good old fashioned bad beat post. Got to be done.

Still no cashes. Is it any wonder? Bugger :(

I don't think I'm going to be able to give up the day job, somehow :p

A game of chance

2007-10-20T09:12:00.000+01:00

After my last post telling of good results and my highest profit figure it was always going to go tits up. Why, I don't know, but as we poker bloggers well know the moment you post about good results the subsequent dowturn is almost programmed in. The moral of the story is never to write when things are going well, it seems.

Having cashed in around 13 out of 17 games (a rush by anyone's standards) I've now blanked in my last 16. Sharkscope shows a long row of 'L's after my name and a steep downward fall on the graph.

What's happened? Nothing that we haven't all come across before I guess, but it's never the less frustrating.

The really good, higher stakes, players, come across the same opponents on a regular basis. They have detailed statistics on their opponents and a memory of their moves. They literally can say that any suck out today can be clawed back tomorrow because they have a fair degree of certainty that they'll be seeing their opponents at the tables.

These players, although they steal and re-steal with some regularity, also know how to lay down a hand. They know the odds and they play each game seriously. The same can't be said of the people I play on a regular basis, except, that is, in Bloggerment. I've lost count of the times I've had good hands pre flop, raised varying amounts (to try and get action) and still only get to take down a small pot as people fold to their heart's content. Now why would that be?

Firstly the buy in is lower than the level of skill that's on display. It's not really a $5 tournament. I think some on Raise The River once said it was more akin to a $50 game. I have no idea as it'll be a long time before I'm able to test that theory out. Secondly people know each other's play. I'm relatively tight, and a raise is viewed with a certain degree of respect. I'm not giving away any secrets here - it's nothing you don't know. I have to try and play above my abilities to keep my head above water. I've final tabled a few times and won it once but rarely can I ever say I've had a significant stack which would allow me to vary my play. Very rarely do my hands go to showdown. I've got to work on that, I know, and it's not a complaint - anything but, in fact. It's an insight into the games I'd like to be playing if my bankroll wasn't so limited.

The regular micro stake games are something else, however. We've all experienced the stupid calls (Pud's blog recently had some great examples) and subsequent suckouts. I truly believe that you can't do much about it. The hand I quoted at the end of my last entry was typical. AA v A7. I push, get called and he sucks out with 77 on the board. My push was aggressive and justified. His call? Well I bet very few of you would have made it. End result...death after some good poker. Nul points.

Another notable hand, which I can't now locate, involved a pair of aces. Again I was in great shape but by no means chip leader. Siz left and four pay. I'm in late postion with blinds at 200/400, ante 25. Limps or folds to me on the button and I push. All fold except one guy who insta calls. He has a few less chips than me, so he's playing for his life. He turns over KT clubs. Yes he has flush and straight possibilities, but would YOU call for your life with that hand?

Of course you should have called because he turns a third ten to send me down to the red line. I bust out when my AQ doesn't improve against a pair of threes.

This happens so often it's almost funny. People calling with relative trash and sucking out. I never do this so I can't benefit from it. I never see these players again, so I can't use what I know to alter my play in the future. Yes, these players are losers, but I can't get my chips back off them. I simply run into the next donk, and the next and the next. I would do the same again, even though the last two times I've been called by inferior hands and been sucked out on. I should win four out of five of these, but for sure I don't, ever!

It really is all luck at micro-stakes. You can't win in the long term unless you know a bit about the game, but poker is a game of odds, decisions and reads. When you continually come across people who put their finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing as an aid to decision making you're stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Your skill becomes neutered.

I would have to raise my buy in requirements to a point that my bankroll simply can't sustain in order to lose a proportion (but not all) of these players. So on I go, trying my best, but always aware that ultimately any progress I make will be cut back because, when variance already affects even the best players, the added 'donk' factor makes it a lottery.

Micro-stakes poker online really is an example of luck holding back skill disproportionately. I'm not dispirited, but equally I'm not over-motivated to play.

Good luck at the tables...funny how we say that isn't it? Never was a phrase more apt, for me at least.

Time machine - Sunday & Monday edit

2007-10-12T13:07:00.000+01:00

Firstly may I thank you for the good wishes left after my last entry. Just a few words mean such a lot :). No news on the parental front, and sadly this isn't an indicator of any positive development. My mum awaits some form of scan, but if it's what we think it is it isn't going to make much of a difference long term. I won't dwell on it, but just wanted to follow up from last Sunday's scribblings.

So far as poker is concerned I could have labelled this entry as 'Back to the Future' or any other time travel reference. Ever since I hit my poker peak I've lost money. Sometimes a bounceback would occur, but inevitably a horrible streak would follow. Having lost 75% of my profit I really was doubting my game and more importantly I lost my ability to read the game. I really did wonder whether my upwards march was all a bit of early variance. The Sharkscope graphs are there to see.

Howvere in the last 100 games or so I seem to have resumed the overall upward trend that I yearned. I've finally clawed back all my losses and find myself slightly up on that earlier high. As I posted on Pud's blog I'm fully aware of the vicious nature of the poker Gods but I've proved to myself that I CAN still play a bit at my lowly levels. It's crucial that we poker players who are bound together by a fickle and cruel mistress remember the good times when things go wrong.

Now I've posted this I know that I'm set for a fall, but if I am then that's just the way it is. I've proved to myself I can get things back on track, that dawn happens just after the darkest part of the night.

That's all I've really got to say. Another massive day of sport tomorrow. Leeds United play Leyton Orient tomorrow attempting to make it ten wins out of eleven. Leeds Rhinos take on the St Helens neanderthals in the Rugby League Grand Final, while England play Estonia in the European Championship qualifiers and the Rugby Union team attempts to get into the Rugby Union World Cup Final at the expense of the host nation, France. Suffice it to say that come 10pm or so I won't be entirely sober :))))

Good luck at the felt.

Sunday edit: Not even worth the effort of a separate post, but notable that as soon as I post something positive the god of donks shits on me from a very great height. From Bloggerment to my other games it appears that everyone was given the specific instructions to call anything because they'd suck out on me, no worries. I can take so much, but for fuck's sake.

This is probably the worst, but you name it they called me with it.

It takes two minutes to remember how shit this ball bag of a game can be. I am so going to go on a rush sometime soon.

Monday edit: The rush will have to wait it seems. At least eight, possibly more, blanks in a row after around 12 places in 17. Simple reason. Variance. But why do these runs come together? Where is the middle ground?

Ahh well. Off to London until Wednesday night. Long enough away to come back with optimism renewed. And then dashed within a few minutes ;)

My worst call ever

2007-10-07T22:54:00.000+01:00

I really enjoyed the Bloggerment tonight. I was ducking and weaving and there was a place to be had if I just kept my nerve. But oh no. Distracted by another game I was playing in I disrespected Rosie's all in raise (I had no reason to think she was bluffing, unlike a certain player to my right whose blind stealing was the ultimate in tedium) and donked it all off with KQ. The full house was a bit unnecessary but I got what I deserved.

I suppose I've got to take something positive out of the way I played, which mirrors some resonable recent outcomes both in S&Gs and in cash, but the fickle twitching finger which afflicts all of us from time to time killed me. Many congratulations to Mair who took the game down.

At least I cashed in the other game I was playing but even then I was distracted by a late night phone call. My AQs was crushed by K5 (of course) and I came second.

Generally speaking I've got some crap going down with my parents - my mother may well be very ill (scans awaited) and while we were having dinner today with them my Dad had an attack of Meniere's disease . So poker, whilst it's a nice outlet, hasn't been at the forefront of my mind. I've hardly read any blogs for ages and look forward to catching up in the days ahead.

Good luck at the felt :)

Just for Spunksock

2007-10-02T13:27:00.000+01:00

Has it really been the best part of a week since my last post? Time flies when you're drinking!

Given the crusty sock's expression of concern (at least i think it was concern!) in the comments on my last post I'm posting this merely to let you know that I'm alive, playing a little poker, but life mainly revolves around football just at the moment.

Had a spiffing time in London at the weekend after going to the Gillingham v Leeds match and didn't get back until nearly 11pm on Sunday. So many laughs, so much pisstaking and quite a lot of beer. Off to Oldham tonight with Exile57 (sorry, dD) to watch the striker-less wonders try and make it nine games undefeated in the league.

Poker wise I've played very little, although I had a 100 hands or so at NL25 (6 max) on Party last night and closed the session with a $10 win to my name. I wish I could have stayed longer - there was no-one on the table better than me (he says modestly) but I had to get to bed. Even donks win against tired players.

Nothing much to add. I do have a thesis forming in my head about poker and luck, having read BurnleyMik's entry on his live and internet play and also read a couple of poker magazines on my travels this weekend. More later in the week, perhaps.

Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot. I watched the Poker Stars WCOOP heads up battle with streaming commentary (it was only later I realised it was Daniel Negreanu doing the analysis!) last night. After a marathon twenty two hour game TheV0id took it down for around $1.3m. I can only imagine what it must feel like to lose half a million greenbacks in one hand after nearly a day of playing with only short breaks. Not that I've too much sympathy with Ka$ino who took down $700,000 for second.

A different world!

Man Flu

2007-09-26T07:43:00.000+01:00

I've always been proud of my (lack of) sickness record at work. I've worked at my current company for nearly 8 1/2 years and had never taken so much as a day off ill. All that changed on Monday when I came down with the shivers driving into work. After a couple of hours I realised I just had to go home because the internal batteries were on the point of exhaustion.

I spent the day dozing watching daytime TV - how do the dossers do it? It must rot the brain day in day out, although I should be grateful as the adverts from accident claims companies were outnumbered only by debt consolidation services. As I work in the defence side of such personal injury claims it's all good because it ensures I'm employed and that the quality of claims being made against my clients keeps falling. They literally DO falsify or exaggerate claims, and it's great fun forensically picking them off pre-flop, or as yesterday on the river. I was in Manchester for the trial of a case involving a man who has had 14 personal injury claims in the last ten years (including a whopping £60,000 against his employers). His evidence was so contradictory and fabricated it almost made sense! Sadly the judge decided to reserve judgement so I won't be there for showdown.

The bug was clearly starting to affect me on Sunday evening which would explain my abysmal and careless performance in Bloggerment. I didn't get the best of luck with hands I have to say. In the first two levels I was dealt Jacks three times and Kings twice. So what's the problem? The damned problem is that Bloggerment players actually take notice of raises and rarely raise in early position with crap, so did I get paid for these premium hands? Did I heck! I chased the game and went out near the bottom - by far the lowest position in relation to the field I've ever 'achieved'.

I know I wasn't well because I didn't even get angry. In a way it was a relief. The maxim of never play tired or ill was proved. I tried one game on Monday, just managed a cash but to be honest I should have won it.

Finally a big shout out for two of my pals. Microlimit donkey went deep in a tourney on Monday to pick up $693 (a cracking performance and by no means the first time he's done something like it), and Exile 57 who as I type is on the way to Hull for her first day at University. Good luck, and let us know how it went.

Good luck at the felt.

Rhythm method

2007-09-21T08:27:00.001+01:00

Having somehow been nominated in this poll I thought that at the very least I should have a provocative title to celebrate what is my 200th blog entry. Quite how I came to be associated with the level of depravity shown by Amatay and more particularly Pud I'll never know, but I wear the badge of honour with pride. That said I don't expect my vote to rise above the perfect zero which is where it resides as I type :p.

We humans tend to celebrate round numbers by reflecting where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. For my 200th post I have decided to take a brief overview of how things have developed, the changes which are responsible and to compare it to other bloggers’ experiences.

I started this blog because I was more or less forced to by microlimitdonkey. I can’t put a link up to his blog (I’ve yet to delete it from the list to the right, mind you) because it doesn’t exist any more. Not only was it hacked but I knew that he’d reached the end of that particular road. Paul is very much alive and well, and still plays poker. It’s just that for him blogging became a pressure not a pleasure. He moved on, and although I miss the interaction it allowed I understand entirely.

Kenn has also deleted his blog, and this post explains why. Other bloggers have come and gone, and I don’t have time to put the links in to all of them. Pud has had an up and down time, Cadmunkey disappeared for a while before being reborn as, err, Spunksock lol. The Cloud changed his from poker to a life blog. One day I'll even a comment from him on here :p

Poker is a demanding mistress. To put it in Pud terms it fucks with your mind. When it’s good it’s fantastic, but when you keep getting rivered or can’t hit a flop for what seems like days it’s purgatory. I vowed never to allow it to mean too much to me, and largely I’ve been successful. That’s only because I have, at all times, stuck to my plan of not playing above my limits. My roll simply can’t take any significant hits.

Just to clarify, for those who don’t know, or who are just interested generally, that I play at the smallest levels possible. I mainly lurk on the $1.50 18 seater turbo S&Gs, although branch out occasionally. If I do so it’s within the limits my roll imposes. I don’t play many big tournaments. I don’t have the time, generally to give them the attention they need. The graph above, therefore, represents the vast majority of my online play. Forget the figures – they’re never going to be impressive in absolute terms at these stake. It’s the trend that’s interesting. Like tRee rings.

A bad start as I learnt the game. The almost instant effects of sitting down and learning the game properly (thank you Harrington and Matt H in particular). A relatively meteoric rise, and then…and then…life tilt. From game 525, just as I hit the heights, things went wrong behind the scenes. I’ve mentioned these before and won’t trouble you again with what went on. I’ve never since regained that ‘lofty’ position, although I’m now only two or three of wins away.

The difference now is that I although life tilt is a thing of the past I've never regained that desire to sit in front of a PC for hours on end. I have other things to do, other pleasures.

Which brings me back to the title of this entry. I’ve lost the rhythm which poker players need to be successful. Playing one game a night (sometimes non) instead of six. I rarely get in ‘the zone’ any more. Sometimes I think I can play the game (last night was good) and other times I wonder whether I’m just a fish with slightly tougher scales than the rest. One thing is for sure. I’m a winner overall at these stakes and it’s not everyone that can say that. I sometimes wonder what I could do if I really concentrated, really studied. The truth is I’ll probably never know. There’s a life out there and I’m getting on a bit so I’d best take advantage of it while I can lol.

Thank you for the kind words about my last entry. This one is a tad egocentric, so I’m not anticipating such a response. I’d be lying if I said that feedback isn’t important, so thank you to everyone who posts a comment at any time, no matter how trivial it may seem.

I don’t think this post will do anything to get me any votes, and as I know there are one or two Welsh bloggers out there I wouldn’t dream of pointing out that Leeds United are going to whip the arses of those sheep shaggers from Swansea tomorrow. It would be very rude if I did, so I won’t.

Baaaaaah.

Anger management

2007-09-18T13:36:00.000+01:00

The key to unlocking Anger Management is understanding that anger is a secondary emotion. Rather than acting it out, seek the unfulfilled need and find ways to fulfill it or soothe yourself.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. (Buddha)

I bet Buddha never played a game of Texas Hold 'em in his life. If he had he'd have soon revised his utopian ideas and thrown his coffee at his flat screen monitor after being sucked out in a pissy $1.50 sit and go. Anyway, it wasn't my intent to be sacreligious when I set out, so the analogy ends there.

In reality I was looking for an image of the film poster but thought the above was a little more appropriate.

I'm minded to post this because having done my regular trawl of the blogs this lunchtime I saw people in various states of anger about their game, or how others played the game. Look no further than my critique of AlEleven's game on Sunday. I was angry, both at the call and at the suckout that followed. I'd invested my time and emotion in that game and really thought I could cash. My disappointment was tangible. If I didn't know better I'd say that there was nearly a tear in my eye, one born of frustration and utter desperation.

When a similar thing happened last night I posted it more as a wry comment rather than a major tantrum. I hadn't invested too much of my soul in the game, having sat out on a couple of occasions to deal with my son, a phone call etc. In other words I hadn't invested much in the game either emotionally or in terms of time. And I didn't really care if I lost because there were a bunch of nobodies at the table - nobodies to me, anyway.

Bloggerment is different. Those I don't know I sort of know, if that makes sense. I interact with you as virtual friends, and if I make a donk call I know that Burnley Mik's just around the corner with a piss take. It's a sort of accountability and it means the games mean a lot more. I want to do well because of who I'm playing and the fact that it isn't just another statistic in my Sharkscope account.

The ironic thing about it is, therefore, that on occasions I act with a little less grace and good manners than I do in regular games. There's another entrant who's the same, if not worse. Never acknowledges the 'gg' or 'u/l' comments. I know why this is. It's because he wants to kill. Pure and simple. He's angry at some level or other and I understand entirely.

It wears off of course, for all of us, as it should, but our blogs capture the moments vividly if we so choose and that's what's great about so many of them.

Speaking of anger I allowed myself to interact with Craig0110 on Stars last night. He spent the first part of the game goading me because I'm a Leeds fan. Such was his vitriol that I checked out where he was from - Northern Ireland. My read, therefore, was that he was a Manchester United fan. He didn't deny it. I'm used to my team being slagged off, and given where we are and what we have become it would be a bit stupid to counter with schoolboy responses. I did what I usually do, and checked bigmouth's stats. I then said informed him and the table, that, if it was possible, he was an even worse poker player than Leeds are a football team. One or two 'LOL's' round the table and then silence.

He then stole my blind and said 'two fingers up to the Leeds scum' which I thought was a bit harsh considering I'd folded 52os in the big blind, but there you go. I WAS getting angry by now, but no way was I going to let it affect me in terms of the game. I started asking his age, whether he really was the best example of Care in the Community, whether he had any kids (and were they in care - nasty that one, but there you go). He just responded with gobbledegook (sp) and the show was over. That table had turned and he was, pardon the pun, a busted flush.

Sadly he outlasted me but I lost because of poker reasons, not because I was angry of distracted.

The point of this post? I'm sure there was one - oh yeah. It's OK to be angry, but don't beat yourself up about it - control it, focus it and turn the other cheek. Then you, too, can be like Phil Hellmuth :))

Make sure you win loads today, OK? Cheers for getting this far :)

Different reasons, but...

2007-09-17T17:34:00.000+01:00

Same result.

Granted my attention wasn't all it might have been - I was deservedly short stacked, and I have no problem with his call.

Remind me how powerful overpairs are again?

;)

I played some NL 25 last night - up in one session down in another. Tried a more aggressive game in my final S&G of the night with limited success - at least I cashed.

Plus ça change...

2007-09-16T23:03:00.000+01:00

Plus c'est la même chose, as we say in Leeds. Literally it means 'The more things change, the more it's all the same'. In Pudsey we go one step further and shorten it to 'shit happens'.

As dD would say, yes dear reader, it's Sunday so it must be another Bloggerment moan session.

The only real lesson out of tonight's game is that you can play a decent, tight, game, sit there for the best part of two hours picking your spots and still, STILL, it comes down to a daft call (in my opinion) and a suckout.

These were my stats (which mean nothing in isolation) :

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 166 hands and saw flop:
8 out of 26 times while in big blind (30%)
8 out of 25 times while in small blind (32%)
5 out of 115 times in other positions (4%)
A total of 21 out of 166 (12%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 24

I don't think I've ever seen so much bullshiiting with some of the bets which were inadvertently going to showdown (an element to my game in which I'm sorely lacking), with AlEleven raising for fun in position. The table folds round to him and he attacks my big blind just for a change. With 99 and the blinds about to go up I decide to push, after some thought. Al calls and I await the monster hand which he's just committed a fair deal of his stack to. He turns over 77 and I'm in good shape. I'm staggered at the call actually, but I needn't have been.

Dear reader, you know the rest.

By no means am I having a go at Al in case anyone thinks that. They're his chips to do with what he will, but I do wonder what he thought I had (given that I still had a playable stack and wasn't in many pots). Would he have called if the cards were face up?

The end result was more painful than being sucked out in a $1.50 donkament. These things happen, yeah, I know. But wouldn't it have been nice for this donk in Leeds, just for once, to have the cards fall according to the odds in a crucial hand?

Thinking about it Al might not agree lol :))

Another day...

2007-09-13T09:07:00.000+01:00

I continue to persist with Stars because I’m bloody minded and I honestly don’t believe that the software has it in for me. That said I played one S&G yesterday, and if I was paranoid I might change my view on that point.

I was going along nicely. Had ATs and called short stack’s all in (only a few hundred chips). He turns over something like 89 o/s. The flop come down with an Ace but with a giving him his straight draw. A ten comes down on the river, but of course while it gave me two pairs it completed his straight. Pah!

A little later rinse and repeat that scenario, except I have AK.

Suddenly I’m mid to low stack and the blinds are increasing. I’m in the big blind and check with 89. The board comes down 895 and I push. You know what happened next. Big stack has limped in with 67 and out I go in sixth.

I wasn’t steaming too much at that to be honest, but logged off to view an England performance which was surprisingly pleasing to watch. For my Scottish readers congratulations on the win in France. As someone said on the radio this morning such a result leaves one with mixed emotions. It’s like watching your mother in law plunge off a cliff to her doom…in your Ferrari ;).

Anyway before I took myself off to bed I fired up Party. I had around $30 there and decided to play 6 handed NL25. I’m not rolled for it of course, but then again when I’m bust in Party I’m not re-loading, so why not experiment a bit?

Pleasingly I took away a $12 profit from around 100 hands. I did get some cards, certainly, and if I noticed one thing it was that people were more savvy about calling my river bets (which I mixed up depending on who I was playing and the hands I thought they may have). I turned the nut flush on one hand and checked it because villain had been aggressive. He bet a little and I called him. Joyously another flush card came down on the river. He popped in a bet of $5 and after some ‘thought’ (that’s what I wanted him to think) I re-popped him to $10. After a long wait he folded and said he had the second nut flush. Very disciplined, if a little bit annoying!

I told him I had top pair, top kicker by the way ;)

Have a good day y’all.

Tell me why I don't like Tuesdays

2007-09-11T19:06:00.000+01:00

Tuesdays are my unluckiest at the virtual felt. Fact. When I subscribed to Sharkscope I found a few little gizmos, one of which was a graph which shows you your profit/loss on each day of the week. I was profitable on every day expect Tuesday, which showed a completely different story. I have no idea why this is.

Anyway, this is Tuesday, and this lead in is a lame excuse for posting a nasty little beat which has just happened to me. If he has aces when I raise all in then so be it. I'm in it to win it. If he calls the all in there's no way he's giving up post flop if I fire in a raise. You've just got to love poker ;)

Enjoy

Self indulgent clap trap...

2007-09-10T20:39:00.000+01:00

That was one of the nicer comments that I deleted following yesterday's post :p

Seriously though it helps to let off a bit of steam, and yeah, the 'I need a cuddle' bit of me has been well and truly satisfied.

So it's 8.40pm. I'm gonna rule those tables tonight. Look out for the edits as the evening goes on.

Hmmm: 9.30 and I cash in fourth out of eighteen. I could moan about how my KJ ran into AJ on a Jxx board to dispatch me. Oh look. I just have :p

10pm and I'm more than miffed. Just two hands played with any vigour, two hands lost to runner runner flushes where I was ahead until the river. The simple difference between cashing and losing. Nothing to be done, just raise the eyebrows and try and deal with it.

10.50pm and I take third place in what will be my last game of the night. I thought I'd show you a couple of hands, neither of which involve me. The first is regulation chaos, with a full house, trips and two pairs coming together with amusing results, especially for me!

This is the one that gets me. It's bubble time and wegga is all but dead. Aggression's fine, but I don't know about you - I certainly wouldn't be stealing with KTs when all I probably have to do is sit tight to cash. The call with AK? I'd be interested to know your views. A nice hand of course, but bearing in mind the gap principle I'm not putting my tournament on the line (or in his case 60% of his stack) with it. I reckon I'm facing pocket pairs and therefore a race.

Perhaps I'm too conservative? I don't know. I suppose results speak for themselves. Wagga duly loses when he's in the big blind and I'm in third. I push with A4s and a jack on the turn ends it for me.

So, three games, two cashes and as they were tournament dollars a profit of $8.10. Small steps, very small steps.

Slip sliding away...

2007-09-09T21:43:00.000+01:00

Stupid twattish game.

Against my better judgement I entered Bloggerment at the last minute.

Was dealt trash, played one out of 34 hands outside the blinds. Not even the most cocky of bluffers could have found a spot to steal.

Getting thoroughly bored I push with my queens and run into, of course, Amatay's aces. I suppose I ought to be grateful to him, but believe me I'm not.

Rosie, if you're looking in (if anyone's looking in any more!)...well, what can I say? Your words of inspiration yesterday were most welcome, but tonight the seeds have fallen on stony ground.

I'm not sure I even like the game any more. It's like a love affair you know is on its last legs. You try, every time you see the person, but you know it's slipping away.

And it's not a results thing either before anyone jumps to conclusions. I won a tourney on Party Poker earlier and took a few dollars out of a cash game.

There's just no stimulation. Continually running into overpairs is just the icing on the cake.

Good luck at the felt, because by god you need it.

Bubblicious!

2007-09-07T12:51:00.000+01:00

Ooops! It might be a good idea to update this blog thing before I'm relegated from Burnley Mik's 'Not too regularly updated Blogs' list! To think I used to post virtually every day, sometimes more often.

So what's been happening? In the real world my son started at High School on Wednesday. Proud, but scared, parents saw him off for the first time through the front doors. It was really strange because there was no fanfare, fireworks didn't get set off, nothing. Just a lump in the throat and the thought that he's set off on another leg of his journey to adulthood.

My football team is, to date, winning just about every game that it takes part in. Tomorrow we face the might of Hartlepool United at Elland Road. Approaching 30,000 of us idiots will cram the place for a game we couldn't remotely have imagined we'd be playing a few years back. That was before our erstwhile chairman decided to put the club on life tilt and then life support. Grrrr.

As ever the social side has picked up. Texts, phone calls, drinks before and after games, away matches, the lot. My next away game will be, subject to ticket allocation, at Gillingham in Kent two weeks tomorrow. And in any event I'm booked on the train to London (bargain first class fare :)) and will be getting hammered regardless of whether I'm lucky enough to attend. I've been promised a Sunday Jazz Brunch at a pub frequented by my friend down there. Bliss!

To make all this even more palatable I haven't seen a drop of rain since July. The one time it did pour down I was baking in Gran Canaria, so that doesn't count. Makes up for the Noah's Ark stuff we had in June and early July.

Now if there was one cloud on the horizon what do you think it would be? What is capable of ruining the most content of peopel's life in just a few minutes? Yup, you guessed. The P word.

I don't know why but I've suddenly turned all aggressive when I play. I always prided myself on not going on tilt despite the provocation. But just at the moment I scuttle off for a cigarette after some donk exterminates me muttering nasty things about him/her, their family, health wellbeing etc. This is despite the fact that as a person I'm happy (note that down, by the way, I may not say it again).

I think I'm just bored and frustrated at the complete chasm between what the poker books, articles and magazines say I should do and the reality out there at micro-stakes. All this time playing and I still can't get my head round how to defend myself against idiots who suck out. Or how often I'll sit there tight as an old door which hasn't been oiled for a century, make my move and run into Bullets and Cowboys. My Kings of course will be called by J8 o/s and Mr Middle Stack (who is supposed to be protective of his stack) makes an awful call but rivers the straight.

The skill in poker is, in my opinion, in post flop play. But that counts for little down amongst the dead men. And while we're at it what about stack protection? It's an alien concept to some. They sit there with the bubble two away and steal out of position with trash and get rewarded by cards I couldn't afford if they were on sale. When I make a move, of course, those bullets appear from nowhere and it's goodnight bubble boy!

I think that's it really. I'm bubbling an awful lot and when I've played what I think is a decent game and see Mr Short Stack push with any crap and be constantly rewarded it pisses me off.

Perhaps I'm not fearless enough, but then fearlessness lives just next door to foolishness when it doesn't work out. Amatay is a bloody dangerous player, but it doesn't always work out, even for a player such as him who is several notches above me in the poker evolutionary scale. Reading about his trip to Vegas I sat almost open mouthed as I saw some of the cards he was raising and pushing with lol. You've either got the balls or you haven't, and I reckon I'm a bit short in that department ;).

Of course I'm still in profit. I'll never, ever, bust out at these limits. But I won't consistently succeed any more unless I hit a rush. It's been a while since I have, so it's ten step forwards nine steps back. Painful!

Apart from the usual 18 seaters I've dabbled in some slightly different Stars games. There's the 10 seater 70FPP turbos which give a place into the Sunday Hunfdred Grand for the winner. I've played a few of thsee and won two seats which I've converted back into T$. A variation on that is the 4 table version with a £2.20 buy in which pays 6 places in the $100k plus $7 for 7th. Quite good fun actually, but I got my confidence well and truly hit by one game there.

I was chip leader with nine left, by some way, too. But the blinds were 2000/1000 with 100 ante and within two rounds I was short stack having been card dead. You have no fold equity sooner than you think in that situation and I bubbled, though it was really my fault. I rarely play with those blinds in operation and it's blood curdling what goes on. Amatay would love it! Might play one or two tonight though :))).

Finally I've had one game (and cashed) on Party (a site I loath and despise) in the new HellKat game. Try it at least once. To cash in it you need to double up at least once IMO. You'll find a caller I can assure you. I reckon there's a consistent profit to be made for tight aggressive players who appreciate position and can manage their stack well. Rocks and calling stations will die a horrible death though.

So that's it. Is this enough to be promoted on Mik's list I wonder? I await the jury's verdict :)

Good luck at the tables, and especially to those playing the RTR league/Bloggerment.

Paling into insignificance.

2007-08-27T18:59:00.000+01:00

Poker? What's poker?

I think I've played four games of poker since I returned from holiday. Whilst my interest in the game remains, the actual act of playing it holds no allure whatsoever. I don't know why. I've checked the blogs out as usual, tried my hand at some of the hand history tests at Raise the River, read quite a bit, especially by the pool in Puerto Rico, but perhaps my mind is elsewhere.

The football season has started - amen - and despite all the hassle and controversy associated with being a Leeds United fan this summer there is little to compare with going to matches, meeting old and new friends, having a jar or two and discovering various park and ride systems throughout the UK. We've started with four victories, but tougher days no doubt lie ahead.

Unusually I've managed to get to two away games, but because I was abroad I missed the 4-1 home win over Southend United. I can't wait for Saturday when I'll get to my first game of the season at Elland Road.

Saturday was great fun. Exile57 and I had a terrific day in the Nottingham sunshine - Jermaine Beckford's last minute winner just made it all the more sweet.

I find myself spending time on football message boards now and poker is what I suggested in my last entry. A mere side game. It will come again I guess, but I haven't got the desire, interest or attention span to watch pixellated cards being played by cyber donks. As a football fan who likes looking the opposing fans in the eyes perhaps I need the human interaction. No chance of playing live, apparently, so that's that for the time being. I was at the Gala casino in Leeds on Saturday for a 40th birthday party and looked longingly at the card room. However it would have been somewhat rude to have registered, I think!

So that's it. Good luck to those who are still bothering to read (and comment) and if you're taking part in Raise the River's WSOP special good luck. The guys over there are making a real effort to build something - credit to you all.

Sunny side up

2007-08-09T07:47:00.000+01:00

The sun has been shing here in Yorkshire, and summer appears to have at last paid us a call. Rarely very warm admittedly, but no rain for the best part of two weeks. It seems that we won't need an ark as seemed quite possible in the middle of June.

No updates for a while because there's not a lot to say. The improvement in the weather and general family stuff has limited my time at the tables I'm delighted to say (because there is a life beyond Poker Stars lol). I've more or less kept the poker ship afloat, with a couple of S&G wins and a few places interspersed with suckouts and one awful game where I had half the table chips but in a Yorkshire Pudding moment donked them all off in half a dozen hands. Why do we do it???

Last night I played in the Poker Player Magaizine freeroll on Sky Poker. There were 343 runners and I finished 24th for a tiny cash of £3.50. Because only readers of the magazine can get entry this isn't your average all in donkfest. By definition many of the players actually read the magazine, so it was a good game all round.

On Monday we fly to Gran Canaria. We got a good deal on a hotel which a lot of people seem to like judging by the travel websites I use to check these things. As long as there's sunshine and beer then I'll be happy! I'll be taking poker books, of course, including a present from microlimit donkey who kindly remembered that it was my birthday on 1st August. Nice one mate, and thanks :).

Talking of birthdays this blog passed its first anniversary last Saturday. I was going to mark it with some sort of retrospective, but to be honest it would have been self indulgent. I've discovered that I'm a recreational player who is good enough to make a small profit at the micro-levels. Until and unless I go up in stakes that's where I'll remain so there's little point in getting too intellectual about it. I play when I want to which limits my winning potential in absolute terms, but keeps me fresh when I do fire up a game.

Poker highlights in that first year? My first ever cash, my first ever live game, and winning one of the wekly Bloggerments. Helping Kenny raise more than $1300 was also a fantastic experience, and fun all the way.

I'd also like to thank the many people who've contributed, commented, criticised and made this worth doing.

Many of the blogs I read are going through a lull at the moment. Ever since I met Cadmunkey he's gone into hiding(!), and his site seems to throw up some weird things when you click on the comments. Microlimitdonkey, Miasdaddy, dD, Kenny and others are all very quiet for one reason and another. I've not exactly been prolific myself!

Yorkshire Pud keeps me, and many others, entertained and Shamus continues to produce entries of the highest quality. Most of the time I don't comment because I have nothing to add, but if you're reading, it's a beautifully written and presented blog sir :). All of the blogs in the links on the right are worth a look though. Some people acknowledge your input on their site by reciprocating more than others (one or two have never, as far as I'm aware put a comment on here). But it's not a popularity test. It's nice to know people are reading of course!

On Saturday I'm off to the glitz and glamour of Tranmere (near Liverpool for any foreign readers!) to see Leeds United kick off the season. Today the chairmen of the Football league clubs vote on whethere Leeds United's fifteen point penalty for financial mismanagement will be upheld, increased or reduced. This will have major implications on where we end up this season, but rather like the blogging community it's the people I know around football that will make the ups and downs bearable.

Unless I win some major amounts of money or get frustrated enough to post some bad beats I guess this will be it for me until the week after next. May the Gods of poker smile on you all.

Thanks for reading.

It happens so often

2007-08-02T23:23:00.000+01:00

After this little swine earlier in the evening (which at least didn't cost me any chips) and a regulation runner runner beat in the game after I took a couple of hours off and tried a little six handed S&G.

It's not often I'll say this (because it's not often true) but I was by far the best player at the table. I was in third place because everyone else was acting like a tit and I was just waiting.

The wait was worth it. Not.

How many times do we see this? Far more than the odds say we should in my opinion. It's happened to me three times recently and I've watched others on the tables succumb to the old runner runner straight beating aces.

I just get so hacked off that time and time again these suckouts occur. I'm not saying it's rigged or anything, just that it seems to happen far too often.

In fact it's not my week for aces. Once I couldn't get them dealt for love nor money, and now I do I can't win with them.

Variance. Bah humbug ;)

I'm off out to kill someone...

2007-07-30T21:52:00.000+01:00

..bye!

Back to earth with a flippin massive, massive bump tonight. I really was looking forward to playing.

If I said I got bullets four times, cowboys and ladies once you'd say my optimism was well placed.

Four times the bullets lost to sets. The cowboys and ladies succumbed to straights. All of the blows were delivered on the river. Six games in a row. The odds? About the same as me going out and finding those ugly fish and pumping them full of lead (ie very small ;)).

Ten O'Clock at night and I can't even contemplate playing another game. I feel physically sick.

Might be a look at my previous entry before I go, just to remind me that there are more important things in life :)

Goodnight all and good luck.

1300 reasons to be happy

2007-07-30T13:25:00.000+01:00

Sometimes life just feels good :)

Five loooooooong hours!

2007-07-29T22:34:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post after sitting here for five hours playing the charity tournament which bled into the latest Bloggerment extravaganza. I busted out 12th in the latter, although with a magnificent 39 starters in the last game it wasn't as bad a result as it looked. To be fair I never got going though.

I was almost glad to get knocked out as I was shattered. Total respect to these guys who play 12 hours or more in Vegas.

Ellie's tournament was an absolute scream, especially for the first hour when it was a free for all with more than 100 rebuys. Kenn, bless him, should get a medal for the sheer number of rebuys he purchased for the good cause. Please check out Kenny's blog for full details once he's sobered up ;). Hopefully a nice fat wedge has been raised. Many thanks to him for setting it up.

I ended up third (which is neither here nor there). Might have been better if my trip jacks hadn't been beaten by Acornman who also flopped three hooks but had a higher kicker. It matters not.

A fantastic evening for the blogging community. Thanks to everyone who made it so much fun, including a certain Matt H who, while I would imagine he would never start a blog if his life depended on it, joined in both games. Cheers mate :)

I can see clearly now

2007-07-26T07:50:00.000+01:00

Regular readers (thank you!) will be aware that I've been through a rough few months on the poker tables. Support has always been there despite some of you, I'm sure, just wishing I'd shut up and deal with the natural variance which we all come across. I don't blame you if that's where you came from, but all the same when you're in the middle of a slump and nothing seems to be going right it's extremely difficult to sit back and ride the wave.

I guess it all started with the Bloggerment win. It wasn't the money so much as the fact that while you need luck to win any tournament you also need to play well. I have the utmost respect for the people who play in that game. Many of them play at far higher limits than me and know what they're doing. I changed my game a bit and patience was rewarded.

Although I've not been prolific since then as life's been so busy when I have sat down I've been focused, had a few cards and my races have been won according to the law of averages rather than the repeated outdraws which happened for so long. Of course I lose, but I've also learnt (despite the previous post possibly making you think otherwise!) not to over commit on such hands where possible. On a number of occasions I've come back from 800 chips or so to place or at least finish repectably. In the past I may have gone bust with certain hands.

Unfortunately Sharkscope doesn't include Bloggerment statistics, but after two wins and a place in the last few efforts I'm a couple of dollars away from my best ever position, attained in March of this year. It's been a long four months I can assure you! The aim has to be to consolidate, play the 10 man S&G's as a preference (though the payout structure is more top heavy than the 18 seater meaning more regular cashes are crucial) and heed the lessons I've learnt about being patient, aggressive in position and not being afraid of being outdrawn.

It all sounds easy of course. Plenty of heartache on the journey yet, but at least things are looking up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had a nice visit to London, although due to the garbage summer weather this country is experiencing both train journies were severely affected. Probably the most disappointing aspect was my visit to the Gutshot. I'd rung the day before to check that there'd be someone there to deal with my membership application but when I got there found that the relevant people weren't working between 7am & 12 noon. I turned up at 10am! As it happened someone did take my details but it seems there will be no membership card or anything. I just turn up, give my name and play.

The club itself was quite shabby, though even at that time there was a full table of $1/$2 going on and plenty of players using the internet facilities to play on the Gutshot's own poker site. Perhaps it's undergoing renovation, because it certainly didn't look like the club which is shown on TV which looked shiny and welcoming. One day I'll no doubt be at a loose end in London and I'll give the tournaments a go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally a big congratualtions to microlimitdonkey . I don't want to steal his thunder, but as I think he's now away on holiday I thought I'd let you know that after winning a $2 satellite into a $25 tournament he went very deep and ended up 3rd for $525. An outstanding result. Well done matey :)

Apologies for the crap formatting of the picture etc. I have no idea how to correct it. Blogger does some very strange things with images etc and the help section's utter dross.

Thinking too deeply

2007-07-24T22:36:00.000+01:00

A simple hand.

Villain has hit his flush, surely? Despite me hitting two pairs on the river nobody's going all in on anything less, surely? I even tell villain what he has in the chat box.

I ponder. Something doesn't smell right. And it's only a silly micro-S&G. Hell, call and make his day.

Oh yes. I'll never ever understand this game and how some people play it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1296774

The bridesmaid

2007-07-19T14:37:00.000+01:00

Ever had one of those days? Of course you have!

Three remaining players, sure I've cashed but the money is in the top two places. Aggression is the key so when I'm first to bet...

I get AQ villain turns over AK
I get AT villain turns over AQ
I get AQ villain turns over AK

Having donated most of my chips to the now medium stack...

I get AK villain turns over KQ...At last world domination!

Except the flop comes down KQQ.

I've been the bridesmaid in many of the games I've played today. When I've needed the luck things like this have stopped me in my tracks. I would have been happy to see a fold when I went all in. What he put me on I can't imagine. There was such a clear straight out there it was either a brave or stupid decision. I would have thought the Ace would have slowed him down as wel

What can you do? This game drives you crazy sometimes.

Calling it a draw

2007-07-18T08:12:00.000+01:00

Just an update for no real reason other than to get things off my chest.

The wife's in America this week. Once upon a time this would mean a week of doing what I wanted when I wanted (though she would beg to suggest I do that anyway). This week's been a little bit different. It's my son's last week at Primary school and in their wisdom they've decided to pack every event possible into the last seven days.

On Saturday it was the school fair. If it hadn't been for Exile57 dropping in (a total and pleasant surprise) I don't know how I would have coped. Three hours of crappy stalls, undercooked BBQ food and wine, I am assured, that taseted like Netto's Value Vinegar. One of the stalls was a guaranteed 'prize' raffle where you picked a ticket out and won whatever food item had the same number stuck to it. The Pea & Ham soup was bad enough, but LMAO at winning, for Exile, a tin of Octopus. I insisted that she open it and try it when she got home. Haven't heard from her since so it may be that she's been poisoned. What a way to go - being taken out by a 'fish' ;).

The other delights this week have been, or are yet to be, Year 6 Leaver's do, Sports Day (once postponed due to the boggerment that the school playing field is at the moment), his last Primary School disco, a drama class and other odds and sods which are fine when there are two of you but shattering when you're doing it alone. Add in a trip to Oldham for one of the most boring meetings in history, the fact that the washing machine's blown up and I fear the car is going the same way (only a few weeks after last being repaired) and it's been, well, a tad hectic to say the least.

So, what about poker? Ha ha! Apart from the tournamanent I posted about in my last entry which I was pleased with despite the ludicrous stakes I've hit just one game since Bloggerment. And strangely enough that was a game of Five Card Draw. It was just a $1 six seater but I wanted to do something different and I've fancied giving it a go for some time.

I've never read a word of strategy so it was into the unknown. I bubbled when my middle straight came across the only other straight I saw shown down - sadly it was Broadway so GG me. If ever there was a game where people over value their hands then this is it. A pair of deuces will rarely take the pot down, for sure! Omaha is crazier (far too crazy for a junk head like me) but I do believe that if you have some basic knowledge of odds 5 Card Draw is a game where money can be made. That said it's by no means as engaging as Texas Hold'em because it doesn't use a flop. You're guessing at what people have by the number of cards they discard. I'm sure there are some advanced tactics - one is the 'stand pat' option. If others are discarding loads of cards, you stand pat and then bet the pot (pot limit) people often put you on a very big hand. I took two pots down like that, in position holding nothing at all.

So there we have it. Tonight is the Leavers do and my parents are coming up from Warwickshire to watch it. Tomorrow is the disco and on Friday we all go down to London, returning on Monday. While the two of them meet a friend and go to the Tate Modern to see some film about Salvador Dali I'm going to check out the Gutshot in Clerkenwell Road. I'm a total Philistine, although I have been pressganged into going to the Globe Theatre for a lovely three and a quarter hour performance of Othello. Gulp!

So not much pokery until Monday night I reckon. I'm not missing it that much because I'm so busy. What I do want to do is play live again - I notice that Cadmunkey stopped posting after my first outing so I clearly made a good impression :p.

So that's it really - busy and virtually no poker. Good luck at the tables :)

I'll not spend it all at once...

2007-07-16T22:25:00.000+01:00

I felt like playing something different tonight and with the lad to sort out (Mum's away in America) I decided to play a big tournament at massive stakes!

Well, perhaps not massive ;).

Cash is cash eh? LOL.

PokerStars Tournament #55433522
No Limit Hold'emBuy-In: $0.10
4403 players
$50.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $490.30
Tournament started - 2007/07/16 - 16:00:00 (ET)

Dear Cell 1919,You finished the tournament in 271st place.

A $0.40 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 21.93 tournament leader points in this tournament.

I'm not doing too badly at the moment, although I'm playing relatively few games. Took down an 18 seater on Saturday just after coming third in a nine seater. Bloggerment apart I've not played anything else, so steady as she goes seems to be the motto.

Good luck at the tables :)

Bloggerment (nearly) Live

2007-07-15T21:09:00.000+01:00

I'm typing this as I try and defend my crown, just to try something different.

I'm not particularly 'up' for it I have to say, and fully expect to go out with a whimper.

We're onto hand ten and rosie has just gone in the tank following BlueScouse's all in. His trip tens took out her pocket 8s and the fatal blow for her was struck a few hands later. BS then showed us all his particular variety of aggression when he raised all in with little more than a gutshot but spiked a pair to send stephenhall out. One of the table expressed their displeasure in no uncertain terms!

I'm pretty card dead though my A6 surprisingly took a decent pot. Next hand I was dealt Jacks, but facing a raise and a call I called merely to see the flop of TAT. Far to dangerous for my hooks and the fold was easy.

CDTs just gone out in 24th. Excellent turnout of 28 players meaning that 5 get paid tonight. Amatay's gone as well, although I didn't see it. Another BS victory by the looks of it.

I'm currently 12th out of 21 remaining. Nothing really happening, with no action on most of the decent starting hands I've had.

Dremember bites the dust as he pushes with the nut flush draw but doesn't hit - mikesaban's Kings complete the job.

9.38 & Bluescouse, as is usual at this stage of the game, has things nicely under control.

Ouch! Mair38 & Al Eleven square up with AK but Al's diamond proves crucial as he rivers the four flush. Unlucky Mair.

At that point I'm moved to another table, grateful that BS is no longer one seat to my right. I'm still picking up nothing, but it was similar last week, although I believe I'd made a move by the break (15 minutes away).

Aaaagh! Just flopped trip threes in the big blind. Checked it but a third spade on the turn means I have to play this hand stronger than I want and take just 300 chips with a pot sized bet. A pot is a pot though :). 12th out of 18,

The cloud has just mopped up two of the shorter stacks with a 4 to 8 straight, and spid (MiasDaddy) has gone as well! This is certainly not as tight as previous weeks. I'm going to have to try to get to the break and then pick my spot, if available. 11th out of 14 :(.

HullJimi has now passed away. Extraordinary.

Another decent starting hand, another fold round to my raise. Come on guys...I'm used to playing people who'll call me down lol.

The first hour finishes with the cloud losing out to a turned two pair when dominating, though still in a healthy position and my big blind stolen for the umpteenth time thanks to exciting hands like 52 and 63.

A strange game so far, and one I don't expect to be playing in much longer. Just not clicking in any way. My mind's drifting to thoughts of sleep. Still, one double through and who knows eh?

Second hour starts the same way. I go all in with AK but find no takers. Limping in with sixes Kronsdat pushes all in. I want to call, but if nothing else I'm up against two overcards for sure and after a few seconds thought I fold.

My BB is stolen again. F*ck.

Kronsdat leaves after pushing with nines, lzsb3 turns Broadway - gg Kronsdat.

Bluescouse is down to third having lost half his chips, following the pattern seen last week. TripJax is currently at the top of the heap.

BB nicked again! Getting a wee bit miffed now (mainly because I don't have the cards to play back).

At last! Dealt bullets. All folds round to me though with just the blinds ahead. I limp because I'm desperate to see action. If I go out so be it. The flop is a beautiful AQQ. The cloud bets 450, I'm tempted to flat call, but sod it I'm pushing . Cloud calls after some thought and thankfully, for me at least, the hand stands up (as it should!).

Still only 9th out of 12, but in the mix at least. The table's a wee bit shorthanded for my liking as the blinds are coming round a bit quick for my stack.

I've just folded the hand which has possibly cost me the chance of progressing much further. Holding the second nut flush draw with two cards to go Cloud puts me effectively all in. If the club comes down I'm pretty sure I'm taking it, but after a long think I'll live to fight another day.

Ahh, the old 7-2 raise takes a pot. Hilarious. Ahh well, a bit of fun for those who want it to be, but I've never seen the point.

We're now five handed and I'm the one holding everyone up from getting to the final table. The blinds will kill me soon enough I reckon.

Kings to the rescue! Mikesaban raises my Big Blind and at last I have something to go back at him with! Disciplined fold on his part but that and an unopposed raise next hand gets me up to 2,460 chips. 8th out of ten now.

The final table bubble breaks as sookraboaby's AK can't overcome TripJax's poket sixes. I'm short stacked though and once again the presuure is on.

I'm in real trouble now as there's no-one out there I can bust with the chip distribution as it is, and it's my BB. BlueScouse does what he does best and that's the BB gone. And again. Grrrr....that's the SB gone.

Clearly he's changed gears now and he'll prevail until someone gets a hand - which they just have, flushed out by weegem. Madness! All in every hand which is shite for me. Well it would be except he's just gone out in three hands. Brave but doomed I fear.

I'm being dealt rubbish now and my life is ebbing away.

Yippee! I double through with two pairs when TripJax tries a steal again. Still last and blinds due at 200/400 any time. I have just 1800 chips.

I push though unnopposed with AJ but once again the blinds come round to take away some equity.

The end comes when TripJax raises for the umpteenth time and I have A4. I'm in the BB next so I bank on having an overcard. Sadly I run into A7 and that's the end. I come seventh, two out of the money, but given that I never once got to 3,000 chips (but was never below 1000) I can't be too disappointed.

No disrespect to those that are left but I hope Pokermunk3y takes it down to round off a pretty successful weekend for him if our MSN conversations have been anything to go by. (edit - it wasn't to be, sadly, as Kenny bubbled).

Games Stats, for the record:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 169 hands and saw flop:
6 out of 24 times while in big blind (25%)
3 out of 24 times while in small blind (12%)
7 out of 121 times in other positions (5%)
A total of 16 out of 169 (9%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 16

No bloggerment for me next weekend as I'll be in London. It's a really good game and generally played in excellent spirit. If you haven't played it yet, give it a go:)

FINAL EDIT: Congratulations to mikesaban who took the tournament down. GG :)

A strange week...

2007-07-12T08:32:00.000+01:00

It’s been a fractured and frustrating week what with having to take the wife to A&E on Monday evening after she trapped her finger in a door, spending hours on Tuesday deciding if/where/when we were all going to get away on holiday before Alex moves on to Secondary School in September and other sundry distractions.

As a slight aside some of you may remember that Alex, a year young, passed his 11+ exam and we were waiting to see whether he scored highly enough to gain admission to the school. I forget to tell you that he did indeed get a place. For him it’s the equivalent of being a big player in the $5 S&Gs to a potentially average one at a much higher level. He has the game, but being a year young his temperament is questionable. We’ll simply have to do what we can to support him when the bad beats that life will undoubtedly hand out to him come along.

Anyway, I digress. Having been utterly shattered I’ve done nothing but play freerolls this week. On Tuesday I registered for a Skypoker freeroll with 4 minute blinds. This was six handed and I was bossing the table until my kings came up against AK and villain spiked the Ace. If that had happened at virtually any time when I was in a race in the Bloggerment I wouldn’t have won it. Such is poker life!

Those who read Poker Player magazine will know that they were running a freeroll on Skypoker last night and to be honest I was never in the running, finishing half way down the field.

Finally I registered for a Party Poker new player freeroll last night and agonisingly blinded off in 115th place out of 1,000 entrants, just 16 short of a place in the money. I’m usually good at protecting my position, but there was too much power on the tables I was continually moved to and I never really got a hand later on. Earlier I was describing to Pok3rmunkey on MSN how people were going all in with premium hands like 84 and Q7. It was time to play tight and only get involved with proper hands.

In common with microlimitdonkey I hate the Party software and the relative lack of information available as you’re playing. For all its alleged faults Stars ‘in game’ information is second to none. I have $23 left there and bearing in mind it actually costs to cash out I’ll simply play until I lose it or build it up enough to make cashing out worth it. My guess is the former ;).

Nothing much else to report, really. My football club remains in turmoil just a few weeks before the beginning of the season. The ‘summer’ continues to feel like autumn. I’m really enjoying reading other people’s blogs – the range of quality is astonishing.

As ever, thanks for reading :)

Lightning strikes at last!

2007-07-09T22:36:00.001+01:00

Just before the latest pokerfest aka Bloggerment started I was speaking with microlimit donkey (get that blog updated eh?) about the way my game had become utterly aimless.

There is no better way to ensure that you fail than expecting to fail. In poker such an expectation can take many forms. In my case, much as I'd prefer not to admit it, I was creating a self fulfilling prophecy by chasing my losses, thinking that everyone was bluffing and getting caught out badly as a result.

While not actually advocating ABC poker I realised it was time to go back to basics in terms of the cards I played, the situations I got into and so forth. If my game had any substance at all then the only way I was going to allow it to breathe was by excercising discipline, something that has been sorely lacking recently.

Yes I've been badly sucked out, but I'll just have to get in the long queue on that one I reckon. What I needed to do was come to terms with the fact that I'm just an average poker player in a very big pond. Talent alone isn't going to get me anywhere because, to be honest, I don't really have it in sufficient quantity to impose myself on most games. I'm going to have to put the hard miles in and hope that my races are succesful more often than not.

And so to the Bloggerment. It's much easier to re-live bad beats on here and general misery with the game than it is to celebrate success. I'm not that arrogant and some 24 hours later I'm still a bit nonplussed as to how I managed to, well, err, win the damned thing! The vast majority of players in that game are far better than I am, so it could simply be a case of lightning striking me. If you stay in one place long enough it's bound to happen!!!

As important as the win was (by far little old me's biggest win at $55) the tournament stats mean almost as much to me. Reasonably tight I think.

You finished in 1st place
243 hands played and saw flop:
16 times out of 55 while in small blind (29%)
13 times out of 54 while in big blind (24%)
9 times out of 134 in other positions (7%)
a total of 38 times out of 243 (16%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 out of 12 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 46

There was a titanic (certainly felt like it from where I was sitting) heads up battle which ended up with my tens holding out against A2. I believe it was Hammerheid's first entry, and at one stage, with over 23,000 chips against my 10,000 it looked like a matter of time before a merited victory went his way. However with a regular blind structure compared to the normal turbos I enter I did feel like there was no need to go mad and chase the game.

Anyway enough of that. I won and I'm delighted. More importantly I think everyone had a great time, and the England v Scotland rivalry led to some hilarious railing. Thanks to all for another good night :)

This doesn't make me a great poker player, but it does give me confidence. I think the turbos are going to be a sideshow now. I have limited time of an evening, but that which I do have will be spent largely on regular structured S&Gs/tourneys with a turbo as a side distraction now and again.

Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables :)

Following me round like a bad smell

2007-07-07T22:00:00.000+01:00

">

I finally got round to opening a Neteller account so that I'd have more flexibility in the sites that I can use.

I sent $50 to Party Poker so that I could give it a spin and so far I haven't noticed the difference between the players or the suckouts. Two $3 S&Gs and two river knockouts when the villains had just three outs. Early days of course, but it seems that I'm going to encounter the same type of crap that I have on Stars. Given the fact that the software's tinny in the extreme I can't see myself hanging around too long.

At least on Stars the software that sucks you out is better.

EDIT: To put the lid on it I've just turned a full house, gone all in, been called by pocket twos and he rivered quads. LMAO!

FINAL EDIT: To top it all I flop trip aces on a cash game only to have my big blind opponent re-raise me so that he's all in. Naturally he's got the flopped flush having called my 5xBB raise backed up by bullets. Only he knows why. He had 73. Quite simply I hardly know where to turn next.

Live and kicking

2007-07-07T17:58:00.000+01:00

At last I can sit down and reflect on Thursday night's events. It's probably a good thing that it's been a while because everything happened so quickly and it's taken that long to reflect on the experience. This has the potential to be a long post, but it was a momentous night, so please indulge me.

I'd agreed to meet Cadmunkey, Kenny (po3ermunkey) and Jermaine at Saffron curry house at 6.30. Despite my e-mail promptings Cad gave me no indication of how I'd recognise him (I assumed that he wouldn't be hanging from a tree!), so it was with some trepidation that I walked into the bar area. I had no idea whether they were even there yet and I thought it might not be a good idea to go round asking every group of three people whether they were munkeys!

As it happened my first guess was right, but it took one of those TV moments to establish the fact. I text him, he calls me, and we're looking at each other when we're talking :))). Apparently the lads were deciding which of us who were milling around the bar they wanted Cell to be, but unfortunately for them they drew dead on the river as I introduced myself.

A quick beer order and to the table. I was as nervous as fook, so sorry lads if I was a bit quiet. The curry was excellent but time was pushing on. Kenny & I had to join the casino to even get in, and although I was pretty sure I was going to play I wasn't sure. A quick ride down Leeds Road in the pouring rain and we were there. We went through the formalities and dashed downstairs to get to the poker room to register in time. As we queued the whisper going round was that the tournament capacity had all but been reached so in fact when I got there I was simply relieved to have made it in and didn't have a chance to ponder whether I'd play or not! Probably for the best now I think about it.

Safely registered (in the end there were 65 runners which I believe was one more than technical capacity) we got a drink and had a bit of a natter. I was made to feel most welcome and by the time the tourney was due to start I felt a good deal more relaxed about the whole thing.

I found my table (table eight, seat six - I'll never forget!) and sat down. My first mistake was putting my beer glass down on the table - a by product of nerves. Someone put me right and away we went.

The poker room is largely cut off from the casino (which itself looked like a sanitised version of an arcade on Blackpool Pleasure Beach). Very intimate, and later on very warm. But it was a good environment and the staff were excellent. Thankfully it was a dealt tournament so all I had to worry about was my chips (never before having handled any other than in a game with my son!).

My first few hands were easy. They were all mucked. I watched what everyone else did, at no stage forgot to post my blind and only showed my lack of knowledge of pot limit by confusing the dealer with a raise (by 250 or TO 250 I was asked - shit, don't let them know you're a rookie Simon lol). That raise was in late position with a pair of sixes. I missed the flop and mucked when someone bet into an ace high flop.

I hadn't had time to consider the structure before I sat down. We had 3,000 starting chips and blinds were 50/100 for 30 minutes and 100/200 for the next 30. Then came a shock - not so much that the next level was 200/400, but that it only lasted 15 minutes, as would every level thereafter. Given we were playing eight handed and live play is so much slower than online this was little more than a turbo tournament after the hour mark.

Anyway, going back to that first table it was very tight. No talk as such (which was good) and I could concentrate fully. The hand I mention above was the first real action I became involved in. Then I was dealt jacks in the BB. Two callers and no raise. I put in a pot sized raise even though I was out of position. If I could force them off there and then it would have ben a result. In no limit I would have priced anyone out who didn't have a premium hand, but with PL I had no such luxury. The two players called and we went to the flop.

Down it came TTrag. Hmmm. Realising that the pot was big enough for me to be effectively all in later on in the hand I slowed down. It was quite possible that someone had AT and I was out of position. I checked. So did my opponents. Another rag comes down. Still I check. I know I'm passive here, but this is my first live game and I have no experience of people trapping. I wanted to stay on the tables to gain experience as much as win the tourney! River is also a blank. I check again with the intention of calling a min bet, but so do my opponents. We flip over the cards and the dealer announces that my Jacks and tens take the pot. The chips are in my stack.

Then the frankly rather ugly women acting before me points out that she has trips! We all look over to her hand and see that she called the initial raise with T3 o/s! Gasps around the table!Silly cow had actually called a bet with that hand. And what's more she'd checked down to the river! No wonder no-one expected her to win when she turned over non paint cards. My read was right (for the wrong reasons), it hadn't cost me too much, but more importantly it made me realise that live players make bad calls just as often as they do online. That helped me relax. I'd lost the pot but gained some knowledge and experience.

I took the blinds down on that table but was then moved to another table where I played precisely two hands before being moved to my burial ground. My chip stack had been whittled down to 1800 which didn't concern me over much until the hour mark passed and I realised I was in shitville if I didn't make a move soon given the crapshoot structure. It's so much harder to do in pot limit because, well, the pot is limited! Dealt Kings in mid position I took the blinds once again. In retrospect I could have flat called and if I'd been outdrawn with an ace then so be it. All adds to the experience though.

And so to the end of my game. A blind or two later, with no cards to speak of, I was dealt KQ in the cutoff. All had folded to me, and I effectively went all in. Jermaine on the button folded, the small blind did the same, but unfortunately for me Kenny, in the BB, called and flipped over AK. And that was that. It was a move I had to make and I have no regrets. I certainly felt no shame as I exited, having outlasted half the field. I have never pretended to be a poker player of any quality, and I certainly didn't disgrace myself.

After that I went to the bar with Cad (no doubt he'll post his own impressions of the game when he's stopped bitching :p) and we waited a long time for Jermaine and Kenny who both final tabled. When Jermaine left the game for £25 he and Cad went home and I stayed on to rail Kenny to his excellent third place. His impressions of the night can be found here .

I promised this would be a long post but it was a big night for me and I wanted to get as much of it down as possible for myself as much as anyone else.

Thanks to the guys for maing me feel so welcome. They're obviously good mates but they never froze me out or anything. The only black mark was for Jermaine who, after busting out, spent a fair few minutes trying to convince me and Cad that calling a bet with T3 was 'one of those things' and not a bad call!. I think he was a bit giddy at his final table, although IIRC he did actually say that the only thing that mattered was winning before the game started lol.

Hope to do it again guys - a great night :)

Virginity lost

2007-07-06T01:35:00.000+01:00

I survived, even if my chips didn't.

Pretty shattered now, but wanted to congratulate Kenny (Pok3rmunkey) for coming third out of 65 runners tonight for a cool £100. It would have been better if it had been £500 (a real 'monkey') but that would have made just too good a headline.

Non blogger Jermaine also made the final table for £25 IIRC - nice one :)

Off to bed now. Impressions etc tomorrow, but rest assured a good night was had :)

Munkeying around

2007-07-05T13:47:00.000+01:00

Thank you for all your e-mails and texts asking after me following a whole 48 hours without a post. Both of them. Well, actually I got a text from my wife who doesn't actually read this blog (thanks for small mercies!). So despite the low demand a few words which you will no doubt read, like them or not.

I've played very little since Tuesday. I came fifth and second in two S&Gs. Yes, that's right, SECOND! My first cash since 22nd June. Three hands were crucial.

JJv AJ - No ace for villain and I double up
AK v QK - I finish him off when a king comes down on the turn
AK v AQ - Neither improve

Simple isn't it? I played very few hands, got my money in and raced. This time I won, where as before I was losing all the crucial pots. Ask Mias Dad about that, by the way. He needs support at the moment judging by what happened to him last night. I hope I was able to supply a crumb of comfort on MSN, even though I linked him to some of my bad beat blog entries which presumably made him feel soooo much better. No? Thought not. Keep going Mark. Always there if you need to rant :).

And so to tonight. When I told my wife that I was going out with two monkeys tonight there was only the merest flicker of surprise. Given my record of meeting strange people off internet message boards I can't say I blame her.

Anyway as you may have gathered from Cadmunkey & Kenny's (aka pok3rmunkey) blogs I'm going into a UK casino for the very first time tonight. And yes, I'm bricking myself. Totally irrational (unless Cad's reputation really is true), but there you go. And I'm bricking myself without even knowing whether I'm going to play. It's a £10 PL freezeout, but I haven't played PL for about a year and having never handled a card or a chip in a casino my nightmares (written about a long time ago) have come back to haunt me.

We'll see. Having got the wife's blessing to go I might have to make the most of it. Mind you she did say 'how much money are you taking?'!!! She's never questioned my fiscal demands before, so perhaps she thinks I'll be donking off chips in a NL100 game or something!

Anyway, wish me luck (OK Cad & Kenny I know you wish me only enough luck to take me to third place behind you two).

I just feel sorry for the people I'm meeting;). Seriously though it should be a laugh really :)).

Good luck at the tables. See you on the other side.

I don't understand all this internet linking lark...

2007-07-03T14:48:00.000+01:00

My last entry appears here .

The WWW is a truly strange animal...

Total and utter freefall

2007-07-02T22:17:00.000+01:00

They think it's all over. It probably isn't, but it feels plain masochistic sitting here feeling what I'm feeling.

Every evening I sit down with a refreshed attitude despite evidence suggesting there's no real justification for any optimism.

Tonight I make three key plays.

Firstly I muck, pre flop, rag hands which turn out, unbelievably, to be mucked straights on the flop. No-one plays with 46 in early position right? Perhaps they should when the board comes down 235. Simlar experiences with J8 and 62.

Next hand up I get the benefit of the upsides that accompany variance...Queens in the hole. I'm first in and put in a standard raise. Two callers. Flop is something like Q47 rainbow. Someone goes all in. I call, yeah? Yeah? Well I don't bloody know because retard to my right's gone in with 89 sooted and the river completes his flush. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

Then I try a little heads up. Twice I have two pairs on the flop, twice he raises me and I move in for the kill. On both occasion he turns over middle pair. In one hand he rivers trips and on the other turn and river complete his quads. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

Maybe that should be goodbye full stop. I feel like Steve Harmison when he bowled that first fateful ball in the winter Ashes series. Confidence shot, judgment terminally impaired. Enjoyment nil.

Don't know what more to say really. I'm writing this as much for me as anyone else. And it hasn't made me feel one tiny bit better.

Off to bed to read a poker book a very good friend has just bought me, for which I thank him :).

Though why I should want to read a poker book after typing all the above I'll never know lol. It grabs you by the balls I guess, and never wants to let go :)))

Poker & Doughnuts

2007-07-01T22:46:00.000+01:00

Given that my game is going downhill faster than an Olympic ski-jumper I thought I'd take a look at some poker software and see if it could help me plug some leaks or something - to be honest anything.

I decided to try Poker Office as the interface looked clean and you get 300 hands to try it out. From the moment I downloaded it things went from bad to worse. Although you can't gain any real information from a few hundred hands I did find one thing out. I've been dealt crap. Sometimes you think you're being dealt rubbish but can't really prove it. Often it's just a mirage.

Well my 300 hands is up and I want to cry. In ring games I was dealt three pocket pairs (all 9s, strangely), and in the Bloggerment just one, a pair of fours.

In the latter tournament I reached the final table, simply because I was forced to go all in and sucked out. All it did was to delay the inevitable of course. On a slightly sour note (unless my connection was playing up) the usual gg courtesies were notably absent when I crashed out (despite my gl messages). A pity, but I'm sure it wasn't deliberate :)

For a laugh, and because it's my blog, this is what I was dealt:

4 times
Q4
3 times
98
62
Twice
A2
KQ
KT
K6
Q6
J5
J3
T4
T3
96
72
72 (And no, I didn't raise with it)
65
63
Once
AJ
A6
A4
K9
K8
K5
K3

and so on

In my ring games I was dealt hands with an ace or king in it just twice out of 155 hands, and apart from those 9s not one other pocket pair.

I was discussing this with Matt H earlier and he correctly pointed out that ABC poker relies solely on cards. Without those you have no weapons at all unless you play 'creative' poker, and then you get loooked up. I was playing a hand when Matt was there and some guy kept calling my bets (which got higher and higher). Naturally he hit his straight.

I'm in a poker mess. I've donked off a 40% of my bankroll, and am now barely in profit. All that work wasted. It's been a horrendous few months and I've come to realise that I now haven't got a strategy. It's all gone. I go to the tables knowing I'm going to lose, and if you do that then you can guarantee you will lose.

What topped it all off is that as I was watching the dross pass me by on Bloggerment (the cards not the players!) I got a couple of doughnuts out of the cupboard, took them upstairs and bit into them to find that ASDA had made the rather elementary mistake of forgetting to put any jam in them.

No cards on the felt, no jam in my doughnuts. Good job the wife's asleep because undoubtedly I'd be firing blanks!

I get the message

2007-06-28T20:26:00.000+01:00

Clearly Lee Jones doesn't want me as a customer ;).

Three games tonight. Nut straight sucked out by a full house, Aces cracked by someone who raised me all in with, as it turns out, KQ o/s, and worst of all the big blind pushes with A7 when I flop the nut flush. He rivers a full house, 777AA.

Anyone know a good knitting site? I need a new hobby...

Find me a new home

2007-06-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Yorkshire Pudding's latest blog entry literally had me roaring with laughter here in my otherwise empty workplace. What was even funnier was that after last night's shenanigans on Stars I had been seriously thinking about where the hell my poker life was taking me.

There was nothing unusual in my later games last night. I tried my hardest, put my money in with the best of them and was beaten by a significantly weaker hand every time when it was crucial. Perhaps the greatest example of this was when I was down to the last table in a $5 game (above my usual buy in, simply to try and find some slightly better players). I had trip Aces (two in the pocket) post flop. I was in position and when faced by two short stacks going all in it was a simple call. I can't remember the precise outcome, but both beat me. One with a flush and one with a straight. As an isolated occurrence, sure, no problems, but this type of thing happens time and time again.

There's an important bit of background here. The session before and in the early part of yesterday evening I tried an experiment. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em was my motto. Wherever possible I tried to put myself in the shoes of that donk who calls all in with 78 soooted and put my money in. I still obeyed the basic principles of position etc (I'm not a total masochist). Effectively you can act like you have aces pre-flop even if you have the hammer if you pick your spot. Predictably I was called virtually every time by AQ or KT and as sure as night follows day they would spike their overpair, or make a straight, or whatever. I looked a complete wally to the casual observer.

So I came to the conclusion, this morning, that if I'm not good enough to beat the bad players consistently and not bad enough to suck out on the better players I need to start again, effectively. It's psychological as much as anything.

Stars doesn't have the range of buy ins or variety of games (especially tournaments) that I'm looking for. I'm playing there because that's what I've always done. Matt H has told me often enough that I need to move (as has Cadmunkey). When the finances were over a barrel I didn't have much choice as I didn't want to be moving money around poker sites while pleading poverty. Now it's all change.

Can you advise me where you think I should be going? I'm looking for S&Gs under $5, and cash games that have a good, if fishy, selection at NL10. I'm not a prolific player, so unless theres' a bonus that's too good to be true it's not too much of a consideration.

I reckon I'm going to use Netteller as well - any advice on doing that, good or bad?

I have accounts with PS, FT, Bet365, Pacific and Cake. However I'm willing to give anything a go. I'm not looking to make squillions of dollars. I got far more out of the Bloggerment than I have out of 99% of the games I've played this year, although I don't want to finish tenth every time! Those players, judging by their blogs and bankrolls, are better than me by a long way, and it was refreshing to really have to think rather than just hope. How else can I learn?

If I can't make a lot of money then I want to enjoy playing again, because last night I felt like I wanted to give up. The empty feeling I had when I went to bed made me realise that something had to be done or I might as well just cash out and be done with it.

All contributions gratefully received :)

A worthy cause...

2007-06-24T23:18:00.000+01:00

Well I think so.

Please take a moment to link to PokerMunk3y's blog and let's see what we can do to help him with his charity game. I cannot begin to imagine the pain he must have felt, and still be feeling.

I'll say no more lest he runs out of Kleenex ;).

Bloggerment disappointment...but a proper game of poker

2007-06-24T22:21:00.000+01:00

I played the bloggerment tonight as the LUFC forums game has more or less died a death. There were 21 starters and as I didn't know anyone's game a final table appearance was my initial aim.

Very early on I was dealt QQ. My raise was called by Rosie. Although the flop wasn't too bad for Ladies she fired a chunky bet out at me and after some thought I folded them. One thing I didn't want to do is go out first! Not worth testing the water at that stage IMO.

I flopped trips twice but with potential flushes out there I had to bet more than I'd like to have and scared the opposition off. Never the less for one brief glorious moment I led the field :)).

Before I perished I only went to one showdown, involuntarily, when the blinds checked down to the river and I was proved right not to bluff it as Al Eleven had a medium pair and would most likely have called me.

Rosie often raised pots ahead of me, and when Amatay was moved to my right I was facing a raised pot more often than not. As I write this he's cashed and is sharing the lead with BlueScouse. GG sir - aggressive (with or without a hand I would imagine). Opportunities for stealing were none existent! EDIT:Bluescouse took down the game when he looked up Amatay's all in and took it down with pocket deuces.

I won ten pots in all but not a single showdown. As the cards went cold PokerMunk3y (not sure of his blog link) pushed his short stack in and looking at 77 I felt I had to call. Sadly I was up against 8s and another one on the river added insult to injury. I was never favourite and no complaints.

The same player did for me at the end. He checked his ace on the ace high flop, my King came down on the turn and once again I felt I had to push with just a few hundred chips. And that was that.

I am a little disappointed because I don't think I made any obvious, cringeworthy, mistakes, and the 77 hand has worked so often in the opposite direction that I've got to end up on the right side one day lol.

That said it was good fun and certainly a darned sight better standard than I'm used to. It kind of figures, therefore, that despite finishing tenth, one off the final table, I took a lot out of it.

The wait is over

2007-06-24T17:43:00.001+01:00

Thanks to the two anonymous contributors to the second part of my 'what should happen next' thread :)

In hand one I had a set of Kings but had been re-raised when putting a miserable bet in on the river. I was only losing to AT as far as I can see, but as that wasn't out of the question I called the bet. Showdown was surprising:

*** RIVER *** [4h 6s Qc Kd] [Jc]
Cell 1919: bets $1.10
AMELIEC: raises $1.10 to $2.20
Cell 1919: calls $1.10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AMELIEC: shows [Qd Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
Cell 1919: shows [Kh Ks] (three of a kind, Kings)
Cell 1919 collected $8.10 from pot

I was actually behind post flop, and yet there is no way he was betting that hand. It was incredibly timid on his part, but does explain the re-raise on the river. His pre-flop raise was astonishing given his hand. Equally his bet of just 50c on the turn was even worse than my effort on the river.

I certainly didn't get value and your comments have been noted for subsequent play :). In fact I'd worked it out for myself and tried to extract the maximum in the second hand. The $2 raise by villain implied to me that he'd call a re-raise, so I shoved. Unfortunately he wasn't playing ball :(

*** RIVER *** [9c 8c 9s 4d] [3s]
Cell 1919: bets $0.50
MKIronCrAAzy: raises $2 to $2.50
Cell 1919: raises $7.90 to $10.40 and is all-in
MKIronCrAAzy: folds
Cell 1919 collected $6.30 from pot

I'll never know what he had, and I guess I could have got more out of him if I'd put in a teaser re-re-raise.

Bet sizing is important in any form of poker, but having just started playing cash it's obviously something I have to learn. I'll take $14 from two hands at NL10 any day of the week, but I know it could have been more.

The advice on having the full buy in is also duly noted.

Thanks for the input. I'll be posting about my success or otherwise in the near future :)

Just in case you think I'm going soft...

2007-06-23T17:56:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I posted a suckout, so here goes.

Someone's going to tell me I played this all wrong, of course, but it's an occupational hazard. Short stack can't hurt me too much and is probably pushing paint cards or an ace rag. In late position I go all in to isolate. It took twenty seconds for errortjuh to call. It must have taken him that long to find the single braincell that was residing in his otherwise empty head.

Did he win? Of course he won!

He also said 'lol' which means that he deserves something very painful and nasty to happen to him. Often. Very often. In fact for eternity.

I thank you.

So...where were we?

2007-06-20T13:55:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your responses - more than I'd imagined and much appreciated :)

In hand one I was absolutely sure I was not only ahead but that I was going to take the pot down (despite ghosts of past suckouts). How was I to extract value? He had called my flop bet to the tune of $1. If he was holding AK as suggested by donny I was in a great spot. However I couldn't guarantee that he was, so as most people suggested I checked it.

Villain's response was to put, wait for it, 50c into the pot! If he's slow playing then I'm equally happy to play along, so I flat call. Any re-raise worth its salt would surely have chased him away.

This is where you lot really come in...the river brings a Jc. The action to date is:

PokerStars Game #10500640274: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2007/06/18 - 16:56:54 (ET)
Table 'Pythia II' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: lnxmac ($9.85 in chips)
Seat 2: tomcat181818 ($6.10 in chips)
Seat 4: yogoLe ($4.65 in chips)
Seat 5: AMELIEC ($10.35 in chips)
Seat 6: Cell 1919 ($6.20 in chips)
Cell 1919: posts small blind $0.05
lnxmac: posts big blind $0.10
WebDrain: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cell 1919 [Kh Ks]
tomcat181818: folds
yogoLe: folds
AMELIEC: raises $0.10 to $0.20
Cell 1919: raises $0.30 to $0.50
lnxmac: folds
AMELIEC: calls $0.30
*** FLOP *** [4h 6s Qc]
Cell 1919: bets $1
AMELIEC: calls $1
*** TURN *** [4h 6s Qc] [Kd]
Cell 1919: checks
AMELIEC: bets $0.50
Cell 1919: calls $0.50
*** RIVER *** [4h 6s Qc Kd] [Jc]

It's not far off the worst card I could have seen because AT has me beaten, and although I don't read his betting pattern to date in that way anything is possible down amongst us deadmen. I put in what you could call a value bet, or more likely a somewhat scared bet. The ghosts of S&G hell came to haunt me and I put a pitiful $1.10 into a pot of approaching $4. He insta raise me to $2.20. Naturally I have to at least call the extra, but do I re-raise? What does he have, if anything?

Hand Two

While we were largely in agreement in respect of hand one we differed with this hand. As above I simply checked, hoping for action. My opponent checks behind me and it's obvious he's on a draw. I miss an opportunity here and opened the hand up I accept. A club on the river and I'd be pretty well beaten I reckon.

As luck would have it...

*** RIVER *** [9c 8c 9s 4d] [3s]
Cell 1919: bets $0.50
MKIronCrAAzy: raises $2 to $2.50

At this stage I have another $7.90 in my stack. He doesn't quite have my stack, but nearly. I still think I'm ahead. What would you have done here?

Once again, many thanks. This really is useful and in the next post I'll be stating what's bloody obvious to the rest of you no doubt. Cheers!