Trying Hard

2010-01-25T13:21:00.001Z

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 742032

2009-12-07T09:49:00.002Z

I've been on a bit of a break from playing poker after managing to lose most of my roll over the last year or so. It doesn't seem that long ago I was nicely rolled for NL50, overrolled to some extent, but sadly that's not the case anymore and I found myself getting fed up with the game. So I've had the last couple of months off and probably played too much Warcraft(!)

Anyway, the point is, I'm sort of back. I was going to play NL20 and grind it up but I played some Sunday tourneys last night and made a few small cashes, but the highlight was coming 8th in a 38XX runner comp on Stars for just short of $500. Not world breaking and a hell of a lot short of the $6k on top, but needless to say, it's a welcome boost to my accounts.

Playing the comps last night was great. I'm not sure I can handle 5am bed times each night, but it was good. I'm now torn between tourneys and the NL20. At least I'm rolled for the cash games!

2009-08-06T07:50:00.003Z

I think I just suck at poker. I'm not one that is capable of grinding out a bankroll from nothing. I'm not even sure I can keep one once I have one. Not everyone in the world can be good at poker, there has to be some bad players, it's the way things work.

Clearly this comes following a bad swing. I did build up a couple of hundred on Stars and blonde playing PLO20/PLO25 but have since lost it leaving me nearly busto yet again. Sure there are bad beats in there and 'variance' but I expect a better player wouldn't have lost so much.

I don't really care now to be honest, I'm accepting my role in poker - a recreational player that sometimes has a nice score.

After the PLO, I played a couple of tourneys again and I have to say, I do prefer them. In my last few, I was 72 (just itm) of 464 in a PLO comp, 179 of 5219, 13th of 180 and 4th of 180 in my two 180 man sit and go's last night and came 30something in the iPoker $30k for $140ish the other night. I think there's only been 4 comps I haven't cashed in in the last couple of days and whilst it's nothing major, money in is better than money out.

I think the problem is that I get bored with the bad runs in tourneys, and I get bored playing the low stakes buy in ones where winning either means you're still in the same buy in or you have to get through 5000 people. The staking thing was great for playing better comps, but there's just not enough of them at realistic times for me on iPoker, but at the same time, I think I prefer playing on my own dime too. Given that if you quit, you pay back any make up, I wonder how deep stakers allow you go before calling it a day. I'd have hated to be in for £1000+ and wanting to quit, the £600 sucked enough, just curious how deep one can go.

In the mean time, back to playing tourneys, probably switching to stt's when I get bored (I love 9 tabling on Stars and I'm prob break even or there abouts)

and in the words of Nina Simone...

And I'm feeling gooooooood.

2009-07-14T21:30:00.002Z

Been playing a bit of PLO again. I'm so skint at the moment I'm starting out at PLO25 but also buying in cheap for $15. I know it's wrong and I should either move down or buy in, but it's working so I'm going to continue. I'll start buying in for the full amount when I'm rolled to play PLO25!

Started tonight off with the intention of playing the £2k gtd at Sovereign Poker in North Camp, but when I got there, there was a huge queue to register and when I arrived at the front, I found out it was sold out with 23 on the waiting list! So I headed home and fired up some PLO tables. Thought it was going to be one of those nights after a few hands. Firstly my double suited aces against double suited aces lost, then my nut flush lost, but after that, it was go go go! I was waiting for ages to get in against a hyper agressive player, then I hit a decent pot. I know the hand wasn't that good, but he 3 bets and reraises all the time so I figured there was a good chance I was ahead so I made the call on the end. I just had a feeling about it. That set me in good shape for a nice double up and it finally happened I was gobsmacked that he folded for $6 in a $70 pot but was very pleased to scoop the lot regardless.

Called it a night not long after. I'd risen to around $40ish on the other three tables I was playing and finished the session a nice $110 up. Not bad for me, especially at PLO25!

Tonights stats - 360 hands - 61.36 bb/100
Total stats so far - 1438 - 33.35 bb/100

Can I finally build a bankroll? Variance is bound to kick in eventually!

2009-07-09T19:58:00.004Z

Hi Pop Pickers,

Been a while again but I don't think you're missing out on anything my fast paced life has to offer. I obviously went to Download last month which was just fantastic. I have quite a lot of highlights - everything from getting there as soon as a new field was opened for camping to watching some amazing bands. I've never been to Download before and I'm can't believe that it's been going all these years and it's missed me by. I'm more than likey going next year. One of the guys that we went with did mention that he may be able to get a caravan but sadly this never happened. It did plant the seed that it may be we sweet to get one anyway for weekends away with the family, then I can do Download in it next year! Once my staking debts are paid, this is my goal - couple of thousand for one bad boy!

Won't say anything about Marilyn Manson, except to say he was the biggest disapointment of the weekend. Not sure why he bothered to turn up. Bands I never knew how good they were:- Firstly Faith No More. I always though Epic and that cover they did. No no no, totally owned the place, amazing rock band. Slipknot, I have new respect for. I had no idea how good they actually are and what a presence they command on stage. I've never been really in to their cd's but they are a fantastic live band and deserved their place headlining Saturday night. Pendulum are my new favourite band, never heard of them before going but have been listening to them loads since. Great to see Therapy there - never knew they still existed, but exist they do and apparently have been releasing albums yearly for the last 15 years too! They went down well in one of the tents which I was pleased with. Steel Panther before them - what can I say, such fun rock. Deserved the main stage rather than the overflowed tent they struggled to fit in. Korn were by far the best band of the weekend for me. Another band that I decide to get into just as they are in their twilight.

Haven't got anything poker related to mention, just grinding away now and then. Playing a few of the 45 and 90 man sit and go's on Tilt to see how I get on. Not good so far but will keep at them. I had my Bokeh Tilt account locked for multi accounting which sucked but thankfully I got the money out, they only took my points which was only about 5k, but at my level I don't earn many so was a bit gutted. I'm stuck on Graham0573 which is what I was trying to get away from. I asked to close this and keep Bokeh, but no.

Hopefully going to turn my Tilt account in to something yummy!

Be lucky guys, take care

2009-06-10T13:44:00.002Z

Went away for a few days in Somerset during half term and since then, I've not really played that much, certainly not with any volume, but those games that I have played, I think I've played a lot better than pre-holiday. I've not set the world on fire yet, but I've had a few min cashes. Made the final table of Early Double B the other night but sadly finished 9th, but still good for a profit for the night, and last night made 3rd in the same event for a handy $445. Nice to be in profit for the sessions, certainly makes a change.

Few days off now, Download is calling me!

2009-05-22T22:16:00.002Z

Been playing some NL25 on Stars and it was going well. Tonight, it went to shit. I did start off ok, managed about $16 profit or so which isn't a lot but was running at 21bb/100 so I was quite pleased with that

Then Stars support must have realised it was me and that I was up for the night because

This happened, this happened and I know I didn't have anything here, but was called down with a shit hand. A whole host of other small pots were lost too and I ended up $47.75 down for the session.

What a kick in the bollocks.

Not giving up though, I'm going to beat this stupid annoying game

2009-05-18T15:20:00.003Z

Not had anything to report recently apart from the usual downward spiral, but I do have to report that I'm no longer part of Stable Evilpie. It's been great to be staked, but the results aren't coming my way at the moment so I'm finding it tough. The main reason for my decision was that I'm unable to rake $100 playing tourneys on blonde. At the times I can play, there's only 3 tourneys which rake $2 total, per day. Clearly that over 30 days isn't enough and I'm unable to play all the days in the week. There's the 10pm + ones too, but they finish too late to play on a regular basis and my work has to come first.

So with regret, I've decided to quit working for the Pieman. Sadly I'm in make up at the moment and need to find £600 to pay back, but thankfully Matt isn't in any rush for it, just when I have it but I'll crack on with getting it sorted and pay back some each month till it's gone. I've still got $200 in my account that I could carry on with, but I think I'd best use that to take off some of the make up so it's 'only' £450ish.

Thanks to Matt for giving me the chance to be staked. Seemed a good idea at the time, perhaps one day I'll sort things out and either won't need staking, or be in a position where I can fulfill what's asked of me! On the plus side to this, money aside, I've been feeling bad and under pressure about results and the lack of tournaments I've played in so it's some relief to have that removed.

In other news, Stars have a great promo on for UK players in May. Basically a dead easy way to make supernova for a lot of players, but small stakes like me will be pleased with Platinum for next month and should I ever get good at this game and move up, 60,000 vpps towards the 100k needed for SN. The downside to this is that I've pissed away a bit of cash playing Limit PLO8. Thankfully in 20 points I'll be at the target and I can stop!

I also need to build a bankroll. I've been playing for a couple of years now and apart from a few tourney wins, I've done nothing. All the money I've won has been from these tourneys and I've lost it all doing other things with it. I need a plan, a proper plan and whats more, I need to stick to it. I'm thinking of moving back to cash at NL25 and building up, probably full ring for less variance but maybe 6 max in the future. I'll play the odd tourney here and there and hopefully get some better results. If that fails, I'll need to rethink, perhaps play less or consider that poker just aint my game!

I do enjoy it though ;o)

2009-04-16T14:59:00.002Z

After the 2:30am finish on Tuesday, I couldn't face another late one last night so wasn't going to play. But the footy was on so I was alone with the tele and my lappy and the 8:10pm $5 freezeout was just perfect timing and it seemed rude not to have look at least. To cut a long story short I did ok in this too, although not quite the final, but still made 32nd - good for another $30 to the make up. Go me I know, but any money coming in is better than no money!

Anyway, my point. I've been thinking about two fairly similar hands that have occured in the two tourneys. On the FT of the $25k, we're down to 9. Play has been painfully tight on the final. We've been at it for about 35 minutes, maybe more, and only lost one. Blind steals have come in position and no one has been out of line. Blinds are 10k/20k/ante and I'm on 270k. UTG+2 raises 5x to 100k on my big blind. I have AJ sooted and made what I thought was a standard pass.

Last night, blinds are 2.5k/5k/antes (just at this level so it was a big leap) and I've 45k. Again in the big blind holding JJ. We're down to 32 (see where we're going??) and UTG+2 raises to 25k. He's got me covered. Again, a big raise. Is JJ a fold here or good enough to shove? He's not folding for what we have left. The range to 5x from EP has to be pretty tight doesn't it?

Can't play tonight, need to get up at 5:45am so going to get an early night in hopefully.

2009-04-15T09:11:00.002Z

Life's a little more peachy having made a final table last night. Yes, I ran good in the $25k $10 rebuy and made the final table. I arrived 5th out of 10 and departed in 9th but still, a final is a final. I even managed to get lucky on the way when my AQ shove was called by AK and I flopped a queen, then twice I had to call from the big blind when some shorties shoved and I won with Q8 and KT which all helped. Did get a bit unlucky at the end when I had to shove with AJ and was looked up by QQ. Flopped the ace and a jack but the river came with a queen, but no complaints really, best hand won. At least I wasn't ahead preflop etc etc. Was hoping for 7th to get me out of make up, but the $400ish at least brings me back to level for the most recent deposit made so I'm only technically one down now.

All good, great to final - at least I know I can! Hopefully I'm getting my shit together now and get some good runs on the go.

2009-04-14T20:33:00.002Z

Just another example of how bad I run. UTG raises to 560 at 80/160. I'm next and reraise to 1500. Folds round and he calls. Flop QT8 (I have AK btw), he checks and I decide that with the overs and the gutshot, I can cbet here for the rest and stick in 2.5k and he insta calls with 77. Clearly I miss as you'd expect and I'm out. Now I don't mind losing, but how the hell can he check/snap call with an under pair? It's not like I played it weak! Zero respect, I'm not finding it anywhere.

2009-04-12T22:59:00.002Z

Another miserable Sunday. Started out ok, found that I only had $7 in my Tilt account so decided to have a go at qualifying for the Double Deuce, which I made. Ran ok in that till the 100/200 level when UTG raises for 5x, the small blind called and I'm with QQ in the big blind. I'm thinking that 5x is more than likely a small pair, poss AK at best, but AK tends to shove more than 5x. I shove and am up against AT (Mr 5x) and A4 calls also. Ace on the flop said my goodbyes for me in that one.

Was kindly staked in the Low $109 SCOOP ME on Stars and was quiet for the first hour. At the end of the 2nd hour I doubled up with AQ against some others, and then AA helped. Ended the 2nd hour on 25k and in good shape. First hand after the break and this happens and I'm out. Not sure what to say about it really. Can't be expecting 53 to call, then flop the perfect flop surely? Must be nice to be up against me cos you just know you are going to hit.

I think I'll get out and play some live poker this week, need to get away from this bloody annoyance.

2009-04-06T10:14:00.002Z

APAT Summary

Sat Nav took me to Merthyr Tydfil instead of Cardiff for some reason. Got sorted and arrived, checked in hotel and got to the casino in pretty perfect timing, no hanging around needed.

Got KK beaten by TT. To be fair, I'd have probably shoved with the tens too, neither of us we're in great shape but the flop could have been kinder.

Got very drunk, played cash, doubled up with AQ v KK, lost it all with TT v AA on a 6 high board, got more drunk, took money out and lost that too. Was welcomed back by the locals....with more money!

Lesson learned? Don't play cash whilst drunk. I'm bad enough sober, but drunk is a bad idea. Disapointed with myself for going to the cash desk to withdraw money from my account to go back to the table.

Had a good night, the cash game was fun even if it was too easy for me to lose money.

2009-04-02T21:59:00.002Z

More fails tonight. In the blonde $35k, for once I was running ok and had built a nice stack of 14k when I was dealt JJ in a hand with some action. EP limps from a massive 40k stack for 300, then there's a raise to 1500, then it's me. I decided to shove and am called by AQ, and the Q comes. That put me down to 3.5k but I manage a double up before getting a hand and running KK into AA. On Tilt, I did the same, KK into AA then shoved with AQ and was called by A9, cue the 9. Surely it has to be my turn one day?

Trying to work out what I can rake on blonde and it's not looking good for over $100. There's only the 7:30pm $10 comp and the 8:30pm $10 rebuy that start at a reasonable time. There's a couple of $5 games, but I'm trying to avoid them. So that's only $2 per day in rake. I can't do the 10pm one's every day, I just can't handle the late nights all the time. Perhaps once or twice per week would be ok, but more than that and I'm done for the next day. Need to think about this one.

2009-04-01T22:30:00.002Z

It's been a long time, but then there's been nothing to say to be honest. I'm cutting out moaning, hence my absense for the last month, times have been hard. I've had a reload on my staking scheme and I'm not a million miles away from asking for another. Not sure how deep I'm allowed to get, but I think I'd sack me in all honestly - the cashes simply haven't been coming and I'm feeling a bit bad about it, but I can't buy myself out even if I wanted to so I'll keep trying. I've even failed to make the rake requirement so far. Feb, I thought I was there but apparently wasn't. It must have been damn close though and March, I just haven't, but I did warn the StableOwner at the start of the month. Wouldn't be so bad if I was winning. I can manage to get deep, but fail when it matters. I'll work on it and something will come up hopefully before I run out of money again. I'm still enjoying playing though!

I did manage to win the blonde/celeb league recently for a few quid though. Out of 4 league games, I won 2 and came 2nd in one. Shame they were poorly attended with about 13 people in each, but that's good for me as I scooped a bit of money for each win (50 euros) and £350 for winning the league - the money is appreciated at the moment as that's pretty much all I have in my bankroll. The general standard of the blonde events is quite a bit higher than the average donkathon so it always feels good to do well in them.

APAT Cardiff this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it.

2009-02-24T21:21:00.002Z

Been a while since I updated and I've played a fair amount of poker, but I guess I've been too busy playing Warcraft or watching House (started on season 1 the other day, great program!) to update. This also obviously means I have nothing to brag about so there's nothing being missed.

The staking is still going, I'm not kicked out yet. I've taken some pretty sick beats, normally my kings lose to jacks, but it's all variance and one day it will pay off. Came close last night when I managed 4th in the 10:45 double stack on blonde. The exit was hard to take at 2:30 am - UTG raises to 8k and I repop with KK to 20k. He decided to shove and ends up showing A4o. The 4 on the flop wasn't that much of a concern, but the ace that followed really pissed me off. I'm just amazed that he though A4o was good here - I'd not shown one iffy hand and I'm not even sure I'd 3 bet before without ending up showing AK+, yet A4 it was that took me from 2nd in chips to 4 big blinds instead of propelling me to chip leader with a dominant stack. The $216 saved me asking for a top up though and 4th is 4th afterall. Another final table chalked up.

I've played 51 so far this month on blonde and it's getting close to if I'm going to rake $100 or not. I only need to rake another $16 but the 10pm+ comps are pretty much going to be out the window as I can't cope with 3am nights during the week and on the last day I'm off to Arsenal v Fulham so that doesn't leave a lot left. I guess if I take one down I may be forgiven for not raking what's expected, but I'm still a couple of hundred in make up so the small bonus would probably be welcomed by my backer.

2009-02-12T21:18:00.003Z

Been having a bad time since the cashes the other day, I've not won a thing on Blonde and have gone from being $200 up to just about back in make up for a small amount. I came so close to a nice cash tonight but busted in 40th in the $30 7pm tourney. I was above average and went to take the blinds with AQ but the BB flat called. We both checked the flop and turn on a KTKT board, then an ace came on the river and he bet the pot of 2700. Obviously I called but it must be fucking lovely to call a pre flop raise at 200/400 with K8o and flop the doo dah's. This put me around 11 big blinds and the next hand I'm dealt AQ again, but my shove is called by TT and there's clearly no help coming for me and I've gone from around 12th to out in 40th for zip but a bigger hole in the bankroll.

Anyway, the good news is that the tournament structures on blonde have improved massively so I'm expecting some big scores soon enough, I just hope I don't have to ask for some more monies before it happens!

Thermos, French Truck Drivers, oh and a Poker Tourney

2009-02-10T13:51:00.002Z

The weekend marked the new season of the APAT poker tour; a two day £75 freezeout in Walsall. I'd had the obligitory bash at qualifying online but failed as per usual so it made it a £100 or so comp for me! Packed up the usual bag of things I think I need but never actually use (lappy, ipod, 3 pairs of shoes etc) and headed off on Saturday morning for the trip to the Midlands. Mrs S had given me a thermos just in case of severe weather despite the bright sunshine, but I stuffed it in my bag nevertheless.

Made it to the hotel in plenty of time and was met by a couple of familiar faces. I like these events because I get to see people that I don't see that often and having little poker friends around where I live, it makes a nice and welcomed change. After a brief check in, we headed off to the casino. Couple of pints and a lot of hellos later and the game was under way. I have very little to report about the comp except from about the second hand where I was dealt KK. I'm paranoid about kings in the first half hour or so. Someone always always gets knocked out AA v KK and this comp was no exception,it took all of...the first hand for it to happen. As a result I tend to play KK safely for a short period. Anyway, there's a raise to 250 (5x) from EP, a min raise from the guy to my right to 500 (remember, this is 2nd or 3rd hand). I'm chatting to someone so casually call the 500 despite shaking like a leaf underneath with the view of it's ace high, I can get away and I can play it fairly passive on the flop otherwise. Q 4 Q flop (two diamonds) Check to me and I toss in 1000. The early checker raises to 2.5k and the other guy passes. Now, this is where I'm convinced that it's aces but I'm reluctant to give up yet so flat the raise. The river brings another diamond and again it's checked to me so I take the safe option and check back. River brings another diamond and thankfully I have the K but it's far from safe as there's a 25% chance of AA having the diamond too so I flat call the bet of 1k to be shown AQ no diamonds and I scoop a nice pot. Not sure how I played this to be honest, not the best. Had the C/R have been more, I'd have let go and had they lead on the turn, I'd have let go, so whilst I probably didn't play the hand that well, I think the other person played it worse.

Other than that, there was a guy who later on lost KK v AA and then the very next hand got KK again and lost to AA again! Two hands in a row, that's some cooler.

I made the second day in reasonable shape with just under average but the blinds were high and I was totally card dead and ended up busting in 25th for £75 back (5 alternates entered)

I didn't stay too long before heading home as the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was snowing quite hard. Just as I left, I heard a traffic report that the M42 south was closed due to a car fire so headed down the M6 to the M1. Things were ok at this point, it was when I saw a sign from the M1 to get to the M40 that it went wrong. There's about 17 miles of dual carraige way between the two motorways and it seemed to take forever. Visability was down to a minimum due to the amount of snow that was falling. I was moving along at about 30 mph and after a bit, the traffic became quite conjested. At one point, I went to go around a roundabout but despite moving about walking speed, the car failed to turn and I was sliding towards a lamp post. Natural instinct told me to brake, even though I knew it wouldn't work, and the crunching abs noise did little to calm my nerves. There was a small deep thud but the light was still on so I wasn't getting out to check and I carried on.

The next roundabout was a different problem. The road continued up a slight hill, nothing massive, but it had caused cars on the other side to spin around and there was plenty of problems with cars trying to get up this part. After about 20 mins of waiting for 'my go' I'm sat on the start of the incline, the car infront took off and then a French lorry came out the outside lane (thanks for waiting eh!) Just after he passed me, he jack knifed the truck and I had to watch in hope as it slid across the dual carraigeway slowly. There was nothing else I could do except hope that it didn't hit me and thankfully it didn't, but now I had the problem of an artic 5 yards in front of me and I now have to overtake it and get up the hill. The car behind wasn't waiting for me either so I had to wait for him to piss about as he'd already pulled out and was level with me. Managed to get out but was actually shouting "COME ON" to the car as it spun on the ice and was almost pleading with it when I started to slide towards the artic sat there, but somehow the car gripped and I pulled in in front and managed to continue at a steady pace. There was a while where I was regretting not filling the thermos up in case I was out all night! Thankfully there was only a few miles to go and I decided to take things ultra safe and just joined in the procession towards the M40. After a short while, Mr Frenchy steamed passed in the other lane going about twice as fast as everyone else, and low and behold, jack knifed again but thankfully rather than kill me or anyone else, he crashed in to the central reservation. I obviously gave the obligitory hand signal and called him a wanker, but it was dark and we both had our windows up so it was pointless other than making me feel better. I'm not sure what skills lorry drivers have that make it safer for them to go at high speeds during bad conditions like this but it makes it damn scarey when a 40 tonne lorry is sliding towards you in slow motion. It's no wonder you see accidents in the news in these situations, some people drive like total tossers with no consideration for others. I've been in snow like this before in other countries, but they're geared up for it, we're not, and it's damn scary stuff being out there. Thankfully from then on, it was a slow but safe drive to the M40, then it just rained all the way home. I made a quick drop in at Oxford services to check my car and thankfully that was ok, I guess it was the tyre against the curb or something, but no damange done. Moral of the story, if it's really bad, don't leave a motorway for a short cut home! It saved me about 50 miles, but it took over an hour to do the 17 miles or so and I could live without the worry of if I'm going to die or not, so next time, stay on the motorway!

So that was that, good weekend and came home to see Sky HD had been installed!

2009-02-05T11:07:00.002Z

I have a backer. I have a couple of reservations about being staked for poker, but needs must and I can't afford to play the stakes I want to play on a regular basis so having a backer actually comes in handy. I'm playing the guaranteeds on blonde that are around $30 and under, which is at a level I'd like to play, and whilst I do generally play at this level, I can't do 4 or 5 comps a night without getting a result first, so having a backer is good.

It takes a bit of adjusting changing from the Stars/Tilt structure to the iPoker structure, but I think I'm getting there. I started off fairly badly on my first day (Tuesday) having no cashes in 5, but yesterday went quite well with 3 out of 5 including a 5th place in my highest buy in of the day for $300ish which not only got me out of the small amount of make up I had to clear but leaves me up a couple of hundred.....so far. There's a long way to go till the end of the month, but I was feeling bad about being in make up straight away so it's good to get out. Nice to get my best result in the highest buy in for a change, it usually works the other way round!

As for the tennis betting, well I haven't really had that much time to look at it, but I'm off to a bad start. Not too sure about these events after the grand slam events, it seems like some have had a nice payday and don't give a toss at the moment. Perhaps that's just my excuse for the bad start. I'm not sure why I do sports betting, perhaps I have a small problem. I don't bet big, far from it, only a couple of quid a time, and I don't hide my losses and it's caused no problems, but I do like a punt. I think I have it in my head that it's an easy way to make some money, shame it's not working out really. Ah well.

2009-02-02T11:09:00.002Z

I'm going to start with tennis betting again. Apart from a big blow up a year or so again when I lost so much on a game it made me feel physically sick, I've done ok with tennis bets so we'll start again with small sensible bets with a view of growing my Betfair roll.

Now, it's fair to say that I'm not starting with much here, only £25.52, so now and again, I'll afford myself the luxury of going all in but generally I'll try and stick to bets that reflect the roll. I would use points to try and sound like I know what I'm doing, but in reality, 1 point would be £1 at the best so there's little point, I'll stick with £'s

Todays bets are

£5.52 on Youzhny at 1.62
£20.00 on Ljubicic at 1.23

I'm not overly comfortable in betting my whole Betfair account but a) it's only £25 and b) early stages comps, should be safe enough! Famous last words.

GL me!

In poker news, made another final table last night in the Laddies $4 deepstack but spectactularly bust in 6th in two hands where I went from from CL to out! I did suck out a couple of times on my way to the final so I can't really complain about the bad beats. Broke even for the night anyway and had some fun which is all good.

2009-01-20T09:50:00.002Z

I'm not one to shy away from moaning, but I've not played much since my last post, hence the quietness! Actually, I've sort of given up moaning - a late New Years resolution. There's little point, it does make me feel better, but it's piss boring and it doesnt' stop the bad beats happening. Volume is the key, but that's a struggle at the moment.

I did play a few on Sunday but nothing decent to report other than some dude not being impressed that my shortstack shove with 87 soooted beat his AJ sooted - what can ya do? He did proceed to call me a donk for the rest of the tourney and then delight and cheer for ages when someone's 33 beat my JJ which was nice of him. I don't mind the beat, it's just rude wankers that I'm not impressed with.

I'd like to say that something importent has been taking all my time up but the sad truth is that I've been hooked on Warcraft and just can't stop playing it. I log on for 30 mins in the evening, and all of a sudden it's 3 hours later and I'm deep in a quest. I'm loving it at the moment and sadly poker has taken a step backwards, but it's probably for the best that I have a bit of a break

2009-01-07T23:02:00.000Z

Made a final table last night in the 180 man sng's and another tonight. I know it seems like I moan a lot, but I am beginning to think I'm jinxed. I was CL at the final table tonight from two tables out then end up getting coolered in 7th. Not bad beat this time, but every time I reach a final, I just get shitted on it seems. Obviously I didn't recover and ran out 7th.

Still, profit is profit and the Stars roll continues to grow. I'm not downbeat by the harsh hands, but posting them makes me feel a bit better, it's just bloody miserable to read!

2009-01-06T11:10:00.003Z

Not played that much compared to usual recently. I've finally decided to download Warcraft and become a geek. It's quite good fun but it saps time like nothing else. I have an idea on how to spend less time though, don't make it an 30 minute walk to get anywhere!! Seriously, it's good fun though, I may subscribe when the trial runs out.

Did make a final table in an omaha comp yesterday though, ended up 4th but really could have won. I managed to run my king high flush into an ace high flush, get quad queens busted by a straight flush and then someone didn't laydown bottom trips on a straight board with a flush draw (I had a straight) so they rivered a full house - this was all on the final table too, so I guess it wasn't to be. Still very handy to get $160ish for the 4th spot and it will keep me in $4 180 man sng's for a while. Quad queens though, how sick is that! Still you know me, don't like to moan ;) Onwards and upwards. The Stars roll is now quite comfy for the 180 man sit and go's so it's all good.

Probably off to Luton tonight.

180 Man STT Progress

2009-01-02T23:22:00.002Z

Played mainly the $4 180 man sng's for the last couple of days and it's not going that bad. I've only cashed in two out of lol about 20, but I think I'm up - need to see after this session ends.

I'm finding them quite enjoyable at the moment and am managing to gather chips nice and easily early on. It's later on I have trouble; in one hand folded to me in the SB with 57s, I completed and lead out on the 2K5 board, matey called, turn was another K and I lead again, river blank so I effectively put him AI, obv he had K5 lol. Another example of a hand I could live withou t. Moaning about the beats aside, I'm enjoying them and think I can make a decent go of them. The play isn't great and I'm getting quite deep even when I don't cash, hopefully I can grow my Stars roll with these.

Facing Facts

2008-12-30T21:24:00.002Z

I'm failing big time at the stt's and I think I have to face facts that I'm just not so good at them. I'm not quitting again, more putting them on a back burner and taking a break from them and going to play some mtt's for a while, it's the only game I've ever had any success at so it makes sense. That said, I need a win quite soon. I've lost a lot of cash towards the end of '08 so it would be nice to top up again. I've had some small success recently; finalled in a small Laddies comp and 2nd in the $6 limit comp on Party last night. None of it's big bucks, but it all helps me tick over. I'm also going to try and not play above $10 comps till I get a bit back. I struggle to play less than $5, but I'll hit the 180 man $4 comps on Stars for a bit as my Stars roll is virtually non existant too.

Must watch some more CR vids too. I watched two last night whilst playing and think I took some of it in, but if I continue to watch them, then hopefully it will sink in slowly before it's too late. I may even watch the ones I've seen already again as they had some good points, especially the Adanthar leak analysis one, some great stuff in there, I really need to absorb some of that.

Looking foward to 2009, hopefully going to make some moolah and get some more wins under my belt :0)

Be lucky people, here's to a good New Year.

Quick Update

2008-12-22T21:20:00.003Z

I've been bashing out the stt's for a bit and managed to get myself back in profit before going on a massive cooler session where I only managed 4 cashes (3 x 3rd and 1 x 2nd) in 22 games. So far I've played 184 games and have an ROI of -8.4%, I'm $85.00 down on my starting out point but I'm determined that I can get through this and I'm not going to quit just yet. The nice thing about starting low is that my $5 buy in isn't breaking the bank and even if I lose the money I put in Tilt to play stt's with it's not the end of the world. Besides, I'm quite enjoying them, even if I am losing at the moment. One good session will see it ok though.

Stars Blogger Tournament came and went. I managed the top 45 in one to get a Step 2 ticket and also would have qualified for the final again if you could, but with no prize. The final was non eventful, I made a fairly good start and was in ok shape until I ran my QQ into AA for a lovely pot and busted out in 165th. Good tournament and I'm looking forward to next years already and hey, I got a free Step 2 ticket for it.

Due to mainly playing stt's recently, I haven' t that much to report on the tourney front, except to say that I won a small tournament yesterday on Tilt for $388. Only 180 runners in a $8 affair, but so good to win one again, I'd completely forgotten what it felt like! It made my day, and also made a Sunday +EV.

2008-12-07T12:46:00.001Z

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 194095

2008-12-07T12:30:00.002Z

Following the words of D:Ream, things did only get better. I'm still a low stakes grinder, but I had a few bits of advise from a decent stt player and watched some more CR vids and my stt results have improved and until the small session this morning, was back in profit! I'm 112 stt's in and $24 down now. Just had AK v AK lose when he hit 4 for the flush, oh well, sadly just one cash in that set of 6 for a third spot. My ROI is only -3% but I'm pretty confident that I can turn that around and get a decent on these, hopefully grinding up to around $600-750 before hitting the $10 games. Also came 5th in a 180man $12 sng on Stars the other day which was good for $129 and certainly helps the Stars roll. I'd quite like to play these regulary but I think you need to run good in these and I certainly did until the final table, if you get the cards, you tend to get paid off, but the structure is too quick for me and if I'm not blessed it the hole card department, I struggle.

More than likely going to play stts instead of mtt's tonight, hopefully avoiding another Sunday of Doom.

Onwards and upwards.

2008-11-26T14:20:00.003Z

Still not setting the world on fire, but I have made two finals in the last couple of days. Firstly I came 10th in the $4 deepstack on Laddies and last night came 9th in the $5 $10k on Blonde. Despite not quite adding up to $120 in total, I'm really pleased to have made two finals and can't remember the last time I was there. Ok, it was a DTD one a month or so ago and before that on Stars a bit before that, but you get my drift!

STT's are going on. I've only really had a sit down once for them and I'm easily distracted by the mtt's, but I'm grinding a few out but not running that good. I think I've played around 40 of them and am about $5 up - ship! Also I've realised that for every 100 of them I play (the $5's) I release $20 of the bonus on Tilt. Combine that with a recent post on Puds blog that I was reading recently and I get a new target, to play 200 stt's asap. Rather than set monitary goals, setting games as goals could work out better for me. I would set a date but I'm not sure when I can get them in being realistic so I'll just say that 200 is the target for now by the end of December, sooner if possible.

As if two finals weren't enough exciting news, I've ordered my new computer and screen. The pc is probably nothing special these days but I'm looking forward to all the bits arriving next week, then I'll pop them together and link up with the super sexy screen I've ordered! Going to be easy to 9 table on this bad boy then after I can sit back and watch something glorious in HD. I just have to pay for it all now!

2008-11-18T12:02:00.003Z

Some of my South Africa photos are up, boy do I wish I could go back tomorrow!

Profitable day in poker yesterday, even if it was only $20, but that does represent a 20$ increase in my Tilt account so can't complain! May hit a few more stt's today but I'm more than likely off for a live game tonight.

2008-11-17T00:14:00.002Z

Another failed Sunday with nothing major to report. My first Sunday Million passed without anything to note and I never really got going. I think I tried to play 4 hands, the first being AK where I raised a limper, got shoved on for 7.5kish (I only raised to 400), the limper insta called so I thought it was best to fold here. I guess it was a good fold as it was KK v QQ, but the ace on the flop left me wondering what might have been - yeah I know it would have been different had I called ;) I donked off some more chips with 99 and then a couple of hands later TT then was pretty much blinded out. I was going to stick it in, but never got the chance to get in first until I shoved with A2s and was looked up by KJ and the jack on the flop sealed my fate.

Made one small cash in the $200k on Stars but certainly not something to shout about. Played 3 $5 stts on Tilt after and won one and came 2nd in one.

I'm a bit concerned about my bankroll at the moment so may spend the week grinding out stt's and play tourneys at the weekend (Sunday) I've never been that bad at stts, certainly break even at worst, so it could be safer given my current cashing form to play these at least a few days a week. Also going to try and stick to proper bankroll for my mtt play - I've been playing a few that when I've not cashed, it's kind of taking it's toll. This time last year, I was quite flush, but I've less than $1k now and I'm feeling the crunch! I've taken out a fair chunk to pay for stuff, but I'm still realising that I've actually lost quite a lot. I need to get some bankroll management. My mtt's are being limited to $10 and for stt's, $5 (ex rake) and the only exception will be the Sunday Million ticket I have left.

2008-11-13T23:18:00.002Z

Been a fairly rubbish night again for tourneys, but I have won another Step 4 ticket! I've also twigged on that the steps are a good use of the W$ that I have left on Stars as I can turn them into tickets that I can play the Sunday Million with! So that's two Step 4's now so some decent tourneys are on the cards for Sunday. Happyish days!

2008-11-12T13:19:00.002Z

It's been a while due to a rather lovely couple of weeks we spent in South Africa just recently. What a place, I won't say too much but it really was lovely and I can see why my Father in Law has bought a property there to spend 6 months every year there. We spent a few nights with him and his partner and it was just amazing. Cape Town is great, definitely recommended although when we returned there on our last day, we did find it very touristy compared to everywhere else we'd been. Top holiday though and I'll post some piccies on my photosite soon.

Managed to pretty much busto my Stars account but I've been playing a couple of $3 stts recently and did build it up to around $30 (woo) but I've since lost a bit. I'm not that fussed although it was fairly recently that I had just under $1k there so it does hurt a little. I did ship some money as part of a stake so it's not too bad, but I'm a little disappointed to see it all go. On the plus side, I've got another Step 4 ticket which you can now use to play $215 comps so I'm going to play the Million or the Warm Up either this week or next, then my money problems will be over!

Just ticking over on the other sites, nothing special to report. Came close to winning the Poker Player freeroll for a Blackpool GUKPT seat last night managing 4th out of just under 1000 runners. I played reasonably well all tourney then down to 6 and I donkey’d my way out really. Holding 400k and 2nd in chips, I decided my K8 (from the BB) was good on a board that had an ace, a flush and paired 7's on it for nearly all my stack - totally stupid play, I really can't offer an explanation and with it my dream of returning to Blackpool for a GUKPT disappeared. Was very disappointed with myself for that, it was about the only stupid move I made all night and I really paid the price. On the plus side, I did get a $109 satellite token which I think will have to wait for the new season now but I'll play one that's for closer to home than Blackpool. I really think I could have won had it not been for that hand. Ah well, all is good and it's good to be back.

May have a night off tonight, be lucky everyone

2008-10-21T23:08:00.001Z

Made the final of the 6 max PLO8 on Tilt which is something, but I did finish in 6th with a pretty annoying exit hand imo. I thought a raise was to get rid of bad hands, not encourage any double suited hands to see a flop at any cost. Still, nice result and the money, even if it's not a lot, all helps.

2008-10-21T19:15:00.003Z

Last night of poker isn't going too well. I had planned to run good for once in the $24 KO on Tilt but 15 mins in, I managed to run my aces into jacks leaving me with ten chips as he set up, then with those ten I was all in with AQ and despite hitting trip queens, matey with the jacks had pocket 7's with a 7 on the flop! Ran usual good there. I needed his good luck tonight, not my usual!

Playing some other bits too, my last $9 on Stars is going on the omaha 8:30 comp.

One time please!

See you in a couple of weeks

2008-10-17T22:07:00.001Z

Tonight's been one of those nights where I remember why I moved to cash games, it's just been beat after beat. I won't bore with details but the two annoyed me. I shoved with AK in the $24 on Tilt and am called by QJ and A2, A2 hits the straight. In another tourney I've pushed with 55 and am looked up by K2o. The board pairs twice and the king kicker takes it.

Anyway, I'm still fairly confident I'm playing okish. I have one left tonight that perhaps I'll make the money in, who knows, but even losing the tourneys tonight is cheaper than one of my losses in the cash games.

2008-10-13T22:42:00.001Z

I've set myself a few small buy in tournaments as my regular tourneys based on the sites that I need to build my roll up on. On Stars, I think I'm going to stick with the $10 180 man sng's and the odd 6pm $80k sat to get the T$, that's quite a soft comp and there's usually 90+ seats available. I may play the 8:30pm omaha $8 comp too, but mainly because it's fun. On Tilt it's early doubles A&B starting at 9pm and I may play the odd $10 45 man sit and go and on DTD, well, it's pretty much any tourney $20 and below that I fancy. I'd quite like to build a roll up on there to pay for future live events at the club.

Tonight's not gone great, I've played 3 and am out of two unfortunately holding JJ in both - one I ran into AK and the other A5 who hit a flush. Made the money in ED A though and am grinding out my superlow stack like a trooper.

2008-10-11T08:35:00.002Z

I've continued with the limit for now and had another good session with Simon the other day. Still lost money, but it's definatley not me, I'm just running bad at the moment. The main loss came with KK when I repopped a raiser on a 2/4 table. The flop came 2 hearts with all low cards. We maxed out the flop then the ace came on the turn and he completed his flush on the river. Needless to say moving up to 2/4 failed to pay off.

On the plus side, I made 27th and 44th (I think) in the Early doubles on Tilt the other day and thought I was in for the highest finish but two others finished better than me overall. Still, hopefully get a small bonus for that although it's not gone in yet. And... I came 3rd in a £5 HH comp on DTD last night for another £60ish. Didn't manage to pick up one head though which was slighly amusing. I was going to play the lucky 7k but decided that £33 out of the £35 I had in there was perhaps a bit optomistic, but I'm pleased with the cash I made and will continue to grind out these smaller field comps on DTD for a bit. I'd like to avoid the HH comps soon but they're the only cheap ones that have decent guarantees, I'll obviously have to attempt to sat into the likes of the £7k.

2008-10-07T20:40:00.002Z

There are many positives regarding my last entry. In fact, I've actually been quite pleased with my game recently, I just haven't had any results to show for it yet. I think losing at cash helps me concentrate more on tournaments, I'm sure last time I felt this good playing tourneys, I was on a run of losing at NL50! Shame it's so costly, I could use a win to break even. I've been thinking more about my game and concentrating on what my expectation of hands are before making decisions and it seems to be working out in terms of placings but perhaps something else is missing to make it to the serious money. Most of my exits are beats these days so I think I need to work on getting rid of some, for example

My one cash recently was in the DTD $20 HH comp on Sunday night. I made 9th and thought I was unlucky to be knocked out. I'm in the big blind with pocket 2's. The blinds are 800/1600 plus antes (100?) and there's 4 limpers to me and I've checked. Pot is 7400. Flop 2 3 J rainbow. I check my set and it's checked round. Turn comes with a T and at this point I lead out with a 6400 bet and get one caller. The river is a 9 so I shove for my last 9k and am instacalled by KQ who's hit a straight.

I was reading Sklanskys Tournament Poker last night and this exact situation occurs in one of the hand test/examples but in a stud tourney, but the theory is the same, even down to the fact that it was a final table of a tournament. Basically, in a ring game or early stages, the check on the flop is fine, but at a final table, I've just let him in.

Anyway, I've twigged on to a couple of ideas recently and hopefully something decent is just around the corner.

In cash news, I've pretty much buggered my bankroll. I'm down $300 on Tilt for the LHE experience. That coupled with the losses in August and September make for a loss of.....God, I don't even know, probably around $1200 but to be honest, I'm too scared to work it out. I have all the figures in Holdem Manager, but I really don't want to see them at the moment. I've decimated my tournament earned bankroll playing cash and I need to get it back to where it was before I work out the true cost. For the first time in well over a year, I'm beginning to feel like money is running out to play poker with. Got a quite a few cheap tourneys left, but never been this low before and I don't like it! I must watch some Cardrunners vids in the mean time, I'm crap at this, I've paid for a year and hardly watched it, my subscription must be up soon too.

I blame the credit crunch.

DTD Checklist

2008-10-05T14:21:00.003Z

Bubble the final table of the team event - check
Team to bubble the team prizes - check
Bubble the £50 evening comp - check

Great night and thought I played well in the £50 but finishing 8th with 7 paying was a bit disappointing!

FML

been a while

2008-10-02T20:55:00.004Z

Not been up to much really. Firstly, Puds, I did mail you but only yesterday, apologies, I haven't looked here in a while and didn't see it. If you didn't catch the mail and still want a word, I'll mail again, just let me know.

Secondly, saved £34 per month today getting a £15pm saving on Sky and saving £19 on the internet, but I've moved down to a 10mb connection. That's made my day!

I've been playing some limit at $1/$2 and have the help of another mentor. Simon Galloway (from blonde) is helping me out and we've only had one session so far but I think it went ok. From my view it did as I had a nice winning session, not sure how it was for him, but hopefully not too bad, good enough to schedule another lesson in anyway. I did manage to lose $150 by myself tonight though which I'm very disappointed at. Obviously I have excuses and was subject to some ridiculous bad luck, but I'm also happy to admit I could have played certain hands better and will review them soon to see where I went wrong. It's learning curve so I'm not too downbeat about it, but I have stopped and am playing some tourneys for a bit.

Nothing else to shout about really. Made a final on Stars the other week but only came in 9th out of over 5000 runners, shame I only got $385 for my efforts, but profit is profit. Off to DTD for the Team Challenge Saturday which will be good. I'll play the £50 if it's on but it's 3-2-1 week and my poor bankroll wont quite stretch to that unfortunately. Love going to DTD though so will enjoy myself and if there's no £50 on will probably play small stakes cash for a bit.

Hands to review soon

Hand 1
Hand 2
Hand 3
Hand 4
Hand 5
Hand 6

That'll do for now

2008-09-12T21:41:00.002Z

I was going well, but alas, shit happens, why I don't know, but it's how I run from time to time.

2008-09-12T15:01:00.002Z

Hmmm,

Been playing mainly mtt's recently but also giving limit poker a go. I quite like limit poker - the pots are more controlable, I try and focus more post flop and I still play for nice size pots (for me) that make it interesting. I'm starting at $1/$2 6 max LHE and to be honest, have lost money so far. On blonde, I down about $30 but the rakeback makes up that loss and on Stars I'm down about $70. The majority of my losses come early on where I'm raring to go and don't want to let go of average hands because it's a) cheap to call and b)think the oppo is a donk, but after a while I settle down and have made back some of the losses or the rate of losing calms down. I managed to claw back a $90 loss the other night back to even which was nice and last night I managed to get back a few bob before getting my money in with JJ against KK which obv hurt, but on the plus side to this, in NLHE, I'd have lost my buy in and in LHE, I managed to realise that I may not be ahead and just flat call the bet on turn and river - money saved imo!

I'm hoping to play on Stars to make silver again for next month, although I'm not sure why but the freerolls are ok I guess and I'll play on blonde for the rakeback and to do my bit, although the resizable tables are good!

MTT's are coming so close. I'm starting with cheap buy in's still and managed a 6th for $170 in one yesterday on blonde, but I'm also playing the 6pm sat to the $80k on Stars as it generates about 80-95 seats and is pretty easy, then I'm having a bash at the main comp rather than bank the $55. I'm yet to cash in it but am getting close. Last night I lost a crucial hand with AQ against 7's which cost me half my stack and late comp, I can't be losing that much. Never got going again and finished 288th and I think the moolah started at 280. It wasn't like I could hang on though, I was miles behind. I'm obviously no stranger from the money end of comps but I'm trying to get there with a decent stack rather than scraping in and during the comps, I'm doing quite well but losing just one key hand. I'm sure it will come good soon and I'm positive I've improved a bit. I'm also playing the FT daily doubles at 9pm which I quite enjoy.

2008-09-06T20:48:00.002Z

I'm not quite sure on the areas of improvement to make on my game. I think the whole thing needs a restructure to be honest. I qualified again for the $80k on Stars and was going ok, even if a bit off average when it folded to the small blind with me in the big blind. He shoved for 2kish and I made the call with KJo. I just assumed he had rubbish when in fact he had 5's but thankfully a king came and saved my bacon. The call was a bit loose, but I got lucky. Later, I was in the BB with AQs and this hand happened. I can't begin to explain why I played it like this, it's just all wrong and it cost me my tourney.

I've been trying to build up my £50 into £300 so when I go to DTD next month if I get busted out of the team comp I can play the 3-2-1 but I managed to suffer a few bad beats and it's not looking great for that.

2008-08-26T22:39:00.001Z

I'm quitting cash games. After two too many bad beats, I'm calling it a day on cash games as I just can't handle them any more. I'm so close to going on a major tilt at the moment I have to stop whilst I've got some money left. I'm down loads (for me) for the month and have never had anything close to it so I'm not doing it any more. I tried to get my head around it tonight and start fresh and positive, but I managed to run my kings into Q2, my aces into jacks and my AK into A9 and thought that was enough.

All my previous decent winnings have come from tourneys so I'm going to concentrate on them. I may have a bash at sit and go's from time to time as I've done ok in them in the past and 9 tabling on Stars is great fun!

2008-08-19T21:03:00.003Z

It's been troubling times recently. After my last session with Alex, we discussed me opening my raising range more and playing less nit like so I gave it a go and managed to lose 5 buy in's over the next two sessions. I was feeling pretty bad about it and worried about losing the money so I did what all good poker players (sic) do and went for a spin up at NL200. I figured that as I'm constantly being called with crap and losing at NL50, NL200 would see a better game.

Quickly managed to lose another $300ish between Blonde and Stars and was feeling even worse about playing cash. On top of this, my mtt results, whilst not being outstanding and making me lots of money, were quite consistent and I was at least making the money, just not getting a decent return. This made me almost quit cash but after a couple more tourneys where I basically got my buy in back but came close to a nice score, I turned back to NL50 and decided to concentrate more.

Since opening up my raising range, my post flop game has gone to shit. Preflop, I think I've always been pretty ok and now I think I'm slightly better, but post flop I do struggle sometimes and get sucked in for draws, or convince myself that 'he can't have it'. Tonight only saw one such example where the button made his usual attempt to steal. I was in the SB with AT and decided to 3 bet him, he called and the flop came 7 A 5 rainbow. I bet the pot ($11) and he called. A 4 came on the turn and I shoved for my last $32ish and he made the call with 54, his two pair were good. Now, I know it was a fishy call from him preflop and on the flop, but I wonder if 3 betting here was right or after I was called on the flop, I should have slowed down. It was a steal though, I knew he didn't have it!

Since my comeback at NL50, I had a small profit session, then lost it in my next session, had a very small loss the next time, but for the last 3 sessions, all today funnily enough, I'm up about $110 so I'm quite pleased with the way I'm heading again. Hopefully I'll be able to sort my post flop game out and save myself a fortune! I don't mind not winning loads, but I hate playing like an idiot and giving it away.

I'm currently about $200 down for the month (excluding Stars cash which is down about $100 too) but I should get about $100 in rakeback and hopefully I'll continue to improve the bankroll too. I may just about get myself out of trouble!

Talking of Stars. I made Step 4 for the WCOOP qualifiers and annoyingly came 4th but that was good for $210 and I also have another step 4 ticket to use which I guess I'll do at the weekend, but that cash of $210 really helped as I was getting very worried about my Stars roll. I may also make Silver again this month somehow. I've hardly played there, certainly not cash I don't think, but I've only about 70 points to go so I may as well knock those off - the step 4 will do that by itself.

Been a funny old month so far.

2008-08-13T09:25:00.003Z

This is typical of what's happening to me at the moment

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3039671

The old saying of "you want these people calling" isn't true. It costs me a buy in when they do, but it takes ages to get it back because they generally piss off once they've doubled/trebled up. I keep paying of the idiots and I'm not getting anything back.

Perhaps I'm the idiot :(

2008-08-12T22:25:00.002Z

I've been working on becoming a bit more open, but it's all going horrible tonight. In fact, I've had two sessions since and I've had my biggest losses since I've been playing cash in them, that is two buy in's the first time, and just over three tonight. Aside from the outdraws, I can't get rid of anyone. If I 3 bet, I get called, obv I miss the flop but make a c-bet which is called, we both check the turn, then he bets out on the river taking a nice pot. If I just raise, everyone seems to come along and I lose a massive pot against rubbish.

The goal for August was to get to $3000 and start NL100, but at the moment it's to break even! I'm not giving up though, I'll review my losses and see where I'm going wrong and be back in business tomorrow or Thursday.

2008-08-11T22:43:00.001Z

Was running well in an omaha comp, 7th with 12 left

Then this

then this

then this

all within about 6 hands, all to the same guy.

And they say poker isn't rigged. One day I'm sure I'll have another half decent cash in a tourney.

2008-08-05T00:45:00.003Z

Smiling for the cash game. It wasn't going great until this hand. I was pissed at matey for calling to the end with JT beating my pocket 10's after hitting on the river and a few before that I paid him off after he hit trips, so slightly tilting I guess, but he was a donkey. Obviously I didn't put him on kings otherwise I'd have folded but it worked out nice.

Here against the table donkey. He'd made the same weak check raise before so I figured I was ahead.

Just lost $50 though with AQ v TT who hit a set on the turn. I must must must lay down to check raises. Every time I do it.

Again, instead of being $50 up, I'm $20 down and those two hands are pretty much wasted. Why do I keep paying people off holding only top pair top kicker. I'm such a fish.

A plus, the tele is amazing, as is the PS3

2008-08-04T20:58:00.002Z

Haven't played much cash recently, but I've hit the mtt's big time as the Mrs and Daughter are away for a few days. I seem to be playing well but never quite make it and it's always a donkey call that seems to ruin me. Made a few small cashes yesterday for about $170 profit and was going great today in the $80k on Stars until I made a call with AJ against a shover who had 69o and hit two sixes, then a couple of hands later I'm dealt AK, shove against a raiser and it all goes wrong. At the same time, I'm deep in a crappy $5 tourney and having lost a huge pot with KK against AQ for pretty much the chip lead, I'm in bad shape, but make a few good moves here and there and am building up slowly when this happens. A7! I always look at OPR for these things an it's obvious why these donkeys are making such little money, but it's damn annoying when it's stopping me from trying to move up. I'm so much better than this crappy level but it's a catch 22. I even knocked out of the $10 rebuy on iPoker with AQ v AJ deciding to be a hero and despite hitting a queen, he hits a flush and I'm out in 22nd or something like that.

I'm making plenty of cashes at the moment, but can't nail that one win that will move me up to the next level.

On the plus side, I'm enjoying going deep and have been playing my 'A' game for a while now.

2008-07-26T09:45:00.003Z

Just donked off two buy in's to some LAG player that just owned me for an hour. I was playing ok, but then I 3 bet him with QQ and he called with A5, obv 2 aces came on the flop but I couldn't believe he'd call with an ace so paid him off. Later after he'd be consistently raising my blinds and 3 betting lots of other PFR's, with 99 on a 7 high board, I refused to believe I was behind and paid him off again with his QQ.

Things like this really let my game down. My main profits in poker come from mtt's but I was hoping for an alternative, more regular profit from cash games, but I do wonder if I'm cut out for it sometimes. Maybe it's just because I had a bad nights sleep, who knows.

I'm going to treat myself though. I've enough Stars points for about £450 at Amazon, plus I have Rpoints and CashbackKings points for another few hundred so I'm going to order a PS3 early next week then a HD tele in August. I may have to fork out £100 in real cash or so, but it's still good and will make my efforts seem a bit more worth while.

2008-07-22T00:00:00.002Z

Where to start! I've been quite busy poker wise recently. I have a cash game mentor who has kindly offered me some of his time and expertise too hopefully improve my game. I'm at best a break even cash game player so I'm looking forward to it. I've had one session so far and I always thought I was 'ok', but it's clear I'm missing out on lots of opportunities so I need to work on things. I won't mention his name in case he doesn't want to be named, but it really is a privilege to be offered the chance as he's a good cash game pro player. I've a bit of homework to do before our next session but hopefully I'll sort that out soon!

Went to the Western on Thursday last week and managed another cash, 6th, for just under £80 which paid for some bits at the APAT event at the weekend. Nice to make the FT as at one point I was down to 1 big blind but still managed a comeback. Never got going at the APAT event or the Chezger event the night before, but what a laugh the weekend was.

Came back a day early than originally planned and played some tourneys last night. Managed to cash in both the early doubles even if it was only small amounts but also got a $9 bonus LOL! Thought I was playing well so entered the $9.5k HH tourney, a $5 mtt and also the early doubles again and did nothing in the $9.5k but made the FT in the $5 and also came 39thish in one of the early doubles. Always the cheapies that I do well in for some reason, but still pleased with things even if it didn't make me rich. I also came 2nd in one of the crypto HH comps for $199 and made about $50 in scalps so that was a nice profit for the day. Was so close to winning that too when matey pushed with J8 and I called with 7's but the jack came on the turn and I was very short after that. Two final tables and a profit for the night so no complaints really.

2008-07-07T10:09:00.003Z

Part 1

Arrgggh, Sundays are hard. I'm used to losing in tournaments on a Sunday, so to grind the cash is a change for me, but man are they hard! I 'should' be quite a bit up, but there's too many donks. Well, I keep calling the donk bets. For example, I raise preflop with AJs and hit two pair on a double suited flop. The donk caller leads out for a min bet of 50c. Clearly I repop him to about $3 and he calls. The turn brings a card that fails to complete any draws and donk checks. I bet about the pot at $9 and he flat calls. The river duly completes the flush and the donk leads out for $5. The pot's standing around $30, so I'm feeling like I can't fold my top two pair, but lose to the flush and the cards he's holding? 94s. This has happened a couple of times.

I've also had a pot taken away from me with which I'm obviously a bit miffed about, but generally if I call here, I'm 90% of the time behind I think.

I also think I played this bad I only lead out of the river because I clearly wasn't going to win the hand by not betting. I was a little surprised with his calling range here, obviously not concerned about the ace, the flush, the straight or the paired board, but hey, I lost, no complaints really.

It's not all been that bad, I got lucky with Kings against Aces The thing that's most laughable is that I actually thought he had Aces due to the stupid preflop betting he seems intent on doing, but when I trip up, I'm obviously going nowhere. Had he shoved earlier, I'd have folded.

This is my hand of the session though, lovely quads again and paid off by a monster.

I had a sneaky session last night where I notched up another 300ish points and made less than a dollar.

I was 9 tabling for an hour or so, but the wheels came off towards the end and now I'm back to not having enough in the account to do that so when I hit the tables again in 5 mins or so, it's back to 6.

Stats for today

Hands - 1830
Profit/Loss - $3.25
bb/100 - 0.18
Points - 712 (currently on 2940 for the month)

9 tabling I made 636 points in an hour. Perhaps I should bung in another $100 in my account and go for the 9 again - two hours and I could be Gold!!

PART 2

I did it :shock: I'm bloody knackered and I expect I'll have a bad day at work later on, but I made Gold on Stars for the first time ever.

Not only that but I pretty much hit all my hands in the latest session.

Few hands of note.

I gave this guy a bit of a rubdown for his play here. Not sure why I did, but calling with 52o was sick. I don't usually talk at the tables, but he'd wound me up in a few previous hands and was always raising me and he had filth that got lucky a few times.

This was a nice hand, goes to show patience pays off.

I'm so guilty of this and it's a part of my game I'm trying to get rid of, easy to see why when you are on the profitable end of it. In fact, here's where I am guilty of it.

And finally, this was ironically the hand that gave me the 4000thish points

Final Stats (todays in brackets)

Hands played 10640 (4656)
Profit/Loss 135.45 (219.50)
bb/100 1.27 (4.73)
Points earned 4032 (1804)

So over 4k in hands for me today!! Glad to have shown a profit overall for it.

Should I go for Platinum if they do the double points for ring games again? Not sure about that

2008-07-05T23:44:00.001Z

Just a quick 935 hands tonight. I was down about $90 at one point after a couple of stupid calls, a bit of a beat (top 2 v set) and a donkish shove with AK preflop against a guy who I thought was tilting against me after I hit quad kings v his AA. Well, he was out to get me, he was on about 3 of my tables and raised my blind every time, once calling me down and betting the flop for $10 with 69s, but thankfully I had a hand and took the pot. In this particular hand he had QQ though which held. After a grim start, I did manage to claw things back and ended up in profit, even if it was only $0.55. If my bad days are one where I break even then I'll be happy.

Stats so far (todays in brackets)

Hands played 5995 (935)
Profit/Loss -84.05 (0.55)
bb/100 -1.40 (0.06)
Points earned 2228 (334)

2008-07-05T00:44:00.002Z

I moved back to 6 max games tonight and I was I was there from the start. There's notable differences between the games. I'm not sure that you need necessarily play more hands, but raising preflop is more profitable and likewise, the continuation bet is also +EV and 3 betting AK is also +EV. I always seem to find in full ring, you'll usually get a caller if you raise preflop, and they generally don't let go with continuation bets. Plus there's the a third more of a chance that someone has a nice hand due to the increase in players at the table of course.

The points rack up a lot quicker on 6 max too. I've amassed about 700 points in 3 hours playing and currently stand on just under 1900. So Silver is out of the way just 2000 more to go to reach the target - 9 hours 6 tabling 6 max? I'll try and get back to 9 tables for my next session but couldn't tonight as I didn't start the night off with enough in my account. Thankfully, I actually made a profit tonight, $48.85, not massive but I still have had a few annoying hands that you just can't do much about. I think I maybe should raise to $1.75 or preflop as a standard raise rather than the 3xBB I usually make, perhaps it will stop the idiots calling me. I think I had 3 hands like this tonight, the one here, JJ called by JQ who flopped a straight and AA v 9T, who again hit a straight on the river, but was happy to get it all in on the flop, but all in all I'm quite pleased with myself tonight.

Stats so far (todays in brackets)

Hands played 5060 (1738)
Profit/Loss-84.60 (48.85)
bb/100 -1.67 (2.81)
Points earned 1894 (708)

I don't think I'll get to play tomorrow either as I'm off out to a bbq early afternoon and am bound to get sloshed and I don't play well when drunk so Sunday is going to be a mammoth push to the finish. To be honest, I don't think I'll do it, but I'm hoping that Stars will have another week where ring games earn 2xFPP and I'll finish it off then. If not, at least I'm Silver and will try and make use of the freerolls etc.

2008-07-04T11:36:00.002Z

I normally try and get to the Western on a Thursday to play the double chance, but with the Stars promo, I had it in my mind that I'd just stay in and play online. I was back ok mentally after the knocks on Wednesday, after all, I wasn't that much down, but I still thought that getting out may be a better idea and thought I'd finally get myself up to Luton and play the £50 comp. Things didn't start off great, but not bad either, I'd hardly played a hand going into the third level, but with a 30 min clock and 5k in chips, it was nothing compared to the Westerns fast structure. I'm not sure why I did it but I completed from the small blind with Q2o for an extra 100 - there were 4 in the pot and I was more bored from folding I guess, so I limped in. The flop came Q 6 Q which I was quite pleased with. Check from me, check from the BB, the other two checked and a suited card to the board came on the turn so I've lead out for 600. The BB calls, the others fold. Ace on the river and I'm pretty happy now. The BB must have played about 90% of hands and has been calling/betting on draws so I'm still feeling good so am ready to check raise. He duly obliges and bets 800 and I make it 2.5k more. After a short think he calls with 6's and scoops the pot. I was gutted to be honest and only had 550 left and the break was less than 10 mins away. I folded for a while then the blinds passed me and I know I should have chucked them in without looking, but I didn't for some reason. Down to 250 and two minutes to the break and I stick them in with A2. Get a treble up, then stick them in again with T9 and get another treble up. A couple more shoves before the break and I'm back to where I was pretty much with just under 4k. After the break, I continue to be busy but get no opposition and manage to take plenty of uncontested pots. Eventually I'm back in decent shape, then we break for the final table. I didn't make the FT in great shape, but neither was I the shorty. There was a clear chip leader who had most of the chips in play, but I was feeling good. At the bubble with 6 left it was suggested a saver for 6th was sorted which to be honest, I'm usually happy to do. The bubble didn't take too long, 5th went, 4th went and we're down to 3, with me 2nd in chips, but a long way behind. There was 165,000 in play, and I guess between me and 3rd, we had maybe 35k between us. I thought I was going to knock third out when on a T 3 T flop holding 7's I lead out for 4k, the shove came. I had a feeling I was ahead and obviously called and she showed Q3, but the queen came on the river and I was now the shorty. Couple of hands later, the worst thing for me came, the chip leader knocked out the lady in 3rd so now he had about 150k of the chips. Heads Up didn't last too long, I called with A2 against his J9s but he hit a flush.

Certainly no complaints about it and I was pleased with my game. Despite the Q hand early on, I think I played pretty good and made some nice plays on the final table that got me a few nice pots. Also, it was my biggest live cash so far at £410 which is pretty decent.

Nice crowd at Luton, certainly a friendly place and the guy that won was a nice chap too. Would like to go back, but I'd like the M1 fixed first!

2008-07-02T22:47:00.001Z

I run bad

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835574

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835589.

Takes my losses for the day to just under $90. I didn't bother to check my points, too gutted to care at the moment. Why didn't I stick to tourneys?

2008-07-02T21:56:00.003Z

I'm again finding myself on the brink of tilt. I'd done exceedingly well and built up some nice profits. I've had one nervy handd that I got away with and 5 big loss hands that I'm really not sure what I could do about.

Firstly, I'm only buying in for $30. I don't have enough to multitable at the full buy in. I know it's not good value, but the way I'm running, it's saving me money!

These are in the order they happened so you can maybe feel my tilt building.

First - AK on the BB, auto 3 bet?. Trouble is that the raiser to me has but $10. I bet $6 with the view that it's more than likely all going in preflop - I lose, fair enough, I didn't hit, he had a medium pair and hit trips anyway.

Second - Lost my small buy in here. I guess I should have folded to the 4 bet - my mistake. I've learned that the 4 bet is strong so will respect it from now on.

Third - Queens again - joy, another small buy in gone when I run into kings

Fourth - I put goldberg2 on the flush draw which is why I raised. I'd have thought common sense would say that if there's a bet, then a raise, then perhaps the flush draw isn't great. When the turn made a flush possible, I'm awkwardly out of position - what do I do here? If I check, I have to fold to a bet (obv the option) but I didn't expect him to call a reraise on a flush draw and another buy in is down the swanny.

Fifth - What can you do here? I knew I was ahead, but he's still called of all his stack on the flush draw which he's duly hit. Obv I'm not folding for his last $2 when $30 is in the middle. Hmm, actually that one is only half a buy in for me. I didn't realise until now.

Anyway, I've decided that it's a good time to take a break as I'm on the verge of smashing my keyboard at the moment.

Stats so far.
Hands played - 3067 (fk me! in 1 day - I average that a month usually!)
Profit/Loss - [color=#FF0000]-52.95[/color]
BB/100 - [color=#FF0000]-1.73[/color]
Points Earned - 1030.

Actually, the profit and loss is a real bitch. I'm only down $9.35 for the day, if it weren't for my hands above, I'd be well up. In an ironic lolable twist to the problems above, I've had Aces 11 times today and am only up $29 from them - seems every time I raise with them, everyone just folds :roll:

OK, chin up, I'm only down $9 on the day, I've had worse and I'm nearly at silver.

2008-07-02T08:08:00.002Z

For one week only, I'm back on the cash! I know, it's not good, but Stars have the 2xFPP scheme on at the moment and if I can make Gold, I can do something nice with my points. I have over 50k of them but everything nice you can get you either need to be silver or for the better stuff, gold. I started off ok but managed to lose $40 by the end of my first session. Then last night, I played again and was going great until I managed to try a move on someone and they clearly didn't respect it and called and reraised me. I obviously gave him too much respect and thought my bottom pair was good but his top pair was good and I lost $20. In my defense, the line I sold him was that the board paired with 4's and I played it like I had one (called flop bet, then c/r the turn when the other 4 appeared) then lead on the river, but he clearly wasn't having any of it. My moves are obviously too sophisticated for the average NL50 player ;) Later on I was in the big blind with JT and it folded to the small blind who raised. He's raised me numerous times like this so I flat called. Flop came J high and he lead out for $2, I reraise to $5 and he shoved. I obviously called, but he had the aces and that was that, another $35 gone and with it my profit for the day.

So my new plan is to play really really tight and conservative. I'll make a profit like this, but I just need to respect raises a bit more. I'm going to crack on with 9 tabling later on but as I've almost busted my Stars account, I'm going to have to buy in on the cheap. I'm going to stick with full ring though so it's not the end of the world.

366 points so far, I could do with around 1,00 by the end of the day.

2008-06-26T10:28:00.003Z

Poker's a funny old game. Spent a couple of weeks online suffering all manner of beats, but last night I managed to take down the iPoker (on Blonde $10k for a lovely $2.2k. Blonde organise the 'get together' on Wednesdays and usually have a much coveted polo shirt up for whoever lasts longest out of the blondes taking part. In the past I've made two top 20 finishes and also a top 50 but still failed to win the shirt, but last night I sailed past 906 other people (yes, small overlay too!) and claim the top spot and also my biggest win to date.

I think I'll just stick with mtt's. Trying to build a bankroll from hard graft in cash or stt's is certainly for some people, but I don't think it's for me.

Happy Days.

2008-06-23T23:19:00.003Z

I think I have to come to the conclusion that I'm not only poor at cash games, I'm pretty awful at sit and go's too. I tried playing the turbos on Stars again and I was really enjoying them to start with. Couldn't do a think wrong at the start and soon made a $100 profit with an ROI of 50% but then somethings happened and I can't catch a break. Where I was cashing about 50% of the time, I'm lucky if I'm cashing 20% of the time at the moment. I'm not quite sure what to do about it, I'm running so bad it's beyond belief and playing 9 tables at a time, you only have to guess at the number of beats I'm taking each session.

So far I've managed to lose about $200. It's not that much I appreciate, but it's only playing the $6.50's so that's a lot of non-cashes. 114 games so far this month - that's a lot for me!

Stats so far

Tourneys 114
ITM 39
ITM% 34.2%
ROI -8.2%
$ per T -$0.53
Bubble survival%60.0%

1st 11 9.6%
2nd 15 13.2%
3rd 13 11.4%
4th 26 22.8%
5th 18 15.8%
6th 12 10.5%
7th 11 9.6%
8th 5 4.4%
9th 3 2.6%
Profit -$60.60

Not sure if I can face more of this for a bit, may take a break and either play some mtt's or take time off.

2008-06-20T07:49:00.002Z

Managed a second final table in a row at The Western last night. Until we got to 10 handed, I ran so well. Had aces twice, kings and hit a set, queens, AK and didn't really need to do anything dramatic and for the first time ever, I not only made the break in good shape, but also had a 5000 chip when they changed up during it. Down to the bubble and I've been pretty card dead for a bit and with only 5 on the table it wasn't good news, but I picked up AKs UTG and raised 3xBB to 4800. One caller which I wasn't too happy about but the flop came a harmless 6 T 5 rainbow and I figured that I was either in good shape still or behind to a monster. The caller had less chips than me so I put him in and he obliged my call and flipped over aces! The only 'wrong' move I made all night and it cost me most of my stack. In fairness, he'd called preflop raises before and lead out and didn't show so I thought he may have been at it, but certainly wasn't in this case. Anyway, I was down to 3200 and it was my big blind for 1600 and the small blind put me in and obviously called but had J7 which thankfully was ahead and held up. Shortly after the bubble burst and we were on the final table.

I was definitely the shorty at the final having 6000 with blinds of 1000/2000 and imagine my joy at picking seat 3 out of the draw so I was in the big blind straight away. Ended up folding the blinds, but put my last 3k in from the button, obv the big blind called but only had 72s and I won. Another round nearly came and from UTG +3 I shoved (LOL) with JT and got 4 callers, managed to hit two pair and took the pot and quadrupled up! With only 150,000 chips in play and the heavy blinds, there were quite a few all ins and my immediate goal was to just not go out first. I thought I was doomed at one point when there were 3 all in's in one hand and no one was knocked out, but people started dropping, I started picking up a few more pots and all of a sudden I was in really good shape. One nice pot I picked up was after I'd just doubled up again, folded to a short stack who shoved for 5.5k (2k/4k blinds) from the button, I called from the small blind and checked it down with the big blind and my 4's held. There were a a few pots like this which really made a difference to my stack. Eventually, we were down to 3, then the other two clashed and it was heads up. The other guy had a huge chip lead of about 110k to my 40k and we eventually were all in with his K8 v my AQ, but he hit an 8 and that was that.

No complaints, in fact I'm really pleased to have gone from less than two big blinds and in 9th spot to 2nd in got outdrawn for a pot that would have given me the chip lead. I certainly picked up my game last week and my final table performance certainly improved so all in all I was very pleased.

2008-06-15T23:50:00.003Z

The dream of playing in the WSOP is over for another year. I didn't really have a proper bash at it, but earlier in the year I managed to win a sat to a $650 event so I unregistered and took the W$ with the intention of playing the 200 seat guaranteed. I also qualified for Moneymake tourney for $39. I had a bash at a $80 freezeout sat to the 200 but failed so decided to just buy in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I failed to make the grade so sadly will be staying in the UK this July. My final hand on both tables was AK and rather annoyingly, they were at exactly the same time so I managed to go out of both tourneys in the space of about 5 seconds! I doubt I'll bother with any of the remaining WSOP events though. I've just taken out most of my bankroll to put towards our trip to SA later in the year so I'm feeling poker skint at he moment!

So it's back to grinding results out for a while now. I need to rebuild my roll and will concentrate on that. I've found a few good horses on Neverbeg or whatever it's called now so I'm hoping they'll add to my profits with sit and go series's. I've also started playing the turbo 1 table sng's on Stars again recently. I haven't done many, but I haven't had a losing session yet. I know it's coming, but maybe I'll play them for a while.........again lol. I was even 9 tabling the other day and it went pretty good I think. It's amazing the number of sets/AA/KK you get when you 9 table, I know it's the same as normal, but getting all those hands in in a short period is mental. I never thought I'd be a 9 tabler sit and go pushbot, but if it's going to show a profit, I'll see what I can do. I'll stick to sng's on Stars and play mtt's on mainly blonde I think. I've cashed quite nicely recently and salvaged my $80 and turned it in to just under $600 recently, all by playing mtt's so it's a no brainer I stick with them for now and leave the cash tables alone.

Must also take a couple of days off work soon, I've realised that there are some great tourneys starting around midnight for me and I fancy a few of them.

Right that's it. Best concentrate on this stupid PLH tourney I started an hour ago. Sort of wish I hadn't now, but at least the golf is on.

2008-06-10T09:49:00.002Z

I have a small dilemma. Sunday is the 200 seat gtd WSOP ME qualifier on Stars, I played it last year and missed out by a few hundred (there were thousands in it!) but I was going to give it a bash this year too. However, I've managed to satellite in to the Moneymaker WSOP thingy too which is a $215 comp, but only 15 seats gtd and there are already nearly 600 people in it. It's only going to work out at about 1 seat for every 63 people so it's quite a hard task.

I'll obviously try and satellite in to 200 seat, but if I don't manage to do that, should I a) buy in direct and play both, b) unregister from the Moneymaker one and buy in to the 200 seat to save me $215 c) just play the Moneymaker one or d) just take the W$ and feel like I've actually made something this month!

D isn't really the option, I have to have a bash at it one way or another, but given that it's a long shot either way, should I buy in direct? That's what W$ are for I guess.

It's a nice dilemma, but I'll have think about it for now. I don't even know anyone that's going to Vegas!

2008-06-03T21:40:00.002Z

It's been nice not playing cash recently. The rakeback, sorry, loyalty bonus came through from blonde today and it was just over $70 which was about $20 more than I expected - topped up my account a bit, it was running low!

Made a couple more cashes in mtt's recently. I made 647th out of 22.5k in the Sunday $100k donkathon on Stars on Sunday, and last night came 50th out of 1722 in FT's MSOP #3 so I'm almost there.

Happy not playing cash for now.

2008-05-27T22:33:00.003Z

I'm 35 now and I've decided that the blog will contain no more moans. It sort of helps unwinding by posting moans but when I come to have a quick reflect over things at later dates, I realise what a miserable bastard I am and posting moans doesn't really make it better. What does make it better is calling it a night and starting afresh the next day, then if I feel I need to moan still, I may post somewhere else under a random name. Usually in the morning I realise that it's generally my fault or that I could have done something about it. Certainly the last major loss in my cash game was easily avoidable, but I was playing when tired, I shouldn't but wanted to play still. Perhaps that's a new Golden Rule - when tired and wanting to play, limit myself to $1 sng's or omaha cash.

I'm also realising that my cash game is either very bad or I do play too much when tired. I started my blonde roll on $85, made it up to $360, down again, up again and back down. Currently it's on just $130 so it's not in good shape, but I think I have to take a break from cash games before doing something radical like playing the nittiest of nits on a full ring NL100 with half a buy in or something. I can and never will play the micro stakes with any consistency so there's no point me saying that I'll grind it up from the lowest limits.

I'm also going to concentrate more on mtt's as I much prefer them. Tonight's been reasonable for me having made a final table on Laddies in the $20 $2.75k gtd for $150ish and made the money in the cheapy $4 deepstack. I'm also running fairly good , 6 from 13, in the $8.80 Stars omaha comp. I'm on the brink of making two final tables in the same night for the first time ever! MTT's are also the only game where I've ever made significant increases in my bankroll so I'm clearly meant to be playing them.

Summary - 2 Golden Rules

1. No more playing cash when tired
2. Concentrate on mtt's

Update: Finished 5th - exit hand It's a shame but still a decent result and another $110 in the account. Nice evenings work overall

2008-05-26T00:18:00.002Z

I'm continuing to run sick bad at the moment, but the saving grace is that with playing 6 tables, I'm sort of making elsewhere to compensate for the bad luck. During the week, I had this hand where I classically lost a bit. I thought slow playing the nuts was the way to go on the flop, but obviously the Poker Gods had they're eyes on me and made sure that it was a mistake. Thankfully the other tables held me up over the session, but I didn't once get lucky against someone else, all the hands I won I was favourite to win.

Tonight just was back to usual. I lost one lot with QQ against JJ, another with QQ against KK, another lot with QT where I flopped a straight, but obv you can't be folding flush draws so I lost to that and generally it's been another bad time.

On the plus side, I'm just about to make the money in a FT $10 knockout comp where I've picked up 3 bounties so far for a whopping $6 and I did win a sat on Stars for $55 so it's not all bad.

Oh and it's my birthday. One time please FT, one time.

As I suspected!

2008-05-19T21:44:00.003Z

Problem identified and hopefully sorted. I've been playing to aggressive, most of my big losses are coming where I'm betting the arse out of each hand and being called all the way to the river. Anyway, I've realised this and played more passive tonight. I also decided that 6 tables is FTW and squeezed an easy 565 hands in and made a profit for the first time in ages. Not a huge figure at only $60, but it's better than a) A kick in the arse b) every other night this month and c) it's still a respectable 11.64 ptbb/100 (and if I tick the box on PT's preferences page, it's a whopping 23.29!)

Biggest lost pot tonight was only a net loss of $3.12 and the biggest win just over $30.

Not pioneering stuff, but hopefully back on track. Also liking 6 tables as it helps me concentrate on things more - I don't have time to surf the net at the same time

2008-05-19T14:53:00.002Z

After a winning a couple of pots last night, I'm feeling more upbeat and I think I need to review my PT stats for the last few days. I have a feeling that there's a theme relating all my big losses but need to go through things to check.

2008-05-18T22:21:00.002Z

I've become so demoralised with cash games at the moment and have been on the end of some rough draws recently. I'm sure it's only the standard variance that people go through, but for me, it's beyond that and it's genuinely getting me down a bit. It's not particularly the money, although blowing half my hard grinded blonde roll doesn't help, it's all the losses and unbelievable bad luck I'm going through that's really taking it's toll. Last night I managed to grind out just under 700 hands and made a net loss of $50 and had I have played like a fool I wouldn't mind, but people are calling my raises with crap and hitting big time and I'm not putting them on the hand they have because I don't expect 8 4 off suit to be calling 4xBB preflop. The graph attached shows my bad run of luck.

Anyway, it's not a complete doom and gloom thread, my tournament game seems to be going ok and I've made a few smallish cashes recently (obv I've lost all the money playing cash) and as soon as I can get my good hands to hold, I'm hoping for a nice cash.

2008-05-02T22:59:00.003Z

Despite having a few major shockers during April, I still managed to grind my way to $87 profit for the month. I know it's not great, but it's better than a loss and I did ok playing multis with winning about $300 in W$, the £200 I won live and a few other bits a bobs. I'm not rich, but it's paying for my week off next week in Somerset.

Also only managed 5124 hands in April. The goal was 10k, but I suffered from something during the middle and ignored cash games for a couple of weeks. I'm off the tilt wagon now and back to grinding again for a bit, although I have to admit, I'm leaning towards mtt's again.

The guys at Chegzer have let me join their team for the APAT team challenge in Blackpool in July so that's going to be a great weekend and after my week in Somerset, it's off to DTD for the blonde bash. Some good poker coming up!

Here's a graph

Also, why is it when one of the $10 idiots joins your table, you have AQ and raise it up, he obv shoves from the BB but you know you ahead so call, he shows A6 but the flop comes x66? Why does that always happen?

2008-04-26T20:25:00.002Z

I've been trying to avoid cash games recently as things haven't been going well. I won't bore with details, but it's fair to say I'm down in recent weeks. By some small miracle, I think I may be about even or maybe even slightly up for the month, but it's not been a good time. I know it's only variance, but considering I'm technically playing massively out of my blonde bankroll, I'm morally down a bit so have avoided them.

April has been a good fun month though, the main reason being that I have made my debut at Dusk Till Dawn and what a place it is. I played the APAT event first of all but was card dead throughout and never really got above my starting stack. Then I decided that I'd take the plunge and play some NL100 cash games. Managed to lose most of my initial buy in and decided to call it quits with £20 left which I put towards the evening freezeout. I think I started on some weird tilt having played about 80% of the hands in the first half hour or so. In the end, I had to walk away for five minutes to stop me playing. It wasn't that I was playing rubbish, they were all genuinely playable hands, but I was playing OOP and building up a really loose image and people were calling me with rags and that's not my general style. Perhaps I should have stuck with it! Ended up going ok in that but was moved tables and didn't really fit in to the new one. One guy was obviously a semi decent player and was raising in position a lot and I took a stand in the BB with 8's when he raised a bit. I pushed and he thought about it and decided to call with QJ. The board helped him and I was out in about 60th or something like that.

Back to the cash games and I figured that I had the live game figured out a bit more now so sat down and after a while lost most of my cash with KK against a set of 9's. I raised to £8 with after a few limpers and it folded to the 9's who called. Hit his set on the flop which came 10 high and he bet out £4. I raised to £15 and he called. The turn came and he bet £4 and now I became suspicious so flat called. When he again bet £4 on the river, I knew I was beat but wanted to see and I couldn't fold for £4 into a £60ish pot so called and found out. I was actually pleased that I figured out I was beat and put him on a set and I think if I hadn't I'd have lost a bit more as I was bound to raise the turn bet. Thankfully I didn't and I'm not sure he played it well, but anyway, I was down to £20 again. I sat with just the £20 for a while and once I realised that perhaps I played the loss well, rebought another £40 and it was good that I did as soon after I doubled up with AK and picked up a couple more pots and all in all I was only literally a pound or two down for my first live cash day.

I learned that live cash is different from online in quite a few ways but think I adjusted ok in the end. The main thing is that people will call raises with anything. One hand on my table, a lady limped utg and someone round the table raised and she called the raise, I think it was about £6 or so. Anyway, she won the hand with something like 83o. Obv the raiser was a bit miffed but like she said "You shouldn't limp if you're not prepared to call the raise" Well, I can't argue with that, but perhaps you should look at the limping range lol. Turns out she's apparently a good player in the game and has won some womens tournament fairly recently, but I didn't know who she was.

Sovereign Poker opened it's doors again recently and I popped down for the £20 with one rebuy on Thursday. I felt good before turning up and fancied myself a bit. I'm not sure what the feeling was but it was good to take 2nd and £230 for my efforts. 27 turned up for the game and I started out ok but didn't really hit any massive hands for a bit. I managed to lose half my stack calling an all in from a shorty but got it back fairly quickly calling him again with AQ which was good and on I plodded to the final table where I started in ok shape compared to the others, but not good in terms of big blinds left. Down to 5 and someone suggested £50 off for a saver and one guy who was CL said no as he wanted to continue to bully - fair enough if a bit unfriendly, but we played on and he ended up fairly short and the same person suggested it again and we all agreed. Had I not been so short myself, I'd have disagreed here to get back at him, it seemed a bit off to not accept first of all then want it when conditions didn't favour him, but then you do play for yourself I guess. It was him I ended up heads up against and I couldn't really adjust to things. He was very aggressive and played well, I have no complaints about losing. I ended up calling with KJ against A6 and was quite excited when the flop came x J 6 but another 6 came on the turn and that was that. I think I should have called to an earlier all in with T9s but there you go. Quite pleased with the £230 and I'm definitely going back, it's a great place and only 15 mins away on a good run, beats driving in to London in an evening and they have a lot more games in my price range.

2008-04-11T15:42:00.001Z

Where I work, it's fairly rural and I've been meaning to bring my camera in for ages. When I forget there's pheasants, deer, hawks and all manner of wildlife about, when I remember, it's rarely there of course.

Yesterday I took my camera in so armed with it and my 300mm zoom lens, I set off in search for a bit. The field to the back has a nice paddock type area at the back of it so I headed there. It was only when I reached the gate I realised that it's an idea to be fairly quiet and if I had been, I may have seen my pray rather than just a fleeting glimpse of furry bottoms leaping away! I stalked them ever so slowly and quietly for a bit and it took me about 20 mins to cross the small paddock. I finally reached a fence where I was going to rest my camera for a shot when the farmer came storming by in his dirty great big combine harvester (or some farming vehicle) spraying is crops and I've never seen deer move so fast away from me! With old steady hands here being in charge, I only really managed a couple of blurred shots. I should have taken my monopod!

Forgot the monopod again of course today, but I did manage to creep better this time and got this shot leaning on the branch of a tree.

Not easy shooting deer, I may need some form of hide.

2008-04-09T19:17:00.001Z

If you play cash, you really need to track your progress. PT allows you to do this and gives you an output in a rough guide to how well you are going with the BB/100 figure and it's what we all go by as to how well we are going.

You really need to gauge it over a lot of hands though, but however many you've played, it's a small stat that can provide so much comfort or pain.

I was having another shocking start to my cash session last night. I'd raise it up PF with AQ, then they'd all call - 4 people to the flop all calling $2. So I make my continuation bet on an fairly non descript board, but one I've missed nevertheless, get at least one more caller and I'm all of a sudden $8 down. Early on in the session, I tried a cont bet on the turn too, but they still call. Other hands, I'd hit TPTK and be against shortstacks who always seem to call pot sized bets for flush draws. When I then bet out again and they shove, I'm committed so have to make the call and it's more losses.

I finally thought I had a nice pot coming when I was dealt AQ the flop came AQ3. My opponant only had $30 out of a $50 max buy in, but he was soon up to $60 after I paid him off.

All these things happened to me for the first hour or so and I was getting a bit demoralised. It was nearly midnight and I decided that at quarter past, I'd call it a night. Then something wonderful happened, I realised the power of position! I'm not talking being last to act so pop it up, I'm taking post flop position. Now the funny thing is, you hear position is key all the time and I thought I understood the concept of it, but for some reason I wasn't able to take that into my cash game. Tourneys, I'm ok in, I know how to play them (I just suck), but cash, I'm learning so when I raise preflop with 8's (for example), get a caller and the flop comes J 6 2, I'm looking forward to the stupid min bets that the callers does cos when I repop him, I know there's a damn good chance he's folding and I not only pick up his money from calling the PFR, but also another dollar or two from leading out on the flop. Don't get me wrong though, I have all sorts of stats on the go from my HUD so I have an idea if he'll fold to a raise on the flop or not.

At my lowest point yesterday I was down nearly two buy in's, but after a quick Eureka moment and a nice couple of hands that held up, I managd to finish the session (at 1am, my God, no wonder I'm so tired) $12 up. Now this may not seem a lot, but it's running at just under 4 BB/100 which after the start I had was a miracle. Not only that, but it meant that I didn't totally kill my month so far.

I think I learned quite a bit during last nights game and hopefully I will take it on board next time I play.

2008-04-06T23:44:00.002Z

After the disappointment of Friday night, I was a bit nervous playing on Saturday, but I needn't have worried because something shone on me and I ran God like. I hit nearly everything and people called too, it was lovely. The only time I didn't get a proper caller was when I called a small raise with pocket 4's and made quads on the flop. I think I only made about $20 on that hand but I never find it easy to get paid off with quads. I ended up making all Fridays losses back and the same again in profit so all in all it was a good night.

Tonights was back to normality though. I didn't lose any big pots, just nothing has gone my way. By the time you raise preflop, make a continuation bet on the flop and sometimes the turn (player dependent) I've put $10 in to the hand, completely missed and had to let go to a healthy river bet. This seemed to have happened a lot with me tonight so I tightened up, but still kept missing. Every time I had a good hand, I'd just pick up the blinds, or if I were the BB, they'd fold to me - I had AA 3 times and made $4. Better than losing a lot I guess.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm down about $30 with no significant hands to report. I did get a nice double up with KK so without that, I'm nearly $80 down.

Managed to bubble a satellite freeroll for another mini WSOP package. Not sure how it happened, but there was 11 left and I was 11th. I was UTG with A5 and somehow min raised for half my stack. Someone shoved and I couldn't really fold for the remainder unfortunately so I made the call and he had AK. Obv no miracle on the board for me and I was bubble boy after about 3 hours which was most disappointing.

Monthly totals

Hands 2641, BB/100 5.14, Profit $135.71. VPIP 14.69, PFR 7.69.

2008-04-05T00:06:00.002Z

I'm lost for words tonight. It was bound to happen eventually and I knew it was too good to last. Tonight I was on the table of doom and there was nothing I could do about it.

To start with I was playing as you'd expect, then every raise I made, someone would reraise, like all the time, so I'd raise with AQs to $2, someone would reraise to $6 and I'd give him some respect because the stats I had he was playing very tight. Anyway, this has happened a fair bit and I'm down about $30 and finally I get a hand - AA - lovely. This is the hand. I'm not sure what to say about it. If it wasn't bad enough losing a buy in to someone that's happy to call $18 preflop with 5's, he then proceeded to give me a rub down for about half an hour on how I could call with nothing when he had three 5's. Someone pointed out that I had AA and the other guy had QQ, but he still kept on being a twat. I'm not really sure what more I could have done on this hand. I guess folding the flop was an option, but I couldn't think that he'd call $18.50 preflop with anything less than KK so it was an obvious call for me to make. Another disappointing thing about it is that that's the 5th time I've run into someone making quads with under pairs to mine since Saturday - what are the odds on that? Bloody slim I bet.

I'd managed to win a nice pot on another table with KK earlier on so I wasn't in too bad and then I did get lucky with another pair of Cowboys against AA. I had a horrible feeling that I was up against AA, but then I usually do with Kings. There seems to be a setting somewhere where if someone has kings, someone else will have aces, it happens loads. That was almost a Get out of Jail free card. I was back to even for the day and thought I'd just play a bit more then call it a night.

Wasn't much later when I'm dealt pocket 9's and call a small raise from someone. I hit trips on the flop but check first. He bets and I decide that I don't actually want to give any free draws here so put in a healthy reraise and he calls. The money goes in on the turn and it turns out he's called me on a draw which he's obviously hit. OK, perhaps calling the shove was brave, but I do give these people too much credit. Are my bets weak? Something isn't right and it's cost me a buy in and a half.

Total profit for month $25.43 BB/100 1.54 Hands 1655.

2008-04-03T22:34:00.002Z

Thankfully my cash game seems to be improving even if my DS game isn't all that. Another 671 hands towards the 10k goal tonight and more importantly, another profit of just under $60, running at 8.92 BB/100. This brings the total for April to 10.70 BB/100 for a $100 profit - ok, it's only been two sessions, but I'm running better than usual at 6 max games!

I'm quite impressed that I haven't lost a huge pot yet. My biggest loss so far is only $10. I'm not sure if that means I'm losing out on value elsewhere but it's nice not to lose a buy in. On the flip side, my biggest profit so far is 'only' $28.75, but that's not too bad imo.

Total hands so far 929, VPIP 13.89, PFR 7.87 and 10.70BB/100. I can't seem get the VPIP up at the moment - I'm in with all the hands I should be, but they're not coming that often. The profit is the main figure I'm working with though, if the VPIP and PFR comes, it comes.

Qualifying for the Million

2008-04-03T21:41:00.003Z

I've played about 6 double shootouts for the Sunday Million so far and I just can't make it past the first table. I've been heads up in all but one I think but I just seem to be the unluckiest heads up person. I get called by gutshots that hit on the river and then he jams and I try and work out what he could have and decide my top two are good, so call and am out. I've run into quads at least 4 times, all of which I've been ahead preflop which is when all the money has gone in. I try and be patient and wait for a hand and end up pushing with those old rags AKs and run into aces of course.

I just can't seem to qualify for the Sunday Million.

Back to the cash..........

2008-04-01T21:49:00.003Z

I was thinking about being able to play 10k hands at full ring in April and I didn't think it was possible so I decided to give 6 max a go again tonight and it wasn't so bad. Not only that but I'll get bugger all rakeback playing full ring games so there's an additional incentive for the 6 max games.

Perhaps I lost money earlier because I didn't have my 'cash head' on but tonight was definitely better. I made a fishy call with AK during a hand but my thinking was that a) I hate laying down to short stacks and b) I thought pushing was a bit much so I made the call and got a lucky result from it.

The other contentious decision I made was this hand where I called based on that the guy has raised at least my last three raises and had quite a high vpip so I had to call one time. I thought I had plenty of outs so made the calls and thankfully it paid off.

I'm not convinced either of the two hands would be +EV long term though!

Didn't really suffer any losses, the highest pot being $5.50 so I'm quite pleased with that. There were times where I could have got involved, but hopefully something has clicked and I'm not the fish I was last month (excluding the above two hands)

Total hands played tonight 258, VPIP 15.5, PFR 8.53 BB/100 15.53 Profit - $39.55. PFR could do with being closer to VPIP I suppose, but it didn't feel right to be raise all the time with the QJ hand man on semi tilt and raising my raises so much.

2008-03-31T23:55:00.002Z

March finishes and I'm quite pleased to say I'm up overall on cash games. Not a lot, but I'm up, the grand total is standing at $227.41 (woo go me) over 8036 hands running at a PTBB of 2.16 and in all fairness, had I not played like an arse in some NL100 games and also avoided 6 max, the figures would have been quite excellent - the two games cost me a lot. I just can't grasp 6 max and seem to get out played most of the time which is why I moved to full ring during March and whilst it's not the most exciting (ok, it's damn boring) I'm showing a profit and it's nice to have a bankroll going up rather than down.

Aprils goal is to make 10k hands and to play entirely on blonde for ring games. I'm going to stick with NL50 full ring for now and hopefully can get to a level where I'd be playing within my bankroll by the end of the month. It's quite a goal, I'm not sure it's possible for me to get about $1000 profit playing FR NL50, but I'll give it a go. Now that I've played a bit more cash, I may even have a dabble at 6 max again and see if I have a better grasp of it.

2008-03-27T20:49:00.002Z

Poker Trillion hates me, it's a fact and I have the proof.

So it's the day of the WSOP mini event thing and I'm on a table of donks - all of them. They're calling all in with bottom pair, no kicker, calling pot sized bluff bets with 2nd bottom pair on a JTKAT board, stuff like that. I've been up a few hundred and down a few hundred and was on 2.1k with blinds at 50/100 so plenty of play left. I'm utg and am dealt pocket queens - lovely, best hand so far so I pop it the pot to 225. One person calls, then the other reraises to 1000. Now I've seen him say that he's passed AK to an earlier all in, but he's also bluffed a lot and made some stupid calls so I push all in. He thinks for about five seconds and calls with AQ. Obv the ace comes on the river and my WSOP dream is over for a bit. It was only an 8 man sit and go and the winner is off to Vegas, I wait ages for a decent hand then some idiot gets lucky and I'm first out.

Playing the 20 Euro deepstack and I'm dealt pocket 5's so I raise from late position to 525 and get a caller. The flop comes 3TQ so I make a continuation bet of about 900 so just under the pot. Caller calls again. Lovely 5 on the turn and I bet the pot, he calls - ok, what's he got here? I'm thinking AQ, AT? so when the ace comes on the river and I shove for my last 2k, imagine my surprise when he shows KJ!

Two tourneys, two bad beats, thanks Trillion. Off all the nights to suck out on me, really, tonight was a real pisser.

2008-03-26T16:01:00.003Z

It's crap like this that causes most of my losses. I'm so bad at not recognising that he actually has a better hand than me. The way it played out, I just assumed AK and he's missed - like my AK's do, but yet again I pay someone off and making back the money I lose is going to be another long grind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2332835

2008-03-25T23:53:00.002Z

Dear Diary,

I've been playing some tourneys again recently and have been getting oh so close to a nice cash, but not quite getting the cigar. The best was a couple of nights ago when I managed 6th in a deepstack tourney on Poker Trillion. At the same time, I managed to get knocked out of two other comps when I was in a decent position, the most annoying being 4th in chips in a Laddies $25 event in 14th. The other guy managed to hit 4 spades to make a flush and beat my trip 8's. The good side of course is that I'm playing ok and when I go out, it's generally to a bad beat or just unluckyness - the 6th in the Trillion comp was pushing 7's into Jacks - it's stuff like that, but actually making the FT and cashing for over 200 Euros was nice for me.

Cash games are up and down. I'm back on NL50 for now and I was down tonight but thankfully I have a crazy Dutchman at my table and he's turned my losses into a small profit. He's only played 55 hands and is running at VPIP of 83 & PFR of 55, he's currently down $197 in those 55 hands!! In contrast to that, I have a guy on another table who is running at VPIP of 8, PFR 1 and he's also down but only by $10.

I really need to call it a night, but I don't want to leave Crazy Dutchman to the other people, I'm sure there's more to come for me if I get a hand. LOL as I write, someone with a PFR of 3 has just raised, he's put them all in. Clearly they have aces and he has the mighty KQo. How can I leave now?

2008-03-21T00:25:00.002Z

The last 3 times I've had KK all in preflop, it's been against AA and I've lost them all. 3 buy in's down the drain.

And whilst writing, I've lost another buy in with AA v 22. Obv he calls OOP and hits trips, the same guy that had the last AA v my KK.

Bankroll has taken a beating tonight. Life tilt.

On the plus side, I won a 300 euro entry to a mini WSOP event satellite.

Morning Update:

Things obviously seem a bit better in the mornings. Sure I am disappointed about losing a couple of full buy ins and a bit extra, but that's the way it goes. I'm happy to be up and there has to be down swings which is why it's not great to be playing outside the bankroll. I think for the rest of the month I may have to drop to NL50 for a bit. I'm not going to get Gold on Stars so there's no point in risking it all at the moment. Hopefully back to NL100 at the start of April.

The plus side last night was a real plus. Winning the blonde exclusive Poker Trillion game was a bonus. Despite there only being 11 in the game, they're all good players and the winner, aka me, gets a seat in a mini Vegas satellite worth about 300 Euros. I'd love a trip to Vegas to play in a WSOP event and this sounds perfect. It's entry to a $1500 event, an entry for a satellite for the WSOP ME ($1060) and $2000 worth of expenses. I'd love to win a ME event seat, but this would also be a dream and probably better for me. One time please Poker Trillion!

2008-03-18T22:20:00.002Z

Went to the pub on Saturday for the wetting of a babies head. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed at the end of the night, so after a quick kebab, it seemed only right to fire up NL50 on blonde at 1:30am and show them what a lag monster I was. I ended up with a small profit, but it wasn't always going so good. Earlier I had decided to raise PF with K6, then bet out to the turn and check raise the river with nothing but was called by something I was too drunk to remember. No chips came my way so I guess I lost. Thankfully the missus came down to see what all the noise was about and tusked at me playing poker. I waited till the blinds came to me and closed down.

Back to normality. It's a slow process, but I'm moving in the right direction. I only had a small NL100 session tonight and I started out ok, but then I felt I wasn't playing right so I actually had the discipline to call it a night. Firstly, I was in a $10 mtt on Party and trying to play more aggressive than normal, but the problem was that everyone is happy to get it in with anything. Anyway, needless to say I didn't last too long and that was that. Then I pretty much played badly in my Step 3 on Stars which is damn annoying. I ended up pushing with 7's but was instacalled by AJ who not only flopped a Jack, but a flush draw and basically kicked my arse. I was a bit surprised by him only having AJ and calling for most of his stack, but then I let myself get into the position where I'm pushing with a small pair which is even more disappointing, especially as it was my fault with no bad beats to moan about.

Anyway back to the cash. It was all going well until these tourney exits, then I made a mistake with a couple of small hands, then stupidly called with AK on a King high flushing and paired board, but it was an obvious flush that took the pot and I decided that I'd call it a night with a small ($45) profit for the night.

Since the start of the month, I'm up $320 playing NL100. I've played just over 3600 hands and am running at 4.42 PTBB/100 - not sure if that's good for full ring games, but I'm quite pleased as I'm enjoying the increase in bankroll for a chance. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty boring playing nitty, but when I'm involved in hands, it's good fun and most important, my account is going up. I'm going to stay at this level until I reach proper bankroll requirements for NL200. It's obviously going to take ages to get there but I'm happy at NL100 for now. Not so sure I'm going to make gold this month though.

2008-03-12T23:47:00.002Z

Me grinding at NL100 is a painful process. I seem to get going then I get knocked back again. Today, started off ok, made $40, then lost it this afternoon. This evening, I won a pot and was up $35, then I stupidly called someone all in preflop for $35 with QQ and then lost a couple of other small pots and all of a sudden I'm on a losing day. I guess that's why you need to be properly rolled for the game you are going to play!

On the plus side, I'm less than 300 points away from making Silver on Stars this month. I really wanted to get Gold but unless I stop losing big pots for all my profits, it's going to be hard getting there.

NL100 is definitely where I want to play though, I'm thinking about more things and not playing as loose because it's 'only 10p to call', it's 50p minimum now and the pots are of a size where it really does matter so I think I'll stay here and just hope not to go busto. It does get my heart pumping when I'm involved in pots here too which is pretty exciting. I don't think I'll make the next level in the reward scheme on Stars playing lower levels, so I guess I'll have to stay here.

The other plus side of course is that I'm actually up overall for the month so far, not by a lot, but I'm showing a profit of just under $80 (woo go me!) Could be worse, I've had plenty of months playing tourneys that have been negative so any plus is good.

2008-03-10T10:18:00.002Z

I've decided that I'm going to go for either Silver or Gold on Stars this month and the only way I can do it is by playing NL100 for a bit. I know I'm probably better off getting the rakeback elsewhere but tbh, the rakeback at my level isn't that great. I'm over half way to silver and have paid about $40 in rake I think, so 30% of that? Hardly worth worrying about. I'm playing like such a nit that I'd prefer to be on Stars at the moment and I think I can make more by being here than the rakeback I'm likely to earn.

I'm really breaking all bank roll rules - I had $240 in my account and decided that I'd buy in for $60 each time and see how we get on. I did get off to an ok start, make a fair bit but Saturday I had a long session but unfortunately managed to also lose a lot (for me) and ended the day $150 down. Sunday I started off with just $127 in the account so could only two table, but I decided to sort my game out and came away with just under $170 profit yesterday so I'm back up over where I started and am pretty pleased with it. The main goal is to make the loyalty scheme next level, so if I play tight and make less than I could do, then it's good providing I make it. I'm hoping to build up some more fpp's and maybe finally spend them.

NL100 is making me think more. There's still plenty of donks about so I will get paid off eventually. Last night, I managed to win a $90 pot with a set of 6's when matey held JTo on a ten high flop. Not sure why he was prepared to get it all in, but it happens all the time so I'm grateful, I could just do with a few more decent hands.

2008-03-06T22:36:00.004Z

It's funny how I seem to go ages with running bad, then have a result like the tourney win that makes it all worth while. After the win, I even had a few good cash sessions playing NL50. It all seems to have settled down now though. It's been a bad few days and I think I'm probably down about $300 give or take a few bucks. Tried the Stars NL50 tonight and the beats I've taken are unreal. It seems ok to call a pot sized bet on a king high flop with pocket 9's. Obviously you are hitting trips sooner or later, but in the mean time, I'll hit two pair with my AK to make sure I pay you off. I've been check raised all in by someone with nothing who's hit runner runner to double him up too, nothing has gone right. I've just lost out in my omaha tourney 4 short of the money to someone that thought KK58 was a good hand against my ATA7 double suited. Actually it was good when the two fives appeared on the board and the 3rd diamond never appeared for my flush. It's very painful and I wish I'd gone out and only lost £20 at the Western now.

I've withdrawn most of the money I won from Stars now, I'm too worried about losing it after recent days. I know I shouldn't be, but it's a nice amount for me and I need a new oven and hob so I'll get them, and maybe treat myself to something nice too, but nothing that extravagant, there's other things that need buying.

Edit: I decided to do what all the top names (LOL) do when suffering from a bad night and withdraw 2/3rds of my roll and move up a limit to NL100 for a bit, but I tried full ring for a change. I decided to play tight and thankfully it paid off a bit. I'm not actually sure I'd have got more value out of him given that he had nothing so perhaps taking the defensive approach was good in this hand, not sure I played it that well overall.

2008-03-04T00:05:00.002Z

I'm sort of playing out of my BR on blonde poker atm. I thought I'd be disciplined and play NL20, but tbh, it's doing my head in and I can't cope with it. I started out ok and built up to $160ish from an initial $100, then I lost it....all pretty much so I redeposited $100 and made a few $$. Decided today that NL50 is better, the money means something at least (How can you not call for 10p?) I had a run on Stars too earlier when I was at work. Clearly I should have been working, but I thought playing NL50 on Stars would be good for morale. Well it was till I lost $60 with AK playing like a dick. Obv matey had AA and I lost it all. After a coffee, I reloaded and thankfully managed to get most of my losses back, I think I was around $10 down for the day on Stars, which I'll take. I'll probably have a go tomorrow morning for a bit. Thankfully I have some work I can do at the computer whilst playing so it's not all bad.

On blonde, I started of really bad tonight and I was about $50 down from 2 hours grinding. It's annoying because you see crazies getting it in with rubbish and doubling up, but patience paid off and eventually my night got better.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2206873

Obviously I'm going to continue to play out of my bankroll and hit the NL50 again.

I'm not sure where to concentrate on. On one hand, I get 30% 'loyalty' on blonde, but Stars is just a nice site. Obviously everyone likes free money in the form of rakeback, but at my levels, it's not a lot. Ages ago, I played tonnes of limit in a month and only got about $50 in rakeback, I was a bit disappointed in the lowliness of it all, but the bottom line is that I don't actually rake much. Tonight, according to PT, I raked $4.1, so I might get $1 back. Is the site that's best to play on worth more than the rake? Not sure. I guess I'll continue on blonde to see if I can actually build a proper roll and to help support the site, and I'll continue on Stars because it's the best site out there.

2008-02-28T08:47:00.006Z

I've finally won a tournament on Stars! I decided to play the $8.80 marathon at around 9pm last night thinking that a couple of hours and making the money would be good. Had to have an early night as I was up at 6:50am to take the parents to the airport, but some 6 hours later and I'm still in and have not only made my first Stars final table proper, but managed to get back from being short stacked with 5 left to level with the other two when there was 3 left where we did a deal and split the money evenly but played on for the win which I'm delighted to have won.

I played with a bit more of a positive attitude, almost 'playing to win' and made a few calls that perhaps I'd have passed not long ago. There wasn't many, but there were a few key points where I doubled up after pushing instead of folding after missing the flop which came in handy and I only really took two knocks, but I was covering my opponent easily otherwise I'd have avoided the confrontation I think. The first one I didn't think I was going to come back from. With 30 left, I raised with AT to be called by the BB, who then checked the flop so I made a continuation bet that basically implied I wasn't folding and would call anything he did. He pushed and turned over a straight draw which puzzled me a bit - I couldn't work out the logic of checkraising on a draw when it was clear I wasn't folding for the extra it cost to call. Anyway, I had a gutshot that would have beaten his high st, but he hit the low card for the straight and I was down to 30th out of 30. He then typed in "Sorry man" which is slightly patronising as he's clearly not sorry and said that "I usually lose out on the river", well I'm not surprised checkraising on a crappy straight draw. I just can't figure out what he though I was on apart from a steal, but what did he think he was ahead of, he only had 9 high.

Anyway, thankfully I did make a comeback, then on the final table, I took a knock with AJ against A3 but came back again. I was sitting as the CL with 6 left and in the big blind then UTG pushed all in for 455k. I held AK and obviously should have called, but the blinds were only at 8000/16000 and it was out of character for him. Not only that but 455k would have left me in a critical situation so I wimped out and folded. He claimed to have done it by accident and was thankful I didn't call, he had JT. The way I'm looking at it now is that I was only 60/40 to win anyway and could have easily lost. Had I not won the comp, I'd have been regretting it now! LOL

Ship the win, my first on Stars and a lovely payday too. I've uploaded the HH to Here if you are in need of something dull to watch, although it's missing the last few hands for some reason.

2008-02-26T00:04:00.004Z

Saw The Cult at the Forum on Saturday night and oh what a gig, totally superb live rock band. From the opening with Sun King to the closing with Sweet Soul Sister, it was just relentless. For some reason, when we arrived I was on auto pilot and ended up right at the front in the mosh pit for the gig. I think I must have forgotten my age for a moment. Thankfully everyone else round me was in the same age group and I had a great time. I still ache now, I'm so unfit and the pain of the pit takes it's toll on me these days. Ian threw his tambourine and it landed right by me, but I was too busy saving my life for the umpteenth time to grab it. Rich managed to get a set list that was thrown into the crown, but tbh, it's nothing special. The tamba isn't really, I'm sure he does it every night but it would have been cool. I have some picks on my phone I'll upload soon. Counting Crows are playing in the summer, must get a ticket to see them, I can't forget, I love the Crows. I expect the missus will come with me to this one.

Started on my 'serious' cash game tonight and had a 45 minute session that went ok. I've decided that I'm going to play up to an hour and if things are just plodding or not going well, I'll take a break then fire up again if I feel like it. I used to just sit there all night folding then lose it all in a bored moment, so short bursts are what I'm going to try, with a quick PT review after.

I hit some lovely cards early on, but then not much. Ended up just under $15 up which is 19.19 PTBB/100 which I'm happy enough with. It would have been better had I not lost $4 on the blonde only table, I shouldn't really play those fun games whilst trying to build my BR. My VPIP/PFR was a bit weird at 20/10 but I was limping on someones BB a lot. I have over 1000 hands on him and he folds like 80% of the time to a BB steal so after a few steals, I decided to call/bet the flop and take it that way instead, seemed to work ok anyway.

I'm definitely playing better. My biggest loss on the 'normal' tables was only $1.70 and I had a couple of $%+ wins with Aces, Kings and AK but played much better I think.

For the month of February, which is when I really decided to start even though I had a min month crisis blip, I'm still down $35, but I really did play much better today and I played pretty well yesterday for my Sunday Night Painful Tournaments and only got knocked out by bad beats so I'm in good spirits and looking forward to the next session.

Here's an exciting graph!! See how well I was going before going on tilt. On it's way back up now though, that's all that counts

2008-02-20T13:02:00.002Z

I know I am a better player than I have been recently and I'm putting it down to being constantly tired. Took an early night last night and was asleep by 10pm , up at 7am as usual and despite feeling bit tired still, I feel a lot better overall. I'm sure a coffee will sort out the tired feeling then I'll be raring to go again.

I've had pretty poor post flop game in the last week so I decided to finally get around to watching Brystmar's SSNL series last night and even though I've only watched the first one, I've learned so much I think. Perhaps learned is the correct term because in all honesty, I knew a fair bit of it, I just didn't do it and I really do need to focus, not go on tired/tilty calling sprees and sort myself out before I lose all my hard earned bankroll.

As they sometimes say, today is the first day of the rest of my life

WEEP!

2008-02-18T00:45:00.003Z

Nothing, nothing has gone right today. Tourneys been knocked out of with decent hands to runner runner crap and I'm just being owned by the short stack buy iners in the cash games - obviously you'd call a raise with T4s out of position, then he continues to reraise all my raises and raise every big blind of mine despite being UTG. So I lose one buy in to the T4s when he obviously hits a flush, then I lose another buy in to another guy that can't fold and rivers a straight.

Money down - lots for me
Likeliness to give up - high
Current bankroll - what it was when I started playing the cash again
Likeliness to tilt - critical

2008-02-14T23:48:00.001Z

I knew I shouldn't have gone back to play some more tonight. I got away lightly earlier and got a bit of a let off and somehow finished a massive dollar up. I was tired, calling to much, raising with average hands I knew I should of folded, but I decided to carry on. Then I lost a bit of a bigish pot to a short stack buy in scummer with a pretty bad beat, but to be fair, I probably shouldn't have got involved to start with. Descission to play tight, next hand AK so I raised to $2.20 (11xBB) preflop and was called by another short annoyance who hit with KQ after I decided to put him all in on the flop. It ended up just him and me HU for a bit and I clawed some back, but he donked it off to some other short buy in pests before I could win it back.

I have stats on a guy that's played over 3000 hands on the network and he's nearly $300 up - that's over 30bb/100 at this level. He's running at VPIP of 10%, PFR of 8% and he doesn't attempt to steal blinds. Gone to showdown 25% of the time and won 65% of the time at showdown. The known hands he's won with are all respectable - I need to be like this. Tomorrow (or whenever) is going to be better. I've had one losing session so far, and that's enough.
.

Anyway, I had to have a losing session sooner or later, and it was sooner. Total loss for the day of $33! OUCH. Getting to $800 isn't going to be easy if I keep doing this.

Total Blonde BR at $140.80

Profit so far $30.94 - Not sure how this is worked because I'm sure I started on $60, but I'll go with it for ease of figures. Perhaps the rest is on my lappy.

BB/100 - a dissapointing 4.11 after tonight

2008-02-13T11:37:00.002Z

Just as I discover Sovereign in Farnborough, the GC does too and it's reduced to 31 runner £8+2 max tournaments 3 times a week :( I turned up last night to find out the disappointing news but still played (money saved!) and had an enjoyable time.

Also got my fat arse on the treadmill yesterday. I only managed 15 minutes but that was because I tried running too fast for a bit - I'm so unfit I can't handle it. But, a start is a start.

2008-02-08T08:50:00.000Z

I played some cash whilst watching the England match the other day. Started off well winning almost a buy in fair quickly, then I somehow decided that some guy didn't have enough to raise me when I was holding the massive AT in the BB. I was probably right - it was the 5th time in a row he'd raised my BB so taking a stand would happen sooner or later, but I played it so bad. Then a couple of hands later, I lost it all thinking my pair of Kings were good against trip jacks. Quick reload and a change of attitude to play better and I was off again. Managed to win a few dollars back then another serial sb raiser decided to raise 4xbb after it folded to him, so I repopped to $2 with 54s. He called and checked the flop so I bet 5 into it. He flat called then checked the turn so I fired $10 into it which I was sure would get rid of him. He flat called again and checked the river. I sort of decided that I wasn't going to give up here and if he flat called again, I'd just quit. Anyway, I shoved for my last $16, thankfully he folded and I was up to just under $40. Very next hand and I have AA in the small blind, fold to the same guy who raises to $1. I reraise to $3 and he calls after a fold from the BB. We both check the flop after I hit trips and all the money goes in on the turn. Thankfully he's hit trips too and I get a lovely double up again and then decide to call it a night so I don't donk it all off again!

Last night I went to The Western for the £20 double chance but didn't do any good. I decided to come a different way home to avoid driving past BK and ordering a XL bacon double cheese, so I went via Acton, and still ended up fancying a burger so I stopped at a shop. They had samosas there too so I ordered one to eat before my burger. I was munching away and the guy asked if I wanted salt and vinegar on my chips! Rather than say I didn't order them, I said yes please and instead of a burger, I've had a full meal and a half on my way home. I'm such a fat mofo. Got to stop, healthier eating is coming.

2008-02-06T16:04:00.001Z

I ventured to Sovereign Poker in North Camp last night. I joined in November I think it was, but they're still working with the old rule that you have to wait 24 hours after joining before you can play there. I was a bit apprehensive about playing somewhere new,but I have to complement the club, it's great! There was a mixture of all age groups who were a friendly bunch and every table had a dealer - a good dealer too. I thought that the dealers may not be up to much given that they're on every tournament there, but they were all first class. Side games were also on the go for those who were knocked out early. Didn't do great myself, managed to make the last two tables by not getting into trouble, but I called for the last of my chips with AQ against a raiser who as it turns out, had kings, oops.

Only took me 20 minutes to get there and only took 13 to get back. It's a bit better than the 45 minute minimum each way at The Western.

Great place, fully recommended, will be back.

2008-01-30T09:29:00.000Z

Another disapointing night of mtt's. I only played three though and they were all cheap, in fact one was sort of a freeroll with rake (0+$2.50 sat to GUKPT) In the Party one, totally card dead all the way through and eventually with the blinds at 100/200 I pick up pocket 3's - I kid you not, it was the best pocket paid I'd had all game. Anyway, folds to me so I push for 1600, one caller on the button but the BB pushes for his last 6k. Button folds and I lose out to ATo! Talk about no respect for my tight game thus far. Anyway, not bothered as it was very boring and even doubling up there would have left me miles behind. The most annoying was the GUKPT sat qualifier. $10 rebuy and I managed to finish 5th with 3 seats to the next level and $85 for 4th! Pushed with KQ from the SB and the BB had QQ. It's just a shame that everyone folded to me the one time I had aces in the big blind, but I was gutted to bubble after two and a half hours, just so annoying. Even 4th is only $20 shy of the seat in the next level anyway, I'd have bought in if I'd made the money.

It's not another doom and gloom thread, this morning I sort of decided that I'll try cash again. I left my pc on mining FT last night and looked at some stuff quickly this morning. Some guy had lost about $90 in about 22 hands, one of which he called a $9 raise preflop (at only 0.25/0.50) with 76o and lost about $40 to someone with pocket jacks! The biggest losers of the night were just crazy hands playing muck and the big winners went to decent hands where they were played well. Arrived at work and thought I'd fire up Stars to try and catch the last of the US evening traffic. 5 hands in to the session and I receive AK on the button. Someone raised so I just flat called, Ace on the flop, bet, bet etc, king on the river and I reraise him all in and smash his AJ (who hit two pair too) and double up. Few more hands later and I pick up another small pot after losing a couple of small ones and I finish up a whole buy in of $50.

$50 profit in about 20 mins. OK I got lucky, I appreciate it's not always going to be like this, but hell, it's a damn site better than I've been running.

Back to cash it is. Hopefully this time I can stick with it for a while - I'm such a sucker for changing games quickly.

Cash games for earning the bankroll, mtt's for satellites to live events
Cash games for earning the bankroll, mtt's for satellites to live events
Cash games for earning the bankroll, mtt's for satellites to live events
Cash games for earning the bankroll, mtt's for satellites to live events................

2008-01-28T00:12:00.000Z

Back to usual miserable nights playing mtt's for me. I just put myself through the pain of being outdrawn for the hell of it I think. Tonights beats include KK being smashed by 33 who flopped, turned and rivered a straight, AK beaten by a CL's AT, obviously had too many chips that he can't lay down a hand despite me not playing a hand for an hour or so, and J3s hitting a flush against my pocket 10's. I've gone out of one tourney in the last 48 hours where I can hold my hands up and say fair enough and that was my AKs against JJ in the Party $55 $18k yesterday. I managed to finish painfully close to the money in that which was annoying too.

One stroke of fortune for me was that I managed 2nd in a crappy $6 tourney last night. I signed up without realising it was limit cos Party doesn't say it's limit, just that it's Hold em. Anyway, the least interesting game I was involved with I came 2nd and actually I think I'm probably at least evens over the weekend, it's just morale that's down.

SNG's are going ok. I'm up overall and showing a half decent ROI %, but I've realised that it's going to be a hard old grind playing the $6.50's to get to a decent level. I'm considering moving to Party and going with the $10's for a while.