If it looks like a Duck.......

Thanks to http://raiseonthebutton.blogspot.com/ for the comment he left.I didn't mention that I also got soaked by a rain shower and battered my ankle trying to jump over a knee high wooden fence whilst on my egg timer mission.Not the greatest day of my life.

I hate dial up.I'd forgotten just how slow and cumbersome it is.I tried looking at a blog last night while playing poker and I got disconnected after waiting forever for the page to come up.

I also hate myself for making bad plays and dropped $90 in total last night after a really stupid play with AA cost me $50.I raise pf to $3.50 at .50nl. I get 2 callers and a flop of Q 7 6 rainbow.I bet $8 and one guy folds and the other raises me to $25.

I type "AA no good?" and fold. At least thats what should have happened. I could see his 2 pair/trips screaming at me to fold.If it looks like a duck,walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.......Its a f*ckin' duck!!


He obviously wasn't bluffing.AQ was a possibilty and after a brainflip I decided thats what he had.......and reraised him all in.What a stupid move.He would never have called if he did have AQ and of course he called and took it down with his 76.Can't really complain about his play.Yes he called 7 * BB preflop and if he does that all the time he'll go broke but I like his move.Call a big pair with 76 and if you hit big you can take a stack if your opponent plays as badly as I did and if you don't its an easy fold.

The only good point is that at least I can recognise my bad play and will hopefully learn from it.The amount of times I've laughed at fish who fall in love with a hand and can't let it go despite it being so obvious its beaten that their opponent may as well hire a billboard with the news yet I do it myself.

I really do agree with whoever the wise person was that said the hardest opponent you will face is yourself.Choosing the right game and having a grasp of basic mathamatics involved are important but ultimately poker is about discipline, emotional control and hitting a full house when you go all in preflop with 72 off suit.( last one just for Juice and The Edge). Substitute the last point for experience.I suppose even after only 28k hands I'm experienced enough to realise I did make a bad play with my AA and it wasn't the bad beat I'd probably have called it when I started.Next step is not repeating the error too often.

Back to playing every hand as an individual hand and playing it correctly.I do tend to focus too much on how many $$ I'm up or down in one night or week which is not the way to go.I'm not sure if I'm ready to abandon my bet big or go home style yet though.Bigger risks = bigger rewards and more fun.Bigger swings too but having the mental fortitude to cope is part of the game and I hope a part I can improve on massively in the coming months.Having said that I'm trying to bet smarter not harder and get more value from people calling with second best hands.Tough balancing act because at .25nl betting harder( more) with the best hand seems to be taken as an insult to the ego, appeals to the greedy gene and in a lot of cases induces the wrongly made call.


The other big hand that cost $$ saw me all in with KK pre-flop and out drawn by AK when he made a flush.Happens.

I also stuck to .50nl or .25nl last night and was playing while watching Celt*c win 4-0 in the second leg of their Champions league qualifier. As they lost the first leg 5-0 its a case of so near yet so OUT!

All this took place after a fine meal out at the Auldhouse arms.The steak pie hit the spot and it was fun watching the wee one try and distract me by pointing out something behind me and then attempting to steal my chips.( fries). I taught her to perfect the suprised look and the "what the heck is that behind you?" routine and its funny watching her try it out on me.

She did get me big time by pointing behind me and telling me Kylie was playing a gig in the pub next week.I turned round and informed her it didn't say "Kylie" it said "Ceilidh" and that this was a Scottish dancing night with kilts and traditional music blah blah .I turn back round and half my chips are gone.Sounds like my poker recently.....

Found out today that the old boy who sat beside me at work has been sacked after a long suspension.I work in complaints and he used to spend all day every day antagonising customers." How much will it take for this to go away?" and repeating the customers surname 3 or 4 times in a row whilst his voice got louder and louder were his favourite tricks."Mrs Lavender,MRS Lavender,MRS LAVENDER.....

I didn't like him much and we nearly fought in the office over a daft football arguement one day but he can't have been more than 5-10 years from retirement and I do feel some pity for him and I wouldn't have wished that fate on anyone.I wonder if he knows we called him "The Don" behind his back for years.He'd make a great traffic warden so be careful where you park your car....

Ok another time for another quick one from The Herald:

Size matters:

OUR story about the biology teacher drawing the male reproductive organ on the blackboard and apologising for having to do it from memory, reminds Allan Kelly of the story of the student biology teacher who found a cruder version of such drawn on her display board. She rubbed it off quickly before beginning the lesson. The next day an even larger drawing of the same subject greeted her and again she removed it.And yes, the following day an even larger portrayal greeted her with scrawled below it: "The more you rub it, the bigger it gets."

The bankroll is at $950.I just wish it also worked on the above principal.....