Midas touch

Played for an 1 1/2 hours at Pokerroom last night and made $75 at a full ring .50nl table.

Just one of those sessions where everything seemed to click and the luck was with me.On my 2nd hand I get 99.I call a standard preflop raise from a villan with AK and take his stack on a K 9 6 flop. I did wonder what he thought I had after the hand but realised thats exactly the kind of hand I've been pushing too much recently.

That took me from $50 to $100 and from there I built it to $133 before dropping $8 with some careless play at a .25nl table just before bed.

Here's another wee trick which may work at the nl 6 max tables.I may have mentioned I don't take enough breaks during play and often rush up to top up my pint of water or for a toilet break and I only just make it back in time to bet before the clock runs out.Almost everytime I've noticed if I fold the rest of the table folds.I think this is because they were expecting a bet.
Now I'm a fairly tight player at 6 max and I think they've all mentally given up on their hands as they think I'm thinking about the size of my bet.

It's similar if there are 3 in the pot post flop.If I'm 2nd to act and pause a bit it before checking it can look like I've some kind of hand and a small bet on the turn can take the pot.

All this comes with the usual "it depends" tag and is only to be used in the right situation when playing the right tables with the right table image.

I believe there are tells/reverse tells etc to be had at the virtual table.Reads can be wrong but often you just know the villans taking his time because they are squirming like mad and you can just feel their discomfort seeping through the speakers? When your tuned into the table players that are doing the old "act weak when strong and strong when weak" can be easily sussed out too.This is possibly easier at 6 max where reads are easier to gain than the full ring.

Good news on the Pokertracker front.I downloaded a new version and patch and found all 34k of hands I thought I'd lost forever.Only problem is that it wont let me download anymore due to me having over the 1k trial amount but the email to support I've just sent should sort that out.

Thanks to Tripjax,The President and Jordan for showing interest in another ROW v USA Sng Pokerstars battle.New start time if we can get enough interest will be 11pm Gmt/6pm Est.Cost will be either $6 or $11 max.

All bloggers and readers welcome.More details to follow...

Jordan posted a though provoking piece about coming out of the poker/blogging closet at work and with family and friends.

My take is that I'm not ashamed to be a poker player and I love talking about my fav hobby with anyone who'll listen.My only worry about my manager at work knowing how often I play is that when I submit my RSI claim in a few years I'm going to get laughed at....

The blog on the other hand I don't advertise.I may have mentioned it to a couple of friends but not workmates or family.I'm not ashamed of anything I write about in this space.I may post a lot of intropspective guff but there aint too many secrets. ( I'm just not that interesting!)

My family know my strong views on the weed issue for example and don't have a problem with them or my poker hobby.My Mum even plays now and in many ways I'd love her to read my experiences and hopefully learn something.My Mum and I get on now better than we ever did before.( many clashes when I was in my teens).Despite the above I still think I'd feel restricted somehow if I did give my family my blog addy.

Without going into detail I had the horrible experience of being suspended from work for 3 months due to so called internet abuse a few years back.It was for nothing more than the kind of jokes than get sent around all the time .One was a long list on how to please a woman.The joke was that the how to please a man list read "show up naked with beer".

No porn just jokes that someone somewhere decided in their opinion were "inappropriate".

Went to Tenerife for a weeks holiday 2 days afterwards and I was off for 3 months on full pay worrying about my future before being allowed back after my hearing.


Its made me wary about blog posts from work or even looking at my blog and others from work hence the lack of swearing and reference to smokes and herbs.Jordan asked me how weed affects my play and I answered in a comment rather than a post due to that wee bit of worry about getting in trouble again at work.

I haven't been able to post from work ( lunchtime obviously!) due to a cookie problem which is a pain as I'm quite busy with the family and poker at night but if it allows me to express myself more maybe it'll be for the best even if my posts aren't as regular.

Ok as our friends across the pond would say I think I've written enough already....