Pressure Poker

I've been an avid reader of Doubleas blog for a while now and I've finally got around to ordering his book "Pressure poker" from the link on his site.I've read a few books and a lot of poker strategy stuff over my two years of playing and it's posts like Doubleas "pressure points" that stick in my mind and have a real practical application at the table.Not sure how long it will take to ship but hopefully not too long.

My poker week has been fairly flat so far and it feels like I'm stuck in mud with my wheels spinning fast just now.The sng's continue to go well but I just can't seem to sustain any kind of run at the cash tables.JJ and KK getting busted saw me down $50 on Thursday night before I pulled back $30 when I called a min raise with 56 sooted in BB and made a straight on the turn.

Last night I started well at Laddys and had hoped to book a nice wee win until my last half hour of play where the cards didn't fall and I probably made the mistake of loosening up too much,leaving me down $7 there overall. I did at least stick to my 4am curfew though which should mean no matchsticks needed to keep my eyes open today.

I've noticed I seem to have slipped into a very passive mode of play at 6 max cash tables until I'm ahead, then I open my game out more and try and take pots nobody seems to want.I think I'm trying to learn from the days where I'd sit down at a new table with no reads and lose money by overplaying and almost trying too hard to force things to go my way.It's a balancing act for sure.Usually after 10-15 mins of very tight play I can open up a little and make a steal or two to pad my stack.A lot depends on the table I suppose and last night I was back at the 6 max tables with the highest average pot and at these tables a slightly loose ( aprox 33 %vpip) passive/aggressive approach seems to work best.

Later I also played a $10 mtt on Inter but despite wearing my new Inter cap ( pulled down to avoid giving away tells) I had KK busted again to finish out of the money.This time it was all in V QKsoooted and AQ with the soooted monkey flopping a flush and and Ace on the river ensuring I didn't even get the remaining small sidepot.

Not all poker last night as I was out earlier on at the pub for my sister surprise birthday party which went really well and saw a good turnout.Feeling a bit skint though as my exhaust repair ended up costing £620 and the car still isn't running well.It seems to be losing power when I put my foot down and not responding as it should.I can't overtake sometimes in case the power doesn't come which is very frustrating.My Dad reckons the engine needs tuned but I'm not so sure.I had hoped the new exhaust would help but problem seems worse now.It's almost like the engine is running cold all the time.I may take it back to ATS on Monday and ask them to have another look.

In other news I had to laugh at one of the "Nat West three" whose been extradited to the USA for an alleged complex fraud.Gary Mulgrew could only afford £11k of the £55k bail demanded so he offered his shares in Celt*c Fc to make up the difference.Very classy. hehehehe.

Apparently there's an alleged mountain of evidence against this guy ,yet the media in this country are playing it as if the three are somehow victims.Though the extradition agreement with the US may not be the most balanced,if these guys are guilty then I hope they get what they deserve.

Ok going out enjoy the sunshine...