Thurs poker thoughts..

I’ve been so tired over the last couple of nights I’ve wisely not played too much poker.Lost a couple of sng's and won $5 last night in 10 minutes play at Laddies.My Laddies table was quite funny as one player obviosly thought he could play a bit and was trying to put everyone to the test.The funny thing was that his gameplan became so easy to read as he folded if anyone played back at him.I raised from the button ( 6 max $50nl) with 33 to take the blinds and he called and then bet out $2 on a King high flop.Ok,so he could have had the King and left me looking daft but I was sure this was yet another of his "moves" and raised his $2 to $6 whereupon he instantly folded.( having got his info that I had a King I assume)


Looking at my game in general I feel I have been running quite poorly over the last two weeks.Variance affects everyone and I’ve been in a rut before and pulled it round and no doubt will again, but playing with low expectations can easily become a self fulfilling prophecy and can turn into a spiral of doom that eats away at the bankroll.


Funny all we all look at bad beats in differing fashions.I’ve never once raged at a player for hitting a 2 outer, or outdrawing my hand when they didn’t have the odds to do so, and I don’t question too often why a fish would call with a garbage hand when they crack my Aces.I do get down and annoyed that variance has decided to kick me in the junk right at that moment and the teenage cry of “it’s just so unfair” reverbs round my head after a few beats in a row but I respect peoples right to play their hands in any way they wish.

Sites like Inter and laddds are linked heavily to sportsbetting and casino type sites and I’m sure this encourages far more people to “gamble” on hands than at other sites.What I think a lot of us forget are that whilst we may not be playing at high stakes,we are still hardcore poker hobbyists compared to players who don’t keep a bankroll but play for fun and can afford to lose most nights as an entertainment cost.They keep playing for the thrill of busting solid players with their garbage hands and the thrill of the gamble in general.As well as no bankrolls I would doubt they read poker blogs,forums or books and have probably never thought to look at their own hand histories to see where they can improve.



I follow Rangers FC and we have over 40,000 season ticket holders all of whom pay a great deal of money to watch the team ,yet the main fans forum site may only have a few hundred people on at one time.My point is that whilst over 40k people pay money to Rangers for their seats and no doubt consider themselves to be good supporters,only a small fraction of even that dedicated bunch take the time and trouble to get really deeply involved and spend their leisure time chatting about, and debating all things Rangers.To draw a similar comparison although there may be many blogs and forums about poker,there’s probably only a tiny % of players with the time and inclination to pursue them and who have a real drive to improve their game.

Rottie asked me to post a players very fishy Sharky stats in the chatbox of a recent sng to get back at the big mouth.I’m not adverse to doing that on occasion as it can be a quick way to shut up a table coach but my guess is most of these fish are just gamblin’ and having fun and if they lose it’s just part of the entertainment and game that is poker.


Back to my rut and I’ll need to climb out of it quickly though as the S-man has deposited the charity challenge money in my pokerroom account and I’m going to divvy it up between myself,Rottie and Miasdad very shortly.

Personally I think I may open an account at Sunpoker as they’re a skin of Inter and I’ll use it to play $5 sng’s to begin with.I’m really grateful to Rottie and Miasdad for taking part and hopefully we can take our $60 each and really make it grow before the deadline of Sept 15th.We have $190 between us which will leave $10 for an emergency sng if it all goes Pete Tong..


I may need to change the charity to Acorns Alfa fund as my total spend now on my beloved car over the last month looks like topping £1700! It’s running better than previously but is still only about 80% right and requires an air flow sensor replaced to ( hopefully) put it right once and for all.


Step A is coping quite well with her first week at the big school.I dropped her off at the gate the other day but she didn't seem keen on me singing Show me the way to Amarillo ( complete with Peter Kay walk) and leading her up to the main entrance.
Maybe next time...