Scotland are World Champions!

And not just at Elephant polo! Lithuania drew with world cup winners Italy on Saturday,we beat Lithuaina 2-1 last night therefore we are awaiting news of the date the Italians will be handing over the World Cup they won less than two months ago... Great result for Northern Ireland ( I’m a quarter Northern Irish) beating Spain 3-2.


To the poker and it was interesting to read cadmunk n yorkie both decrying $5 sngs as a lottery/bingo and advising to step up to $10 for some real poker.I’ve not even made the money in about my last 5 sng’s and ( see Tuesdays post) know full well how annoying it is to have your superior hands sucked out on but over the long term ( at least 100 sngs) I’m still convinced that playing a very tight ( till late on in game) but bet big type of game can take home the money at this level without too much trouble.I think the bet big part is especially relevant if I get a premium hands in the first few orbits as the donks are out in force and ready to call anything.I agree there seems to be a major step up in class even at $10 sng’s where the games seem much tighter but I have to say I wish the $10 and up sngs’s played liked the $5 ones!


The only slight problem with the Crypto sngs is that you start with only 1000 chips so there’s not much room to see many cheap flops.It’s basically a case of playing a very tight game and betting big when I do get the cards.The $5 donks don’t tend to notice that it’s the first time I’ve played a hand since the sng began but that tight image can pay off later in game and allow more steals and resteals.They do pay more attention at $10 and up and this is partly what makes these games tougher imo.


Having admitted to myself I’m in the middle of a variance nightmare I need to be careful not to make it any worse with my play.On Tuesday night I lost £7 to a shortstack who had AA v my 88.On another hand at Laddys I lost ( after being $20 up, hence breakeven) a big hand when my QJ was outkickered by a player with KQ.


Would I normally play 88/QJ like that or was I seeking to actually lose money and therefore confirm to myself that I am running badly when in fact I just played it badly? Combine plays like that with a bad run of luck and it’s a recipe for major bankroll disaster.Tiredness and feeling slightly bored with the game don’t help but it’s easy to be full of the joys when running well and despondent when it’s not going well.Less whining and more backbone required I think after all it’s not as if I’m losing buy-in after buy-in.

I do worry that if my poker psyche can take such a knock after running bad at micro-levels ,what hope have I ever got of moving up and absorbing much bigger losses.I don’t mean I plan to lose obviously, but the nature of playing 6 max means the swings are always going to be huge.Just a few suckouts can mean being a few buyins down and I still don’t think my game is mentally strong enough for that yet.Having said that this time last year I’d go from a balance of $850 to $250 and up to $1k all in one night and I almost revelled in the mental challenge of keeping to my best game when the cards were’t falling.It only took a few nights of bad suckouts ( when I lost and never recovered) followed by a little tilt to send me scurrying back to the micro-limits.

Ok,tonights plan is to try and rescue the charity fund from impending disaster starting with a fresh attitude and more of the $5 sngs I was killing a week ago.

On the subject of charity big thanks go out to Butroz for being the latest fine poker blogger to make a donation to my sisters cancer charity as part of the 17 mile walk across London she will be taking part in on Sat 15th.

Thanks for reading...