Sunday Stats

It's been a profitable weekend so far at the tables.I got off to a bad start when my Aces were cracked by 99 in the 2nd hand of an 18 player $15 turbo at 'Stars but I managed to come back from 90 chips to win and that gave me a wee boost.The 18 player games certainly seem to attract looser and more fishy players, and I like the fact that there's quite a lot of shorthanded play before the two tables merge for the final one.

I came 10th in my next 'Stars game and moved to Full Tilt where I won one $11 sng and came 5th in another.

Last night after getting back from watching Rangers draw 0-0 with Hearts,I fired up the tables and finally used my $24+$2 token at Full Tilt to try and qualify for the $350k gtd.On the 2nd hand in I got into a raising war with KK and was might relieved to see the vilian turn over AK and not AA until an Ace fell on the flop and left me with a crippled stack and a major sense of injustice.Of course poker,like life,isn't always fair but I managed to claw my way back from 110 chips only to go out later when my AK was beaten by the loose big stacks Q9 making a straight on the river.

I opened a Party $50nl cash table and promptly lost a big pot to a flush chaser who had called my preflop raise with qd2d.I usually keep quiet in the chat but got the response " I had to try lol" to my "nice catch fish".It wasn't even a really bad beat but I'd outplayed him and been shafted again and I could feel my blood begin to boil.All thoughts of how I make money thanks to fish like him vanished and I left the table before I tilted as I could feel it coming on.

Instead I did the sensible thing and began a $2 turbo sng at 'Stars ,determined to let off some steam and get my game back on track.I ended up playing it like it was a WSOP final table and came 2nd.So much for going a bit mad and letting off steam but I did feel like I'd beaten the tilt monster which was the purpose of the game.

I headed back to the cash tables,this time at Laddys and began two tabling $100nl.I was playing one 6 max table ( ave pot $56) and a full ring table ($53 ave).The 6 max table had one resident maniac and a couple of other very loose players and I reckoned it was just a matter of time before I would get the chance to win a big pot.I first tangled with the maniac with KK.He reraised my preflop bet ( as maniacs do) and when he reraised my flop bet ( lowish ragged rainbow) I reraised all in and forced him to fold.Perhaps I overplayed it a bit but you had to see some of this guys play to believe it and I wouldn't have been too shocked if he had called.

Meantime I had to lay down AK on the river after hitting my Ace on the flop.I would have lost to the rivered flush which beat the other villians trip nines.I also lost $20 when someone called my 4bb preflop raise ( I had AK again) with J7 and we saw a K 7 7 flop.Although Big Slick wasn't being kind to me thankfully the pots I lost weren't too big and before long I was rewarded for my patience at the 6 max table.

Whilst this was going on I was keeping an eye on Lucko21 as he demolished yet another MTT with a fine display of aggressive poker.

Back at the maniacs table I was dealt KsQc.I was sat to the immediate left of the maniac and called his standard $3.50 raise.The flop came 5h Jd Qh and the villain bet $8.I wouldn't go crazy with KQ on that flop under normal circumstances, but the manaic had been seeing the flop 90% of the time, and had been betting on most of those occasions so I popped it to $38 (which he called) and when another Q fell on the turn and he put me all in for $56 more, I called that, and was delighted after a blank river (7h),that he showed AJ and the pot was mine.

I'm very glad I kept topping up my buy-in every time I dropped a few dollars as it meant I was able to maximise that win.Obviously nobody likes reloading but if you have confidence in your game there's no point in waiting for a hand like the one above and then not having enough at the table to really cash in.

Righty to my stats.... Party $302,Ladbrokes $1082,Full Tilt $994,Pokerroom $830.Total $3208 ( + $208 since 14/1/07).

I'll do a quick end of month update to these figures on Wednesday.

Righty enjoy what's left of the weekend....