Friday at last....

Looking after Step A on Wed night brightened my mood as she was on good form.I managed to pick up a wireless signal on my old laptop and we had good laugh looks at clips of Glasgow neds on youtube.

Last night I ate my rather bland chicken fajita ready made meal and hit the turbo sng’s about 9.30.I can play four tables at a time but I’m far more comfortable with three and I managed to rattle through about 12 of them,managing three second places,a couple of thirds and a fourth in between the usual suckouts.

My perception is that I’ve had a terrible time at these turbos over the last month but according to Sharkscope I’ve actually made $666 over 117 games and have even earned a wee shark next to my name.( wee shark is only over the 117 games)

I’ve still only played 606 games in total and will need to have nearer 2000 under my belt before the stats can truly mean anything though.

I don’t have any specific goals for my fourth year of online poker but I have to decided to aim to at least double last years $4.7k profit and try and hit $10k if possible.I’ve played only 350 turbo sng’s over the last 6 months and I reckon if I can keep 3-4 tabling I’ll be able to increase my number of games played/profit quite dramatically over the next year.

My play is quite robotic in these games, although I still don’t have a set strategy for how I play each hand as it often depends on the villains I’m facing.

I now feel quite confident in my $16 turbo ,18 player tourney games and also at $50nl and $100nl cash games.The main areas for improvement are in standard speed sngs and Mtt's and in truth I'm too much of an action junkie to bother too much about them at the moment.Perhaps I'll take a shot at some bigger buy-in Mtt's as I just don't have the motivation to spend hours on $5-$10 games which can take hours for very little reward.

I took the bus in this morning as I have my work night out tonight.I must not do an Al Eleven ( aka San Jose Salmon,Miami Trout) and come home and play expensive drunken poker! I've not had a drink since our last home game at the s-mans and will probably be well steamin' early doors this evening.I've not got really drunk since I split from the ex and I just hope I don't go all emotional and do all that "texting the ex" stuff.

I may be home for 9-ish or I may take the night bus home.Taking the night bus from George square is an experience in it's own right.From guitar playing sing-a-longs to avoiding eye contact with the pished up neds ,it's all good fun...

Football tomorrow before picking Nacho up,coming home and hittin the tables....

End of Month Stats

Party poker $1668 (+ $46) ,Ladbrokes $1600 (-$53),Bet 365 $1053 (+$393 ) ,Pokerroom $36 ( =) ,Pokerstars $1193 ( + $354).Full Tilt $350 ( + $350) *FT profit for month was +$150 but FT roll missed from my last update

Total Bankroll $5900 ( + $1090 since Oct 31st)

Thoroughly hacked off doesn't begin to describe how I'm feeling about my work at the moment.The job is doing my nut in and my boss ( now sitting next to me) is proposing to change the seating further and place the biatch who tried to get me fired ( 5 years ago) next to me.I've almost reached the end of my tether and I'm feeling very close to heading to the Docs and getting signed off for a while.

After dinner last night I watched Rangers put up a decent fight against the German Champions,Stuttgart,but go down 3-2 in the end.This leaves us needing just a point from our last group game against Lyon at home to qualify for the knock-out stages.

I updated my bankroll stats afterwards and realised I'd missed the $200 I had left on Full Tilt when I last updated my stats.I decided to take a wee shot there and fired up a $33 turbo.No joy in that one so I hit up another one and took it down for a nice wee boost.

I two tabled a couple of Stars $16 turbos and ran into Aces on one and Kings on the other.No bad beats at least,just bad timing.

I was determined to have an early night but I'd already lit my my last smoke, so I decided to take a quick shot at $400nl on Full Tilt.I joined John D'Agostinos table but sadly he was too scared to play with me ( hehe) and simply had his seat "reserved" for my ten minutes at the table.

I bought in for $200,had been blinded down to $190 and had unchecked the autopost button in order to sit out and go to bed when I was dealt 99.There was a preflop raise of $12 before the action was on me.I didn't have much information to go on but the villain had raised a few times during my short time at the table and I decided to flat call.( only 4-5 active players at 8 seat table)

The flop was 3 3 5 and he led out for $16 which seemed a little weak so I decided to 3 bet him ( as they say on the cardrunners videos!) and raised it up to $44 which he insta-called.I checked to him after a 2 fell on the turn as I didn't want to create too large a pot in case he had a higher pair.He checked back and after a 10 came on the river I bet $35 as a semi-blocking bet and crossed my fingers he wouldn't reraise big.He flat called with 66 and I took my $76 profit off the table and went to bed!

Tonight I'm looking after Step A and will be watching a few downloaded cardrunners vids.( my idea of a break from playing poker!).

Back soon...

Mind Building

I loved the anon quote Iggy posted yesterday."Luck is nothing but probability taken personally".When you start feeling the ( non-existent) poker gods are teasing and toying with your head it's time to get a grip and think about quotes like that one.

I hit the tables reasonably early last night and two tabled the $16's.I played about ten in total and finished down $16.I actually felt some of my hands were beginning to hold up a bit more frequently and I even managed a suckout or two, but ultimately I continued to run into two outers and didn't come out ahead.

I mentioned needing a thick skin to absorb the blows variance can deal and I've come to the conclusion that although poker is not strictly a sport,there are definitely similar traits required to be successful in both.

It's almost like there's an invisible "X factor" ( not the crappy tv talent show!) which separates the good from the great or even the winners from the losers.The tennis players who retain belief even when two sets down and storm back to win,the football teams who just seem to have an ability to always grind out a result no matter the circumstances, or the snooker player who can shut-out the pressure and all thoughts of the millions watching, to sink the final balls in the World Championship.

Perhaps that X factor can be learned to some extent.Poker Pro's often write about how they are totally indifferent to bad beats and the rest of us shake our heads and wonder how that can be when the game is so brutal at times.I've heard of martial arts experts who take repeated blows to parts of their bodies as a training aid, in order to toughen up the muscles and help them absorb the punches better in future.

I'm hoping for plenty more bad beats over the next few months to help toughen up my poker muscles....

Weekend of long knives

Time for a Monday moan! I ran horribly at the tables at the weekend.I only played turbos with very little cash play and couldn't believe some of the luck I ran into.I began the evenings play with a 2nd in a $6 turbo I played with Juice.2nd was ok but I'd got my money in as favourite four times whilst heads up before the final suckout which cost me a win.

Next up was the Bloggerment and when my AK reraise all in was called by QJ,I wasn't at all surprised by the Queen falling on the flop.Congrats to Rob at Poker4ever for taking it down.

I ran A10 into A9 ( yes the 9 came on the turn) in a game with Al Eleven before four tabling some more $16's and running into yet more coolers.The pro's would probably brush it off as a downswing but when every dominating hand is being scudded both pre and post flop it feels like a soul destroying experience.Even simple ones like K9 in the big blind v J7 on a 9 7 3 ragged flop.Money in,Jack on river.Arghhh!

At midnight I was one cheesed off poker player.I took a break to sort my washing and make my sandwiches.I also told myself I DO win overall at these sngs,variance is a bitch and that I need to learn to cope with downswings especially if I'm going to be four tabling.

I came back to the table refreshed and hit up my final four tables only to be suckered by this one outer...

PokerStars Game #13468910994: Tournament #68327034, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/11/25 - 19:27:41 (ET)
Table '68327034 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: mopoff (1545 in chips)
Seat 2: zagga (2800 in chips)
Seat 3: svdadon (3225 in chips)
Seat 6: gomerkj1 (1010 in chips)
Seat 7: drknaim (1560 in chips)
Seat 8: Sussys (1905 in chips)
Seat 9: donrik327 (1455 in chips)
zagga: posts small blind 15
svdadon: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [8s 8h]
gomerkj1: calls 30
drknaim: folds
Sussys: calls 30
donrik327: folds
mopoff: folds
zagga: raises 390 to 420
svdadon: folds
gomerkj1: raises 590 to 1010 and is all-in
Sussys: folds
zagga: calls 590
*** FLOP *** [7s Jh 4s]
*** TURN *** [7s Jh 4s] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [7s Jh 4s Qs] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
zagga: shows [8s 8h] (a pair of Eights)
gomerkj1: shows [5c 5h] (three of a kind, Fives)
gomerkj1 collected 2080 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2080 | Rake 0
Board [7s Jh 4s Qs 5d]
Seat 1: mopoff (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: zagga (small blind) showed [8s 8h] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 3: svdadon (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: gomerkj1 showed [5c 5h] and won (2080) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 7: drknaim folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Sussys folded before Flop
Seat 9: donrik327 folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Forget poker skill and reading poker books.To be successful at this game you need skin thicker than a rhinos and an unshakeable belief in your own game.I wavered slightly as I made a daft tilty reraise with 44 v 1010 ( obvious he had a higher pair) and ran JJ into QQ in another one.I registered for one more and managed a 2nd and a 4th place in my last two games of the night to leave me sitting only $30-ish down for the weekend.

I truly believe playing turbos is both one of the easiest and one of the toughest ways to make money at poker.Yes the beats/races lost were soul destroying but the 18 player ,$16 games are as soft as mushy peas and it doesn't take much skill to be able to beat them.

Picking up Nacho tonight,watching Stuttgart v Rangers tomorrow night,babysitting for Step A on Wed and I've a lads Xmas night out on the bevvy on Friday night.

Back soon...

Terrible Pokerstars Customer Service

The Sunday Bloggerment game has now been running for 35 weeks on Pokerstars and we usually attract between 15-40 players.Every week many of us give Stars plenty of free advertising as we pimp the tourney and never once have we contacted Stars looking for any additional cash/prizes for our troubles.In fact Pokerstars supposedly prides itself on treating bloggers well and even runs an annual blogger freeroll.

I woke up today to the email below telling me they have cancelled the Bloggerment due to my blog url and the raisetheriver.com url being mentioned in the tourney message area and I'm not a happy bunny at all.

I have set it up again.Password is DONKAMENT ( in upper case) and I'll be contacting BM soon re using an alternative site in future.

Hello Zagga,

This is to inform you that we have cancelled your private tournaments
due
to violations of our rules regarding the creation of private events.

Specifically, the violations were:


URL in lobby or title :
"See raisetheriver.com or littleacornpoker.blogspot.com for details"
(T #67999309)

Mark,
As a regular Stars player I'm not impressed at all by your decision to cancel our Private tournament on the day of the event.My fellow bloggers and I will carefully consider using another site for our widely advertised game and I'll also be blogging about your decision today and will be posting about it on various forums.

I didn't realise I was breaching a petty rule and as the tournament has been promoted that way over the last 35 weeks,I think cancelling it was a step too far.

Thankyou for attempting to screw up our Sunday game.It won't be forgotten.

Regards,
Zagga( littleacornpoker.blogspot.com)

Friday night was spent at the s-mans playing Call of Duty 4 and watching Renegade Justice.I drove home at 2am in a near blizzard and won 2/2 $16 turbos before going to bed.

Yesterday I watched the Gers beat Falkirk 3-1 before picking up Nacho,walking him and coming home to play a ton of poker.I bought directly into the $55 ,$50k gtd on PCSS ( poor customer service site!)and played quite poorly,eventually crashing out when I checked a set of Aces on the flop and allowed the villain to hit his flush.My reasoning was that the actual chances of the two callers having two spades was quite low and as they would probably have folded because of the scary Ace on the flop,I wanted to let them catch up a little.

After that I got stuck into the $16,18 player turbos and began four tabling.I was running horribly and even some of my opponents were typing "unreal" in the chatbox after some of the suckouts I endured.I usually remain quite calm re bad beats but at one point I was battering my cushions in sheer frustration at the seemingly unending nature of it.I could give a dozen examples but it wouldn't serve any point as those games are over now.I can honestly say I've never ever berated a villain in a poker chat box but last night after one guy crippled my stack by calling with A2 v my QQ,I nearly lost it.The villain then typed "if you can't beat them ( join them)" as some kind of justification of his donkaments but jeeeeez!

Over the last 38 games ( 1 week filter on sharkscope) I've won $257 at these $16's and these battles with variance just have to be accepted as part of the game.I did keep calm for the most part and did finish slightly ahead but what a rollercoaster it is when four tabling turbos!

I finished by dropping $25 at a Laddies 6 max $200 nl table and went to bed around 5am totally shattered!

Just about to pick up Step A and drop her off along with Nacho.Looking forward to playing tonights Bloggerment ( despite the problems setting it up) and also the DTD freeroll game for the last place in the live game.

Back soon...

Bloggerment 36 Open for reg...

Find it under the "Private" tab at Pokerstars tourney section.Only $5.50....

Bloggerment 36 Open...

Bloggerment 36 is now open for registration on Stars.9pm gmt/4pm est,password is DONKAMENT ( upper case) and all bloggers and readers are welcome to play in it.It’s only $5.50 and usually a good laugh.Give it a go!

After my post last night I logged on to Full Tilt and played a couple of $11 turbos.The first one was a 6 max turbo I had joined by mistake.After checking Sharkscope and finding out the villains were all losers and had lost over $8k between them I felt confident I could take it down.One suckout later and I was out!

The next one was a full ring turbo and after getting my money in with KK against Q10 on a 10 J 8 rainbow board,The Ace on the turn was fine but the killer King fell on the river giving me set and the villain a straight.This left me with only 200 chips but I stayed patient,played decent poker and had the pleasure of beating Mr Q10 headsup to take it down.

Tonight the plan is to pick up the ex after work and bring her over to clean the flat before dropping her off and heading off to the s-mans for an evening of Play station 3 and Steven Segal.


Not much else going on in Acorn land.I did enjoy a laugh at an article in the local paper, about the old boy who had written to a local architect to ask if a bat survey had been carried out on a recently demolished building.( bats are protected species) The photo is of the old guy holding the kiddies colouring in book and crayons that the architect sent him as he reckoned the old boy had “too much time on his hands”.Made me laugh and I wish I was able to do the same for some of my customers!


Here a few wee snippets from the paper.Back soon…

A Caller tells us that the English FA should have been concerned when its then manager, Steve McClaren, went out at Hallowe'en dressed as a pumpkin. It was a desperate attempt, apparently, to turn into a coach at midnight.
Chelsea attractor

News also on McClaren's replacement. Hugh Parker in London tells us that the FA is so desperate to sign ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho that they have employed Burt Bacharach to head-hunt him.

They believe the songwriter is the only one to know the way to sign Jose.

Message from the Scottish Government: "Agent McClaren. Return to base. Your work is done."

Game,set,match

The s-man and I played our badminton game on Tuesday evening and my superior skills and fitness shone through as I cruised to a 15-1,15-2 victory over the hapless s-man with his hopeful lunges and missed drop shots!

After that healthy exertion I had a Burger King on the way up the road and after watching a poker training video and reviewing this excellent short-stack strategy blog,I opened up DTD poker site and hit the tables.

I had made a small deposit there in order to play in the Raisetheriver forum games and I had £8 left.I stuck to the strategy guide and had increased my £8 to £13 with a series of all-in moves and reraises before I finally busted.I had reraised all in with 1010,was called by AQ and of course the Ace fell on the turn.

Last night I was over at the ex's looking after Step A and Nacho.The ex and I are getting on really well and she has agreed to pop over to my place on Friday to give the flat a proper clean.I watched England's miserable performance as they crashed out of the Euro qualifiers.Croatia were by far the better team and deserved their win.Saves England the heartache of bottling another penalty shoot-out I suppose!

I didn't get home until well after midnight and hadn't intended to play any poker at all, but I was feeling inspired by another training video and hit up a $50nl 6 max cash table for a wee 1/2 hour session.I had one of those sweet moments where I raised with 44 from the button and the flop came a 4 Q 9 rainbow.I led out and won a nice pot against a villain who has flat called my raise with KK.

I finished by raising with 1010 and winning another nice wee pot when I hit my set again.I was $36 up and feeling good but it was after 1am and I sensibly switched off and went to bed.

Just back after dinner at my parents and walking Nacho.Time to go and catch up on some blogs and hit the tables....

Wee win ends tilt form...

I had to dig deep last night when my first $16 turbo ended after a few hands when my KK fell to AK sooooted, which made a flush on the river.The pain made me almost glad Cog’s KK had held against my AK in the DTD game!

I’ve become a far better two tabler over recent months and had another one on the go, until I shoved with 88,Mr A7 insta-called and the seemingly enevitable Ace hit on the turn to send me packing.

Sharkscope already had my recent form as “tilt” after going 0/4 without cashing and I was beginning to think I was running into a bad luck brickwall, especially after my JJ fell to good old AK in my third game of the night.

I took a minute to tell myself to get a grip and actually quite enjoyed my last turbo of the night,as one fish spent the entire game lecturing another fishy who ignored him throughout.The quiet fish did make some terrible plays but the big mouth bass outdid him with some dreadful calls and shoves.( and bubbled in redonkulous fashion)

In fact there were only four winners from sixteen starters and much of the play seemed no better than a play money table.Min raises,lots of weak calling stations and big stacks who had no idea how to maximise their position around bubble time.I adjusted by raising 6-8bb early on preflop and by overbetting for value with made hands on later streets.My hands held up and my strategy worked as I finally broke my wee losing streak to take it down for $108.

I watched an excellent cardrunners video where the pro was playing $50nl and this inspired me to play a little 6 max $100nl at 365 where I two tabled,ran quite well and left about $50 up after 25 minutes play.

I’m off to buy a badminton racket at lunchtime as the one I had in my cupboard has three strings and is marked “4b” which means I used it in Fourth year at high school.( so it’s a couple of years old!)

Back soon…

Over the net...

Good news! I dropped Nacho off at the ex's last night and will be picking him up tonight as usual.I'll also be over on Wed night to look after Step A.Step A is growing up fast and has taken to teenage life very well.If there was an exam for shoulder shrugging ,she would pass with flying colours! For some reason she also seems less than impressed with my instore juggling at the fruit section of the supermarket.( despite the gasps of admiration coming my way from fellow shoppers...)

On the poker front I two tabled last night, playing in the Bloggerment and the DTD game.In the Bloggerment I raised and called a shove from a player who is tighter than two coats of paint,which was silly.( 88 into QQ)

Congrats to Dull Trev who played more like Tricky Trev to take it down and left my mate Al Eleven to don the bridesmaid dress.( it's at the tailors getting widened at the waist!)


In the DTD game I wasn't in the running for a top 4 placing, which meant I felt quite relaxed and I think I played some decent poker.I made the final table and reraised Dudley all in with AK as I felt he may fold or I could win a race.I think Dudley did fold, but as per usual in recent blogger games I ran into a premium pair ( Cogs had woken up with KK ) and failed to improve.

I played a couple of $11 turbo sng's at Full Tilt with Rosie and Juice later.Rosie and I won a game each before I headed off to bed.

Looks like Rosie,Juice and Mr Edge are visiting Glasgow in Dec for the next home game,hosted by my mate The Big Chap!I'm hoping Dudley,s-man and my cousin will also make the game, although we'll have to meet Stan and Mair another time as they are attending the APAT event in Manchester which Mair quailfied for.Shame, as I'm sure in real life the ladies would get on like a house on fire!

Just booked a badminton court for a 6pm game with the S-man.Neither of us has played for years and I even asked the girl on the phone if they have qualified first aiders stannding by.....in case the s-man can't handle the pace!

Ok,thanks for reading.Back Soon...

So near ,yet so far...

My cousin came over last night to watch Scotland fall at the final qualifying hurdle as we went down 2-1 to an injury time Italian winner.We were a bit lucky at times as Fergusons equaliser looked offside and the Italians also had a good goal ruled offside but the freekick the referee gave which led to their winner was a joke by any standard.The only bright spot is that our fine recent performances mean we should ( in theory) get an easier draw for World Cup qualification.Roll on!

What else has been going on? Well the ex Mrs A called last night at 3.30am to say she has smashed up the living room and felt like she was cracking up in sheer frustration and anger at the her neighbour "getting away" with torching her car the other week.I was seriously worried about her doing something silly and spent ages trying to persuade her that she has Step A and the scum next door are not worth landing in jail for.Any good revenge ideas welcome though!

At least the ex was warm.I met my neighbour ( from across the landing)and she was telling me she ( and her man) were away camping this weekend.You can't beat camping in Scotland in November when the temp averages 1-3c during the night.Mad? As a box of frogs I reckon!

On the poker front I've played a load of $16 turbos and although my last four have been cashless,my roi is now 17% ( after 541 games) and I'm now bordering on making $3 per game profit instead of $2.The world of the high stakes sng player eh!
I think I won one and came 2nd twice in between a load of no-shows.I also managed to persuade Juice to play a $16 and he played a fine game to take it down.

In my last turbo I picked up 52 in the big blind and suffered a bit of a cooler when I lost to a flopped flush on a 5c 2c 8c flop.( money in on that flop)

I headed for the cash tables and decided to have another go at $200nl at 365.I fired up two tables and both were quite aggressive and a bit fishy.Some of the play seemed more suited to my early $25nl days but I just couldn't catch a break as I missed every flop and had every contination bet reraised.I even folded 33 to a raise and reraise ( in case orginal raiser raised again) and watched two villains create a $400 pot with high pairs on a ragged 3 5 9 flop.

My losses were now mounting ( about a buy-in in total) and time was marching on past 4.30am when I picked up KK at one particularly wild table.I'd love to say I used my superior skill and hand reading abilities to gradually claw my way out of trouble but in reality I got very lucky with those Kings.I could get used to winning hands which would cover my monthly car payment though!

Next weeks plans include hopefully getting a game of badminton organised with s-man and winning more money at the pokey tables.I've decided to update my stats at the end of every month rather than every two weeks, as this will hopefully help me keep my focus on making the right decisions instead of getting hung up on short-term results.

Ok,I'm off to walk Nacho and drop him off before coming back to play in the final RTR forum game and of course the Bloggerment at 9pm....

Bloggerment 35 9pm gmt/4pm bst

Back to it's usual 9pm UK start time.See you there....

Bella Bella

Picked up Nacho last night after deciding to move up in the world and buy this weeks food shopping at Marks n Spencer.When I first moved back it was a novelty to go back to the same ready made meals I used to buy,but that wore off very quickly and I don't mind paying a bit more for some decent scran.My boy even got some luxury pork strips to munch.

All this was after work where the feckin' numpties have removed all the bins from around our desk areas in order that we use a recycling area.Hmm I wonder where they are going to dispose of aprox 1000 plastic bins! Doh!

There is huge hype in Scotland just now over the impending final qualifying game against the World Champions,Italy,at Hampden tomorrow ( 5 pm ko).We have done incredibly well to still be in with a chance considering we're a country of 5 milliomn people and we are in a group with Italy,France and the Ukraine etc.

We have to beat Italy to be sure of making it and I'm afraid it would just be typical of Scotland to beat France home and away but still fall at the final hurdle.Never say never as the Scotland team has a great fighting spirit but I just can't see that being enough to beat the clinical Italians.Roll on!

On the poker front I took 2nd in the one $16 turbo I played which means another $2 Sklansky dollars earned!

I had a good laugh chatting it up with Rosie,Juice and The Edge before heading off for 20 minutes of cash play before bed.After Amatays latest comment I hit up a $200nl table ( at 365) and was amazed at just how soft it was.I never made very much over my short time there but I saw some very fishy play indeed.

I had to take a little extra time over my actions.I had A10d on the button and nearly folded to an $8 raise as $8 seemed a little high until I realised it was only 4bb and not a maniac $50 nl bet!

Oh,The Bloggerment returns to it's usual time this week after last weeks confusion.It's 9pm gmt/4 pm est at Stars,pass: donkament.

Back soon...

Rinse and repeat...

The ex ended up staying at her Dads last night ( I even offered to go over and sleep on her couch for a couple of nights to help her feel more settled) and I was able to pick my lad ( Nacho) up after I'd visited my old folks.I played a wee $6 turbo with my Mum and helped her run 88 into Aces!

I took Nacho for a good run and then came home and surfed the net for a while before playing two $16 turbo's and coming 3rd in both.I made $72 profit, but I'm trying to tell myself I only won $4 because that is my average profit per game.The idea is that even if I lose 4-5 games I should still condition myself to believe I won $2 each time.Hopefully this will help keep me on an even keel rather than going to bed cheesed off at going 0/5 ( for example) without cashing or feeling too happy with a $72 win.

I had arrived home at 8-ish and had already eaten so why did I only play two games of poker? ( I also won $10 in a quick 15 min cash session at 365).Most nights I tell myself I will come home from work the next day,eat dinner etc and then either fire up a couple of cash tables or starting multi ( ok, just the two but it's still multi-tabling!) turbo's sngs.In reality I arrive home done in after another day of listening to people ranting/shouting/crying on the phone and usually feel too tired to start playing my best game right away.

Perhaps my lack of playing hours is my inbuilt way of dealing with variance and staving off the tilt monster.I'm certainly not immune to tilt, but my last serious tilty episode was back in May, and although I may make the occasional tilty call/play,it's not something which affects me too badly.

As with most people, repeated bad beats and folding monsters tend to push my tilt button.If I'm only playing a few tourneys ,or a small cash session, then even if I run badly, I can deal with it and bounce back,whereas if I started multi-tabling at 7pm and my luck was out,I don't know if I could continue to play my best game all night.

I'm also a lazy git and although I enjoy playing poker, I sometimes feel as if I'm caught between simply playing for fun/social reasons and trying to push on and double last years $5k profit.Of course the fact that money is a little tighter staying myself and I may need my poker profits for things like car insurance,Rangers season ticket etc ,also weighs on my mind and it can feel more like a chore to play than a pleasurable hobby.

It's strange because my tightass nature means I hate losing money and this helps me to play better and not tilt, but it can also stop me just sitting down and getting on with it I reckon.I watch poker training videos where the players don't care about the fact they had a bad start to a session for example and simply reload quickly if they lose a big pot and keep playing well.I'd know exactly how much I was down and it would prey on my mind to some extent that I was wasn't winning and that my roll had taken a hit.

Ok,as ever I've managed to turn a quick idea for a post into a long rambling load of guff which I've probably posted before in one form other another anyway.

Ok,back soon with more witterings...

Cheerio Lads...

First up,I was sorry to see that Burnley Mik and The Cloud have quit their blogs, as they were two of my favourite daily reads.All the best to both of them, as they continue to chew the poker fat, over at the Raisetheriver forum and blog.

I've not much to report on the poker front as I've not played very often since my last post.I did enjoy playing a couple of wee $5 Full Tilt sng's with Rosie ,but I don't think either of us were taking them too seriously.

I think Rosie was more annoyed than me when a fish called my raise( I had AJ) with his 45 and crippled my stack.When she remarked that she was pleased when Mr fish finally bombed out,I disagreed, as I wanted a fishy like that around to help me double up and get me back in it!I even disagreed with Rosies comment that "at least he can't win it" as I reckon when donks win the odd game,this is what keeps them coming back to the tables.

Nothing wrong with either attitude.If berating the fish or ranting about the fish in IM helps clear the head and helps prepare you better for the next hand then go for it.Perhaps it's better than my colder more logical approach, as I tend to focus more on my bad luck rather than what my opponent did wrong.

I've also watched yet more training videos since my last post and they have really helped boost my game.In particular they have made me more sure of my reads at the table and more able to correctly define the range of hands my opponent may hold.

The training vids have also helped me increase my preflop cash game aggression, which is something I knew I'd have to work on to do well at $100nl and above.I now feel quite comfortable at $100nl 6 max and if I am playing $50nl,I'm very confident as I know for sure I can beat that game.

Ok,I'm taking Nacho out for a walk after work and he'll be staying with me tomorrow and Sat night.The ex has been charged with threatening behaviour for simply running her finger across her throat in front of the woman next door.( out of sheer frustration)The same woman who arranged for the ex's car to be set alight last week and who hasn't been charged with that yet.There's no justice sometimes.

ok,thanks for reading...

I wanna be a Nacho Man!

I phoned the ex yesterday afternoon to arrange to have Nacho tonight and she said no as she still wants him around after the recent arson attack.At one point she even told me to "get another dog" and hung up.Well there's only one Nacho and he's my boy too, so I jumped in the car and drove over to her place.I managed to keep my sensible head on and we had a good chat.

I can totally understand why she would feel safer with him around after what has happened ,but although I reckon I'm coping ok with our breakup ,having Nacho around a few nights per week certainly helps keep me sane.The good news is that she called me this morning to say thanks for the cd's I'd burned for her, and to say that I could have him to stay tonight, and also take Step A to school when I drop him off tomorrow morning.

On the poker front I came 6th in the Bloggerment when I ran into Aces ( for the zillionth time in that tourney!).Congrats to Mr Cloud for casting off the bridesmaids dress and taking the whole show down, especially as I was taking the piss about the non-existent one outers he was ( or wasn't!) hitting!

I came 10th in the DTD game after pushing 55 into 1010.I still don't like that period in the middle of small mtt's when my stack is around 900-ish,the blinds are 75-150 and I pick up a small/medium pair in quite early position.

I think I still favour pushing, ( I will also push monsters here to mix it up) because I don't have enough chips to get any fold equity with a standard raise, and because a standard raise almost pot commits me anyway.I also don't want to get blinded away and by playing quite a tight game,I'd hope to get some credit for having a hand when I do shove.

No too much to report from my cash table play.I lost a $50 buy-in when I runner runnered an Ace flush, but the villain had made a boat on the river after the board paired.After watching more cardrunners vids I'm not going to be too harsh on myself for that one, as it was basically a cooler ,which would have been hard to get away from.I won back half of that loss and went to bed far too late at 2am.

Ok,thanks for reading.Back later in the week...

Sat night's alright....

Downloaded loads of top bangin' and trance techno tunes yesterday and even burned a few extra copies for the ex to make up for our wee fall out over her having Nacho for the next few weekends.

After dinner I hit the turbo's and as usual it was a rocky ride.I won't bore y'all with the beats and suckouts but I suffered four in a row and also managed to get my money in just behind ( 77v 88 and QQ V KK)a couple of times too.No point in giving it the the "poor me" routine.I was playing 3-4 games at a time ( my 17" screen is great for that) and the beats can easily lead to a runaway train effect where decision making suffers and the losing streak just seems to grow like a growing thing that grows a lot.I did keep the head and managed to scrape a win,2nd place and a 4th place finish, which left me in profit overall.

The cash tables were next and as Bet 365 seems to be even jucier than Ladbrokes and Party,that's where I headed and at one point I was three tabling $100nl.I also watched the excellent boxing match between Miquel Cotto and "Sugar" Shane Mosley which ended with Cotto ( rightly) winning it on points.Roll on the Ricky Hatton v Mayweather fight next month!

Back to the pokey and I won about $140 overall at 365 last night.Al Eleven calls A9 "The Daddy" and it certainly was for me in this hand! Nice attempted bluff by the fishy!

I had the villain berate me for this one."what do you people think you are doing?" was his question.Calling a min raise and then reraising when it was obvious he had nothing was the answer but I simply replied "lol" to try and get him even more steamed. He'd just lost a decent sized pot and had berated the villain which was another reason for calling his min raise as I reckoned he'd pay me off if I hit.I checked the river just in case he had a better Ace or was somehow playing the 5...

I'm now running at 32bb/100 at $100 nl so I'll be handing in my notice on Monday morning and will simply play a few hours of $100nl per week, in between lying on the beach and living a life of leisure.Afterall I've played 546 hands.Is any more proof required? ;-) ( added that just in case anyone thinks I'm serious!!)

Ok,don't forget tonights Bloggerment starts at 8pm Gmt/3pm est.Password is donkament as usual....

Top Jockey!

I wasn't too keen to play in the wee ( 5 starters) HORSE poker game organised by the RTR crew, as I've only ever played Holdem and a little 5 card draw, and I'm totally clueless about Omaha,Stud,razz etc.In the end my lack of knowledge just added to the fun and I had plenty of helpful advice and nudges in the right direction from Matty ,Mair,Hammer and dD.I enjoyed watching two players turn up their cards and trying to work out who had won and why.( just like at holdem before anyone else says it!)I've still no idea how I actually won the game in the end but I did and maybe,just maybe I'll play some HORSE ( Holdem,Omaha,Razz,Stud)again sometime...

We played a couple of $16 nl,18 player turbos afterwards and I managed to run KK into AK ( rivered a straight) in one and couldn't get 1010 to hold v KQ in the other but dD managed 2nd in one for a nice wee boost.

I left the troops to play in another HORSE game and headed to Bet 365 where I won about $85 at a $100nl cash table.Over a tiny sample there ( 685 hands) my preflop aggression has moved up to average nearly 11% from it's usual 7% so I think the cardrunners videos are helping to improve my game.As always I had chosen fishy games with high average pots and lots of players seeing flops.

I finished off my nights play by firing up three $16 ,18 player turbos and I bubbled twice ( 5th)and came 2nd in one for a small profit.The two bubbles were both coolers and really hurt ( for 5 mins anyway!) but overall I was happy with my nights profits and slept soundly.

Not got Nacho today as the ex wants him around "for a few weekends" after the car was set alight in her driveway last week.We're 100% sure it was the neighbours she ( and her poisonous pal) had fallen out with and I doubt anything else will happen.I did have a mini fall out with her over it because when I called yesterday Step A answered and said the ex was three doors along at her pals.If she is that worried about security at the house then why leave Step A in alone?I am feeling a bit more understanding today about it.I suppose I just don't want her to ever stop me seeing my lad ( Nacho!) or Step A.

I like all sorts of music and I've spent most of the afternoon burning trance dance music onto cd for listening to when playing poker.

Ever had a dream about a bassline.....?

Fri update...

After work last night I went for dinner with my Mum and Dad to the Auldhouse Arms and enjoyed the best steak pie in Scotland.

I picked Nacho up afterwards and was saddened by the sight of seeing the wee Fiesta I bought for the ex sitting burned out on the driveway.She has been making payments weekly towards it, and although I should get a cheque from the insurance company, I feel a bit gutted too as I took a lot of time to find it, and as far as £700 cars go,it was a real wee cracker.The police apparently have the petrol container used, so hopefully they can find some dna and match it to the scum that did this.

I arrived home about 9-ish and after taking my boy for a walk,I read some blogs and watched another poker training video.Since I signed up for cardrunners I’ve ramped up my preflop aggression and I’m also a bit less scared of running into monsters.I sat down at a 6 max $100nl table and after calling a raise with QJ ( from the button) I reraised the preflop raiser on a K Q 6 ragged board and took down a nice wee pot.

I also called a min raise at Party with 76 soooted and called the flop continuation bet from the villain with only a gutshot and a back door flush draw.I wouldn’t make that play every time, but the villain had just lost a big pot, ( and berated the fish who got lucky) which meant I was almost certain I’d get his stack if I hit.The turn brought me the beautifully disguised straight and the villain called my river push with JJ.

I went to bed up about $90 and feeling quite good about my play.I felt even better when I checked the rear view mirror this morning and a really hot blonde in the car behind was smiling seductively at me.At least I thought she was smiling at me until I realised she was actually grinning at the antics of Nacho in the back….

Ok,thanks for reading.Don’t forget to register for the Bloggerment on Stars…..

Bloggerment 34: 8pm gmt/3pm est

Please steal the banner and pimp the Bloggerment! Open to all bloggers and readers.Find it under the Private tab in the Pokerstars tourney lobby.

Time to change

After extensive high level negotiations ( a couple of blog comments back and forth) Burnley Mik and I have decided to move the Bloggerment start time to 8pm.This may just be a temporary measure as the DTD game it clashes with only has a couple more weeks to run.

Last nights poker wasn't exactly a roaring success.I watched some football and then an excellent cardrunners video before starting with a $16 turbo.I had my AK beaten by A4 before pushing with 33 and running into 1010.Of course I hit a 3 on the flop,smiled a big happy smile and then watched a ten hit on the river.

The good news is that I did some searching around the net and downloaded a "vista friendly" gametime +.Gametime is the add on for Pokertracker which shows realtime stats on opponents at the table and is a vital tool for any cash game player.It now works ( at least on Bet365) and even updates as I'm playing.The lack of Pokertracker was one of the main reasons I upgraded to a new laptop and I'm delighted it now seems to be working properly.

The only problem is that I've no idea where I downloaded the vista friendly GT+ from and right now there's probably some Russian hacker playing $1000nl blindfold with my bankroll!

Sadly PT didn't help me win last nights cash session.I made one marginal call (52% fav when money went in!) for my stack with 89c on a Kh 7c 10c board.I had the straight flush draw and open-ended straight draw, but the villains K2 held up.I managed to win back some of that loss by playing more a more solid game and by using my tight image to make a couple more preflop reraise steals.

I've decided that I need to adapt my mindset and begin to think a bit more long term.Being happy about one sng win and then feeling cheesed off at a suckout in the next one is not the way to approach poker.I need to trust my game,be aware I will still make mistakes and start putting some decent poker hours in at the tables.

Before I go here a few of the latest self-help book titles designed for people in my hometown of Glasgow...


One for the Christians in Possil: God Loves You and Will Protect You, But Carry a Big Stick with a Nail In It Anyway

The Joy of Six-Packs.

Lowering Your Sexual Self-Esteem.

Confidence, Self-Esteem and Assertiveness: They Are Completely Beyond You.

Family Relationships: Dream On.

Minimising Your Potential.

Sexual Relationships and Why You Will Never Have One.

Women's Issues: Who Cares?

Depression: How to Achieve It.

Donkey tale

I watched a ton of football yesterday,dropped Nacho off and then hit the tables,playing two $16 turbos ( 18 player) and winning one of them.

At 9pm I began playing the Bloggerment and the DTD game and never really got into my stride in either.I did managed to suck out on Dudley’s Queens with my 99 but I was far from playing my best game and went out of both games after making poor calls.In the DTD game I think I reraised with AK and then called an all in versus AA and in the Bloggerment I called a raise and reraise with 1010 and failed to improve v QQ and AA.

I wasn’t really enjoying trying to keep up with the subtleties of play in both games although the chat was a good laugh as usual.I didn’t see who won the DTD game but congrats to Rob at poker4ever beating a tough opponent ( Matty) heads-up to win his first Bloggerment.

I played one more $16 with Juice and Al Eleven ( Juice made money in 4th) before finishing with a wee $5 sng at Full Tilt.Rosie went out of that one quite early ( after zooming into the top 10 of an mtt at the same time) and Juice missed the boat when registering.My heart wasn’t really in it and I was reduced to 300 chips after a daft call with 33.This seemed to motivate me and I ramped up the aggression and came back to take 2nd for a $7 profit.

The glory should be enough, but I actually wonder if my slack attitude in the $5 Bloggerment and DTD game were due to me having just won $108 in the $16 turbo I mentioned earlier.

On the life front last week was a bad week and I was feeling quite down and cheesed off for most of it.Mind you my Monday morning began with my boss in her new seat next to me.Tactics have been devised for that one.Plenty of baked beans and garlic chicken kievs etc will hopefully encourage a move!

I mentioned still feeling some sense of loyalty to the ex despite splitting over four months ago.Well when I picked Nacho up on Sat ( she was out) she had washed and left a tea-towel of mine out for me to take home.( my favourite “Wha’s like us “ towel). That seems to have been just the jolt I needed to snap me back to reality and I feel as if I have now moved on a bit more in my mind.

Righty I've just finished a big smelly garlicy chicken curry.Time to watch some footy and hit the tables...

Bloggerment 33 Open for reg....

After watching Rangers beat Caley Thistle 2-0 at Ibrox I popped home and then headed over to the s-mans for a couple of hours of ps3 Fall of Man fun.I may need to buy a PS3 at some point as it was a fine gaming experience!

On the way home I picked up Nacho and took him for a run before coming home and hitting the tables.I messed about for ages with Pokertracker ,GT+ and the trial version of Poker Ace.

I settled at a $100nl 6 max table on Bet365 and doubled my buy-in before losing most of it to a complete fish.That was frustrating, but one by one the other players left and all of a sudden it was just me and fishboy left.





I had $115 at this stage and over the next hour I slowly ground down the fishy and left with just over $200.Heads-up cash play is not something I play often, but I felt I had his measure and was calling down his bluffs with Ace high hands and make value bets with second pairs etc and in general just felt in da zone!

I should have called it a night after that, but managed to go on and lose $60 of those winnings before heading to Laddies and being coolered for another $80.I think I'm still up about $50 this week, which is obviously better than being down, but it still seems like a lot of play for not a lot!


Righty today is Bloggerment day and it's open for registration on Stars.I'll probably play the DTD forum game too, but I'm certainly not a fan of it starting at 9pm, as I prefer to focus on one game at a time when I'm not donking it up in push/fold turbos.

Stars ,9pm ,pass:donkament and all welcome as usual for the Bloggerment....

Sng icons success

I mentioned previously that sngicons hadn't replied to my email re gift vouchers.Well fair play to them because I left a comment on the icons blog of BigJoe and he not only replied very quickly ,he also agreed to pay for the second months subscription because we're( my sister and I) buying it as a birthday present for my Mum.My Mum plays mainly $6 turbos and while she does ok for a womans in her 60's ,I hope the training videos at sngicons can greatly improve her game.She was certainly delighted when I called her and told her to check her email for a birthday surprise!

I picked up a Burger King last night on the way home and remembered why I didn't own a salt cellar in my previous days as a singleton.Yes I filled my pocket with those wee sachets!

The single life also prompts other deep meaningless questions.They say if a butterfly flaps it's wings in the rainforest,the ripple effect can cause a tornado thousands of miles away.If I wash my cereal bowl and leave it to dry on the the draining board does it make any difference if I actually put it away in the cupboard or not before re-using it the next day?


When I arrived home I spent more time messing about with my new laptop, before playing a set of four $16 ,18 player turbos on Stars.I managed a 2nd,a 4th and two crashouts before moving to Bet365 and winning $15 at a very fishy $100 nl 8 seat table.

This evening I plan on visiting the s-man before picking Nacho up.The s-man and I are talking about trying to fit in a game of badminton or squash every week and I'm well up for that.I remember the first time I played squash as I didn't find it half as tough as I'd heard it was.It was only when I found out later that the ball is only allowed to bounce once ( not the two bounce rule we were playing!) that I realised it was perhaps a little harder than I had first thought!

Ok, I'm off to Ibrox to watch the Gers play Inverness Thistle.Here's a wee clip of me kicking a ball of paper around the office last week...

Monster limp

Step A and I had a fine dinner with my sister and her husband at my Mum and Dads last night, before heading up the road to the ex's where I looked after the wee one ( and Nacho) until the ex arrived home at midnight.

I deleted loads of files from my old laptop and managed to get it to play another fine cardrunners training video.Hopefully I can work out how to get 'em to work on my new laptop tonight.

I did win a quick $16 at a Labrokes $50nl full ring table after I limped with AQ from the cut off and the flop came a beautiful AAQ.There were several of us in the pot and I slow-played it, hoping someone would make a flush or straight.The turn was a Jack and when one of the villains made a pot size bet after a 10 on the river I was 90% sure he had the King, ( made a straight) so I put him all in for his last $15 which he insta-called.( expecting to split the pot probably)

I've been trying to increase my preflop aggression at the cash tables, without changing my game too much.When I limp with hands like AQ I'm not going to go broke on an Ace high flop with it.Ok,it was a miracle flop for me but part of the benefit of mixing it up and limping sometimes is the deception it offers.Too much mixing it up and all round fancy play can easily come back and bite but the whole point of poker is to deceive and sometimes the best way to do that is not by playing by the book.

Ok,thanks for reading....

Butterflies...

I'm a bit tired today as I was up until 2am downloading poker sites and software onto my new laptop.I think I'll need to speak the s-man re getting Pokertracker to work as I've got a new reg code but sql database problems.

I also downloaded a new cardrunners training video ( they didn't always play properly on my old laptop ) but I must have the wrong media licence acceptance settings as the downloads only played as short clips of lakes and butterflies! ( obviously to stop people sharing subscriptions)If you see me going all in with two red admirals in the next blogger game....

I did quickly fire up four tables and I'm now very glad my new screen is 17.5", as it makes a real difference when tiling the tables.


Thanks for the comments on yesterdays annual stats update.I'm actually quite pleased to have made nearly $5k last year and once I get Pokertracker up and running I'm looking forward to getting stuck in again this year.I plan to do more multi-tabling,take more shots and get more hands played over the next year.

I only really began playing sng's over the last year and will keep mixing it up between sngs and cash games although cash games will always be my main source of profit.

Right,no poker tonight as I'm taking Step A to my Mum and Dads and then looking after her at the ex Mrs A's place until she gets home from work at midnight....