Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy Hogmany + stats

Ahh the holiday season is great!I've just had my breakfast at 3pm after being up until 7am chatting with Rosie and playing poker.More on the poker later.Tonight the s-man may be popping over and I'll have Nacho for company too as the ex is working.

I just wish I had one of these to get me to Bristol..



I've had a good Xmas, especially last weekend,and it's been a million times better than I thought it would be before I moved back to my flat, after splitting from the ex in June.The highlight of my year ( by a mile) was meeting up with fellow bloggers ( and one special one in particular *)for our recent home game.Good times indeed!

To borrow a deep meaningful phrase from Terminator 2,maybe there really is "No fate but what we make".Perhaps I've been too guilty of letting life happen to me over recent years rather than making things happen myself.I intend on making the most of 2008.

I've also played quite a bit of poker over the festive season and watched a few cardrunner training videos.I was inspired by "dauts" video of him playing 20 tables on Pokerstars.I've always "tiled" my tables when playing more than one, but he was "cascading" them and yesterday I tried playing 6 at a time at $6 level and found it quite easy to keep up with the action.

I played three sets of six games and came out ahead despite seeing more bad beats than I thought possible.The beauty of playing so many tables was that there was no time to dwell on the suckouts, as there was always another decision to be made.Sometimes I only had time to make the decision and never even got to see how the cards fell,only finding out when I observed my improved chip stack, or the "thanks for playing donkey,you're out" message flashed up.

I'm actually quite excited by my 6 tabling exploits because the only way to make any decent money at sng's is by multi-tabling.My roi ( zagga at 'Stars) is currently 20% after 789 games ( require at least 1000 games for it to mean much) but at $3 profit per game I'd be better off serving up burgers than playing just one table at a time.I've been multi-tabling three tables at $16 level and although I'm not sure 20% is sustainable ,adding more tables should increase my overall profit.

I certainly wouldn't mind having the stats of a few of the regulars I play with.Powelljam,T Almedia,NUstarnes,The Big Ern,vgreen,spacegravy,patpritt,albatross77,Tim'sQTpie,roachclips,sharkzilla and roberts34 are just some of those guys who have stats I can only dream of!

I do still consider myself primarily a cash game player, but I have the turbo bug and despite the nasty variance that prevails in these games,I think I'm hooked!

Thanks to all 15 players who turned out for the Bloggerment last night and congrats to Matty for taking it down again after another fine showing.I came 9th after shoving AQ into Hammerheids AK.

Monthly stats update: Pokerstars $1741 ( + $548) ,Bet 365 $550 ( - $503),Party $1614 ( -$54), Pokerroom $36 ( = ), Full Tilt $424 ( + $74) ,Ladbrokes $1600 ( =).Total $5965 ( + $65 for month)

Not a great overall profit figure, but I suppose without that one donkey AQ cash hand I posted about on Sun 16th, the stats would have looked far better.I made some decent profit from the turbos though and for the first month in ages,I never played a hand at fishy old Ladbrokes!


Enjoyed this clip posted over at Notedpokerauthority.Time to teach Nacho some new tricks eh....





Ok,I'm off to enjoy the rest of my holiday and blogging break.All the best to all bloggers and readers for the new year.Lang may yer lum reek...**


* Not bloody Juice!

** Which means long may your chimney smoke and originated when people had coal fires and if the chimney was smoking it meant that you could afford coal and keep warm.

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Pimpage

My Xmas/New Year blogging break isn't over yet, but I thought I'd throw out a wee post tonight as I'm at a loose end.

First up don't forget the Britbloggerment poker tournament is running on Pokerstars as usual this Sunday.Find it under the "Private tournament" tab.It starts at 4pm est/9pm gmt and the password is "donkament" as usual and it's only $5.50.

I thought I'd use my 750th post to pimp a few non-poker blogs I read on a quite a regular basis,afterall this is a poker and life blog and there are ( yep,it's true) some fine non-pokery blogs out there too.

In no particular order and with a few words as to why I like them:

Mousethinks is an excellent blog written by a nurse working in a casualty dept.Very humorous and very touching at times.

Londoncabby does what it says on the tin.You can almost smell the exhaust fumes...

Emmahardy If it was a book,her blog would be a page turner.Very honest and forthright.


Oldageisabitch Frequently updated and well written blog.I think I like it because her life/blog just seems so completely different to mine and the usual stuff I read.

Random acts of reality Top class writer working for the London ambulance service.Easy to work out why this blogger has had a book published.

Iamlivid My kind of humour.Unlike those descriptions next to crap sitcoms in tv guides describing them as "hilarious",this blog really lives up to that billing.

Privatesecretdairy Some excellent satire here and a great cast of characters.The comments are usually worth a look too, although this was the first blog where I noticed some sort of uber ghey competition to be first to leave a comment."oooh I'm first" etc.Wtf is that all about?!

My boyfriend is a twat
Not long discovered this blog, but I'm glad I did and will hopefully waste some fine workplace producivity time reading it's archives!


Ok,I'm off work until Jan 7th and will probably continue my blogging break until around then too.( possibly will do a monthly stats update on 31st for my records)

Thanks for reading...

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas

The weekend was great ( apart from getting lost twice on the way back from Glasgow airport!)and now I'm busy with last minute stuff for Xmas.

Thanks to all who turned out for the bloggerment last night and congrats to my mate Al Eleven for taking it down with an outstanding display of troutery! I hope that bridesmaid dress fits Dudley.

After a run of poor bloggerment finishes I decided not to try and mix it up as much and eventually bubbled after raising with AQ and running into 1010 and AA.

I'm taking a wee blogging break for a week or so.( long overdue!).Merry Xmas to all bloggers and readers out there.Have a good one.....

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Zombie

I'm tempted to change my blog title to "Zombie mans poker n life blog" after another late night last night.( 3 am) At least I'm a happy zombie!Just over 24 hours until Rosie arrives, and this evening I shall be mostly cleaning and doing washings.My Mum has advised trying to keep the fact that I'm a total slob a secret from Rosie for as long possible!

My new front door is being installed right now though, and my dishes gamble has paid off, as my Mum has done 'em!

I did watch a couple of cardrunners videos last night and they were both up to the high standard I've come to expect from that site.Sometimes it seems the pro players are all running hot when filming.It was nice to see a video where the pro wasn't hitting everything and was saying the same sort of stuff about "sklansky dollars" that us low limit players say after a bad beat!

As mentioned when I arrived home I was up chatting until 3am.I did play one $16 ,18 player turbo and was quite pleased to take it down, as there were quite a few of the tougher regulars playing in it.There were ( according to Sharky) only five losers from eighteen in the game which is unusual as these games are usually a donk fest.

Tonight I'm picking Nacho up and getting to my bed by midnight at latest! I've been blasting some of this to wake me up on the way to work.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

You Scumbag....

...you maggot,you cheap lousy faggot.....

Best Xmas song ever by a mile.I can't believe Radio 1 even thought about censoring it!




I've mentioned previously that I don't recall ever berating a fish in a poker chatbox for the simple reason that to do so is like celtcs away record in the Champions league.( almost completely pointless!)

I prefer to simply let the fishies actions speak for themselves and people can make up their own minds on the moves they make.I plan to continue that policy!

Mr Cloud has been in touch as I'm next on the list to try the raisetheriver $10 challenge.The idea is to try and make as much profit as possible within 3 1/2 hours and I'm quite looking forward to giving it a try.I'm gonna gamble with it, and may two table $5 cash tables ,or 3 table $2 turbos if that's within the rules.It may be the quickest $10 ever busted online!

Over the last two nights I've been playing $6 turbos with a few $16's thrown in, and although I placed 1st and 2nd in a couple on Monday night,last night was cashless.That's just the way turbos are though.One win or good itm ( in the money) finish has to see me through 4-5 games ( on average) of lost races and bad beats.

Tonight I'm heading up to the ex's place to look after Step A whilst the ex is out working until midnight.I've downloaded a few cardrunners training vids to watch as the tv is crap tonight and I have no net access.

Meeting up with Rosie again on Friday and it just cannot come soon enough for me.Less than 48 hours ( nearer 38!) to go...

Ok, back soon..

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Supercaleygoballistic,celticareatrocious

Last night I ate a happy chicken for dinner and logged on ready for the Bloggerment at 9pm.Thanks to all 18 people who turned out for last nights game, and well done to Burnely Mik for taking it down.

I've been on a poor Bloggerment run recently and last night was no different.Amatay had raised ( again) and when Hammerheid reraised I didn't put him on a big hand ,as I thought he was probably taking a stand against Amatay.He was...with KK and my AK was no good.I only just avoided the monkey as I crashed out in 17th.

I played a short knockout mtt with Rosie on Full Tilt before returning to the $16,18 player turbos and some two tabling.It seemed like I couldn't win a hand and at one point I went 0/8 without cashing and attained "super tilt" status on Sharkscope.A sick part of me actually welcomes that kind of adversity.I've been playing long enough and have seen enough donkery in these games to stay on my game and keep plugging away until it comes good.

Whilst they were horrible to go through, I feel my previous runs of 0/13,0/20 etc ( without cashing in a sng) have helped me to deal with nights like last night.The good news is that I managed a win, a few more in the money finishes and my form is now "hot" on Sharky.

Met up with my sister tonight and hopefully I'm now just about sorted for Xmas presents.Xmas is coming early this year as Rosie arrives on Friday! I'm gambling on Mother Acorn doing the dishes when she's here for the new front door being fitted on Thursday, but I've still bit of work to do round the flat before the weekend.

Almost forgot to mention what a fine weekend it was for Rangers too,winning 2-1 at home to Hearts while celtc could only lose 3-2 to Inverness.This leaves us 2 points behind but with two games in hand.Long way to go yet but maybe,just maybe the league flag will be coming home this season.

Ok,the s-man is popping round shortly,Nacho needs a walk and I've not heated my dinner yet!

Back later in the week...

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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Bloggerment 39 open!



All welcome!

Bodog are also running an online poker tournament for poker bloggers on a Tuesday night at 9.05pm Eastern Time.( 2am Wed for us Brits).

Yesterday I watched Rangers beat Hearts 2-1 at Ibrox after their dodgy goalkeeper fumbled one into the net with less than ten minutes left.Everytime the guy touched the ball from then on there was a loud chorus of "Hee Haw" which reminded me of the poker tables...

After picking Nacho up, my cousin popped round just as I was having dinner and ended up staying to watch the Spanish fitba and have a couple of beers.

The moment he left I was on the IM chat thing and after Rosie went off to bed I played three $16 turbos and managed to win two of them.

Feeling good,I fired up a couple of $27 ,18 player turbos and came back to reality when I got my money in with AK v AQ on a K Q 7 rainbow flop, only for another Queen to hit on the river.In the other game I battled hard and made it down to the last seven.One guy had been playing table captain, but to be fair he was a shark and knew what he was doing.I did wish he'd stop educating the fish though!

I'm usually wary when an excellent player raises ( tight range ) but it had folded to this guy ( roberts34) in the small blind and he shoved v my big blind.I had 88,considered that he was likely to be shoving any two, ( we were both shortish stacks) and made the call, only to go out when his 107c hit the board.

There were certainly a few more good players in the two $27's I played in, but there were also still a load of donks and although I crashed out of both,I felt my decision making was ok.( which is all that counts really)

I should probably have gone to bed at that point, however I felt the cash tables calling and unfortunately for me two of my biggest poker leaks came to the fore and cost me big time.Good old "last hand ( or orbit) syndrome", where I always seem to get greedy and want to force things right at the end of a session, combined with " playing a cash table in turbo tourney mode" syndrome.

I had AQ at a $400nl table ( thought I'd take a wee shot for my last 15 mins of the night)and raised it up to $14 when folded to me.I hadn't been at the table long but had been very tight until then.I was reraised to $46 and altouugh I don't like AQ I felt the villain had been three-betting quite frequently and decided to flat call.As I'd been tight I also felt there was even more reason for the villain to 3-bet there and try and take the pot away from me.

On reflection later, I feel a 4-bet raise to $160-$200 may have been the best play as that way I would have truly followed my instinct that the villain wasn't on very big pair and he would probably have folded.

Bottom line was that the flop came Ace high and I ( cringe!) ended up losing a buy-in to AK.( both of us all in with our monster top pair!).

That was probably the biggest cash game pot I've lost in a long time ,but I still slept like a baby last night and I'm not feeling that sick about it today in all honesty.I won about $1k last month and have to be prepared for setbacks if I want to be playing $100nl and above more often.

I usually managed to mix tourney and cash play quite well with no ill effects.From now on I'll look more closely at sticking to one type of poker per night especially if taking a shot.

Ok,just about to take Nacho up the road and give Step A a lift back from her Dads too and then it's fitba and poker for me....

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Saturday, December 15, 2007

Every other Saturday...

Ahh writers block again! I'd love to title this post "Rosies coming to stay next weekend" and write about ten pages about it, but I wont! It is true though, and all I'll say is that next Friday can't come around quickly enough for me!

Yesterday we had a good laugh at my teams Xmas lunch.I don't like my job much but I do like my team ( some women behind us has apparently complained about loud swearing coming from our two banks of desks!) and it's a shame we're all about to be split up. ( not a shame to get a new manager though!)

After that I whupped the s-man at badminton once again,pausing only to tap my cigar ash between shots...

I've been crazy tired this week and when I arrived home I watched a cardrunners vid and caught 1/2 hour of sleep.I had started the reg process for Littlewoods poker through the raisetheriver site ( good rakeback deal) when I got a call that the man with the dog was ready.Not great timing and it turned out I didn't get back until just after the new RTR league season has started.I just need to deposit now and I should be there for the game after next week.( may be busy next Fri!)

I did catch up with Rosie and Mr Edge and played some unsuccesful $6 sng's ( for me anyway!) before a few more even more unsuccessful $16 turb's.Maybe I was a little rusty as I've not really played a lot over the last week, or maybe the new herbs were just a little too good!

After Rosie went to bed I hit up two 8 seat $100nl cash tabs at 365 and won $50 quite quickly.I sat contemplating how fishy $100nl was at 365 and how much more $$$ I could make before bed....when I ran a set of fours into a well disguised straight and lost $85! Didn't feel so feckin' smug after that!

My pain threshold can handle that kind of loss though ( hardly a fortune I know) and I stayed as focussed as an acorn smoking fine herbs can do at 3am after a long sleepless week!

I could route through Pokertracker for more ( I liked this one below!) but the bottom line is that I won a little back at $100 nl and a little more at $200nl and finished even at the cash tables for the night.

GAME #759940006: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-12-15 03:18:36
Table Aluminum
Seat 1: jlt2000 ($76.65 in chips)
Seat 2: besi1603 ($96.25 in chips) DEALER
Seat 4: whoRay ($49.95 in chips)
Seat 5: meimei666 ($20.00 in chips)
Seat 6: liujia ($91.00 in chips)
Seat 7: akulafish ($162.35 in chips)
Seat 9: Mendacity ($109.00 in chips)
Seat 10: leon1986 ($156.85 in chips)
whoRay: Post SB $0.50
meimei666: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mendacity [H10 H8]
liujia: Fold
akulafish: Fold
Mendacity: Raise $4.00
leon1986: Call $4.00
jlt2000: Fold
besi1603: Fold
whoRay: Fold
meimei666: Fold
*** FLOP *** [C9 HQ D4]
Mendacity: Bet $8.00
leon1986: Call $8.00
*** TURN *** [C7]
Mendacity: Bet $18.00
leon1986: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $42.25 Rake $1.25
Mendacity: wins $42.25

Just about to head off to watch Rangers play Hearts at Ibrox,go shopping,pick Nacho up,walk him, come home and hit the tables.

The Bloggerment is on this Sun and I'll set it up later (if Burnley Mik doesn't beat me to it!).

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Blind bubble

Last night Rangers managed to lose 3-0 to Lyon and crash out of the Champions league,landing in the Uefa cup.We looked outclassed during the first half and despite rallying well at the start of the second,we probably didn't deserve the point required to qualify.Of course when Lyon were 1-0 up, our striker ,Darcheville,hit the crossbar from about 2 yards out!I left the game feeling gutted and being stuck in traffic for over an hour didn't help either.

After listening to some Floyd,I fired up the IM and chatted to Rosie and Mr Edge.Rosie was at her 2nd mtt final table of the day and played very well indeed to come 8th.Meanwhile Mr Edge and I decided to copy Annette_15 and play a sng without looking at our cards.

We fired up a $1 standard speed sng and the fun began.I saw the first couple of hands as it took a while to get my post-it notes placed correctly.I then got very lucky when I raised with Q10 ( obviously didn't know it was q10) and the flop brought two tens.The villain bet into me and I shoved,expecting an early exit.

That nearly doubled my stack and the fish were knocking each other out so quickly I could probably have folded to the money.I got a little bored of that idea and was caught when I raised with J8 and lost half of my stack.

Mr Edge ( after shoving with 34 off) had gone out and I was trying to stay afloat on the bubble by shoving on the other shortstacks big blind, and betting if folded to me.The problem was that when I was called ,I had no idea where I was in the hand postflop.

Eventually I shoved with j7 and was called by Q4 ( gotta love $1 sngs) and bubbled but I did really enjoy the experience.Reraising someone off a hand when you don't know what you have is very satisfying!

Tonight I'm going to be looking after Step A and watching some more Cardrunners videos.I wasn't in bed until about 2.20am last night and I can't wait to get a lie in at the weekend and catch up on some much needed sleep.

Ok,back soon...

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Lyon tamers?



The trunk monkey email was going round the work today and I couldn't resist pinching a clip from you-tube.I want one of 'em for Xmas!


Usually I start writing my blog posts and the rubbish you read here just kinda falls onto the page.Not so this week!

It's hard to say I'm going to keep relationship stuff totally private, when I'm feeling happier than I have for years, and in many ways I want to shout about it from the rooftops! Heck this morning some old woman was doddling along in the outside lane and I was already running a bit late for work.All I could think was "any particular reason you haven't moved over?" instead of "MOOOOOOOOOOOOVE outta my way NOW biatch!".

However this is real life, not a soap opera, and although I'm really pleased people use some of their valuable time to read this blog,I'm not going to be live blogging on Rosie and I for many obvious reasons.

Back to the poker...I've not played too many games this week due to being busy and too tired to play well.A couple of 2nd places in $6 and an standard speed $11 sng and too many races lost in my usual $16's have been the story so far.

I did have dinner at my Mum and Dads last night and watched my Mum play a sng to try and work out why she still isn't beating the fish.We watched one of the sngicons videos and although it was excellent,it was a standard speed game and my Mum only plays turbos, which are a different kettle of fish.She is going to try more standard speed games and hopefully that will bring about the improvement required.

Tonight I'll be at Ibrox where Rangers need just a point against the French champions,Lyon,to progress to the Champions league knock-out stage.We beat them 3-0 over in France, but they have improved since then and it's going to be a night of high tension and nerves.The atmosphere at these type of game is superb though and I'll probably be hoarse until the weekend afterwards.

Tomorrow night I'm looking after Step A until midnight and on Friday I have my works Xmas lunch followed by a game of badminton with the s-man.

No real plans for the weekend.I just wish I could back and relive last weekend all over again....

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Monday, December 10, 2007

Home game recap...

What a weekend! I met Rosie ,Juice and Mr Edge at lunchtime on Sat and what a fine couple of geezers the two lads are.

I'm happy to share most aspects of my life on this blog, but all I'm going to say about Rosie is that I fancy her like mad and she seems to like me too!

On Sat we played some pool,picked up Nacho for a while, had dinner at the Auldhouse Arms with my cousin too, before heading back to mine to wait for Dudley and the s-man.We arrived at the Big Chaps and started our home game about 9-ish.The pace wasn’t the quickest but the laughs and the drinks/smokes were flowing and so were the beats! I remember chipping up with AA v The Big chaps 44 and also hitting a flush v him too.Rosies KK fell to the s-mans QJ and I thought his kneecaps were in trouble for a moment!

Eventually, I beat Juice heads-up in the turbo tourney when my Q2 held v his 76.We played some cash poker afterwards and headed up the road about 1am.Big thanks to the Big Chap for hosting it and to the s-man and my wee cousin for doing the driving!

The big fight didn't start until 4.30am and went pretty much as I'd expected it to.I didn't think much of the English fans booing the US National anthem.I've seen Scotland fans do it to opposition teams at Hampden before and it's always a toe curling moment for me.I thought Hatton started well and won the first few rounds but Mayweather is not the pound for pound best boxer in the world for no reason and sadly Hatton just couldn't cope with his skill in the end.

On Sunday we all drunk loads of tea and played a little pool again.My kettle started leaking on Friday night and we had to boil a pot of water to make the tea.It took around 1/2 hr to boil which is the same time it's taken every time I've made pasta since I moved back here.It took Rosie to point out that the rings on the cooker actually vary in size and I'd been using the smallest one to do my cooking on! Duh!

After dropping them off at the airport,I made it home 5 minutes late for the Bloggerment,having totally missed the DTD game.( I didn't realise I needed a password cos I'd seen my name reg in lobby earlier in week).I was far too tired ( Dudley and my cousin left just after 6am on Sun am) to be playing poker and my heart wasn't really it.HullJimi had won a couple of big hands and had been raising my big blind everytime.I picked up AJ soooted and reraised big to send a message but weegem ( tight solid player) reraised me all in and I just couldn't face rebuilding from 700 chips and decided to take a gamble,hoping I had overcards.His Kings held up.Congrats to Teaulc for taking it down in the end.

Later on Rosie and I played a $16 turbo but despite much donkery abounding ( not from us!) we both failed to make the money.

I was due to look after Step A tonight as I'm going to the Rangers v Lyon game on Wed but I've swapped the babysitting until Thursday as I have to get an early night tonight as I was struggling to stay awake for most of today.

I actually meant to get an hours sleep after getting home from work an hour ago but I wrote this up instead and now I'm off to pick Nacho up to bring him here for the night....

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Friday, December 07, 2007

Fee Fie Fo Fum...

I’ve had this great idea for a horror movie.The main character is a poker player pushed over the edge by constant bad beats.He decides to set up a poker blog and eventually lures three unsuspecting Southerners to his lair on the premise of a home game before chopping 'em up and feeding them to his handsome hound,Nacho....

Looks like it’s all coming together.Juice,Mr Edge and Rosie arrive on Sat.The plan is to head out for dinner to the Auldhouse Arms on Sat evening, before meeting up the the s-man,Dudley and my cousin before heading over to the Big Chaps for some poker.We should home in plenty of time to watch the big fight from Vegas.( Hatton v Mayweather)

I’m in a better mood today after finding out that the new seating plan at my work which had me sitting next to a right nasty biatch was actually a wind up by my workmates! I fell for it hook line and sinker.The bassas! We were also told ( this time for real) that we are getting a new big boss and she wants to mix up all the teams, so I should have a new boss and new seat soon…which is nice!

Not much to report on the poker front.A few fruitless $6 games and a 3rd place in a $16 last night.I did notice someone reply to Burnley Mik on a raisetheriver thread telling him to stop whining about bad beats when he has an roi ( return on investment) of 16% at Stars turbos games.My roi is similar, but it doesn’t stop the beats from hurting when they start coming thick and fast.It’s hard to shake the feeling that if only my luck was better I could hit at least 25% roi but that’s probably me kidding myself.You can’t beat a bit of self delusion if you’re a poker player!

Ok, Back with more posts next week.Tonight the ex is coming over for dinner and to clean my flat.I’m also popping out to see a man about a dog...

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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Britbloggerment 38...



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

Here's a pic my sister sent me of a Glasgow nativity play...


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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Sitting out....

Apologies for forgetting to post anything about the Bloggerment in yesterdays post.Congrats to Hulljimi for taking it down again! Two key hands helped knock me out.For the first I raised with 1010 and folded to a reraise and a shove.I would have been up against AK and KK but would have hit my 10 on the turn to win a huge pot.The other key hand was when I reraised all in with QQ and was called by KJ.A nasty 3 outer King on the flop and I hit the rail.I usually hang about for the chat but after my Sat night poker hell ( see previous post) I actually felt quite cheesed off about my Queens getting busted and didn’t watch any more of the Bloggerment.Thanks to all who turned out.Same time,same place this Sunday!

Last night I finally realised why it takes me so long to begin to play poker most nights and it’s quite simple really.I hate poker! At least I hate suffering beat after beat and when playing turbo’s there simply seems to be no escape.I fired up some $16’s ( 18 player as usual) and went 0/5 without cashing after yet another horrible run.No boring details but I couldn’t win a race and I couldn’t even win with hands like AA v KQ.

I told myself to get a grip and to keep playin’ em right and I would come out ahead, but I’ve been on 0/13 and even 0/20 without cashing before, and the hard cold fact of poker is that you can play like a WSOP champion and still get beaten down time after time.Determination and willpower can only take you so far.Thankfully I fired up three more and managed a crashout,a third place and win in the last one.From 0/5 despair ( ok not quite despair but the frustration was building) to a small profit overall.I did feel I actually got lucky on a few occasions in the game I won and I’ll try and remember that when thinking about the previous beats.

Not that I’m running out of ideas to post about ( ahem!) but I thought I’d mention a comment I left on BM’s latest excellent post on variance and not berating the villains in the chatbox.Although I tend to focus on my own bad luck rather than an opponents donkey call, the other reason I’ve never ever berated a villain over a bad beat is that if I’m still at the table,I feel it narrows the calling range the table will put me on.ie if someone makes a donkey call with A9 V AK and hits, typing “how could you call with a9 you idiot” simply alerts the table to the fact that I’d be unlikely to call a shove unless I had a premium hand,leaving me more open to getting my blinds stolen.As poker is an information game I reckon it’s best to keep ‘em guessing.

I did have a funny moment at a turbo tourney the other night when I raised with J8 from the small blind to steal the big blind because the big blind was “sitting out”.He/she must have “sat back” just as I raised because he called and we saw a ( lucky for once) Jack high flop.I bet out and he called on the flop ,turn and river and then berated me for raising with J8.I don’t think I mentioned I only bet because I thought he was away but it did get me thinking about using “sitting out” to gain an edge,especially during the mid to late stages of tourneys when the blinds are worth stealing.

I usually fold garbage hands anyway so the plan would require sitting out and letting the site software auto-fold for me until I picked up a playable hand,hoping someone tries to steal and quickly sitting back in and reraising.If the initial raiser is betting from the cut-off/button then they are likely to be betting quite lightly ( ie with not much) so it may not even require that great a hand to “sit back” and shove over the top with.

I’m sure there are other variations on using “sitting out” to gain an edge and I’d be interested to know if anyone has tried any or had any other suggestions.

Off to the ex’s tonight to look after Step A and Nacho.I’ll be taking my laptop and will be watching poker training videos and trying to “borrow” a wireless connection to play some poker….

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Get me out of here!

Thanks to all who commented on yesterdays post.Very much appreciated.I think tiredness,a bad wee run and being on a downer in general didn't help my mood when writing it, but I hope some humour came across too.

I had a rotten day at work yesterday and spent time in discussion with my boss over a few things.I'm feeling far better today, but didn't even eat anything yesterday until after 8 pm last night and at some points during the day I really felt as if I'd just about had enough.

I detest my job and company, but the pay is half decent and despite my sister nagging me to look elsewhere I reckon I'm stuck here for another 30 years!

Between that and dealing with staying on my own again, life could be much better.I've enjoyed the last couple of weekends though,visiting the s-man and going out for a swally last Friday.I'm also really looking forward to Rosie,Juice and Mr Edge visiting this weekend and to meeting up with Dudley,my cousin and the s-man for some live poker.Hopefully we'll be back in time to watch the big Hatton V Mayweather fight late on Sat night.

On the poker front I've not played too much.I managed to win a $6 ,18 player turbo the other night ( crashed out the other) and last night I crashed out of one and scraped into the money in the other.I also lost $30 at 365 after running a completely unbelievable bluff at a cash table!

Just eaten a nice healthy Burger King and I'm ready to hit the tables....

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Sunday, December 02, 2007

Post A or Post B: Warning foul language!

Post A:Well fuck me gently with a pointy stick.You may experience a little variance as we pass over KK getting fucked by Ace rag all night long.At least I pulled last night though.Yes,the variance biatch slowly screwed me into the ground all night long and left me gasping for ...a fuckin break! I played 18 turbo's over the last 16 hours and after only a few, I felt like I was a magician.I only needed to think of the ridiculous 2 outer card which would help my opponent beat my monster hand ....and fuckin Bingo ,it would arrive!

I had bubbles more often than Michael fuckin' Jackson and suffered so many coolers I'm thinking if sitting my dairy products on top of my head instead of replacing my busted fridge freezer.But over the long term...Shut up,I want some fuckin' short-term luck for a change.The only heaters in my flat are stuck to the walls.If only I could run as good as I seem to run badly at times,I reckon I'd be a rich fuckin' Acorn.Stars $16/$27 turbos are soul sucking donk fests and if my luck doesn't change...there will be plenty more posts like this one!

Post B: Experienced a small downswing last night.I'm sure I'll bounce back.Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.....


I began writing Post A at about 4am last night after a very frustrating night.It was quite therapeutic and helped me get a fairly horrendous run out of my system.I did play 18 turbo's ( eight were $27 18 player and ten were $16) and I did lose $124, but in reality that is quite an acceptable loss over a small sample of 18 games.I felt I played quite well for the most part and the fact I suffered so many bad beats only strengthens that feeling.I play turbos with a very tight but very aggressive style and the only glaring error I feel I made was to treat the $27's with far too much respect initially.Doomswitch asked in a previous comment if I was on tilt as I'd raised to 500 chips preflop with 88 preflop quite early in an $16 game I'd posted about.The answer was a definite no because at some really fishy tables if you want to get a hand heads up or take the blinds ,massive overbetting is required to narrow the field.( in that example I was reraised all in by 55 who hit his 5!)

My mistake at the $27's was that, initially ,I calmed my 5-8bb preflop raises down to 3-4bb expecting a slightly higher standard of player.The bad news is that I was wrong to lower my preflop bet sizes, but the good news is that standard was no higher at $27 and in some games I checked on Sharkscope it was more like a $6 game than a $27.There were only 3-4 winners in many of the $27's I played in, with more fish and weak players than I could possibly have dreamed of.Perhaps that's why I did get so frustrated at one point because ( and hope this doesn't come across as big-headed)I felt I had such a big edge over so many of them,yet I was still getting screwed at every turn.

I did manage to win one $16 and come 2nd in one $27 and I have to realise I may well run even worse than last night over an 18 game sample size again at some point.In the cold light of day I'm almost ( not quite!) pleased that I ran so badly and managed to contain my losses reasonably well.I also kept my head and didn't tilt at all which is vital when mulit-tabling especially.

I finished my poker night with a quick half hour at a juicy $200nl 8 player Bet 365 table and won $30.I reckon Amatay is right re how fishy the higher limits can be, as there were guys calling off their $200 stacks with Ace high ( AK) on the turn when drawing totally dead.

The one good thing to come out of last night was that I'm in no way in fear of playing $27 turbos and my fear of $200nl is gradually fading too.Us poker players always seem to put the players playing at a level above us on some kind of pedestal as if they know secrets about poker us mere mortals can only guess at.Watching the training videos and having played a little higher ( when you smoke like I do yer always playing higher!) I can honestly say that for the most part there's not much to be afraid of apart from coping with even bigger swings due to the increased stakes.

Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment on Stars.I'm just gonna finish a spot of redecorating first...

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Bloggerment 37 Open...




I had a fine night out with my workmates last night.Scotch Corner,The Lab and Parklane were the pubs visited.I took the 22.40 train home ( had been out since 5pm)and remembered Dudley had mentioned a drunken game so I got in touch and we hit the tables.I bubbled a $6 turb,got sucked out on in the 2nd and have no idea what happened in the 3rd one!

We both joined Kats Friday night donkament on Full Tilt and had a goods laugh donking it up with our US/Canadian friends from across the pond.I couldn't get a stack built at all until the last few minutes before the 1st break when I got lucky with QK V KK.I vaguely recall getting my stack in the middle with KK at some point later on and going out when an Ace flopped for Kat's AJ.AJ was the hand of the night and although I'd like to have won the game,my head was starting to pound by this time and I was grateful to get to bed about 4.15am.

Woke up this afternoon and found my fridge/freezer has packed in.Ordered a new one ( delivered Wed) and then headed to Ibrox to watch Rangers beat Kilmarnock 2-0.Our rivals only drew today which means they are now only 1 point ahead of us at the top of the league.

Just eaten pasta with an tasty sauce my sister gave me and if the rain ever goes off I'm going to walk Nacho and hit the tables....

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