Alea Glasgow launch

Chicken again today! That's every day this week.I'm getting sick of this.Can I not get a ham sandwich to hold up just once!

On Wednesday night I thoroughly enjoyed watching Rangers beat Hearts 4-0 with two goals from Darcheville and two from Nacho Novo.After that I headed over to the ex's to look after Step A who was in good form.We chatted about movies and music before she went to bed and I fired up a wee $6 turbo.The ex arrived home just as the money places were approaching and I ended up going out on the bubble.

By the time I arrived home it was too late to fire a turbo up so I hit up a Bet365 $50 nl 6 max cash table and won a quick $30 with KQ v Q7 on a Queen high board.

Last night was the grand opening of The Alea casino in Glasgow and my cousin and I were there as VIP guests.

Spectacular scenery! ( and that was just the ladies!)

So spectacular that it took us fifteen minutes of roulette play to notice that the guy with the stunning blonde at our table was actually Rangers goalkeeper!

The entertainment was some guy called Rhydian from the X-factor and although I'd never watched it and never heard of him, he did have a fine singing voice.He began by singing "Get the party started" and also covered "Delilah","Somebody to Love" and some Westlife song.

I've joined The Alea as a member and look forward to playing some poker there.After blowing £40 in about 20 minutes at the roulette tables I wont be taking that up as a part-time hobby anytime soon though!

When I got home last night I watched part of a cardrunners video before bed.It was funny listening to a tourney player talking about "cash game donks".I hate any form of snobbery but I have to confess that until the last few months I was primarily a cash player and always looked down slightly upon those that play only tourneys.

I'd say I'm firmly on the fence between both camps now.Cash games do require more overall skill,however sng's ( and turbos especially) require more mental strength due to the repeated nature of the beats and preflop confrontations.

Ok,I'm off to the s-mans tonight...

Chicken Coinflips

On Monday night the s-man popped over and we chewed the fat for a couple of hours before he left and I hit the tables.I was so dang tired from my weekend 5.30am exploits I was wary of not being on my best game.I began at Stars and my first exit was frustrating as I shoved 44,hit a set and still lost to a runner runner flush.

I'm not running well on the sandwich front either! I make up a weeks worth at a time on a Sunday night and freeze them.Everyday for that week I have the same sandwich.One of my colleagues suggested making up enough for two weeks and I did this.Half are chicken and cheese and half are ham and cheese.I grab a bag from the freezer every morning randomly and three times this week I've picked the dang chicken.If I lose another coinflip tomorrow and it's chicken again it may just tilt me! Check out my stats on sandwichscope....

Back to the poker and I came 2nd in the next one I played before I moved to Party for a couple more ( $22 single table turbos this time),bubbling in one and winning the other.I did attract a lecture in the chat for keeping the bubble going by reraising a shorty with AK.I had a huge stack and my reply of "I don't care " may have caused him to steam as that big mouthed idiot did end up bubbling.


Last night I attended a union meeting after work which went on longer than I expected.I logged on and saw that my good mate Al Eleven was around ( the San Jose Salmon) and we both hit the $16's.( 18 player turbos as usual)

Al took one down,made the money in another and I.....didn't!

Al had also fired up a $12 ,180 player turbo and I joined him.In the first one I was so card dead I was blinded down and actually won all in with A7h V two donks.I went on a wee run from there and was frustrated to go out 21st after shoving from the small blind with 96 and being called by some idiot and his Q7 off.He had a similar stack to me and had called for his tourney life almost on the bubble with that hand, but the standard is so low in these games I suppose it wasn't entirely unexpected.

No point ranting in the chatbox.He paid his money and can play any way he likes.It's up to me to adjust accordingly.

I fired up another and again found myself card dead.There is little room for moves and bluffs in these games, but the players drop out so quickly it really only requires a double up or two to stay in the hunt.

I had chipped up to about $5k in chips when I actually got very lucky indeed.A shortstack on the button raised,the small blind flat called and I elected to shove JJ hoping to isolate the shorty.The shorty had hee haw but the sb showed Aces and I was stunned to actually hit a Jack on the river and scoop a nice pot.

I stole a few pots,reraised a bigstacks bet with my JJ ( he folded) and also had my lucky hand ( J9!) win v a short stack.

Before I knew it I was at another final table and I sat back a bit and watched as Muppet Wars ensued and the numbers dwindled further.I'd love to say I took it down but I was quite pleased to come 4th in the end ( $158 prize).The blinds had reached a redonkulous level ( $5k/$10k with antes) and I ( $30k stack) shoved QJ and got called by the bigstacks A10.

Tonight I'm heading home to watch the Gers away game with Hearts on tv before heading over to the ex's to look after Step A until midnight.Tomorrow night it's the casino launch night and on Friday night I'm going to head over to the s-mans.

Roll on..

Fish Party

I watched Rangers dispose of Gretna with ease yesterday at Ibrox before doing some stuff around the flat and talking Nacho out for a run.( he ran,I strolled)

At 9pm it was Bloggerment time and congrats to Jjay2005 on taking down the title for the Watford posse.Thanks to all 19 runners who turned out to play.

I came 8th and really only played a couple of key hands.Last weeks winner ,Lukkybugr,raised from early position and I woke up with KK.I was tempted to make a standard reraise but decided a shove would look more like I had AK/AQ.Lukybuggr called with 66 and my cowboys held.

I managed to stay afloat until I limped in the sb with ( may have been bb,I'm not sure) with Q9 and faced a tough laydown on the turn when reraised on a 9 10 10 Q board.Cell showed A10 and I think I was only able to make the laydown because his bet looked like it wanted a call and he'd only want that if I was beaten.

That left me on about 1700,the blinds were rising and when it was folded to me in the small blind I looked down to 1010, shoved and ran into QQ in the big blind.My fantastic luck in blogger games continues!

I checked out the $16's afterwards but all the registering games were brimming with solid regulars.I don't mind playing with these guys at all, however if there are fishier games I'd rather be in them so I headed to Party for some $22 single table turbo action.

As a sidenote when I checked my miscalleneous stats on Sharky at Stars it shows that 97% of the sng's I have played in have been turbo's! The Bloggerment and RTR games must be the only standard speed games I play and they do seem very very slowwwwwww.

The Party $22 turbs continue to be softer than a last minute freekick for celtc and actually require a bit of downward adjustment compared to Stars $16's.For example ( my hand doesn't matter) a villain with 99 called me down on a board with an king and queen on it after I'd made my usual large preflop and flop bet.( which screamed I have a big piece of this!)

Bottom line is that I played about four or five turbs and only made the money when I won the last one for a small overall profit.I do love the Party fish factor but I also like knowing who the regulars are at Stars and Sharkscope doesn't seem to work well on Party either.

I'm picking my boy up again tonight,fitba' and babysitting on Wed and on Thursday I'm donning some smart clothes and heading to Glasgows biggest casino,The Alea,for the grand opening night.From what I've heard it sounds like a fantastic venue and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading.I'll be back later in the week...

Back in the Groove

After all my recent whining and moaning I finally had a good night at the tables last night!

I started out playing a few $16's with Al Eleven and once again not a lot was holding up.Just my presence at the tables seemed to act as a cooler for Al too as we both banged our heads off the variance wall.

Al was playing a $12 ,180 player turbo on Stars and tempted me into joining him.I've not played very many 180 player games because I've always felt it would be too hard to fight my way through so many donks.In that first game I semi-tilted/donked out just before the bubble with K6 ( in the bb) on a KQJ flop against slow played pocket Aces.At least I recognised I had let my game slip and I took a wee break before coming back for more.

My first big score came when I scraped a 2nd place in one of the $12 games for $396.The standard of play reminded me of the $6.50 turbs and I only came 2nd because when the bigstack shoved and with four of us left, the two other idiots called with weak hands.It was $25k chips v $240k aprox HU and I wasn't too upset at only coming 2nd.

I came 4th in my last 180 turb of the night ( $158 prize) after reraising the bigstack all in with A10.He thought about it, called with 66 and the board didn't help me.I also came 7th in another for $69.I've only played nine of of them and I'm sure the variance biatch will have a long barren run of beats just waiting for me in 'em, but right now I'm just happy to have had a decent night!




I'm also now over the $4k profit mark for sng's on Stars according to Sharkscope and have also reached my other goal of getting my Stars bankroll through the $3k barrier.

Righty,time to head off to Ibrox for the Rangers v Gretna game.Don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment....

Folding in the dark

By the time I'd had dinner last night and checked out raisetheriver I was too late for the Heads up battle organised by forum.( not like me to be late!)
I watched some crap tv and hit the tables around 10pm,jumping straight into the $16 ,18 players turbos I love and hate so much.

Once again the variance monster was kicking my arse and I simply could not get a hand to hold up.There were so many suckouts I'm not even going to begin to try and list them.The best was probably when my Aces flopped a set after a flop with one diamond and 910d runner runnered a flush.

I could feel the frustration building inside me and I don't mind admitting I began with my usual raising my eyes to the right and gazing at the ceiling whilst shaking my head, and ended up punching a cushion just to try and relieve some of the poker angst I was feeling.I was still able to look quite coldly at my own game and although I had been making the odd mistake I knew I was just running exceptionally badly and if I kept plugging away it could still come good.

I can handle losing 8-9 in a row and knowing that one win ( $108) will get me back about even and then if I can just get a little luckier I can go on and have a decent session.Once again though I found myself looking at quite a big loss and I hated knowing that even one win would hardly dent that.

From little acorns blah blah blah ....thankfully my perseverance was rewarded and I finished at 4.30am having won three and come 2nd in one game to leave me up $86 over 25 games.



I went to bed reasonably happy in the end that I'd pulled it back.No point in going over all the two outers that killed me at times.What's done is done.GG.....next!

Ok,off to pick my boy up and take him for a run at the pitches before attaching the ball and chain and hitting up Stars....

There's only one Nacho Novo!

The Nacho man did the business again for Rangers yesterday,scoring the equaliser against the Greeks with less than ten minutes to go to send us through to a tough last 16 game with Werder Bremen.It wasn't pretty to watch but it was effective.Roll on the next round!

After the game I ventured out to the local pub to join their pool club and spent an enjoyable couple of hours playing my cousin.The jukebox was playing 80's stuff and I did find it quite funny that my younger cousin thought Fergal Sharkey was a snooker player rather than a singer and had never heard of OMD or Heart.Mind you I checked with Juice later last night and he thought Mr Sharkey was a historian!! The ignorance of todays yoooth!


I've been stuffed with the cold all week and didn't really feel like playing poker when I got back from the pub.....so I fired up a couple of Stars $16 turbs and promptly got suckered again.It was especially frustrating as I'd built a decent stack on both tables before being scudded.I did manage to win one on Wed night which helps, but I feel like I've gone from making decent money in these games to treading treacle.

My main poker goal is to make as much money as possible and my next attainable goal is to break the $4k profit barrier at turbo sngs.According to sharkscope I'm at around $3.5k and it's getting very frustrating trying to get over that $4k hurdle.

Overall I reckon I handle the huge variance in the turbo games quite well but I think that mentally I'm still a long way from where I want to be.I'm also worried about my multi-tabling abilities and wonder if I'll ever be able to 4-8 table the $16's and still make decent money.

I mentioned I've not been enjoying the turbos recently.Why do I play them? $$$$$! I've got my Rangers season ticket to pay for in May ,my car insurance in June and I'd quite like to use poker profit to get a holiday and pay next years council tax bill.

I did hit a Bet 365 $50 nl 6 max table after last nights turbo beats and although it was only a short 20 min session and I only won $20,it really felt good to be playing some post flop poker for a change.

Ok,Don't forget to register for Sundays Britbloggerment.Open to all bloggers,readers and friends of bloggers and readers!

One in Four

I played a few more $22 turbos at Party on Monday night and made a tiny profit.Last night I watched a CTS video on cardrunners.I must have viewed over 50 vids so far and on most of them I can understand the reasons behind the poker pro's moves, however watching one of the very best step down ( he usually plays in the highest nl games available) to play at $10-$20nl was like watching a game from a different planet.Not much use in terms of helping my game directly but it was truly fascinating to get an insight into his thought processes as he plays.

I've often pondered here as to why it seems to take me so long to begin playing most evenings.I don't usually start until after 10pm although once I start I feel I could play all night.( and usually do at the weekend!)

Last night I think I found my answer.I don't actually enjoy playing poker very much most of the time!I may win overall, but even at the turbos, I only get in the money on average one game in every four.I may have racked up more wins than any other finishing position, but the majority of the time I face soul sucking bad beats and when it's not a bad beat it's running into a bigger hand.

I only played four $16 turbs last night and had my Queens busted by K6 sooted calling and flopping a flush in one of them,ran 99 into 1010 in another and had my Kings cracked in another.The most frustrating exit was reraising a fish on the bubble with A10.I just knew he was stealing and when he called for his tourney life with A6 the words "total domination" came to mind...until the 6 came on the turn!

No wonder I don't come home from work and immediately begin 2-3 tabling those games.They're a nightmare!

I suppose too that human nature dictates that it's the beats and losses that stick in my mind.Even on my blog I can ( see above) detail the beats and suckouts but usually just add stuff like " I also managed to win three games" without posting the hands that got lucky or where I outplayed the villains because they simply don't stick out as much as the pain of losing.

I did watch a little tv last night too.Football and an interesting programme on improving yourself.I'm not into self-help books and mumbo jumbo but one of these motivational guys said something I found relevant to my poker.Devastation in life can either destroy you or give you drive.The majority of the time bad beats etc drive me on and make me determined to deal with them by not letting them affect my game.Sometimes though there's no doubt I just feel feckin' destroyed by them,usually when I'm not feeling at my best in life generally.

Ok I'm looking after Nacho tonight and may hit the tables at some point too.Bring it on Stars random number generator....

Donkaments

Congrats to lukybuggr on winning the Bloggerment and keeping the title in Scotland where it belongs! Thanks to all 27 runners and to Mair,Surflex,Sir Al Can't Hang and everyone else who pimped the tourney this week and helped ensure a decent turnout.

I really enjoyed the game and even won a race with 910 sooted v Al Elevens 88, before normal service resumed and I had my own 88 shove over Surf's raise called by his QJ which made a straight by the river.

I assume Surf didn't think I'd shove AA/KK and as he held QJ and it was unlikely I had QQ/JJ, he felt he wasn't going to be dominated.The only hand I'd shown down was that 910s so perhaps Surf also felt I was taking a stand with a weaker hand against his fairly frequent preflop raises.Whatever the case I've no complaints.Maybe one day I'll actually win two races in a row in that dang game though!

The good news for my bankroll is that after the Bloggerment I managed a win and two 3rd places in my $16 turbo games.I came back from a tiny stack to take down the first one and even one of my 3rd place games was highly satisfying.I was reduced to under 400 chips and was sitting in 5th position, when two others had their KK and JJ beaten to move me up the payout ladder.That made a change from the shortstack always hitting their miracle card which seems to be the norm!

After a nightmare run of luck it's great to finally get back to being in profit for the month.Cutting my multi-tabling down from 3-4 tables to a couple of tables I could really focus on has probably helped, aswell as simply having a few more hands hold up over the last night or so.Let's just hope that remains the case!

Ok,I've got Nacho tonight,possibly a badminton match on Tues,babysitting on Wed and the Rangers game followed by pool with my cousin on Thursday night.

My Mums poker game also seems to be improving a lot recently, although I was very concerned to hear that she'd fallen over at ice skating and knocked herself out! Thankfully she was ok but it did remind me of the old Scottish football tale about Partick Thistle manager,John Lambie, who was asked what to do about his main striker who was concussed after a headknock and didn't know who he was."That's great,tell him he's Pele and get him back on" was Lambies advice.

Perhaps my Mum woke up thinking she's Annette_15!

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

Bloggerment 47 open..

The password is Donkament as usual, but it may be case sensitive this week as it helps filter out the donkeys....( or cos I set it up donkey style!)

I've not much to say today.Yesterday I fell out with the ex over money which is a shame as we'd been getting on well and I've even had dinner there a few times with her and Step A.We've spoken today though and can hopefully keep things on a civil footing from now on.I don't think she reads the blog but her poisonous pal is net savvy so I'll not go into detail.

After a rocky start to my poker last night,I came out on top overall ,making $117 profit over 18 games.I still feel I'm not running at all well but at least I'm now only $30 down at Stars since the start of Feb.It was also good to catch up with Al Eleven in the chat thing and I'm looking forward to Al bringing his own unique brand of troutery to tonights Bloggerment!

I also enjoyed the s-mans company last night and we're hoping to get some badminton arranged for next week.I went down to Kilmarnock for the Rangers game today and my cousin and I watched us win 2-0 to stay 4 points clear at the top of the league.It wasn't pretty to watch but that's 8 league wins in a row and that could prove to be title winning form if we can edge out our rivals in the upcoming Old Firm games.It was funny listening to the derranged celtc fans calling the radio phone-ins to accuse the refs in Scotland of being biased.They've won the league over the last two seasons and not a squeak, but the moment Rangers regain our rightful place at the top and it's all a conspiracy against them.

Ok,just eaten a fine sausage supper ( 2 sausages in batter with chips) and it's time to make my sandwiches up and then hit the tables...

I run so goot...

I really enjoyed the RTR league game last night.Congrats to Burnley Mik on winning the series.It was between BM and Rickyrosa and it was fun reraising BM until Ricky had his Aces busted and BM had the title in the bag!

I continued to run badly and bubbled in the RTR game after my JJ was rivered by 22.I hit up a $6 turbo with Juice afterwards and bubbled in that one too, before Juice headed off and I ran into beat after beat to go about 0/12 without cashing.

I think the forumla for beating turbos is probably about 30% skill,30% luck and 40% emotional control.My Stars roll at the beginning of Feb was $2742 and at one point last night that had been reduced to $2382 and I felt like I'd never cash again!

I even remembered Kats rebuy donkament but I was in poker hell at the time,3 tabling and getting scudded at every turn and was in no mood for light hearted fun and rebuy donkery!

I told myself to keep playing as well as I could and thankfully I managed three wins which meant I actually finished the night up $82 over 18 games.I hit the sack about 4am because my neck was really stiff and painful.Thankfully it feels far better today.

I only have about £1200 outstanding on my credit card at the moment and I'm due a cheque from the insurance company for £700 ( after the ex's car was torched a while back) which will go towards that.I've just withdrawn $1000 ( £509) from Ladbrokes to completely clear the card balance.( for now!) It seems daft to have about $7k online at various poker sites when I'm still paying interest every month to a card company and I don't intend playing much at Laddies from now on.I'm also hoping the poker will pay for my Rangers season ticket in May and car insurance in June.( not likely if my luck doesn't change!)


The plan today is to pick Nacho up shortly before heading home for more poker and a visit from the s-man later.Until then,I'm off to the discoland...

All Greek to me

We drew 0-0 with the Greek league leaders at Ibrox on Wed night and after the game I headed over to the ex's to look after Step A.

Last night I picked Nacho up and taking him a long walk ,I hit the $16 turbo's slightly earlier than usual at around 9.30pm.I wish I hadn't bothered!
On table one I folded AK to a shove early on and would have flopped a straight.On table two I pushed preflop with AK and ran straight into AA.At higher levels there's probably an arguement which says my shove is -ev ( not profitable) as I'm only going to get called by a better hand, but at $16 I'd expect calls from AQ-A10,k10-KQ and may well force small to medium pairs to fold or take a coin flip.

I had my Aces busted by Q7 soooted in the next game and crashed out of two more before Stars sng lobby once again showed no new registering games.

I was enjoying listening to the RTR podcast ( if you're reading this Splunk ,I look forward to more reraise steals this Sunday in the Bloggerment!)and remembered a thread from the forum on soft sng sites.Oh and before I forget congrats to both Burnley Mik and Yorkie Pud on the news they are going to become Dads! wp lads!

I hit up the fish pool that is Party poker and fired up a couple of their $22 ,one table turbo's and was pleasantly surprised at the fishy standard, taking into account it's a small step up from my usual $16.I crashed out of the first two before winning the last one and although I was feeling quite at home on Pokerstars,I'm going to mix it up with plenty more $22 turbs on Party from now on.

Tonight is the final RTR league game and after coming a close second last season,I've not really been at my best or most focussed in the games this time around.Missing two rounds and playing one at the s-mans ( complete with smoke breaks) may not have helped. I'll be registering shortly...

Ok,quick one from the paper before I go:

News from the American primaries, where voters were polled on whether they thought Bill Clinton campaigning for wife Hillary was helping, or hindering, her campaign. Fifty-nine percent said hindering, 39% said helping, and 2% said: "He never told me he was married!"

Ebb and flow

On Monday night I only played one wee $6 ,45 player turbo ( didn't cash) as I was over at the ex's looking after Step A and Step A's pc is slower than a week in jail.Step A was also playing the Sims on her Nintendo and I was amazed that a kid could be kept busy for so long simply building virtual stuff for her simms world.I did really enjoy spending time with her and I even got a hug later before I left.( that may have more to do with the £10 I gave her towards a swimming outing this week!)

Last night I chatted to my sister on the phone before watching an excellent cardrunners sng video.The pro ran through several ICM calculations and although I've dabbled with ICM calculators in the past,I'd always thought I needed to fill in the chipstacks etc manually everytime.I've now learned you can simply import the hand history detail and the sng tool does the rest.

It was fascinating to discover for example the exact optimum calling range against an any two card shove from an opponent.( usually applies during the latter stages of sngs)I'd always gone for A7 and above and it seems my instincts were not far off.

ICM tools ( Independent Chip Modelling)are only really effective if the hand ranges assigned to opponents are accurate.An aspect touched on by the pro and one of the main strengths of my own sng game is getting into the ebb and flow of a particular game and making moves ( + ev or not) to ensure that my stack never gets too low and that I'm always in with a chance of making the money.

ICM doesn't take into account factors such as the blinds going up in the next hand and sometimes seemingly -ev shoves have to be made to stay afloat in these games.It's those moves I find far more tricky when I'm playing more than three tables and have little idea of my opponents calling ranges.

Feeling inspired by the video,I fired up a couple of $16's ( usual 18 player turbos) and came 3rd and 4th for $49 profit.I was actually rather annoyed by the 3rd place finish as I was the big stack,shoved AK and was called by A9.The seemingly inevitable 9 duly arrived on the river.I had AK sooted ( and less than 1k chips) on the very next hand and managed to run into QQ which considering there were only three of us left seemed damn unlucky.

On reflection I can't be too unhappy at making $49 profit for less than an hours play.No point in torturing myself with ifs,buts and maybes.

I did hit a Laddies $200 nl full ring table for a quick half hours play before bed and although I made a miniscule $3 profit ,I didn't feel at all intimidated by the players or stakes.I think watching the cardrunners vids and seeing the mistakes made at that level has shown me that $200nl is not always the shark pool I'd expected.

Ok, off to Ibrox tonight to watch Rangers play Panathanikos in the Uefa cup and then back to the ex's to look after Step A until midnight....

Back to the 6 max...

After the excitement of cleaning the flat and doing a washing,I was ready to hit the tables,starting with the Bloggerment.I came 5th after shoving Q10 and being called by A6d.Congrats to Weegem for taking it down and thanks to all who came out to play.

I was all ready to hit the $16 turb's, but the Stars sng lobby was down.As soon as the shaking and cold sweats had subsided, I decided to get back to the cash games which were always my main game until just a few months ago, when I caught the turbo sng bug.

I won a quick £5 at Littlewoods £100nl before the table died.I've only got the £25 I deposited at 'Woods to play the RTR league games and although I hate the software and colour,the rakeback deal ( via rtr site banner) is brilliant and well worth a look.

I checked out Ladbrokes and was once again disappointed by the low average pots on offer.Bet 365 was a far jucier proposition and I hit up a $50nl 6 max table for the first time in ages.It went well and I left $80 up.It would have been $130 and I'm still debating getting it all in preflop with QQ v AA.

One of the other villains commented on my play and prehaps I was still shaking off the last of my usual turbo sng and it was a little loose.I enjoyed replying "ty table captain" to the wee lecture, although when looking at the average Bet365 donks all in range, ( he was new to table so no reads)I don't think it was the worst move ever.

Tonight I'm about to have dinner and then head over to the ex's to look after Step A.Hopefully I'll have a net connection and be able to get a few games in...

Fast as a shark

Don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment.See above for details.Anyone and everyone is more than welcome to play in it.Find it under the "tourney" and then "private" tab at Pokerstars.Starts at 4pm est ( 9pm uk time) in the Stars lobby.

I can't believe I forgot Kats Friday night donkament again! I was chatting to Dudley and Mair and mentioned it to them about 20 mins before the start time ( 2am at Full Tilt ,late on Friday nights)and by the time it came back into my head it was 2.20am!Next week....!


Yesterday went quite well.I was at Ibrox to watch Rangers beat Falkirk 2-0 and afterwards I did my weekly shopping and picked Nacho up.

After dinner, I watched a couple of cardrunners vids and then hit the tables.My good mate,Al Eleven,left a comment recommending I focus on just one table instead of multi-tabling and I pretty much dismissed it because the only way to make decent money at sng's is by playing a load of tables at the same time.On reflection though,I think Al had a good point especially when I'm running as badly as I am at present.

When I multi-table I think I loosen up too much and try and make things happen a little too often when more patience is required.I can play 2-3 turbo's at once which I suppose is still technically multi-tabling, but I'd love to be able to play at least 6-8 tables with the same ease.Perhaps that will come with time ( 3 tables seemed impossible a few months ago)or perhaps playing more than 3 tables just doesn't work for me.

I was 2-3 tabling the $16's for most of last night and made $267, which helps claw back some of my losses over the last week.For the most part I felt I was running better too ( which wouldn't be hard after last week) and in one game in particular I had a $12k stack when the final table came round and actually remembered what it was like to be on a heater, as hand after hand actually held up or sucked out.Coming 4th in my next game after getting the money in on my bb with A3 v A4 on an A310 flop, only to see a 4 fall on the river soon brought me back to reality,as did shoving 44 in the sb into the bb's QQ to bubble in another game.

Overall though it was a decent nights work.I even managed to squeeze in a wee $6 turbo with Juice, which he took down fairly easily with an Epic performance....Ok maybe not epic but it gives me an excuse to post this old Faith No More classic...



I've a couple more links to post before I head off and take Nacho up the road.The first is from Tony G's blog and has nothing to do with poker.It's a webcam from a game reserve in Africa and I love it! When I logged on last night it was pitch black and there was only the sound of crickets ,which instantly reminded me of chilling out on hotel balconies on many a happy holiday.Sitting back with a smoke and a beer,gazing out to sea with just the sound of crickets for company is a scenario I don't think I could ever get bored with.

I'd better post the last video, as that's where the title for the post came from.Nothing to do with Juice taking down that $6 last night!

Here's Accept with Fast As A Shark..

Genius at work vid...

I saw this link on Luckos blog earlier and it's the best poker vid I've seen in ages.You'll have to have watched a Cardrunners or pxf vid to really appreciate it...

The beats go on...

I chatted to Rosie for a wee while last night before a friend popped over for a wee smoke and the usual fine banter.Many things can seem more amusing after a little herb and the sight of my friend donning a rubber glove to ensure his fingers didn't carry any smell home with him certainly tickled my funny bone.

After he left I hit the tables and continued to be screwed over at almost every turn.I kept Klopzis comment about staying positive in mind and managed to only lose $45 over 18 games but once again if the team from Candid Camera had jumped out from behind my sofa and asked me to "smile",I wouldn't have been too surprised!

I four tabled at times but mainly stuck with 2-3 which allowed me to play better and pick up some reads on the villains.Looking closely at my own play,I felt I was on form and playing well for most of the night.In fact I take it as a positve that my luck could run so very badly and yet I only dropped $45.That may seem odd, however I've been playing long enough to recognise a cold streak and that is most certainly something I'm having to deal with right now.I was almost tempted to make another video on the subject of running badly and playing through it.

My Stars roll is down nearly $400 this month and I'm determined ( cards willing) to get that sorted as the downswing I'm on can't last forever.It reminds me of my first casino visit on my 18th birthday.I worked as a driver for a Chinese restaurant and the owners took me for dinner and some roulette.As I ate a fine steak and chips I could see display boards which showed the numbers/colours that had come up at each roulette table.I had no idea of ( still not much of a clue)how probabilty worked and everytime I saw there had been a streak of 10-15 red or black numbers coming up in a row,I wanted to dash up to the gaming floor and bet the other colour as the red or black streak just had to be on the verge of ending...

I'm trying to view my recent downswing as just being one of those statistical streaky runs.If red was winning a coin flip or even an 80/20 then my display board just happens to be very black with only the occasional red thrown in.Apart from staying emotionally stable ( not tilting) there's not much I can do other than to keep banking my $3 Sklansky bucks profit per game and hope there's more red appears on my personal display board sometime soon.

I don't like getting myself so tired ( see last Sundays pathetic self-pitying post) that I can't retain a sensible perspective on the game but I suppose most poker players find that occasionally it all just seems so damn tough at times.

I have discovered the joys of Ginseng tea this week and now drink a few cups of it per day along with the green tea I've also been drinking a lot of recently.One of the cardrunners vids talked about drinking tea to help the mind.( talked about using excercise too but one thing at a time!)I honestly believe the mental boost these teas give can really help with focusing and making correct decisions at the tables and in life.It's hard to describe but they seem to help with an overall feeling of wellbeing and positivity.Maybe there's a reason the Chinese have been drinking them in one form or another for over 5000 years...

Hmm just checked my post and there's an invite for the grand opening of the Alea casino in Glasgow on Feb 28th complete with champagne reception and entertainment.I reckon I fancy a bit of that!

Ok,time to drop Nacho off shortly before hitting the tables to see if the good people at Riverstars have come up with any new unique ways to piss me off even further at their tables....

Much more and I run away....!

Glasgows biggest casino opens

I returned from seeing a man about a dog last night and hit the tables,only for my downswing at $16 to continue as I went 0/5 without cashing.Not being able to win a race,running into monster hands and having donks insta-calling my raises with Ace rag and hitting against my high premium pairs was the story of my night once again.

I am looking closely at my own play and in truth I don't think I've been anywhere near my best this week.Not tilty but perhaps playing slightly scared in some games and trying to correct that by being too gung-ho in others.

I should be able to squeeze a few games in tonight as I've booked a days annual leave for tomorrow.Looking forward to hitting tables and listening to Buddydank radio or my trance tunes.

Big thanks to Mair and Sir Al Can't Hang for pimping the Bloggerment.Feel free to use the banner from the other day and join 'em!

I'm still no nearer to organsing a date for the next home game although it's looking like being in March now.Perhaps we should hold it at Glasgow newest ( and biggest) casino which is now open.The Alea Glasgow looks great and I like the fact you can get in wearing jeans, as UK casinos have usually always had a very strict dresscode.I know they are into their poker though I'm not sure yet what kind of format their tourneys will use.Watch this space!

Ok,I was lucky enough to be able to get tomorrow off work.Time to walk Nacho,chill out and hit the tables...

Nine tabling micro turbs

I was too tired to play much poker on Monday night and last night I decided to have some fun at the tables.I opened nine $1.75,18 player turbos and messed about between tiling and cascading them.I think I played about 20 games in total and made a tiny profit overall.I quite enjoyed the fast paced nature of it all and managed to only time out a couple of times.

These days I wonder why I play poker.I feel like I'm torn between playing for pleasure and trying hard to make some decent ( for a low stakes player) profit for the year.

I did warm up for my nine tabling by playing an $11 turbo on Full Tilt.I'd been watching a cardrunners vid on sngs and the pro was talking about how people shoving all in early in sngs usually have a hand like AK/AQ.I had 99 on the button and when folded round to the cut-off,he duly shoved.I decided he wouldn't do that with AA/KK/QQ and that I'd take a coin flip and try to double.He showed AK and my nines held.It felt good to be right about his hand but I'm not sure that overall it was a wise call.

I did enjoy a situation which developed at one of my $1.75 tables when we reached the bubble and one of the players had been sitting out for most of the game.I had a marginal chip lead and began raising every pot when I was first to act or it was folded to me.

The blinds were high and I soon had double chipstack of my nearest rival and I continued to pound the table,raising almost any two cards.This prompted my fellow donks to get very annoyed, asking if I wanted the player sitting out to win and telling me I didn't know what I was doing.With a big stack on the bubble I'd have played the same way regardless of the sitting out player and eventually the most steamed up donk called light and crashed out 5th which I found highly amusing.

Just back after dinner at Mother Acorns where I had to laugh as my Mum whispered to me that she'd slipped £10 in my jacket pocket to pay for her sngicons subscription for the month!( don't tell Father Acorn!)

Ok,thanks for reading....

Mon Update

I was wary of hitting the tables again yesterday and after crashing out of two $16's when my premium pairs were busted by Ace rag, I still wasn't feeling much love for the game.I scraped 4th place ( top four pay from eighteen players) in my last game and began playing the Bloggerment later with very little confidence that my luck would change.I was right!

Congrats to Riggstad who took the title back to the USA after romping to victory.Next week though,it's coming home!Thanks to all 24 players who showed up.

I didn't play many hands in the game.I did repop a raise and got all in with AK v AJ and A5.I wasn't exactly surprised that the A5 flopped two pair.I went out 9th when I shoved 88 into KK.

I played a $6 with Juice ( cheers for the pep talk mate) later and this time my KK was busted by 22 ( all in preflop).I was going to fire up three or four $16 games, however I decided to try and just focus really hard on a couple instead.

Thankfully I managed a win and a 3rd place to end my evening.I was still a bit annoyed at the 3rd place as it was another suckout which sent me out, although after the weekend I've had at the tables, I was just quite relieved to finish with two in the money finishes.

I still wish I hadn't felt so bad yesterday.I have other things on my mind too, but I shouldn't let poker affect my general mood as much as it seems to.Poker is a game where emotion needs to be left behind and cannot be results based only.Looking back over my nasty weekend of variance I wonder if perhaps I was seeking out too many races and all ins at times.( looking to confirm to myself just how badly I was running)

Anyway back later in the week...

No Fun

I did enjoy catching up with Al Eleven on the chat thing for the first time in ages last night,but the rest of my weekend has been pretty crap.Johnny Rotten finished the Sex Pistols last ever gig by asking "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" If I hadn't been playing the game of life for 35 years and poker for over three years,I'd be asking the same question.



My mood and poker downswing were so bad last night there was nearly a two word blog post today.I quit.

I played 38 games last night and lost $212 to leave me stuck $300 already this month.I've always known turbos are brutal,however last night took not just the biscuit but the whole damn biscuit factory.I've run badly before on runs of 0/20 and 0/22 without cashing, however even those runs didn't feel as bad as last nights perpetual onslaught.A couple of mislicks also cost me too.I felt sorry for the guy with two pair against my rivered straight until the chips all went to him and it clicked with me that I'd totally misread the board.I also managed to auto fold my small blind ( folded to me)when the big blind was sitting out and I really needed chips.

To continue the theme of doom and gloom, the company I work for are shafting us all by removing our flexi-time and introducing a rota we must adhere to.Of course they're not actually removing our flexi offically as that would mean buying out our contracts.

They state "business needs" as the reason, but although many parts of the business are online ( phone monkeys) we're an offline team and there is just no need for us to have more people covering 8am starts and 6pm finishes.The only consolation is that I deal with business customers and I still won't need to work beyond 6pm or at weekends.

Ok,that's enough whinging and moaning for one post.Don't forget to register for tonights bloggerment on Stars at 9pm...

What would you like to hear again?

This will be the bloggerment banner from now on so feel free to steal it and pimp the game!

I headed over to the s-mans last night for plenty of Call of Duty 4 and even a little poker.Blizzards were forecast so I headed home just as it looked like it was about to start.

It turned out the only storm brewing was for me at the tables when I hit 'em up.I'm not in the habit of posting a list of unlucky hands as I know they make peoples eyes glaze over, but after dropping $90 last night I need to get these out of my system.Looking back now in the cold light of day,I actually feel quite reassured that my decisions were mostly good and as a poker player that's all I can control, so I can't be too unhappy.These were all $16 ,18 player turbos and my net loss was $90 for the night.

1) AK lost all in preflop to QK sooooted
2) With four left I called a shove with A10 and lost to A4.
3) 1010 V AQ : rivered Ace
4) Shoved AJ,called 55 ,lost.
5) 99 v KJ,Jack on turn.
6) Limped 66,folded to raise and reraise.They had AA and AK. Flop K 6 6 .....nooooooo!
7) KK beaten by AQ rivering a straight.
8) 99 v A9 ,Ace on flop.
9) HU:Shoved K5 ,called by Q10 and came 2nd in that game
10) JJ V A10,I hit a set on the flop...but he makes a straight on the river.
11) Last hand of the night.I shoved 66,run into KK which flops quad cowboys.

These are all fairly standard stuff in turbos and it only required one or two of those hands to hold up to have made a decent profit overall.That didn't stop me wanting to put my fist through the laptop after the last hand!

Ok,I'm off to pick up Nacho as soon as I stop finding classic old Skool hardcore tunes on youtube to listen to!