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....