The highs n lows of a winning low stakes Sng player
Monday, March 31, 2008
Carlsberg don't do weekends.... ( + Monthly stats)
That was the best weekend of the year by several country miles.Rosie arrived as planned on Friday night and the only downside of the whole weekend was that she had to leave on Sunday!
On Saturday morning I dropped Rosie off in Glasgow to do some shopping before heading over to Ibrox to watch us beat our old rivals 1-0 through a superb Thomson goal.Great sing song at the end too...."Come on over to my place,Hey you,we're having a party".We are now 6 points clear with a game in hand, although we still have to play them twice at the large meccano set in the East end of the city.( I've got a ticket for the last one).
On Saturday night we watched a dvd ( Hot Fuzz) despite Rosie protesting that she wanted to watch the classic that is "Terminator 2" on ITV."How Arnie never won an Oscar for that performance is a mystery to me", Rosie certainly didn't say!
Hasta La Vista Baby!
If this was an anon blog I could write pages on the weekend, but it's not so back to the poker...!
Congrats to Lukybuggr on winning last nights Bloggerment and apologies to US/Canadian players for not making the start time clearer after the UK clocks went forward early on Sunday morning.
I scraped into the money in 3rd place and afterwards played a couple of wee sngs with Rosie and later with Al Eleven,winning about $90 for my nights work.( $15 at a $100nl cash tab just before bed)
I'm quite pleased with my monthly stats.March '08 is my best ever month at the virtual felt and it really feels as if I'm finally starting to take some decent strides forward on the profit front.( cue a huge April downswing!)
I wish I'd taken sngs ( and turbos in particular) more seriously in the past.I've mentioned previously that I only ever used to seem them as a welcome distraction from the cash game grind.I never ever thought I would actually make a reasonable ( for the low stakes I play) profit.If there's a lesson, it would be to break out of your poker comfort zone and try something different.One day I may even give Multi-table tourneys a proper go!
Ok,that's about it for today.I did have a laugh at the result of a charity raffle at work today when our resident Tackleberry,the man we'd all vote most likely to enter the workplace with an automatic weapon,won a £750 voucher to go paintballing....
My updated monthly poker stats are: Pokerstars $4975 ( + $1291) ,Party $1756 ( + $92), Full Tilt $718 ( + $215),Bet 365 $658 ( - $13),Ladbrokes $553 ( - $43),Pokerroom $36 ( =). Total $8696 ( + $1541 since March 1st).
Start time is currently 5pm dst ( US time) in the Stars lobby...
Step A's friend wasn't well which meant no ice skating on Wednesday night.I watched The Apprentice and tried to look impressed by Step A's Bebo page before she went to bed and I watched a poker training video.
This will be a short post as I've a million things to get done before Rosie arrives tonight around 8.30pm. As this is the same time as the RTR league game commences, Rosie has agreed to wait at the airport for me to pick her up until around 11pm or whenever the game finishes,which I thought was very reasonable.( and that'll be a flying pig just gone past my window!)
I only played four turbs last night and managed a 2nd ,4th and two crashouts.I'm still not sure about the crashouts.With the blinds at 50/100 I'd been card dead in both and shoved for about 1200 from the small blind only to run into premium hands.I could have raised less and folded to a reraise but as these moves look like the steals and there's an arguement I'll only be called by a better hand,I still like shoving as it stands to reason that the big blind is only going to have a top 10 hand every 1/10 times aprox.
There's also the small matter of the Rangers v Celtc game at Ibrox tomorrow.If we win it'll will be a big step towards bringing the league flag home,though I reckon 0-0 or a score draw is the most likely outcome.
Ok,I'm off to enjoy the weekend! Back next week....
For yesterdays post see any recent Monday offering where I offer congrats to someone ( Tan on this occasion)on winning the Bloggerment and then post a tale of woe about the 2 outer which scudded me in the tourney.Rinse and repeat every week it seems!
I had a frustrating night at the tables after the Bloggerment too,culminating with a bubble finish at a $27 turb after shoving Q10 and running into KK.
After a long lie in yesterday I took Nacho to the local pitches for a run and hit up a Party $22 turbo on my return,taking it down for $100.Party have sent the hand history and I may post it or the highlights with brief explanations if anyone is interested.
I chatted to Rosie and played a few turbs on Stars later last night.My Aces were busted several times and I wasn't running well, however I did manage to beat a player I admire headsup in my last game to finish on a high.( although he was probably playing about 14 tables to be fair!)
This week I shall be mostly trying to get the zillion things needing done around my flat before Rosie arrives on Friday.Tomorrow night I'm taking Step A and her friend ice skating.
Ok,I'm feeling a bit done in and not very inspired today so that's about it.Here are a couple of snippets from the paper which made me laugh.The second one is for Katitude...
News from America. Our Washington correspondent tells us that President Bush has told the country not to worry about the current economic downturn. As Bush put it: "If you look at the numbers overall, even though things may seem bad right now, they're actually very, very good, compared to how they're gonna be."
We overhear a teacher after a fraught day at school tell her pal: "I'm thinking of sending all the parents a letter telling them, If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I'll promise not to believe everything he says happens at home'."
Current start time is 5pm dst for US players.Now open for registration at Stars...
On Friday night I played in the RTR league game where I shoved with AK over the top of Tan's KK and made a fairly early exit.I donked around a bit and at 1am played in Kats donkament rebuy game.I really enjoy the format but the many rebuys and low blinds mean it can be a long game and eventually I managed to donk out in 6th after trying to bluff a fish who just couldn't fold his set of queens on a dry board when it was obvious I probably had nothing!
Yesterday I was at Ibrox to see us beat Hibs 2-1 before picking up Nacho,get my shopping in and heading home for a chat with Rosie before the s-mans visit.
The s-man and I watched Hostel 2 which was a typical Tarantino film with lots of sickness and black humour.After that we spent a few hours chewing the fat and going over many of the escapades we got up to in our teens.The s-man and Al Eleven spiking my cup of tea with speed ( amphetamine sulphate) just before I visited my girlfriend at the time made me smile now, but spending 4 hours chewing gum fast and jabbering non-stop to her father before arriving back with my hair still standing on end was no fun at the time!
I joined Rosie for a game or two on Stars after the s-man went up the road and when Rosie went to bed,I changed moved to Bet365 to play some $100nl 6 max.My cash game is a bit rusty and I was soon down $70 after a couple of failed moves including being sure my 99 was still good on an ace high flop.( it wasn't!)
I actually got lucky and made it all back plus a little more when my set of fives became a full house on the river versus a turned straight.That wasn't against the biggest fish at the table who left the table with the comment "typical good night" after losing his 2nd buy-in.The table broke up when he left and I hit the sack too.
Today I've just watched Man Utd beat Liverpool 3-0 and the Chelsea v Arsenal game is up next after I've dropped Nacho off and seen another man about a dog.
I had a fine evening before hitting the tables quite late on last night.I wish I hadn't bothered!
If I was the "wow" man on Monday,last night I became the "omg" man as that was one of the comments in the chat box after another miracle two outer duly arrived for my opponent.I felt as if I never really got into that zone where most decisions are automatic and the game just seems to flow.
The repeated beats and lost races took it's toll in a couple of the 15 games I played and I had to correct myself after a couple of tilty bad calls and plays.Running into monsters constantly was a continual problem and I even finished the night with a horrible bubble finish after being chipleader.
I'm not going to moan and whine too much though. I lost $130 last Monday and about $160 last night, however those were my only losing nights over the last wee while and overall I'm happy with my profits.
Dinner tonight at Mother and Father Acorns followed by the RTR league game at 8.30.I'm struggling to stay awake writing this but if I'm still even half alert at 1am I'll be joining the Canadian and US bloggers for Kats $1 rebuy donkament.
Home game tomorrow at Ibrox and the s-man will be over later on Sat evening.
Oh it's great being back at work.My first complaint letter from a customer informed me that our company have "pulled-down their over sized corporate pants and done a diarrhoea-shit all over me",followed by the information that "I wont write to the Queen,she's elderly now and I don't want to trouble her".Lucky old Liz!
Back to work tomorrow ( off Monday though) and I reckon I'm going to need plenty of strong cups of tea to fight the jet lag after being up until past 3am most nights and lying in until after 12.I'm looking forward to the long weekend though and next weekend will be even better as Rosie is coming up to Glasgow for a couple of days.
To the poker and on Tuesday night Rosie and I ( along with Tan and Burnley Mik)played in Tony Holdens "Bigger Deal" game on Stars which had a $10 entry fee and $2.7k added to the prize pool.I bubbled the final table ( aprox 140 starters) for a $50 payout after going out when my 22 fell to A7.I hate it when the board reads QQ448 and the Ace kicker plays but I'll probably be back for more next week.
The best part of Tuesday night was not the poker but trying to log onto the Rangers fans message board later on and finding the server was busy.I'd totally forgotten our rivals were playing in the cup and in a happy turn of events...they were pumped out of it! We only scraped a poor draw with Partick Thistle last night,however at least we have a replay and can still win it!
I played in The Mookie last night with 105 US bloggers and as usual had Buddy Dank radio playing in the background.I remember getting no action from the few premium hands I was dealt,pushing with A4 from the sb into the BB's AK and spiking a 4 when shortstacked,before finally going out 21st when I had 2.2k,blinds and antes totalled 1k and my K2 sooooted shove was called by Waffles with his 93 hitting a nine on the flop.If I'd won that 60/40 I reckon I could have used my tight image and added fold equity to chip up and make a run for the final table, but it wasn't to be and I hit the sack instead.
I had intended to use my 9 days off to really hammer the tables,4 tabling the $16 turbs for 4-5 hours per day and in truth it's not worked out that way at all,although I plan to get some volume in the bag today!
I may be a lazy git but I have managed to win over $1k in 144 games since I last walked out of my work on March 7th which I'm delighted with.I've also managed to play in a few of the US blogger games which is usually impossible due the time differences.( cashed twice in Kats donkament with a win and a 3rd place)
The turbs are very tough on the mind and I've also given myself an easy time of it by quitting if I have a very good start to the night.I realise it's all about volume in sng's but if I win and come 2nd ( for example) in two out of my first five games of the night then why not relax for the rest of the night and enjoy the fact I'd won over $100 for the day and I don't need to face any more beats!
The only problem with my approach over the last 9 days is that I still don't know how I'd do if I 4 tabled for 6-8 hours per day.Maybe I don't want to know! I can handle 3 tables no problems and still pick up reads however I'm not sure I'll ever be able to robotically play many more than that.
My problem is that although I go into each $16 turb with a rough idea of how I'm going to play,every situation is different and I like to adjust accordingly.Playing more than 4 tables makes those adjustments tough as there can be very little in the way of player reads to go on.Tough but still beatable and I suppose the edge again comes from making slightly poorer decisions ( still better than majority of opponents) but making far more of them to increase profits.
Ok,time to drop Nacho off,come home and hit the tables.I did say that last night would be my last US blogger game for a while but Tans post has me tempted to play in the Riverchasers game at 1am tonight on Full Tilt.( pass: riverchasers)
I can go into work for 10am,most of our English customers will be off anyway and I reckon I can gently ease my way back in ( get away with being half asleep at my desk) and catch up on my sleep over the weekend.Hmmm...!
Grrr,I'm still having computer problems.The new keyboard I've ordered is out of stock and this old laptop I'm on only seems to work about 1/5 times I switch it on.I missed the first ten minutes of The Hoy last night trying to get the old one to work so I could say more than gg and nh in the chatbox.
I warmed up for The Hoy by playing a $5 standard speed single table game with Rosie.Soooo slow, but the company was goot :-)
Rosie went off to bed and I hit up three of my usual $16,18 player turbos on Stars and I came 7th,3rd and 1st.I decided not to test the variance biatch any further before The Hoy blogger game and watched a cardrunners vid for some inspiration.
The format of The Hoy is 6 max deep stack nl and although it's not a turbo,I've played a ton of cash 6 max before and the Stars 18 player games get shorthanded before the two tables merge later on.I was fairly confident of a decent showing, but I misclicked at a vital point and knocked myself out!
I had 55 ( presto is gold eh!) and had raised from early position.Loretta,who had been playing quite an aggressive preflop game and had just shoved 88 ,pushed over the top and I took some time to think it through.I could see him ( apparently Loretta is male)shoving 66-QQ,AJ-AK but although I considered the risky call,I remembered a blog post ( may have been Hoy or Jordan) about going broke with small pairs in these situations.I also remembered a comment Kenn ( excellent mtt player) made about me sometimes making rash decisions with small pairs in blogger games and I decided to fold.I moved my finger down to the mouse pad to drag the pointer and BAM,I called!I quickly typed misclick but as it was my newer laptop and I have no "s" it came out all screwed up and I settled for a quick "gg".Very frustrating.
I couldn't stay annoyed for long as I was still listening to Buddy Dank radio and the tunes and chat were top class.No Sam Fox "Touch me" tonight though, thankfully! Buddys laugh reminds me of Mr Waters DJ from Radio Kaos.....
I finished my pokery fun by playing a couple of $11 turbs on Full Tilt and managed to recover my Hoy entry fee by taking one of them down for $49.
I'm still off work which has been brilliant and I had planned to rack up some serious poker hours.I've only played 71 games according to Sharky over the last week and although I could have worked much harder at it,I've made a decent profit for my weeks work ( $738) and it's been a fine mix of turbs and blogger games.
Ok,this lappy is starting to slowdown again ( freezing up ).How can I surf my favourite potato porn sites?!
My cousin and I enjoyed a highly entertaining league cup final at Hampden yesterday.Rangers looked tired after Thursdays efforts in Europe and credit to Dundee Utd for making a decent game of it,going ahead twice before Rangers won on penalties after extra-time.It's been too long since we last won silverware and I hope we can finish the season strongly and win more! Follow Follow...!
Did I recommend drinking herbal teas a few weeks ago? Fridays nights Ginseng cuppa has just cost me £80 for a new lappy keyboard and I can't even blame Riverstars for the beat..Thankfully the rest of the lappy seems ok.All connections seem to be as strong as ever....
Still,it's only ten $16's without making the money I suppose....
I think I'm still up at the tables since my last post.( by about $100 )Sat night was great fun playing with Al Eleven at Stars.At one point we were sitting placed 1st and 2nd in a $12,180 player turbo and made the final table together.( despite Al constantly nicking my blinds!).
I came 5th ( Al was 3rd) after shoving QK ( from sb) into A10 in the big blind.The play was so fishy it was almost surreal.I burst the bubble initially by shoving my tens and being insta-called by a medium stack I had covered.He had A10.Thankfully my 1010 held but what did Mr A10 reckon I'd be pushing with there? What part of my range did his A10 crush? There were a few shorties about to take the fall which made his call even stranger.
Last night was Bloggerment time again and congrats to Rosie who took down her 2nd title in just a few short weeks after beating a very weak fish headsup to claim her win.( just kidding J!)
Three key hands for me.I got very lucky with JJ against Kronsdats KK when I hit my 2 outer in a big pot.JJ then bit me on the arse by losing to 99 ( rivered straight) and KK lost to AQ ( flopped straight).Both were all in preflop and seem typical of my luck in bloggerment games.In truth I wasn't too bothered and I enjoyed watching Rosie take it down.
I chatted on the IM for a while afterwards and then played songs on youtube for a couple of hours.I didn't feel like poker and only played four more games,crashing out of the first two due to my own donkery and bubbling both of my final games.In one I ran A8c into AJ ( small blind shove into solid player with tight calling range in bb)and in the second one I think I was undone by the donkery of a villain.Opinions welcome though...
I had QJ and about 2k in chips.There was a mega shorty on 450 in the big blind and the 2 bigger stacks had folded to me.I shoved hoping to have a better hand than the shorties random hand if he called, and thinking my move would look stronger than it was ( why would I isolate shorty with a weak hand?)but the other villain who just had me covered also called with his QJ and were both toast v the shorties cowboys.Right move at the wrong time or donk move?
My instincts straight after two bubble finishes were to fire up some more,focus harder and keep plugging away but I was completely and utterly mentally drained ( not by the poker)and did the sensible thing and went to bed.
I'm off until Friday this week and may try and play in tonights US blogger game.
Tournament: MATH ( Monday at the Hoy) Where/when: Full Tilt Poker, Monday 22:00 ET ( 2am UK time) Game: NLHE 6-Max Buyin: $24+2 or Tier I token Password: hammer
Grrr,last night I spilled some green tea on my laptop keyboard.Unfortunately the tea had failed to "refresh and invigorate" as described on the box and has left me without the use of about 4-5 letters.I've impressed myself by managing to ( after 3 months) renew the IP address on my old Lappy and I'm hoping the keys may still dry out and spring back to life on the newer one!Just aswell for the onscreen keyboard or I'd have been locked out completely.
The ex ended up keeping Nacho last night and I headed over to the s-mans about 8-ish.He was engrossed in Call of Duty 4 and after nipping outside for a smoke,I hit the RTR league game about 20 mins late.Between chatting to the s-man,bombs going off in COD4 and the terrible clunky software of the poker site,I'm amazed I scraped 3rd place.It was very frustrating not being able to chat properly!
The s-man and I watched the new Rambo film and I felt old Stallone carried off the role quite well.It did cross my mind that surely an army of fit bad guys should be able to catch a man in his 60's fairly easily in a foot race but then he is Rambo.
I made it home in time for Kats Donkament and was once again frustrated by not being able to cht prply! 2Blackaces was rebuying after almost every hand and by the time the rebuy period was over the blinds still seemed tiny in comparison with stack sizes.Good to see Tan at my table although I think he realised just how long it could go on for and eventually shoved light just to get out and to bed! I couldn't repeat last weeks win but I did manage 3rd for a small payout.
Ok,don't forget Britbloggerment 50 begins at 9pm Uk Time/5pm dst on Stars.Password is donkament,it's $5.50 and open to all bloggers,readers and password blaggers! Find it under the "Private" tab...
Hey Y'all,how ya doing already? That seemed an appropriate opening line to todays post as my body clock seems to have moved on to Eastern Standard Time over the course of the last week,with last night being no exeception.5.15 am to bed and up just before 2pm today.It'll have to stop!
My night began with the most nervy 90 minutes of football I've watched in a very long time.Rangers were 2-0 up from the first leg and the Germans threw everything bar the kitchen sink at us in their home leg,scoring not long after half-time and continuing to pile on the pressure right until the final whistle.Big Shagger McGregor in goals was superb and made several great saves and one world class effort where he pushed a certain goal bound shot onto the bar.
We did see it through,winning 2-1 over the two legs and now face Sporting Lisbon in the quarter finals and PSV/Fiorentina in the semi-final if we can beat the Portugese giants.Roll on!
To the poker and I played two $16's before the Riverchasers game and took 2nd in both.The Riverchasers game was at 1am and I didn't get off to a great start after raising AJ in late position and betting on every street of an Ace high ragged board,only to lose to AK.The only saving grace was that I controlled the pot size and didn't completely cripple my stack...until a few hands later when I raised the hammer,took a stab on a missed flop and had to fold to a reraise.Not long after that I shoved A10 and ran into AQ.
I fired up some $12,180 player turbs on Stars and didn't have any joy at all,despite getting quite deep in a couple of them.My cousin popped over, we chatted about the Rangers game and I blamed him for being a cooler as I bombed out of yet more $16 and $12 turbs!
Three more before bed was the cry and although I bubbled one in teeth gnashing fashion,I took down the last two games of the night to leave me $178 up over 14 games played.
The turbs are such a rollercoaster though.On Monday night I lost $130 and hated the sight of them and now after a decent week at 'em I feel like I've finally found the poker niche that works for me.Making 8bb/100 at $50nl was fine but I never felt that I had as good a handle on those games as I do at the turbs where I feel like I can compete with most players on my day.( at my level and cards willing!)
My major game weakness is still the mid stages of standard speed mtt's.I struggle balancing my turbo instincts with adjusting to the slower structure.I only really play Blogger games at slow speed and although I'd like to have won a few more ( Kats Donkament and 2nd place in the first season of the RTR league are as good as it gets)I'm quite happy to play 'em for the fun and chat,focusing on my core turbs for profit.
Tonight is the first RTR league game of season 3 and hopefully I'll be there! I had been hoping to get across to the s-mans tonight but Mrs A is going out and has asked me to look after Nacho.
Great news on tv just now.Shannon Mathews,the wee girl missing for weeks,has been found alive.Sadly these type of cases all too often seem to end with a body being found so it's fantastic that she's been found unhurt.I don't know the full story yet but the main thing is that she is ok!
My cousin popping over last night reminded me of an amusing moment we had when attending the launch of The Alea casino in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago.We were standing on the smoking terrace over looking the River Clyde when my cousin asked about the bridge we could see further down.I informed him that it's Glasgows newest bridge,known as the "Squinty Bridge".He then proceeded to enquire as to how the cars managed to get up and down over that big arch safely....( if it's not obvious ,I had to explain to him that the big arch is above the road!)
Ok,that's about it for today.I know it's late but if anyone from the UK is still up tonight and fancies letting off some steam ,hit up Kat's game on Full Tilt.Let's keep the title on these shores!
Katitude's Friday:Blogger Donkament Full Tilt, 9:00 PM EST 1:00 AM GMT Password: donkarama $1 + $1, unlimited rebuys + one add-on, NLHE
I came up with the post title after this hand. ( which I've managed to mention at least three times in this post!) Yes,it always seems to be my hands which generate a "wow" in the chatbox...
*** RIVER *** [Tc 3h 6c As] [Qc] *** SHOW DOWN *** zagga: shows [Kd Ah] (a pair of Aces) Ms Langhorst: shows [Ac Qd] (two pair, Aces and Queens) Ms Langhorst collected 3070 from pot Ms Langhorst said, "wow" *** SUMMARY ***
Our title rivals drew 0-0 last night at home which now leaves Rangers three points ahead with a game in hand,eleven games left and three of those games are against the rivals we've beaten the last three times we've played them.
It's looking more likely we will go on and win it now, however I remember Helicopter Sunday a couple of seasons back when they thought they had it in the bag and were undone in the last two minutes of the very last game.As a poker player I've been all in with AK v AQ ( last night as a matter of fact!)and watched as the Ace fell on the turn and the river brought a Queen so I'm certainly not counting any chickens yet.
I did mention previously that every time the league is close, celtc supporters look to refereeing conspiracies as an excuse and this season they have picked on a ref, Mike McCurry ,in particular as supposedly being biased against their poor hard done to club.They have injured a ref by throwing coins at him ( Hugh Dallas in '99),had private detectives follow another and broken windows at the homes of others.I don't believe any refs are biased, although I do worry that they are only human and can be affected by intimidation.Here's a quote from last nights Herald match report for example.. "Barry Robson, the £1.2m signing from Tannadice in January, was a relieved man after Mike McCurry, the match official, spared the second-half substitute a penalty concession when he momentarily appeared to cradle Mark De Vries' shot in his arms".Hmmmm!
I had fun chatting to Step A last night before arriving home and firing up the tables.I joined Al Eleven for a $16 and promptly exited with QQ v KK on the first hand and crashed out of a $12 ,180 player game too.
Next up at 2am was The Mookie blogger game on Full Tilt and I was keen to make a decent go of it,starting well after I doubled up when I actually hit my straight draw on the turn v top pair.I didn't get many more playable hands and only a couple of steals added to my dwindling stack.
It was now 3am and I could feel a serious munchie attack was required as I was starting to sweat and shake a little! I don't play good poker when hungry and it was around then that I completely screwed up and donked out.There were two limpers before it got to me in the big blind position with 66.( I may have positions wrong as my memory of the hand is rather hazy)I had about 1.5k and my first instinct was to shove and try and pick up the dead money.I convinced myself that as it was a slow speed game I should simply limp and try to take the pot post-flop.
The flop came a ragged 10 high rainbow ( no flush draws)and I decided I would check-raise if the button took a stab at it....which he did.My reasoning was that the button had limped in on a few hands and backed down and I felt he would take a stab here even if he'd missed the flop.So far so good, but when he reraised me I should have folded and fought on with my last 1k in chips instead of making the donkey call against a fairly obvious top pair top kicker.( A10)
All very disappointing especially as Change100 of Pot Committed had just sat down on my left and I was trying to work out how to say " I think your blog is great and has the best title of any blog in history" without sounding like a sad fanboy!Check out the superb Marijuana Commercial posted on March 1st.Pure class!
Anyway I was a little annoyed at myself,ate a large bowl of coco-pops and fired up four $16 turbs determined to put my Mookie donkery behind me.In the first game I lost with the AQ V AK I mentioned earlier and also went out of another with an interesting hand against a solid regular.I have decent sharkscope stats and have often wondered if I've played enough games to be considered a "regular".Regulars tend to be very very tight early on and liable to steal with a wide range at the later stages when required.
Regulars also tend to have very tight calling ranges and that's partly why I shoved my K6 sooted here against Bong in the first place.Of course if he did recognise me as a regular that's perhaps why he made the call with his A4 as he must have expected my range ( correctly) to be very wide in that spot.I'm still not sure I love his call but I've made similar with worse against regulars I think are shoving lightly.
*********** # 61 ************** PokerStars Game #15941324664: Tournament #80702250, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2008/03/13 - 00:06:43 (ET) Table '80702250 2' 9-max Seat #9 is the button Seat 1: voltage101 (4650 in chips) Seat 2: Bongdieeze (2972 in chips) Seat 5: GuitosBR (8302 in chips) Seat 6: tunarealmonn (3495 in chips) Seat 7: teddypat (4350 in chips) Seat 9: zagga (3231 in chips) voltage101: posts the ante 50 Bongdieeze: posts the ante 50 GuitosBR: posts the ante 50 tunarealmonn: posts the ante 50 teddypat: posts the ante 50 zagga: posts the ante 50 voltage101: posts small blind 300 Bongdieeze: posts big blind 600 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [Kc 6c] GuitosBR: folds tunarealmonn: folds teddypat: folds zagga: raises 2581 to 3181 and is all-in voltage101: folds Bongdieeze: calls 2322 and is all-in *** FLOP *** [3h As 3c] *** TURN *** [3h As 3c] [2c] *** RIVER *** [3h As 3c 2c] [4d] *** SHOW DOWN *** Bongdieeze: shows [4s Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fours) zagga: shows [Kc 6c] (a pair of Threes) Bongdieeze collected 6444 from pot *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 6444 | Rake 0 Board [3h As 3c 2c 4d] Seat 1: voltage101 (small blind) folded before Flop Seat 2: Bongdieeze (big blind) showed [4s Ah] and won (6444) with two pair, Aces and Fours Seat 5: GuitosBR folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 6: tunarealmonn folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 7: teddypat folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 9: zagga (button) showed [Kc 6c] and lost with a pair of Threes
One more mildly amusing ( to me at least!) tale of a close shave before I go.I logged onto Stars on Tuesday night determined not to mess about and to register quickly for my chosen games.I had already enjoyed my first herbal smoke of the night and although I believe the herb helps my play,it nearly cost me big time as I followed a link on a Stars pop up about their WSOP Steps programme.I wasn't really paying attention and as I clicked another link to open the highest step sng available( $2.1k entry fee) ,I must have automatically clicked the "register" button.Thank the poker gods that these things fill slowly because there were 6/9 already in and I was number 7 for about 2-3 minutes before I realised and withdrew quicker than a Northern Rock account holder.Phew!
Back to the four $16's I played.I've posted the two crashout hands so it's only fair to mention I won one of the other ones and I reckon I'd have taken down the last one if this hand had held.
Ok,I've got Nacho with me again today and if the rain ever stops I'm taking him a long walk before settling down to watch Rangers 2nd leg game against Werder Bremen from Germany at 7.30pm.I can feel the nerves starting already!
This is my 800th post ( wow!) and I'd like to say a quick thanks to all who read this space and who take the time to comment.I never thought I'd reach 8 posts never mind 800!
Nice to lay some foundations which is a tenuous way of linking to this very catchy tune by Kate Nash....
I had a terrible night at the tables on Monday night losing $130 over nearly 30 games of gross suckouts and lost races.I was so caught up in it all I forgot all about Hoyazo's "Monday at the Hoy" 6 max nl blogger tourney which I had intended playing in.I do seem to have slipped into the habit of 4/5am bedtimes during this time off work, and if I'm up and there's a blogger game on, then count me in!
Yesterday I took my boy a long walk and after watching a cardrunners video,I hit the tables myself and although I certainly wasn't running well,I did manage to pull back Monday nights deficit and have now boosted my turbo sng profits to just over the $5k mark according to Sharkscope.( Zagga on Stars)
I also took some reassurance from a couple of regulars getting steamed in the chatbox after bad beats.I don't ever go mad in the chatbox but turbo variance could drive a person insane at times and it was nice to see some of the big winners are only human and it gets to them at times aswell.
One of my mental tricks when running really badly is to ask myself how a multi-tabling solid winner ( at my stakes) like Powelljam or The Big Ern would deal with it.The answer is that they keep playing good solid poker and don't to let it drag their game into the land of tilt.I seem to be handling playing 3-4 tables at a time better than previously, although I'm always wary of letting a few bad beats knock me off my stride and into that horrible runaway train tilt mode that can affect us all at the tables.
Overall I think my tilt control is reasonably good for the simple reason that it has to be or I make a tough game even tougher for myself.I won't deny it can creep in a little at times and cause me to make the odd loose call or dodgy decision, but I'm usually self aware enough to recognise it's happening and pull back.
The turbs also seem to have toughened me up mentally for cash games.After missing out on Bodogs blogger game I messed around with a little $25 nl cash play before bed and laughed at the guys moaning about losing to 4-5 bad beats in a row as if it was the end of the world.Try losing 10-20 in a row!
I had also planned on playing in smboatdrinks game on Full Tilt last night, but I missed the registration because I was on the phone to Bodog trying to find out why I couldn't access their Tuesday blogger game on my newly set up account.
I will be playing in Mookies game at 2am UK time assuming I'm not deep in the depths of poker turbo hell!
Tournament: The Mookie Where/when: Full Tilt, Wednesday 22:00et ( 2am gmt) Game: Deepstack NLHE Buyin: $10+1 Password: vegas1
On Thursday night much later after the Rangers game I plan to play in this one..
Riverchasers Online Tour No-Limit Hold ‘em, Double Stack $10+1 NL Full Tilt Every Thursday at 21:00 ET ( 1am gmt) Password: riverchasers
Ok,here's the last $15 turbo hand of the night I played and I wondered if anyone has any thoughts on my shove.I've written before that although I don't know ICM ( Independent Chip Modelling) inside out I think I have a decent feel for how to play according to stack sizes and the shoving/calling ranges of my opponents.
PokerStars Game #15918115293: Tournament #80580612, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2008/03/11 - 23:59:25 (ET) Table '80580612 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button Seat 4: zagga (10120 in chips) Seat 7: ginbo10006 (11875 in chips) Seat 8: Ratostrikes (5005 in chips) zagga: posts the ante 50 ginbo10006: posts the ante 50 Ratostrikes: posts the ante 50 zagga: posts small blind 400 ginbo10006: posts big blind 800 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [5d 5s] Ratostrikes: folds zagga: raises 9270 to 10070 and is all-in ginbo10006: calls 9270 *** FLOP *** [Jd Ac 9h] *** TURN *** [Jd Ac 9h] [Qc] *** RIVER *** [Jd Ac 9h Qc] [2d] *** SHOW DOWN *** zagga: shows [5d 5s] (a pair of Fives) ginbo10006: shows [Ah Qs] (two pair, Aces and Queens) ginbo10006 collected 20290 from pot *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 20290 | Rake 0 Board [Jd Ac 9h Qc 2d] Seat 4: zagga (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and lost with a pair of Fives Seat 7: ginbo10006 (big blind) showed [Ah Qs] and won (20290) with two pair, Aces and Queens Seat 8: Ratostrikes (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
In this hand the bigger stack than me was a slight winning player over a tiny sample size( $150 profit over 142 games) and I felt that with us both having aprox $10k to the shortstacks $5k,that he wouldn't be able to call my 55 shove with anything less than QQ-AA and maybe AK.I had certainly opened out my game as I do at the late stages of any turbo,however I had only shown down good hands and was not obviously shoving any two cards there.It's probably my mistake for not assigning him a wider calling range although even if I included AQ/AJ/A10 I think my push may still have had a postive expectation.( Expected Value + in poker terms).
I'm not long up! Time to walk Nacho,head over to pick up a meal and Step A from the ex's work and perhaps try to get a game of poker on the ex's pc which runs more badly than me in the turbos!
I have had one good beat over the last week.I live in a flat and the downstairs neighbour moved out just before Xmas.The place has been empty until last Monday and I've been enjoying the peace and quiet so much I was dreading being unlucky enough to be stuck with a new noisy person, but thankfully ( not met them yet) they've been very very quiet so far and the noise levels are nowhere near as bad as they were with the previous occupant.( she was big and I could hear her snoring!)
Ok here are a couple of youtube clips.The first one is for Al Eleven,the S-man,Uncle Chuck + friends and anyone who enjoys da herb and the second is my favourite song by The Cure...
ps I can't believe my next post is my 800th post after nearly three years of blogging.I don't half spout a load of guff!
Nobody likes losing so I suppose playing 22 games on Sat night and finishing on exactly $0 profit is not the worst poker night ever.Another night of "if onlys" and two outer suckouts.Last night at the felt seemed exactly the same, only this time a couple of decent $16 cashes actually left me up just over $100 for my nights work.I'm going to try and save a few of the more interesting hand histories ( not always bad beats!)to try and get this blog out of the boring rut of bad beats and "I won one and took 2nd in another" type posts it seems to be stuck in at times.
Congrats to Quixote on taking down last nights Bloggerment.My own game went the usual way for me in Stars blogger games...badly!
I was forced to laydown a couple of hands preflop before making my first "move" with QJ when I shoved and was called by Dudleys AK.When the flop came Q J rag,I just knew the 10 was coming and it duly arrived on the turn to knock me out.
I watched some of the final table and I'm not going to comment too much on chat box shenanigans, as it's my view that I'm co-host of a poker tourney and not the headteacher of an Infant school! Besides, I missed a lot of what was said and as I was previously involved with Rosie and detest celticriver's football team and all they stand for ,I probably wouldn't be the most impartial judge! Still,if any of the protagonists would care to leave details of their fathers height and general build in the comments box I'm sure we could settle it once and for all....
Ok,here's a standard turbo hand from last night which shows the power of having a big stack on the bubble.With two shortstacks and the taiko21 acting last with 5255 chips, shoving or betting enough to pot commit the villains is almost automatic.There's no way tiako can call me here without AA/KK as risking his tournament equity is too much of a gamble with two shorties behind.
PokerStars Game #15867710613: Tournament #80320493, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - 2008/03/09 - 21:22:39 (ET) Table '80320493 2' 9-max Seat #7 is the button Seat 2: tiako21 (5255 in chips) Seat 3: LukaLP1 (1565 in chips) Seat 5: zagga (9070 in chips) Seat 7: Luckystriky (9665 in chips) Seat 9: labrowns (1445 in chips) tiako21: posts the ante 75 LukaLP1: posts the ante 75 zagga: posts the ante 75 Luckystriky: posts the ante 75 labrowns: posts the ante 75 labrowns: posts small blind 600 tiako21: posts big blind 1200 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [Jc 4d] LukaLP1: folds zagga: raises 2400 to 3600 Luckystriky: folds labrowns: folds tiako21: folds zagga collected 3375 from pot zagga: doesn't show hand *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 3375 | Rake 0 Seat 2: tiako21 (big blind) folded before Flop Seat 3: LukaLP1 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 5: zagga collected (3375) Seat 7: Luckystriky (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 9: labrowns (small blind) folded before Flop
Ok,after the pocket fives thread I posted the other day I don't want to frighten off my reader by getting too crude and rude here.I've always tried not to swear too much as I know some people read from work and workplaces can have funny ideas about sites using ( I fucking hate the "I" word) inappropriate language, but I was chatting to a mates brother last night and he came away with a couple of sexually enlightening terms which I found so disgusting,sexist and rude I thought I'd post 'em....!Look away now if yer easily offended...( these are his words not mine!)
The Angry Pirate: blurt yer muck out in her eye then kick her in the shin so she hops about holding her eye.
Bucking Bronco:doing a burd from behind......grab her by the hair.......then lean in and whisper that her sister is much better, again hence the title
You know your a poker player when you need the alarm clock to wake you up at 2.10pm after a late night session...
After dinner last night I dropped the ex off and arrived back just in time for a raisetheriver International challenge match on Stars.As expected there was plenty of Scotland v England chat going on, although Ricky took it down for a ROW ( rest of world) win in the end.I went out 9th after shoving 99 and getting called by AQ.I think I typed "gg" before the flop fell ( with Queen) as I don't run goot in Stars blogger games!
I fired up two $16 ,18 player turbos, took one down and came 2nd in the other.Next stop was Party Poker and I had time to play one $22, single table turb ( came 3rd) before it was time for Katitudes $1 rebuy donkament on Full Tilt.
I had registered early for it and had pimped it on RTR ( Tan and Mair played too)but I nearly pulled out as I was so tired ( and had a few herbal smokes too)I could barely focus on the screen.A cup of ginseng tea brought me round a bit and the crazy nature of the game did the rest.
I recall winning with Aces early on ,losing a big race and then going on a bit of a tear after the rebuy period ended.I think I was slapped back down again before winning a couple of crucial hands and then stealing enough to keep me in contention.
I did actually get lucky at the final table when my 1010 hit a straight v JJ and I used the chips from that hand to move into turbo mode and began raising plenty of hands when it folded to me.I had nearly double the chipstack of Smboatdrinks by the time we got heads up and my KQ hit a nice flop v A10to win $121.
Thanks to Kat and to the US/Canadian players who made me feel more than welcome in the chatbox.
The Britbloggerment game is now open for registration although my brain is so fuzzy today I hope I've not screwed up the start time.I think US clocks go forward at 2am early on Sunday.UK clocks don't do likewise until the end of the month but I think this means the start time in the Stars lobby is 5pm ( still 9pm GMT).Password is donkament as usual.
Please let me know if I've got that totally wrong!
Righty,off to pick Nacho up and take him a nice walk in the rain....
..after watching Scotland horse England 15-9 at the rugby :-))
I thoroughly enjoyed last nights fine 2-0 win for Rangers over Werder Bremen at Ibrox.They are a top side and it's a great result to take to Germany next week for the 2nd leg.Rangers are a big club and should be making the latter stages of European competition most seasons.The problem is that the tv rights money Scottish teams receive is minuscule compared to teams in the bigger countries like England,Spain,Italy and Germany.
I'm off work after today until the 21st and I'm really looking forward to the break.( posts may dry up/slow down for a while too)The ex is popping round tonight to clean my flat and for a quick bite to eat.We're back on good terms again after our fallout the other week over the car insurance pay-out.
I plan on playing a load of poker when I'm off.I've taken a break from playing over the last couple of nights to try and feel a bit fresher at the tables.I've also watched a couple more Sngicons videos.In comparison to cardrunners they have a far more laid back feel and although they contain some gems,I feel like they are more for entertainment than for learning at times.Listening to top pro "Bigjoe3003" asking for a hand to hold up because "I'm a good person" made me chuckle.
Time for some turbo donk spotting tips.( not just open the table and then your eyes!) Bet sizing is the first obvious one.Preflop minimum raises,calling raises early on and even just being involved in a lot of hands during the early stages usually mean there's a donk at work.Paying attention to the hands players showdown or go to war with is crucial,especially if they are calling light or from out of position.
I also find "ego" players who make a drama out of it every time they fold their big blind to a raise tend to be donks too, although obviously the delays could be due to multi-tabling which is usually the sign of a solid player.
Chatbox table captains also reveal a lot of information that can be used against them.Someone saying something like "How could you call a raise with AJ?" means you can usually pin a tight calling range on them and they won't usually bluff as much as they don't want to look silly themselves.I may be wondering too why said donk called with AJ, but I wouldn't want the average donk to be able to narrow down the pushing/calling ranges I use.
Ok,last thing! Has anyone else noticed that almost anytime someone shoves over a raise in the turbs they seem to show up with AK?
I've read a few good threads around the poker forums this week and I thought I'd post a few gems from this thread on Pocket Fives titled "You know your a poker player when.." : "So I'm watching Oprah and she says 48% of women swallow and I'm thinking to myself, CAN'T I EVER WIN A FUCKING COINFLIP???","When some woman is bobbing pole, gags and pukes on your junk, and you sigh and say, "every time.","when u go to bed at 7am and get up at 3pm ","you have more money on PokerStars than you do in the bank... ","When u score with a super hot chick ( and think to yourself wp) Then your friends point out to you that she gave u herpes and aids, so you tell them ' dont be so result oriented'" ,"when the internet is down and you play cards with your pets.. sometimes i even put them on hands.. I'm never right though","- when the number after 10 is obv Jack, not 11",.....
Righty I'm off to enjoy my holiday!Don't forget the Bloggerment this Sunday.Open to all bloggers,readers and blaggers who discover the password....And also...
Katitude's Friday:Blogger Donkament Full Tilt, 9:00 PM EST 2AM GMT Password: donkarama $1 + $1, unlimited rebuys + one add-on, NLHE
Well done to Juice on doubling his bankroll ( hehe) by correctly answering my football quiz question.The $10 has been sent!
If it's always easier to write about bad nights at the tables then this may be a long post!
On Monday night I lost about $100 after yet another terrible streak where I couldn't seem to win a hand that went to showdown.I don't use the chatbox in non blogger games but found myself twice answering "np" ( no problem) when other players apologised to me for their suckouts.
I was playing more $12,180 player turbos and my only placing from about 10 games was when I bubbled the final table after my AJ shove was called by the shortstacks A6 which hit a 6 by the river.
Last night I watched our rivals crash out of European competition and then hit the tables.My bad streak continued and I still couldn't get a hand to hold even when miles ahead or win a race.
Even when I made the money in my last two games of the night I still felt like I'd dropped the soap in the prison shower.When you continually get the chips in the middle with a dominating hand and they hit their weak kickers over and over again it would be easy to give in to frustration and tilt.I was determined I was not going to let bad play add to my bad luck and when my A8 shoved fell to A7 to send me out my penultimate game it barely bothered me.
In my last game of the night I did actually get a few hands to hold and made the final table in decent shape until I shoved 1010 over a button raise and was called by AQ.I wasn't at all surprised to see an Ace hit on the flop and I crashed out 7th for $69.If I'd won that race I'd have been in pole position but then if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle eh....
As I drifted off to sleep cursing my luck I realised I have to reconsider the way I look at 180 player turbos.I'm used to making the money in just over ( 28% to be exact) 1/4 of the $16,18 player games I play in and I need to get it into my head that with 162 extra players that ratio would be almost impossible to maintain.I'm not sure what is realistic.Time will tell I suppose if I stick at them.
It's weird because I actually finished up $33 at the end of last night and despite a nasty Monday I'm still up over $100 since that start of the month and yet I still feel like I've taken a beating.
Ok,tonight I'm over at the ex's looking after Step A and Nacho and on Thursday night I'm at Ibrox for our game against Werder Bremen.
Oh and before I go I've finally found something bad to report about cardrunners and their videos.Shouting "One time" or "hit me" at my laptop during hands like the pro's do makes feck all difference to the outcome of the hand...
I heard a good one at work today and thought I'd offer a Bloggerment buy-in to the first person to answer this football question.Leave any answer in the comments.( prize will be Stars transfer so leave your username)
Which player has been previously relegated from the Premiership but currently plays there and has won the Champions League,Uefa Cup,English Premiership and FA Cup?
Congrats to my mate Al Eleven for outdonking the rest of the Bloggerment and taking down the game last night.Nice to see yet another Scottish win!
My game lasted until I reraised ( all in) with AK and didn't improve after being called by 66.
I hit the turbos afterwards and after a few false starts I scraped into the money in a couple of $12 ,180 player games before finishing 6th in one for $99.I'm still unsure if I donked out or just got unlucky in that last one.I don't recall the exact detail but the blinds totalled around $12k,I had $42k and I shoved A10 from the button and ran into AQ.
There was at least one far shorter stack and perhaps I could have been more patient or even made a smaller preflop bet and I could have folded to a reraise.The payouts rise quite steeply near the end and I wanted to try and gain momentum and push on.I also didn't expect to be called by anything less than a premium hand.Ah well, at least I cashed!
I also made around $80 on Sat night from thirteen $16 turbs which I was quite happy with as it felt like I couldn't win a race all night.
My next goals are to break the $5k profit barrier on Sharkscope at Stars and to take my Stars roll through the $4k mark.
Time for a quick rant about the use of the word "literally"."He literally exploded after that bad beat?" Well unless he's in a zillion pieces he didn't literally explode at all! Grrr.He/she may have been angry and upset but wasn't ever in danger of "literally" exploding.
Oh and "so" as in "so what" is not a word when written as "soooooooo".That says Sue! The St Enoch shopping centre in Glasgow is being refurbished but has a notice saying it's still "soooooooo open".grrr!
I also woke up to a bit of snow today.It barely covered my trainers and although the roads were a bit busy I was only 5 minutes late for work.Cue the headlines in the Glasgow Evening Times "Travel Chaos as Blizzards sweep Scotland".I realise "small snowfall causes minor delays" isn't quite as dramatic but at least it's accurate!
Dog fouling notices on lampposts! Why?! Ok,nobody wants to tread in crap but ffs,a free phone number to call and report any offenders? Will a call to that number result in sirens and screeching tyres as the dog crap police rush to attend or will there be the same slow response as there is when its neds battling in the town centre on a Sat afternoon?! ( the police arrived but nobody was caught according to the local paper)
I may even call the hotline just to find out...
Don't even get me started on the great global warming scam which has people feeling all warm and fuzzy because they've turned down their washing machine wash temperature from 40 to 30.... ***
Ok,enough of being an old grump! Back later in the week...
*** No debates with tree huggers will be entered into!
As a bonus for all that whinging here's a quality clip of football fans serenading a Christian Dailly lookalike steward..
Pokerstars $3684 ( + $942) ,Party $1664 ( + $80),Bet 365 $671 ( + $91),Full Tilt $503 ( + $26) ,Ladbrokes $593 ( =, although $1k cashed out on 23/2),Pokerroom $36 ( =). Total $7151. ( + $1139 for month)
Total profit since Oct 31st $3331.( after first 3rd of my 4th year of online poker)
After a poor start to the month of Feb I'm really pleased I managed to turn it around and win over $1k.Most of that has come from turbos sngs at Stars.I played 238 according to sharkscope and made $1039.
I cashed out $1k from Ladbrokes as I don't play there much these days and that has just about cleared my credit card balance.
I'm still very much a hobby player but I would like to continue to make enough to cover my council tax bill ( £775),Rangers season ticket ( £460),Car Insurance £500 and my car Mot and service in July ( £400).Those are just aprox figures and will require about $4200 from my roll.
I've also got 9 days off work coming up after next week and I was considering a trip to the Dam.I'm going to wait though and go with my cousin around May/June time when the weather is better.Sitting having a wee smoke in the sunshine beside a canal whilst watching the world go by is something I can't wait to do again!
Last night I was over at the s-mans and enjoyed some Call of Duty 4 and the Will Smith film " I am Legend" before returning home just in time for Katitudes Friday night rebuy donkament on Full Tilt.I was in the mood for messing around and Kats tourney is just the place to donk it up and make plays I'd never consider in a normal game.I did play like a donkey and have hazy memories of crashing out not long after the rebuy period ended.Nice way to blow off some steam though!
Picked my boy up on the way home from watching us beat Aberdeen 3-1 at Ibrox to keep us top of the league and now it's time for burgers n chips n poker.....
I'm a 42yr old bloke fae Glesga.Got a dog called Nacho and a job dealing with angry customers all day.Twitter:@HeavySprinkles
I love Rangers FC and playin' poker.
Pokerstars:Zagga
Party:Acornmn
