Monthly stats

After taking Nacho a long walk yesterday I was back in time for the start of the Spain v Germany game and for the s-mans visit.The game was decent enough without ever dazzling and I felt that Spain were worthy 1-0 winners.It was an excellent tournament overall and I'm going to miss the wall to wall coverage of the last few weeks.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the only part of the Glastonbury festival I saw on tv was Jay-Z's headline performance on Saturday night.It was controversial because hip-hop and rappers don't generally play festivals and Noel Gallagher ( of Oasis)had said Jay-Z was simply wrong for the gig.Jay-Z took the piss by starting with Wonderwall which was quite amusing and overall I think he silenced the doubters with a pretty stunning show.I just wish Amy Winehouse would sort herself out and keep making great music.

The s-man ( aka sookraboaby) was happy for me to fire up the Bloggerment and after Saturdays low turnout for the Euroblogger,it was good to get 13 registered for last nights game.Congrats to Mair for doing the Blogger double and taking it down.I managed to scrape into second place mainly due to Drizz and Kat having to be elsewhere after a long-ish bubble battle.

After the game and much later on after the s-man had departed I hit the $16's and soon found myself on the end of yet another biatch slapping by the poker gods.I should have gone to bed after seven cashless games in a row but my stubborn streak wouldn't let me and I managed to win the last game I played to leave me about even.

Ok,Here are this months updated stats.I will edit these totals later after tonights play.That's if Andy Murrays brilliant comeback at Wimbledon doesn't go on too much longer!

Pokerstars $6782 ( + $478),Party $994 ( - $103),Bet 365 $534 ( -$53),Ladbrokes $336 ( +$87) ,Full Tilt $109 ( + $17).Total $8755 ( + $423 for month June). Edit: 0/5 at the $16's.Good riddance June!

Finally my sister sent me a few of these and I thought they may appeal to my reader....

Rock and a hard place

I had just finished my post here yesterday when the police knocked on my door.I was handed a fixed penalty for a "breach of the peace" because my ex's lying neighbour said I threatened them the other day by saying "someone will be round to your door in 2 minutes" which is just a blatant lie.In Scottish law the only evidence required is for the woman next door to the ex to lie and for her husband to back it up.I now have the choice of trying to get a day off work to,hiring a lawyer and fighting it ( I have my own witness who will back my version of events)or accepting a £40 fine and no criminal record for something I didn't do.As much hassle as I'm sure it will be,I think I'm almost certain I'm going to court with it because if I let this lie stand this time there's nothing to stop them making something up again.I may also be making my own counter allegations.

On the poker front I warmed up last night by doing something a little different and playing a $4k gtd mtt on Bodog.I only had money on to play in the US Bodonkey game but they have recently upgraded the software and it's now far slicker and easier to use.I had an average $15k stack with 28 left ( top 18 pay) when I was foolish enough to get it in preflop with QQ V 99.The flop came Q 8 2 and just as I was mentally planning how I would wield my 32k stack,a Jack came on the turn and a Ten on the river to give the villain a straight.Hmmmm nice!

Things didn't get much better at Stars.I played 25 games including bubbling a $36 turbo and lost $227 overall which takes me back below the $7k mark at Stars.I also bubbled the final table of an $11,180 player turbo.Grrrrreat!

Despite it being a crap night at the tables I'm not too annoyed by it.Apart from a few loose plays I felt I played quite well and that's all anyone can do to try and maximise profit at this game.

I did manage to carefully pick my way through the Euroblogger field ( of five!) to come 3rd for a stoating $10 payout.Congrats to Mair who took it down.

I do now have just over 13k in frequent player points at Stars and my intention has always been to reach 13.5k and use 'em for a free entry into the Sunday Million.I'm 375 short of retaining Silver status this month ( which you need to purchase ticket for fpp's) and I'm seriously tempted to use 5k in fpp's to enter the $1m gtd turbo takedown tonight at 7.30pm instead.The only sticking point is that the Germany v Spain Euro final starts at 7.45pm and I want to focus on that too.Hmmmm.

Ok,it's been a crap week all round! Next week can only get better...

Whammy Burgers

Not much to say today but if I'm going to post long whiney posts when I get scudded at the tables, I thought it would be nice to balance that up by posting when I've actually had a good night!

Oh I still took some silly beats, but overall I didn't run anywhere near as badly as I have for most of June.I went back to basics at Stars and played two tables at once which allowed me to focus more closely on the action and go with a few reads I picked up.I cashed in four out of the six games I played,winning two and coming 2nd in another.

I've achieved one of my June goals which was to break my Stars roll through the $7k barrier.( for now!)I'm also a step closer to hitting $8k profit on Sharkscope although I'm well aware there could be few swings yet before I do it.

I was still $200 down at Party for the month but managed to pull back a little after playing two $22's and winning one of them ( $100 for 1st).I should probably whisper this but I actually felt I got quite lucky to win the one I took down.I never got my money in as a huge underdog, but hands like QK beating A10 all in certainly helped.

My last stop before bed was a nostalgic visit to my old haunt,the Ladbrokes $50nl 6 max cash tables.Until about August/September last year I would have laughed at anyone suggesting I'd ever leave those juicy cash tables for the high variance world of turbo sng's.Sng's were for donks and cash games were where the real poker got played and proper money was made.That's probably true to some extent but having found my calling at the turbo's,I'm not sure I'll ever truly grind the cash games again.Anyway I was lucky enough double my $50 buy-in after gettting it in with KK v QQ on a 10 high board.Amazingly no Queen fell on the turn or river!

Ok,here's a couple of clips I love from the excellent "Falling Down"...

Gimme a brake ( pad!)

Last night ended up being a bit busy.I had two new tyres fitted after work and was hoping not to have to drive anywhere before my car gets her first MOT today because the brake pads have worn away and there's a horrible loud grinding sound when I try and slow down.If it's damaged the brake disc that's a far more expensive repair.

I wrote that earlier and what a feckin' day of it I had with Arnold Clark Ford garage in Rutherglen.They called me around lunchtime to say it had failed the MOT ( annual check to make sure a car is road worth beginning once car reaches 3 years old) due to the brakes.Errr what? I told them the brakes needed fixed but no they go ahead and test the car anyway,tell me they can't get the new brake disc/pads until Monday and if I take it elsewhere they would charge me for another MOT!

On top of that they tried to stiff my on the price too,adding £60 on to the original total.One short meeting with the manager sorted things, but I still had to go elsewhere for the disc/pads and will now have to go back next week for MOT to be done again.Grrrr!

Anyway,I'd just settled down to watch the football last night when the ex called to ask if I could take Nacho as she was having more problems with her neighbour and was staying elsewhere last night.I couldn't leave my boy and drove very slowly and carefully to pick him up,missing two Spanish goals in the process!It should be a cracking final on Sunday between my two tips to win the competition.

I also watched a bit of Andy Murrays fine straight sets win at Wimbledon and hopefully he will go on a decent run to at least the semi-finals.I'm not a huge tennis fan although I usually watch Wimbledon.The Borg v McEnroe final way back in '81 got me interested in the game and I recall hitting a ball against the back wall of our house pretending I was one player and then the other.I love the scoring system they use and the great test of character the game provides.

Not much else going on.At work my new seat is surrounded by women and instead of discussing football transfer speculation and the Euro championships ,I've been bored rigid by talk of star signs,hair straighteners and handbags.Zzzzzz!

I eventually fired up a couple of $16's on Stars around 11pm and after shoving 77 into 1010 to finish 7th in one game,I managed 3rd in the other one.I would probably have made 2nd place if I hadn't got frisky when I flopped two pair against the bigstack who had flopped a better two pair.Considering there was a very shortstack in 3rd place my shove was rash, although if I had won that hand I would have had a huge chiplead over both villains.

Ok,don't forget to register for the Euroblogger and Britbloggerment games....

Losing my head...

I have stuck to my guns re cutting down on the old herbal intake and I've been trying to get a few early nights to catch up on lost sleep too.Last nights 11.45pm bedtime is the earliest I've been to bed in years.My moods do seem to be swinging a bit between being full of energy and feeling so tired and lethargic that I can barely keep my eyes open.Hopefully a few more early nights will help!

I've not played much poker this week and when I have it's been no fun at all.I've mentioned before I don't like my day job.Why would I want to come home from that and spend my evenings getting screwed over at the tables and hating that too?

I sometimes think being a blogger doesn't help either. It may be a great outlet for endless whining and procrastinating when it comes to my game, but there's a lot to be said for just shutting the fuck up and getting on with it.

The Russia v Spain Euro semi final is coming up shortly.Hopefully it will be an open attacking game.Just time to post this photo which did put a smile on my face....

Monkey business

My youthful bones are beginning to ache a bit after Saturday afternoons exertions filling a skip at my Mum and Dads new place.Friday night had gone reasonably well at the tables.I made about $260 from the $16 turbs and hoped for more of the same for the rest of the weekend....

Perhaps the Euroblogger was a sign of things to come as my JJ fell early to Mr Clouds AK.Congrats to Mr C for putting my chips to good use and taking it down again.We'd discussed changing the name of the Euroblogger and now that Mr Cloud has won 2/3 of the games so far, a name change seems an even better idea.In fact I propose a name change every week until I take the dang tourney down!( rendering Mr C the two-time winner of a defunct tourney!)

I was also watching the Russians play some great football to beat Holland at the same time,led by the brilliant Andrei Arshavin who scored against Rangers in last months Uefa cup final.Apart from a couple of duff games it's been a great tourney so far and the quality of attacking football on display has been a joy to watch.

Saturday night began with a couple of decent cashes and then I hit a cold streak,finished down a buy-in ( $16) for the night and on Super Tilt ( 8 games without cashing) according to Sharkscope.It was 3.30am and although I was tempted to keep battering away at them,I resolved to get a decent sleep and begin the fight again another day.Greek philosopher Eplicletus said "People are disturbed not only by things but by the view they take on them" and my views on running badly are definitely helped by a decent nights sleep!

I fired four up on Sunday afternoon,took one down and came 3rd in another.Later on, I dropped Nacho off and discovered my ex's nightmare neighbour had slashed the canvas on the the wee ones trampoline.( the same neighbour who arranged for the car I bought the ex to be burned out in her driveway) I was fuckin raging and stood staring over the fence until they came out.When he threatened to sue for slander after I accused them,it took all my powers of restraint not just jump over the small fence and start laying into the pathetic bassa.

Needless to say I wasn't really in the best frame of mind to play the Bloggerment and after being pwned a couple of times by Surflexus,I called a shove with the hammer and earned myself the company of...the monkey for this week!( although he seems a bit restless and keen to leave for somewhere he'd be looked after better!)




Well done to Amatay for taking it down although with a week to go of his $10k challenge,I hope he was 8 tabling the $33's on Full Tilt at the same time!

I moved to Party after Rosie went out the Bloggerment and after coming 2nd in my first $22,I bubbled the other two games in horrible fashion.It was back to Stars for my last three games of the weekend and after two more bad beats I finally scraped 3rd to leave me almost dead even overall for the night.

The funniest ( not at the time!) hand of the night was in one of those Stars games when I was short stacked and chose to just check from the big blind with A5 because a tight regular had limped.The flop came Q 9 5 and when it was checked to me I shoved, only to be caught out by an insta-call by Q10.It's a fair cop,the games a bogey etc flashed through my mind as I prepared to crash out...but no, the poker gods decreed a beautiful 5 should fall on the turn! I'd just finished crying "Ha ha,at last a break!" when the queen came on the river to send me out.

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

Champagne Supernova

Someone asked me recently after reading my profile if I really smoke weed.The answer is I do,plenty of it and have done for years.On the flip side although I enjoy a beer,I'm almost tee-total and don't recall the last time any alcohol passed my lips.After being off work last week I decided this was the week to cut down on my puffing and I'm pleased to say I've managed it and feel much better for it.The lack of herb is probably one of the reasons I've not played much poker as I'm so used to rolling one up and tuning into the game.Perhaps I'll now become a ranting chatbox maniac! This cutting back lark won't apply to the weekend though so ...roll on!

I only played one game last night and unfortunately bubbled a $22 turbo at Party.I had spent the earlier part of the evening chatting to Rosie and watching the Germans clinically dispose of Portugal in the first quarter final of Euro 2008.

Looks like I'm moving to a new team at work this Monday.I quite like my current seat as most of the people round me are good fun and help make the day go by more quickly.

There is one mood hoover I won't be sad to get away from as the only time she stops looking gloomy is when we hear her "giggle of doom", which she usually manages after spreading bad news."Ooooh they're taking our flexi-time away heeheehee".We do have a laugh in the team joking that the River Clyde ( which our building overlooks) rises by a few inches everytime this rather large mood hoover visits the toilet....

I've got Nacho until Sunday and tomorrow I'm popping across to help my Mum and Dad clear out their new house.I've enjoyed not playing much poker this week although I'm also looking forward to getting back to turbo sng land this weekend and hopefully making some dosh.

I did call my Mum earlier re times for tomorrow and had to call back as she had a big stack and was on the bubble of a $16 turb.She called me back to say she'd won and that the villain she'd beaten told her she was very tough to play against! My Mum took great delight in telling Mr/Mrs 2nd place that she was just an old lady who liked to play!! That got a "lol" apparently...

Ok, don't forget Kats $1 Re-buy donkament on Full Tilt tonight at 2am UK time for anyone up late.Password is Donkarama.

Where were you while we were getting high....

Rambling reads..

The s-man was over again last night for more high octane,adrenaline fueled.....tea drinking.We also watched Russia scud Sweden 2-0 to set up a mouth watering quarter final with the Dutch.When he left just after 11-ish I headed online to play some poker.I ended up only playing a couple of games with Juice, the 42 yr old half drunken birthday boy.I took 2nd in one $11,18 player turb and crashed out the other one.

I'm not sure the following will be much use as it's not really anything new but I did mention yesterday that I'd written a post on how to pick up reads online so here it is,written after a few smokes and whilst
two tabling.It's more for sngs, but some of it may apply to cash games.

Now I've made my excuses here goes...

From the moment you sit down to play reads can be picked up.If the site shows avatars and people choose to show online poker training/forum logos ( with obvious exception of Intellipoker!) that would indicate the player at least gives some thought to the game away from the tables.Where are they from and what time is it where they? Are they up late,possibly stuck ( down and trying to pull losses back) drunk etc?

Gameplay:Do they limp from early position at the start of the game as this is usually the sign of a weak player.Any player ( apart from me and Rosie!) can get a rush of cards ,but even just playing a lot of pots early on is often the sign of a poor player.

What do they showdown when they do this? Do they complete the small blind often if the pot is unraised? Folding everytime in that spot even when being offered good pot odds ( ie 25 chips to call into a 225 pot due to limpers) is usually the sign of a tight/multi-tabling player.When folded to them in the sb do they seem to be folding most hands or blind stealing when it's too early in the game to really matter?

If they do complete the small blind ,do they check down a losing hand when they miss the board? ( eg you have J2 and they have Q4 on an A59K2 Board)They're usually going to have a tight raising and calling range if they do check it down there.

I almost always muck my hand if the villains don't pay to see.The only exception is when I want to let the big blind know I'm only "stealing" because I have a genuine hand.( Thus allowing my tight image to remain and meaning I can steal later more easily) Players who are ego driven and always show bluffs or show when they think they've outplayed someone are usually fish too.

If you're only playing one/two tables Sharkscope can be very useful.As indicated previously,Losers are generally too loose early and winners play a tight game at that stage.In practice this means that loosers will be raising and calling with a much wider range of hands than winners.

I also note players I spot limping or min raising with AA/KK/QQ for future reference.I've learned that although once in a while I'll get caught out by that move,generally peoples bet sizes are an honest reflection of the hand they have.( certainly at $33 and under) Some players will trap and get tricky but they are rare at low levels.If their c-bet is small ,they've usually missed etc.

I also reverse that and if for example I have AK,raise preflop and get a couple of callers then I'll try and make my c-bet tell the "honest" story of what I want them to think I hold.If it's a low ragged rainbow flop then a monster hand probably wouldn't bet the full pot as there's no danger and I don't want to scare the villain away.I'd try and bet enough with my AK ( obviously I want to take it there and then with Ace high on a ragged low board) to make it seem that I had Aces and wanted action.If it's a slightly drawy board ( eg flush draw out) I'll bet more to make it look as if I'm trying to defend my monster from being outdrawn.( pot size or sometimes over)

Ok,as I've gone a bit off the topic of reads I think I'll end this post before it gets any more disjointed.

Hopefully I'll have some dang exciting news for UK/Euro bloggers to post about soon....

Blame the Kat!

Renee suggested in a comment that perhaps I needed a break from poker and I've taken that on board....and only played three sng's over the last two nights.I wouldn't have played any if it hadn't been for Katitude posting about the new 300 chip,turbo sngs on Full Tilt!

I was previously hooked on Pokerrooms 50 chip multi table bingo poker games for a while and Ladbrokes single chip,all in or fold games also ate a small portion of my roll.The 300 chip games do allow fora little more skill and I love the fact that they are so fast and the bubble arrives in next to no time.I bubbled the first one and won the two other $3.20 games I played.Great fun!

I've also watched a couple more sngicons videos this week.I was on the verge of cancelling my subscription as new video releases were becoming rare and the ones available were not up to the same production standard as say Cardrunners.Their only saving grace was that between long pauses,tv shows being heard in the background etc,the icons players delivered some real gems of information and those gems alone have been well worth the monthly sub costs.

The latest Z32Fanatic vid focused on replying hands from the later stages of sng's and I thought it was superb.I did realise just how much of a poker nerd I must be after getting very excited at the prospect of his next vid which will focus solely on playing AQ and will show how he played it in about sixty different situations.

Ok,I have part of a post written about gaining reads online and will hopefully GIP ( get it posted!)sometime soon.Dinner time now though....

Monday already?

Congrats to Hammerheid on winning Saturday nights Euroblogger game and to Spid for taking down the Bloggerment last night.I exited the Euroblogger when Hammerheids A3 pwned my KK and in the Britbloggerment I ran QJ into Spids JJ after a shoving my shortstack.Thanks to everyone who came out to play.

I'm still on bank tilt today after calling my banks Head office who confirmed that it will take 5-6 weeks to process my Full Tilt cashout cheque.It didn't take this long previously and they blame a change of procedure on the long delay.Hmmmmf!

The rest of the weekend was quiet.The S-man popped over on Friday night and brought some Nettle,Milk thistle and spearment tea with him.Yes,we used to discuss sex,drugs and rave music and now we sit like a couple of old Grannies doing deals to swap tea bags...

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Turkey come back from 2-0 down to beat the Czech Republic 3-2.It may not have been the free flowing pure brand of football served up by the Dutch at times but it was certainly exciting to watch.

On the poker front I've won a couple of Party $22's since my last post and have even had a winning ( 24 games ,$75 profit) multi-tabling session at Stars.I'm still not up very much overall for the month but I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about it.

Ok,back later in the week...

Don't think twice...

On Friday night I continued to run badly at Party.I did start with a $22 win there last night and then lost those winnings over the next few games.I'm considering removing my remaining $876 Party total from my overall bankroll and taking a shot with it at $33's and $55's until either I break through or bust.It's really only a wee trick on myself to see if not thinking about my Party money as seriously works out to be good or bad for my bottom line.Will it free me up to stop fretting over beats and to play good poker....or will I semi-tilt the whole lot off?! Hmmmm!

I did thoroughly enjoy watching the Dutch destroy France 4-1 at Euro 2008 with what was at times a mesmerising performance.They are an absolute joy to watch in full flow and must surely be favourites now to go on and win the competition.

Back to the poker and the $16's continue to rip me a new one everytime I play 'em.The bad news was that I went 0/7 without cashing.The only bright spot is that I decided on a couple of $11 180 player turbos as a change of pace and final tabled both of them,coming 5th and 7th for a $90 overall profit for the night.Even in those games I could moan about running A6s ( sb) into tens in the big blind for my 5th place finish or splitting a huge pot with AQ V A10 which would have given me a large lead in the other one....but I won't!

I hope I didn't give the impression in my last post that I was about to quit my job and try and go pro at this juicy yet tough game we all love ( and hate!).It would only even be a consideration if I was offered a large leaving package by my current company and even then this last downswing has probably been enough to put me off that idea.I've also never actually managed to sit down and put in many 6-7 hour sessions successful of 4-6 tabling.I do think I've been unlucky when I have tried ,but I'd want a good few winning sessions of that nature behind me before going pro would be even a speck on the horizon let alone a reality.Nothing to think twice about! Good excuse for this cracking Dylan tune...




Things are still a bit up and down for me in life in general and one nice aspect of working for "the man" is that I can get through a day or two on auto-pilot when required and not be worrying about my job paying bills.All I was trying to say in my last post was that when I first started playing ,going from the little acorn of micro-stakes to the mighty oak of higher stakes pro play seemed a great idea.



After a few years there was never even a remote possibility of that happening at the cash levels I was playing at and I was happy with an extra £200 or so per month earnings.Going down the turbo route will hopefully allow me to at least treble my previous years profits and I suppose that's where I felt the pro door had been left slightly ajar again.

Ok,who asked for more bad beats?!! Here are just a few from last night,some worse than others and fairly typical of how I've been running recently...

1) Never slow play a flopped nut flush eh.

2) Loved this one...

3) Oh how I laughed..

4) Aces v Presto.I should have folded preflop...

5) Ahh lovely Hooks.The hand after this one I was all in with AK V 99 and A8.Lost obviously!

6) Rangers sign Kenny Miller.

Ok,thanks for reading and don't forget to register for the two bloggy games coming up.( see yesterdays post)

I'm off to pick Nacho up and get him walked before Euro 2008 kicks off again with Sweden v Spain...

Ain't going out like that...

Not even two minutes into the Germany v Croatia game and the commentator is talking about how it could have been England.STFU!!

After going to bed on Tuesday night feeling almost in shock from poker beats I didn't feel much like playing yesterday.I suppose I had trundled along at $50 and $100nl cash games for a few years and although I've always been a winner ,the profits were not that much to write home about and I never really had the confidence or desire to keep pushing myself,move up and consider playing as anything other than a hobby.

The turbo sngs have been a revelation for me in terms of profit and they seem to suit my game well too.I'd always reckoned that if my work offered me two years salary to leave I would probably knock it back, as in truth I'd probably struggle to get a job paying as much elsewhere.( unless I moved back to sales and I feel I've done that,got the t-shirt and don't fancy going back to it)

Over recent months I've been reconsidering that and thinking I'd like to have a go at the poker if my work was to offer such a leaving package.( unlikely but possible)
There are pro's making a living at $16/$27 level and with two years wages behind me I could certainly give it a go.It would give me the freedom to play from wherever in the world I choose and I'd get the chance to leave a job I don't particularly enjoy.

As per previous posts I reached number 4 on the Sharkscope leaderboard for average profit over last 500 games 2-3 tables at $6-$15 and was making more per game than guys I know play pro day and day out.The main difference was that I was only playing two,maybe three tables at a time and I knew I needed to step that up to at least 4-6 tables to make enough profit.( great roi but profits pay bills not roi!)

For anyone wondering why a hobby player was getting so upset over running badly I suppose it's because at the back of my mind I felt if I could make 4-6 tables work well for me then at the very least it gives me another option in life.In reality it's probably been good for me ( yes I did write that!) to experience such a hellish time at the tables.I don't know if it's over but regardless it will not break me and I will use it to help cope with similar runs in future.

I've also taken a wee step back and can see that I was taking it all too seriously and putting myself under extra unrequired pressure.I made $1200 last month and after a good start to this month ( up a couple of hundred) I felt running badly was making achieving that again harder and harder.I've always been a bit too results orientated and never have been the "bets on two flies going up a window" type of gambler.Oh I can tilt with the best of them, but I don't have the kind of risk taking ,spin it up mentality that the really great players seem to have a little of in them.

In terms of taking shots at $33/$55 games on Party I don't feel I'm out of my depth there.What does take some getting used to though ( and is probably why I never pushed myself at cash)is dealing with upping my pain threshold when it comes to losing.I'm still at the stage of thinking after losing say six $33's that instead of that being standard and getting on with ,it's nearly $200.That's still £100 and a lot of money to me!

Anyways for now I'm doing what I did last night and going back to playing 2-3 games at a time.I played two Stars $16 turbs and came 2nd in one of them.The only other game I played was The Mookie at Full Tilt.It didn't start until 3am and it was daylight by the time I crashed out 20th.Despite the late hour I did enjoy the game and it was nice to relax and play a more social game.

I was also listening to their Blogger radio station,Buddy Dank Radio and enjoying the excellent tunes and chat.Buddy mentioned people thinking about registering for a tourney but being unsure due to low numbers.It reminded me of the Euroblogger game last week.Buddys great idea was to register anyway and then pull out at the last minute if you're not happy with the number of entrants.Makes sense if everyone is waiting to see how many are in before registering themselves.Just do it!

I did look after Step A in the end last night after she changed her mind a couple of times! It was great to spend some proper time with her and she even enjoyed my daft stories and asked for more.The tale of going on holiday with a girlfriend at 16,having to sleep in a room with her Dad,arriving back steamin' drunk at 3am,sneaking quietly into my bed...and then jumping out of bed screaming in pain due to leg cramps ( causing her Dad to leap out of his bed himself what the fuss was about) seemed to amuse the wee one greatly!


Ok,wee tune that seemed appropriate before I go...

FU Poker

I've never felt as sick of poker as I feel just now.Part of me thinks I'm being too much of a drama queen over my current downswing and that I'm maybe just not tough enough mentally to cope with continued negative variance.I plan to take a week off from blogging because although it's great to let off steam,my steam is becoming the same old repetitive dirge and nothing much seems to change.

I considered posting the whole hand history from a typical $33 Party turb last night.I wont, but here are the lowlights.This is the third hand of one such game and this is the fifth and last one.Bad beat followed by running a good hand into a better one.I could add dozens and dozens of similar crap.

Here's one that isn't such a blatant beat but is standard when your running badly.My initial limp from the sb was marginal and I only planned to continue if I hit a nice flop.I know it was a coinflip between J7s and my hand after the flop but once again I couldn't have hand picked a worse turn and river card.( the river counterfeiting my two pair and giving Mr limped KK the huge sidepot)

The only bright spot is that if I'd been running this way at the cash tables I'd be down buy-in after buy-in.As it stands I'm still up $9 at Stars for the month ( small Mtt cashes have helped as I'm actually down $120 there for turbo sngs) and down $150 at Party overall.

I did step up briefly at Party and played two $55's and managed 3rd in one ( A10 lost to K10)and crashed out the other one.

I'm off this week and I plan to continue to batter away at the games, although if I don't start to run better then Sundays Bloggerment will be my last game until the Euroblogger game the following Saturday.

Ok,tonight I'm over at the ex's babysitting for Step A.I plan to play some poker,watch the football and The Apprentice final.

There has been one other bright spot this week.When I went to buy some cigarette papers yesterday the boy with the "We ID under 25's" t-shirt on asked me if I had any id as I looked underage!! 36 in less than two months.Get in!

Here are a few funnies from the paper which made me smile.Back in a while...

A young Glasgow chap heard his girlfriend snort as she was flicking through a magazine in his flat and came across a picture of a bikini-clad lovely advertising a brand of beer.

"So are they saying," said his girlfriend derisively, "that if I drank enough of these beers I'd look like her?" "No, I think they're saying," replied the chap, "that if I drank enough of them, I'd think you looked like her."


READ an article in a women's mag entitled All Men Are Liars," said the chap in the pub."Which struck me as strange, as it was next to an ad for Wonderbras."

A Glasgow couple who decided to hire a cottage in the country for the weekend proved what city slickers they were when they were walking back to the abode in the dark.

"What's that noise?" said hubby. "I thought I heard an owl."

"You probably did," replied his wife. "I just stood on the dog's paw."

Gordon Barclay has a forecast for the Euro 2008 final. Not who will win it, but that Gary Lineker in the BBC studio will turn to pundits Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer and ask: "So, are the winners good enough to beat England, then?"

"Did you know that the mobile phone," said the woman in the wine bar ordering a bottle of prosecco for her pals having a night out to avoid the football, "is the only subject over which men will argue who's got the smallest?"

Our Washington correspondent phones to tells us that Hillary Clinton, pictured, has worked out a way to clear the $20m worth of debt left by her unsuccessful presidential campaign: she's going to marry, then divorce, Paul McCartney.

Just time for a nice laidback 60's track from Scooter...

Marginal Moves

Thanks to everyone who showed up for last nights Bloggerment and well done to Rosie for taking it down again after beating Mr Edge ( Mauzj) HU.I finished 7th after running 55 into Aces.Who says presto is gold?!

I played an interesting hand in the bloggerment against Res and Riggstad which caused a bit of debate.Feel free to call me donkey in the comments section!

I had A5 in the sb( 100/200),Res was on the button with 340 after losing a big race a couple of hands previously and Riggstad was in the big blind.Res had just given me a walk in the previous hand ( I had 88 )and when he pushed this time I reckon he thought he would get more respect because he if was pushing any two,he would have been all in on the last hand.He also knows I'm tight and usually don't call lightly.

Anyway I look down to A5,I have 1800 chips and see 640 in the pot including my 100 small blind bet.I reckon Res is pushing an even wider range ( at least 80% of hands) after his last fold.

On checking on Pokerstove it looks quite close.A5 is 55.68% fav v 44.31% if he's only folding the bottom 20% of hands, and fares slightly better at 57% v 43% v a totally random hand.I also didn't expect Riggs to call me lightly (he had K10) as I thought an 800 bet would look like I had a huge hand that wanted to tempt a call.
If I'd shoved it would have looked weaker there.When Riggstad folded it cost me 240 to potentially win a pot of 640.As it happened the board blanked until Res hit his 10on the river.

With 7 or 8 left maybe I should have been focussing on seeing someone eliminated and if it was nearer the bubble I would never have played it that way.As I was relatively shortstacked compared to the rest of the table it didn't matter to me much if there were 7 or 8 in the game.I reckoned if my Ace high held it was worth the extra 640 chips which would have taken me to nearly 2.5k.That would have given me more fold equity and room to play.If my hand had won I'd also hope to be able take advantage of my new crazier image to get action on my bigger hands as I think I'd probably looked fairly tight/agg until that point!

On reflection it's not a move I'd make every time and perhaps it's more for turbo's where there is less time to accumulate chips.I have to confess at that point I hadn't checked to see when the blinds were going up again.

I still think in the context of that game,that it didn't totally suck donkey ass but it was certainly marginal and kept me awake for a while this morning at 6am when I finally went to bed!

That A5 hand did force me to download Pokerstove and learn how to use it properly after messing around cluelessly with it in the past.It was much easier than I expected to use and I'd highly recommend playing about with it.

Later after the Bloggerment I played four $22's at Party and busted one,bubbled,came 3rd and took one down for about $60 profit.I enjoyed using a reverse auto-timing tell trick I've found seems to work quite well.I'm always on the look out for those auto-check button users to take advantage of.If someone quickly auto-checks a hand it's almost certain they have nothing and it's usually worth a bet to steal the pot.

If I notice someone auto-check folding a lot preflop then I will min raise to steal more often.No need to risk more.The reverse move is simply checking a monster as quickly as possible to make it seem like an auto-check.This hand is a good example.The money may well have gone in regardless, but the weak looking quick checks from myself and the other villain ensured the fish went broke.

I ended up winning $116 over 17 games at Stars which was a relief after my recent run there.It was still a struggle though, and it was just before 6am before I managed to turn things around and get into the black for the night.



Ok,off to pick Nacho up,take him for a run and come back and watch more of Euro 2008....

Game Set and Match...

Big thanks to Stephenrhall,Hammerheid and Copa1982 for joining Mr Cloud and me for the Euroblogger game.It was certainly the fastest Blogger game ever as Mr Cloud won in about twelve minutes after my AK soooted was no match for his KK.Don't forget to register for tonights BritBloggerment on Stars...



Before the Euro game I played in the $20, Pocket Fives Open Mtt and crashed out around 300th from 1100 when I open shoved a couple of sooted cards when folded to me and lost to someone hero calling with A10.

I fired up a few $16's and found I'm still in the same rut I was in previously.I had Aces four times last night over 24 games and had them busted each time for example.I did manage a slight comeback towards the end of the session and only finished $6 down overall.I took a break for a while around 1am after I found myself playing one particular game on full blown chip spewing monkey tilt mode.I don't tilt very often and I suppose at least I was self-aware enough to realise what I was doing and take a step back.

After my 24 games at Stars I fired up a couple of $22's at Party and failed to cash in either.I've mentioned before that Sharkscope doesn't work for Party Poker.If anyone does know of a site for tracking sng results at Party please let me know.

I've been reading a few poker forums as usual this week and I've noticed that the practice of staking seems to be becoming more popular and I have to say I've no idea what the appeal is!I know I'm a nit when it comes to dealing with bankroll management,however surely if you're a winning player you wouldn't need anyone to stake you for low stakes games.If you're not winning then why would anyone want to stake you at all?

The only way I can see staking being useful is for a winning player wanting to take a shot at a higher level.The other part of these threads which makes me shake my head is the feedback part.Even if you backed that winning player and he won 10/10 sngs at a higher level than usual, I don't think that proves anything at all about his/her game.I realise many people treat it as a bit of fun and a way of helping build the community spirit on forums and I'm not knocking that at all.It just doesn't make much sense to me!

This afternoon I'm watching the Federer v Nadal French Open Final ( Nadal is romping it so far) and later there's more Euro 2008 football.

On the subject of football it seems Rangers are on the verge of resigning Kenny Miller from Derby County and I've never been more angry about a signing in my life.He played for Rangers,moved to Wolves and then did the unthinkable for a former Rangers player,he joined Celtc.I was at celtc park when the wee turncoat scored against us and happily thumped the celtc badge on his shirt and there's no way I want to see him in a blue jersey ever again.If he was actually any good as a player that may have softened the blow, but the fact is he would struggle to hit a cows arse with a banjo let alone score many goals."You can stick your Kenny Miller up your arse" Mr Smith.Don't do it!!

Ok,that's all for today.Time to chill out...

One time,just one time...

I'm not sure why I'm posting today as I have nothing to say really.Unless you fancy reading a whiney dirge of a post I'd suggest moving on to the fine links on the right.

My Gran is still very unwell in hospital,I've hardly slept all week and Pokerstars has continued to take the piss out of me.The phrase "running badly" ( -$126 from 18 games last night) doesn't begin to cover the shafting that site is dishing out to me just now.I've done quite well there and been profitable, but this current run of being sucked out on almost every single time has driven me close to just cashing the whole lot out and moving permanently to Party Poker.

I only played three games at Party last night at $22 level and took one down.Party turbos seem very soft indeed and although variance is still a bitch there,I'm not getting screwed over every single fuckin' time.If anyone wants to see just how badly, have a look for "zagga" on Stars one night and thank the poker gods you don't run like I am just now.I added the "just now" bit in the hope that surely,surely,surely this cannot go on and the variance will start to even out a little.Come and watch me run like a god and ask me what I'm making all this fuss about!If only...

Maybe I just brush all the variance crap out of my mind more easily when I'm not feeling so tired,low and hacked off with the world in general.Perhaps the real deal multi-tabling sng winners would laugh at this self-pitying poor me post, in the same way I look at people posting about 4-5 games of bad beats in a row and think "You've no idea what real variance is".

Maybe I had no idea and I'm only just finding out.I've read about runs of break even runs/downswings of hundreds of games.Perhaps this is mine.The only positive is that I know I'm getting my money in ahead and I know it's just variance.I'm clinging on the logical part of my thinking which says that continuing to make the right decisions will pay off, even although that seems like some mysterious myth at present.Right now on Stars I tell myself "it cannot go on,it cannot go on like this,oh it has...again".

I am only down about $25 on Stars since the 1st of June and I'm still up a couple of hundred over all sites.I just hate losing and I hate it even more when it feels like I'm playing well yet being continually thwarted.I'll never hate the fish though! I did almost ask Mr K8h ( he flopped a flush v my Aces) wtf he was doing calling my raise preflop, but even when running this poorly I know it's those calls and fishy plays which make me money over time.I would also never give any lucky fish the added pleasure of knowing they'd annoyed me with their luck.( and it's the fact they got lucky which annoys,not the fact they chose to call with a weak hand)Better to sook it up,stay on my game and annoy them by chipping back up and cashing.Profit before ego!

What a load of twaddle this post is! I could have posted about the email I got from a company asking why I didn't have their paid for advert on my blog anymore.I didn't realise I had an agreeement with said company and it looks like someone has sold ad space on my blog and pocketed the profits without my knowledge. I'm not the most organised person in the world but it looks like somebodys fuckin' at it.Donald Woulard III.Email:kangoboy81@hotmail.com is the scammer.I do have his website address too but won't be giving him a free link here.Please feel free to add his email addy to as many spam lists as possible!

Ok,on the good news front I'm off work next week and will be able to catch up a bit on last weeks lost sleep and that should help lift the dark mood I've been in recently.

Euro 2008 starts shortly and I'm looking forward to a fine feast of football over the next few weeks.It's just a shame Scotland didn't quite make it.If the Dutch were not in such a tough opening group I'd probably tip them.They are though, so I'm going with Spain or Germany to win it.

Ok,off to pick my boy up.Don't forget to register for tonights EuroBlogger game on Stars....

Here's another fine football chant which made me smile..."What a waste of council tax,We paid for your hats"..

New Blogger game Sat 10pm ,Stars,$10 nl

As the title says there's a new Euroblogger game in town and it starts this Saturday night at 10pm UK time ( 5pm est) on Pokerstars.( under private tab)It's open to anyone who blogs or reads blogs ( that's you!) from anywhere in the world! The password is donkament.See Bloggermentpoker for more..

Big thanks to my co-host ,Mr Cloud over at the Hairygymnast blog,who has done most of the donkey work this week getting the new banners,site and Bloggerment badge set up. Please feel free to steal the banners,pimp the game and come out and play on Saturday night.

The Britbloggerment game is set up for Sunday as usual too...

Tues Update

My Gran took seriously ill early on Monday morning and although things were touch and go,she has stabilised a little today. She is in her eighties,has dementia and has been miserable in the nursing home she's been in.I just wish she didn't look so skinny and frail lying in her hospital bed.She did become lucid for a few minutes last night and thankfully rather than complaining of any pain, she asked for a cup of tea.She also woke up for a wee while tonight and although she did smile, she also told me she'd given up which is sad.

My Gran was a really strong,kind,sharp minded lady and seeing her slide into being a shadow of the woman she was has not been easy for our family.The Doc said that although she may be able to go back to the Nursing home in a few days ,she is still very weak and we shouldn't get our hopes up too much.( or words to that effect)

This is a poker blog and as it's the nature of blogging to jump from life/death matters to the trivial,I'll crack right on with my latest poker progress.Thanks to the 10 runners who played Sunday nights Bloggerment and congrats to Tan who took it down.I played brilliant skillful poker to outlast Rosie** and finish in 5th place after I shoved ( as usual my first bet with rubbish runs into a hand!) K10 into Mr Clouds AQ soooted.

** Sitting out for the whole game is no excuse!

After the Bloggerment I played a couple of $22 single table turbs on Party and took them both down.Winning a quick $40 at a Laddies cash table before bed made it a decent nights work from not many games.Poker is so damn unpredictable at times.11 hour sessions can easily end $92 down ( like last weeks one) and a quick few games before bed on another night can be very profitable.

Last night although I was feeling quite down and very tired after a long day,I enjoyed the yahoo chat and found losing myself in the poker to be a welcome distraction.

I do read the occasional non-poker blog and I was annoyed to read that one of my favourites, Mousie ,has apparently been outed and may have to quit blogging for the sake of her job as an NHS nurse.Personally I'd much rather the NHS ( National Health Service for non-UK readers) spent their time on actually improving the service instead of getting heavy handed with someone who obviously cares a great deal about her profession and patients.


Ok,more on plans for Saturday nights Blogger Euro Tour game soon.I'm too dang tired to write more today....

Message for Rosie and Tan!

Thanks for registering already for the Britbloggerment game tonight.Mr Cloud has spotted that it's been set up for 3pm est ( 8pm UK time) by mistake! I've now set it up for the right time ( 4pm est ,9pm UK time) but can't cancel the other one as you guys are registered.Apologies for the cock up!

My poker yesterday began with the Stars Silver FPP $20k freeroll at 7pm.The last time I reached Silver status I didn't even realise these games were on.I finished 304th from 5000 donkeys for $16.I've never been an MTT player and I'm not sure I ever will be ,however I feel like I've beaten the cash games up to $50/$100nl,got the measure of sng turbos and mtt's are an area of poker I'd like to tackle properly one day.

To the turbs and I made $74 from 19 games at $16 level although once again I seemed to come unstuck a little when I added a fourth table to the three I was playing.( I was $148 up after 11 games) I still managed some horrendous bubble finishes.I remember reading about how people think the big stack always wins any all ins.In my experience it's the total opposite! It seems to me the shortstacks always hit their miracle card to stay alive on the bubble.

I won $90 overall and after recent poor sessions I probably shouldn't grumble too much! I'm not going to edit yesterdays stats and include last nights winnings.I never seem to start a new month well and a + $90 night will hopefully help Junes figures.

To jump back to the Bloggerment ,Mr Cloud sent me an email with a few cracking ideas to spruce it up a bit.He mentioned a more structured league format which to be honest I'm actually not in favour of because I like the fact people feel they can dip in and out of the Bloggerment without missing out.The loosely structured league table Mr Cloud ran before ( and Stephen previously) seemed to work well.That's only my view though and I'd be interested to hear what others think.

A name change to something like "Bloggers Euro Tour" ( BET!) or Eurobloggerment and a possible move to 10pm UK time on a Saturday night are also under consideration.I quite like the idea of trying a $10 or even $20 game next Sat night alongside the Bloggerment as usual on Sunday to see if there's any interest.( please play because me v Mr Cloud HU would be one helluva long cagey battle!)

Please do leave any feedback and ideas on the above!