More MTT recap..

Step A was on good form last night.I did feel like a right old git when telling her if she didn't speak properly the only words she may end up using when she leaves school and starts working may well be "Would you like to go large with that meal Sir?".

She told me a few days ago that she had been looking for lucky four leave clovers with her friends with no success.Sorted! Her own kit to grow one along with a Venus fly trap ( had one as a boy and loved it) and a dog IQ test ( to help prove Nacho is smarter than the average dog) are on their way.

I only had time for three $7.50 Super Turbs when I arrived home and came 2nd in one of them.

Ok,back to the $50, $50k gtd MTT I cashed in the other week.When I last posted I had a $20k chip stack,the game had been runnng about 2 1/2 hours.

Three hours in and I raise with QQ and take the pot uncontested to leave me on 23.k ( 2nd largest stack at my table).Raising 99 and having to fold postflop to a reraise on an Ace high board and being reraised preflop after betting 3bb with 33 cost me a few chips and reduced my stack to 13k.

I doubled that stack after shoving 66 and holding against AJ to put me on $30k. After 3 hours 20 mins I reraised with AK and took it down when original bettor folded to lift me to $35k.

3 hrs 30 mins: Blinds and Antes total about $3k and I steal uncontested with K8 to chip up.

3 hrs 37: Uncontested steal with A7

3hrs 41:Raised AQ and took pot uncontested.On $30k after paying blinds and antes.

3 hrs 44: Shoved KK over a raise hoping for action...original bettor folded.$37 stack

3 hrs 48: Uncontested steal with Q5soooted.$37k.

3 hrs 50: Raise AK preflop and take it uncontested.$41k stack.

3 hrs 56: Uncontested steal with K9.( blinds and antes total 4.4k now) 37k stack

4 hrs:Raise 55 and folded to reraise.32k stack.

4 hrs 4 : Raised to 3bb with k7 and get flat called. C-bet on an A 3 5 flop representing the Ace and had to fold to a shove. Down to 15k.

4 hrs 6: All in preflop for 14k with 33 and won uncontested.

4 hrs 10: Call an all in from a fishy bigstack.My AK holds against his A5 off.Now up to 38k.Blinds and antes total 7k.

4 hrs 15: I flat call a 9k raise with AA.Flop comes T 5 3 and we both check.Turn is an Ace and it we both check again.The river is another 10 and I lead for 15k and the villain instantly shoves, putting me all in.I insta-call, he shows 33 and I scoop the 77k pot.The villain said "beauty" and I replied "ty ul".Hehe.77k stack.

4hrs 18: I fold AK to a raise from a solid winner who also has a big stack.Perhaps nitty but I just didn't fancy going to war here.

4hrs 26: Raise AQ and take it uncontested preflop.83k

4hrs 29: Steal with A3 keeps me on 83k.Blinds and antes total about 9k now.

4hrs 33: Raise A3 again and this time fold to a shove preflop.63k.


4hrs 39: Folded 99 to a preflop shove.Very close to calling.54k

4hrs 39: On the next hand I raise A9 and fold to another big stacks shove.42k.

4hrs 46: Shoved all in for 29k with JJ.Called by A10 who has me covered.Flop 8 K 5. Turn is an Ace and I barely have time to curse before a beautiful Jack comes on the river.Up to 70k stack now.

4hrs 49: Fold 88 to a raise and reraise before me.Would have been ahead of QK and AK preflop but QK makes a straight to win.Antes and blinds total 10.5k. My stack now 60k.

4hrs 51: My 93c gets a walk in bb.64k.

4hrs 58: Shove all in with 88 ( 53k bet) and huge stack in bb calls with A9.88 holds and I'm up to 113k.

5hrs : I raise 3bb with Aces and insta-call another big stacks shove.My Aces hold v JJ and my stack is now 225k.

Ok,that will do for now! Back soon..

RTR Challenge win

I played the 5000 fpp Turbo Takedown as planned and although I cashed for $90, I was knocked out after I made a redonkulous move.I was sitting on a 9k stack with about 3000 players left,the blinds were about 1k/2k and I raised to 3bb to steal from mid position with Q3.I'd been totally card dead for ages and planned to fold if reraised.Of course the biggest fish ( -37% roi over 1200 games) at the table flat called with A7,I missed the flop,shoved all in regardless and the fish hero called with C3PTK.( Crap 3rd pair,top kicker!)

Idiot play by me ( never bluff a fishy calling station) and when I remembered much later that the format meant that the blind levels slowed again after level 18,I was cursing my impatient stupidity even more!

I turned my focus to the Britbloggerment and RaiseTheRiver challenge games. ( Mods and Admin V rest)Thankfully we managed to get a full table for the Bloggerment this week.Not much to report from it for me.Card dead and out 6th after shoving over the top of one of Amatays ( frequent!) preflop raises with A10 ( I had less than 1k left) and lost to his QJ when the Queen flopped.Congrats to Amatay on winning it, although I'm sure Mr Cloud would dispute the rumours that he deliberately finished second just to secure the bridesmaid dress for himself.

The RTR game was far more fun for me and I'm pleased to say I beat 23 fellow RTR donks to take it down for the forum members.I did have a laugh at Burnley "Comical Ali" Mik using an obviously rigged scoring system ( hehe) to declare the admin/mods team as winners ( on the RTR game thread) despite a forum member winning and taking three bounties in the process! How does that "Dads Army" theme tune go again?!!

Anyways I got off to a good start when I shoved from the big blind with QQ after the sb had raised AK.He called and ( rare words for this blog) my hand held!

I didn't get my money in behind once ( that I recall) during the game which means I must have been runnning well.( all winners of tourneys are either cardracks or suckout kings!)

I did double up when my Aces held v Cadmunkeys KK and that gave me a decent stack going to the final table.Next I got a bit lucky v Yorkie Pud.He had just lost a pot after making a call with a mid pair on a ragged King high board and when he made his standard 2.5bb preflop raise, I looked down to 99 and decided to flat call.I hit a set,Pud hit top pair and when he shoved after my check-raise, I couldn't call quickly enough.Pud did have outs for a gutshot, but thankfully my set made a boat by the river and suddenly I had quite a large chip lead.

As the numbers dwindled I reverted to sng turbo endgame mode and stepped up the aggression further ,trying to gradually grind down the remaining stacks and seal the win.Lou Saban played a great game as usual and was unlucky to bubble.A bit later my 99 held v Mairs A10 and it was quite a short Heads up battle with Hull Jimi, which ended when my 1010 held v his 44.$60 for the win and another $25 in bounties.Ship it!

I fired up four $16's before bedtime and cashed in two for a $44 profit before dropping about $40 playing a few more $14.50 super turbos on Full Tilt.

Tonight I'm looking after Step A,Wednesday night is Rangers first competitive home game ( Champs league qualifier) and I'm also hoping to get across to see the s-man too at some point.

Thanks for reading.Back soon..

More grinding + Another Royal

I had a slightly frustrating night at the tables.I 8 tabled the $6.50 turbs,made $64 over 35 games and then hit my usual wall of bollocksness at the $16's.$3 profit overall from an 8 hour session at Stars! I did play five quick $14.50 super turbs on Full Tilt and made $76 which was a decent way to finish the night off.(although it was 6am in the morning when I finally went to bed!)

I did hit another Royal Flush on Stars and only require 50 more fpp's to hit Silver status again.According to Sharky I've played 289 sngs on Stars this month and have made....$7!

I've now got 14.7k fpp's at Stars and although I fancied hitting Silver status and using 13.5k to enter the Sun Million I think I may use 5000 fpps to play the $1m 5000fpp Turbo Takedown at 7.30pm tonight.

I wish I could remember which blog originally linked this site.My submission would be that despite not being at all superstitious,I have to say "Hello Mr Magpie" out loud whenever I see one of the damn birds on their own or else it's bad luck! OCD here I come...!

Ok, my brain is too fuzzy to write anymore!

Back soon...

Wee live game win

For some reason despite having the short-term memory of a goldfish, I do seem to be quite good at remembering who the bigger named players are, aswell as who the regulars are at the $16 turbos.At the final table of the MTT I cashed in last week I described one player,The Omaholic,as "one tough cookie" and was fairly sure he was a one of the top MTT players online.I finally got round to googling his name last night and discovered he's won nearly $700k and is ranked very highly indeed.Of course whilst I'm posting screenshots just for coming 5th,he briefly mentions he came 3rd in that game whilst also detailing all the other cashes he made that day.Kinda puts things in perspective!

Last night was live poker time baby! After the ex Mrs A had cleaned the flat and we had dinner I dropped her off,picked up Dudley and we headed over to a local ski club for a wee tourney my cousin had arranged.As it was after hours we both had a shot at flying down the dry ski-slope on a big rubber tube thing which pretty cool.I used to love sledging when I was young and it was a similar buzz.

In the end we only had 5 players for the poker and ended up playing a £5 tourney with rebuys for the 1st hour.The HU was me v Dudley and the last hand could have come straight from Pokerstars! We both got it in preflop and it was my AJ v Dudleys A9.I had him slightly covered and was cursing when the 9 hit on the turn before I re-sucked and hit a Jack on the river to win.Good times!

I was exhausted by the time I arrived home and should probably have gone straight to bed.Alas the Stars $16's were calling and after my 77 fell to AQ,my AJ to some muppet who rivered his flush and after going out the last game without cashing too,I did the sensible thing and hit the sack.

Todays plan is to go over and help my Mum and Dad get their new house ready,pick up Nacho and hit the tables later.

Oh and for anyone thinking of going pro and "living the dream", stop by the excellent Melted Felt blog and read Brians short story.Top drawer stuff!

Stand Ups...

It's been a quiet week for me on the poker front.I've played some cash at Full Tilt and Bet 365,winning on FT and losing less than $10 on 365.( I was up over $50 until I floated someone and on a daft bluff!)

I blew my FT winnings running badly in those highly addictive 300 chip super turbos on Tuesday night.On Wednesday I was looking after Step A and last night the s-man was over to sample some more herbs of the tea and smokable variety.I did squeeze in three games after he left and managed to win one of them.( $16 ,18 player Stars turbo)

Amatay reckoned my comment on stretching and taking herbs during play was funny but I'm not sure why.As a poker sportsman ( ahem!) I feel it's important to maintain peak physical fitness by following a punishing exercise regime.I probably did about 7-8 stand ups during last weekends 7 1/2 hr MTT and felt all the better for them.For those couch potatoes unaware of the terms us fitness fanatics use,stand ups help boost many major muscle groups and are a fairly advanced move requiring the participant to stand up and when this has been achieved,sit back down again.Start slowly and consult a Doctor first if all this is new to you...

I said I'd post some hands from the MTT I played last weekend and here's the bad beat that could have knocked me out after 49 minutes if I'd been daft enough to call the reraises.I was cursing the flop that's for sure...

*********** # 61 **************
PokerStars Game #18941154719: Tournament #95444505, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/07/19 - 15:49:06 (ET)
Table '95444505 127' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Hówie (3935 in chips)
Seat 2: AetherShock (4523 in chips)
Seat 3: annmagritt (3242 in chips)
Seat 4: grayzee1 (5260 in chips)
Seat 5: zagga (2620 in chips)
Seat 6: San3L100 (2330 in chips)
Seat 7: jeroen187 (1890 in chips)
Seat 8: TutuScoot12 (2925 in chips)
Seat 9: sisco2000 (3005 in chips)
sisco2000: posts small blind 50
Hówie: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [2c 2d]
AetherShock: folds
annmagritt: folds
grayzee1: folds
zagga: raises 150 to 250
San3L100: folds
jeroen187: folds
TutuScoot12: folds
sisco2000: raises 750 to 1000
Hówie: calls 900
zagga: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 2s 4s]
sisco2000: bets 2005 and is all-in
Hówie: calls 2005
*** TURN *** [Ts 2s 4s] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 2s 4s 5d] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sisco2000: shows [Kh Kd] (three of a kind, Kings)
Hówie: shows [Jd Js] (a flush, King high)
Hówie collected 6260 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6260 | Rake 0
Board [Ts 2s 4s 5d Ks]
Seat 1: Hówie (big blind) showed [Jd Js] and won (6260) with a flush, King high
Seat 9: sisco2000 (small blind) showed [Kh Kd] and lost with three of a kind, Kings

A few hands later I called a small raise with 55 and check folded on an Ace high flop to leave me sitting with just over 2k in chips after the first hour.I was then involved in the next couple of hands.I shoved AJ from the small blind into the big blind and he folded to take me to 2.2k.I shoved that 2.2k with 77 on the next hand and was fortunate enough to be called by 66 which doubled my stack.

I folded JJ to a raise and a reraise and was sickened to see a Jack on the flop and two fish both with AK split the pot after about 1 1/2 hours.I had to lay down A9d and JQ after attempted steals were reraised.I kept stealing wherever possible though ( antes had kicked in) and just before the 2 hour mark I doubled through to just over 9k when my 55 held v AK.

Next up I lost 3k when my 44 failed to hold v AJ and QJ.Aces holding v JJ for stacks took me to 14k after 2 1/2 hours.I shoved over the top of a frequent raiser with 77 and after he tanked and folded my stack was up to 18k.I got a "nh" from the villain followed by a ""u owe me for that big laydown zagga" to which I genuinely did LOL and not just in the chatbox.Not wanting to give any clue as to what I had shoved with I replied ""I'll smoke a fat one for you" which got a few laughs.Shoving 55 over a short-ish ( 6k) stacks limp/fold took me to just over the 20k mark after 3 hours.

Ok, more on that game later...

Tonight the ex is coming over to clean my flat and after that I'm heading out to play some live poker in a wee game Two Pies is setting up...

Thanks!

Huge thanks to all who commented on my last post and to everyone on Raisetheriver for their kind comments following my Mtt cash on Saturday night.It seems these things are like Glasgow buses ( you wait ages and they all arrive at the same time) as congrats are due to Rosie for taking first in a weekend Mtt for a nice score,to Mair for winning the live APAT Event for Raisetheriver and to Mr Cloud over at Hairygymnast.com on taking a shot at a higher level sng and scudding the fish to win it. A feelgood weekend if ever there was one!

I've downloaded the whole hand history ( all 7 hours 31 mins ) and will try and pick out a few of the more interesting hands to look at in future posts.( just be grateful I don't plan to make a video of it!)

First of all I should probably thank the poker gods for helping me have the worst run I've ever had at the $16 turbos over the last couple of months! By Saturday night I was still down for the month and decided that I wanted to try something different.I've cashed in $11 Mtt's before but didn't fancy fighting my way past a few thousand donks for a relatively small pay off.

My Mtt interest had been sparked by watching pro-training vids and I honestly believe I'd never have cashed at the weekend without them.In particular the Annette_15 vid ( link posted on RTR),Randallin mtt vids from Cardrunners and Z32Fanatics brilliant sngicons vids were the ones I picked up the most from.Worth every penny!

I justified the $55 buy-in by telling myself I usually have $96 on the tables anyway if I'm six tabling the $16's and as such it wasn't much of a shot to take.I did play a few $6.50 turbs alongside the $50k gtd for most of the early stages and my plan was to make enough from those easy games to pay my mtt fee.Of course those games ended in bubble finishes and no cashes, but thankfully that didn't matter in the end!

I smoked a ton of herb,drank loads of Chinese tea ( Green,white and Ginseng mainly) and did a few stretches in between dashes to the bathroom so everything about the game is still a bit hazy.

Even the last hand was slightly different to how I remembered it and now that I'm looking at it again I don't think I regret making the play.


*********** # 615 **************
PokerStars Game #18949961130: Tournament #95444505, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXVIII (25000/50000) - 2008/07/19 - 22:25:43 (ET)
Table '95444505 66' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 3: SirSmokey33 (533056 in chips)
Seat 4: Pokerturk (1094922 in chips)
Seat 5: mrvogt (932714 in chips)
Seat 7: zagga (818896 in chips)
Seat 8: The Omaholic (1723412 in chips) >> Not checked since but I was sure I'd seen this screename before and he was one of the better MTT players out there.Certainly the ding-dong battle of steals and resteals we had would back that up.He was one tough cookie to play!

SirSmokey33: posts the ante 5000
Pokerturk: posts the ante 5000
mrvogt: posts the ante 5000
zagga: posts the ante 5000
The Omaholic: posts the ante 5000
The Omaholic: posts small blind 25000
SirSmokey33: posts big blind 50000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Kc Ac]
Pokerturk: folds
mrvogt: raises 75750 to 125750
Blom21 [observer] said, "And you draw out on me :)..."

>>> The blinds were huge and I'd already told myself to forget the money and to just play it as if it was the final table of a turbo sng.This looked like a great spot to resteal with a great hand.The training vids had shown me the power of putting the villains to the test for their tourney lives and I would have been happy to take the pot there and then.

zagga: raises 688146 to 813896 and is all-in

The Omaholic: raises 688146 to 1502042 > The moment my heart sunk! A solid player doesn't reraise there without a monster.


SirSmokey33: folds
mrvogt: folds >> I'd probably have folded AK here in his position too after seeing two shoves to his opening bet.

Uncalled bet (688146) returned to The Omaholic

mrvogt said, "ak here" >> Heart sunk further as he had no reason to lie and my outs were just reduced by two.

Maldonne [observer] said, "gaaammmmbleee"
*** FLOP *** [2s Qd 9c]
*** TURN *** [2s Qd 9c] [6c] >> Picked up the nut club flush draw to go with my overcards....

*** RIVER *** [2s Qd 9c 6c] [8h] >> Not to be.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
The Omaholic: shows [Jd Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
zagga: shows [Kc Ac] (high card Ace)
zagga said, "gg"
The Omaholic collected 1828542 from pot
mrvogt said, "im so good"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1828542 | Rake 0
Board [2s Qd 9c 6c 8h]
Seat 3: SirSmokey33 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Pokerturk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mrvogt folded before Flop
Seat 7: zagga (button) showed [Kc Ac] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 8: The Omaholic (small blind) showed [Jd Jh] and won (1828542) with a pair of Jacks

Played more poker,watched the excellent "Catch me if you can" with the s-man and took my boy for long walks over the rest of the weekend.The only disapointment was that the Euroblogger didn't get enough runners and the Bloggerment this week consisted of Mr Cloud ( winner),Wee Gem and me.We're going to suspend the Euroblogger for now and the Bloggerment will sadly go the same way if there's no interest in playing in it from bloggers and readers.That would be a shame as it peaked at 39.I expect lower numbers in the summer but it seems a shame the US/Canadian players can organise almost daily blogger games and we struggle to keep one going on this side of the pond.

Anyways thanks for reading.Back soon...

Maybe Mtt's are not so bad..

Wheee! Shoved AK sooted into JJ to go out.Perhaps I could have raised 2.5bb and folded to reraise but no complaints.Sweet cash! :-)

Royal Flush

Stepped down to the $6.50 turbs and ran a lot better,winning $88 over 13 games.After this fine hand I came back and won that game and hoped my bad run may be over.I was wrong.The $16's were calling and once again I felt like I couldn't win a race or get a hand to hold up.Thankfully I won the last game I played and made $31 profit over my total of 25 games.( mostly 5-6 tabling)

PokerStars Game #18921555030: Tournament #96484148, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2008/07/18 - 20:06:59 (ET)
Table '96484148 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: zagga (1610 in chips)
Seat 7: LOSTFAN815 (3220 in chips)
Seat 8: Sydsneys-dad (22170 in chips)
zagga: posts the ante 50
LOSTFAN815: posts the ante 50
Sydsneys-dad: posts the ante 50
LOSTFAN815: posts small blind 300
Sydsneys-dad: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Qh 6d]
zagga: raises 960 to 1560 and is all-in
LOSTFAN815: calls 1260
Sydsneys-dad: calls 960
*** FLOP *** [Tc Kh Th]
LOSTFAN815: checks
Sydsneys-dad: checks
*** TURN *** [Tc Kh Th] [Ah]
LOSTFAN815: checks
Sydsneys-dad: bets 600
LOSTFAN815: raises 1010 to 1610 and is all-in
Sydsneys-dad: calls 1010
*** RIVER *** [Tc Kh Th Ah] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LOSTFAN815: shows [9h Ac] (a flush, Ace high)
Sydsneys-dad: shows [Js Qs] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
LOSTFAN815 collected 3220 from side pot
zagga: shows [Qh 6d] (a Royal Flush)
zagga collected 4830 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8050 Main pot 4830. Side pot 3220. | Rake 0
Board [Tc Kh Th Ah Jh]
Seat 3: zagga (button) showed [Qh 6d] and won (4830) with a Royal Flush
Seat 7: LOSTFAN815 (small blind) showed [9h Ac] and won (3220) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 8: Sydsneys-dad (big blind) showed [Js Qs] and lost with a straight, Ten to Ace

Today I'm walking Nacho,watching a Rangers pre-season friendly and hitting the tables.Something I have learned recently is that I much prefer to cascade the tables when playing over four.I seem to be able to handle six without losing the place and now all I need to do is run a little better and make some decent profit again!

Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Euroblogger and tomorrows Britbloggerment.The numbers have been low recently and it would be nice to see some new people playing! I'm dead money on Stars just now...so come and get it!

Edit: Normal service resumed..

Coos Keech!

The poker continues to charm.I considered not posting again until this downswing ends.At this rate however,my next post would include details of my retirement party...

I'm now down to having made little or no profit at all for the month of July so far and last nights late session didn't help.Once again I requested all the hand histories to review.These were just from the last two nights games and along with the really bad beats ,they are typical of how I'm running just now.These were all in situations late in the game and apart from the last AA hand,I was first into the pot with all of them.It did strike me that I was shoving Ace rag type hands quite often, but on looking through the game histories it becomes clear that this is because these Ace rag type hands were often the only playable hands dealt to me and the rising blinds forced the action.

A3 lost to 88 ( late in game,no complaints)
A5 lost to K8 ( rivered 8)
A10 lost to A5 ( rivered 5)
QQ lost to AQ ( rivered Ace)
A5 lost to AA.( shove with 4 left runs into monster)
44 v KQ ( Q on turn.I don't win flips!)
JK lost to A8 ( was never going to hit)
A8 lost to 66 ( hand after one above and one which busted me)
A3 lost to A2 ( 2 on flop.Happy I didn't have to wait to be rivered!)
AJ lost to K8 ( this time its the King on the turn)
AQ lost to A4 ( 4 on river)
A5 lost to AA ( Once again with 4 left I shove and run into AA)
AA lost to J10 ( J 10 4 flop )

Away from the tables it seems google has had a hissy fit over adverts on poker blogs and has downgraded many blogs ( including this one) as a result.I never set out to monetise this space.I was emailed asking if I'd accept ads for small payments and was happy to accept that money as kind of a small added bonus.Until I read up ( via links on Mookies blog) on the subject I naively assumed companies advertised here hoping that people would click on their links and sign people up for whatever product was being promoted.I may be wrong, but it seems it's all about simply having links on sites search engines like to increase the rankings of their own sites.

I quite liked being at number one for google searches on "Coos Keech" and certainly the google downgrading has cost me that position and no doubt lost me other readers too.( no more pervs after "Laddys front bum"!).I did spend quite a bit of time updating my "Funny football" chants post which seemed to attract a lot of hits, but in general even if less people stop by,I'd rather they were here for the poker content.

I think I can see googles point in all this, however it does seem a shame that blogs people put a lot of work into writing content for are lumped in with obvious spam /affiliate type blogs with no poker writing at all.In the end though much as I appreciate my advertisers, I wont lose any sleep if my blog becomes ad free again.

Not much else going on.My new manager showed off his intelligence with the tale of how he had been spreading grass seed on his lawn and afterwards he spotted a large bird on a neighbours roof, looking eager to devour the seed.My boss waited it out,even requesting his dinner be brought outside as he didn't want his grass spoiled by the aforementioned birdy.He remained in stand-off mode with the bird until a couple of hours later when his son pointed out the bird was plastic and was there to stop other birds landing on the neighbours tv aerial....

Someone else in my team told the tale of a not so bright neighbour who used to catch two trains to take him on his annual holiday.He would arrive at Argyle Street station in Glasgow and sprint along ( about 5 minutes away) to Glasgow Central to catch his connecting train.It took him five years before he realised it was the same train....

Thanks for reading and good luck to the Raisetheriver team at their live game this weekend...

Sliding down the pole...

After pounding the tables at the weekend I slowed down a bit last night and watched a couple of sngicons videos before hitting the tables for a set of four games ( $16,18 player turbos) later on.

It's funny how I can play 61 games over an evening,be on the end of repeated bad beats and still enjoy the session,yet last night it only took four games to make me want to spew and buy a cat to kick!

In the first game I raised 6bb preflop with AQ,the money went in when the flop came 8 J Q .Surely the fish didn't call my raise with 910 off sooot....he surely did!

My KK v AcQc was next up and when the money went in on a flop with 2 clubs ,the turn brought the fatal club which knocked me out.My AQ failed to hit v 66 in my next game and even in my last game of the four, I came 4th after shoving KQ into AK.

I'm getting tired of posting philosophical soliloquies on running badly.Ok,I've been reasonable,accepted it's just variance...Now turn the fuckin' beats off!!! Just for once I want to be Mr JJ who gets it in v AJ and AA and still hits his case Jack, instead of being Mr "Np,gg" after yet another fish says sorry for some nasty beat.

I'm trying to remain optimistic and stay focused on making the right decisions.I'm trying not to push too hard and make things happen.I'm going over hand histories,watching more training vids and regularly read the sng forum sections of 2+2,Cardplayer and Rebels of poker.

I've tried talking about running badly in the past tense and treating every hand as a new independent event.Logically there's no way any hands I play tonight can be in any way linked to any previous "bad run" and yet despite telling myself this, every night seems to see the same old crap as big hands get scudded,races are never won and fish pull miracle river cards out their backsides like it's going out of fashion.

As I've learned from the forums,sng downswings and bad runs can last for hundreds and sometimes thousands of games.I've only played 2.5k games on Stars and this is all still part of learning the game for me.The best way to cope is through volume,continued revision of my game and plenty of huffy tantrums and foot stamping whilst shouting about how it's all so unfair.Perhaps not the last part, but I've tried the first few options to no avail!

I'll be back at the tables tonight for more as usual.Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to taking care of Step A and enjoying more "Family Guy" and crap makeover programmes.( her choice!)

Back soon...

Proper Grinding

I had a fine weekend.My cousin,Two Pies,came round on Friday night after I'd seen a man about a particularly fine dog! My cousin told me he didn't like drinking tea, but enjoyed his ginseng tea and I sent him away with a few white,green,ginseng,milk thistle and nettle teas to try.This was after he'd watched as my Aces,Kings and queens were all busted at the turbos.

On Saturday I headed over to see my sister ( her birthday) and then to my Mum and Dads to cut the grass and help clear the back garden of their new house.I took Nacho a long walk and after dinner I sat down and played more turbos in one session than I've ever done previously.I used the cascade option and was nine tabling at one point.I finished down $15 over 61 games and didn't run well, but I didn't timeout anywhere and more importantly than that,I actually really enjoyed just making one quick decision after another.

Part of my multi-tabling problem has always been a wee voice in my head telling me to gamble too much and take more chances than I should.I called an all in on the bubble with AJ ( from the big blind) when the small blind shoved.We both had decent sized stacks and I called because I felt the small blind didn't have a big hand and if I'd won I'd have a huge chiplead.He had 22 and when my AJ didn't hit I thought about it more,I realised it was a dumb call.

It's easy to think "ahh well I've got 8 more games on the go,I don't mind gambling a bit more" but that's not the right way to play at all.Of course my edge is smaller playing so many games at a time and at times I will be making moves based on experience,patterns and instinct rather than solid reads, however that's not an excuse to loosen up too much and play like a donk.

I also played the Euroblogger and fought my way through the field to come 3rd.( from 3 starters!) Congrats to Hammerheid who won and to WeeGem who took down last nights Bloggerment.( I was 3rd from 8 starters).

The s-man came over last night and we had a good laugh watching Family Guy and sampling the herbal spriggage!

I six tabled the turbs for a while later and finished up slightly for the night and for the weekend which was nice...

Zagga $16 Turbo Vid..

After a weekend which put a spring in my step ,I've been plodding along nicely this week, despite the poor weather.I do find it funny that everytime we have a hot,dry summer it's all down to man-made global warming and yet when it's cooler and constantly raining it doesn't get mentioned.Maybe we'll even see some of the acid rain people were getting their knickers in a twist over back in the 80's.Ahh we're all doomed!

On Monday night I made another poker video( 18 man ,$16 turb on Stars),this time using the Cardrunners hand history replayer.Not being very techy, unfortunately I think I used the wrong resolution setting and the 35 ( 224 MB) min video file is too big to host on screencast or for emailing to anyone.In fact it was a pretty hopeless effort and all I can do is post it here and hope it's watchable enough for people to sit through.I had to compress it and reduce it to get it to work on blogger and as a result it may be too small and blurry to watch.Oh and I've no idea why sometimes it seems to stick on "buffer" and other times it plays ok...All feedback appreciated!

I'll get my excuses in now as it's the first time I've properly used Cardrunners excellent replayer and the video does skip around a bit until around half way through when I suddenly realised it was the bubble! Maybe next time I'll go through the game first and actually do some preparation, but it'll have to do for now and hopefully some of it will be useful for people new to turbo sng's.

On Tuesday evening I had dinner with my sister and brother in law.Dang tasty it was too! More time spent trying to upload the poker video when I arrived home meant I played very little.( a few more $7.50 super turbs without cashing)

Last night I didn't play much poker either.I fired up three $16 ,18 player turbos and when my Kings were busted by J8 in the first one,I didn't have a good feeling.Thankfully I managed to take one of the other two games down before moving to Party and winning the $33 single table turb I played.

After posting my senior managers quote the other week about things "taking off like a lighthouse", I thought I'd post this weeks gem.Talking about being frustrated by another department,Dave said "I'm not going to use the word fuming...but I was fuming".Hmmm

I deal with complaints made to the chairman and chief exec of a large company and this weeks favourite was the guy who received his standard account password as "assword1" instead of the usual "password1" and feels highly insulted by our company "swearing" at him.A simple entry error and his world falls apart.Pathetic!

Ok,no poker tonight as I'll be over at the ex's looking after Step A.Unless I've got Nacho tomorrow night I'll be heading out for a wild night of dvd watching and tea drinking with the s-man.Stirred ,not shaken....

Show me the money!

It looks like I'll finally be moving up in stakes,buying a larger house and trading my Focus ST in for an Aston Martin DB9!I may even run another "guess the villains hand" competition and double the prize money!

"I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the
assets and Capital valued at £12,540,000.00 Million Pounds left behind
by my client.I seek your consent to present you as the next of
kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the
proceeds of this account can be paid to you."

I'm not getting too carried away though.It's only 1567500 buy-ins at $16 and variance is a biatch at the moment....

I didn't start playing the Bloggerment until after the incredible Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer.It was a truly stunning display of tennis from both players and Nadals five set win has to go down as the greatest game of all time.Not only was the quality of tennis sublime,the incredible resilience and spirit shown by both men made it a match which will live long in my memory.

Nadals after match comments when asked if he felt down after losing two match points in the fourth set were telling and could easily be applied to the poker table."When I was sitting down, I just say: I am playing well. I am doing well. I am with very good positive attitude. I played with a very positive attitude all the time, fighting a lot." He added ""I just focus on every point," he said. "Is possible to think too much. If you think too much, you not gonna play well. I just focus on next point."

Thanks to the nine players who turned out to play last nights Britbloggerment game and congrats to Wadhead for taking it down.My own exit was typical of how I'm running at the tables.My JJ was rivred by 88 and that was that!

I had warmed up by four tabling $6.50's and after the Bloggy I moved back up to $16 and played five games.Every hand is a new hand, but it's getting hard not to see the kind of run I'm on as a downswing and reading forum posts about 1000 game downswings or breakeven runs do not fill me with much joy! I did win the last one I played but endured more beats and suckouts.39 soooted busting my KK and having my 66 busted by 68 ( 8 on turn) were last nights biggest junk kickers.

In light of how badly I'm running I've decided not to set any lofty goals for July.Obviously I want to push on and make as much as possible but I'll start by aiming to break my Stars roll back through the $7k mark and hitting $8k profit on Sharkscope.( at Stars)

I did finish my night by playing four $7.50 super turbos ( 300 chips,3 min blinds) on Full Tilt and winning two of them.I may have a go at four tabling them at some point.Hmmmm.

Ok,that's plenty for a Monday.Back later in the week...

Arsenal sign Messi!

Someone sent me that one during the week and it brought a grin to my face.

I'm watching Nadal lead Federer by two sets at the Wimbledon final so this will be a short post.Thanks to everyone who turned out to play the Euroblogger last night and congrats to Mair who continues her Bloggy hot streak and took down her 3rd bloggy game in a row.I made 3rd for $10 and then continued 4 tabling the $6.50's.I'd stepped down because I want to truly get a grip on 4 tabling before trying again at the $16's.Perhaps if I was 10 years younger I'd be 8-12 tabling with ease.Maybe rolling herbacious smokes slows me down a bit.Whatever the case I did ok last night and turned a small profit.

Ok,thanks to all who took the time to read over the hand I posted on July 2nd and left an answer.I can reveal that my $10 is safe in my moth ridden wallet!

Here is the hand in question...

For anyone who missed it ,I was asking which hand the fishy tilty villain called me with...And no I couldn't believe it either!! Perhaps he thought I was betting a weak spade flush draw and he was making the hero call of his life!

PokerStars Game #18516067948: Tournament #94114633, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/07/01 - 18:27:00 (ET)
Table '94114633 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: NuttyProff (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: zagga (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: master_fp (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: paco02 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Totò 17 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Supachico (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: zeze1978 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: tof17 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: M.S. Hanson (1500 in chips)
zagga: posts small blind 10
master_fp: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Qh Ad]
paco02: calls 20
Totò 17: calls 20
Supachico: folds
zeze1978: folds
tof17: folds
M.S. Hanson: calls 20
NuttyProff: folds
zagga: calls 10
master_fp: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah Qs 4s]
zagga: bets 80
master_fp: folds
paco02: calls 80
Totò 17: calls 80
M.S. Hanson: folds
*** TURN *** [Ah Qs 4s] [6h]
zagga: bets 240
paco02: calls 240
Totò 17: folds
*** RIVER *** [Ah Qs 4s 6h] [9h]
zagga: bets 520
paco02: calls 520
*** SHOW DOWN ***
zagga: shows [Qh Ad] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
paco02: mucks hand
zagga collected 1860 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1860 | Rake 0
Board [Ah Qs 4s 6h 9h]
Seat 1: NuttyProff (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: zagga (small blind) showed [Qh Ad] and won (1860) with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 3: master_fp (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: paco02 mucked [Jd Tc]
Seat 5: Totò 17 folded on the Turn

Ok,I'm off to watch the rest of the tennis.Don't forget the Britbloggerment is on tonight...

Sunshine and Rainbows

Ahh who needs philosophy when Rocky Balboa is around!

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

I had a fine evening over at the s-mans last night.We watched Rocky Balboa and it was far better than I expected.I loved most of the Rocky films with Rocky 4 being a particular favourite.The 12yr old me wanted to kill that big nasty Russian back in 1985!!

The poker gods continue to test me at the tables.0/2 at Party $22 turbos ( AQ v AJ and AJ and I still lost!) and then 0/3 at Stars $16's.Aces being busted by JJ,AQ by 45 off and AQ V QJ ( J on turn) were last nights beats.I didn't get home until just before 1am and went to bed at 3am after the last suckout.

Looks like I'll be keeping my $10 as nobody has yet guessed the villains hand from my July 2nd post! I'll keep the competition open for one more day.

I see the WSOP Main event has now begun in Vegas.I'll be following it via Tao of Poker and Hard Boiled poker as those guys really know how to cover a poker tourney.I didn't try and qualify at all this year but like most small time players it still remains a dream to play in the main event one day...

I actually played a couple of Omaha sngs last Saturday thinking I could play in Dr Paulys $10 PLO game at 9.20pm UK time on Stars.( pass:taopoker) I did play a couple of $2 sngs but had no idea what I was doing ( hi? lo? limit?) and decided to leave that to experts like Dudley Do-Right!


Today I plan to take Nacho for a run ( if the rain goes off),do some shopping,roll up a fat one and hit the tables.

I popped into the pet shop on Friday to buy Nacho some pigs ears as a treat and to liven up my dull life I thought it would be amusing to say to the girl behind the counter "I'd better be careful how I phrase this, but do you have pigs ears?".How amusing I thought to be asking if they stocked pigs ears and to jokingly imply I'm asking the assistant a personal question.That was until I glanced at the side of the assistants head and noticed the largest pointiest ears I've seen in years.Oooops!

Ok,don't forget all are welcome to play in tonights Euroblogger game on Stars.Hope to see you there...

No winners yet!

Anyone reading this blog on a regular basis may have seen the scurrilous accusations made by dubious characters such as the s-man and Al Eleven that suggest I can be of a slightly frugal nature when it comes to money!I suppose it then follows that I wouldn't offer a competition prize on my blog ( see July 2nd post) unless I was confident I'd not have to pay out!

After sifting through the flood of competition entries ( !!),I can reveal nobody has guessed the villains hand yet.Kronsdats line of thinking was probably closest.The $10 is still up for grabs!I'll keep it open until Sunday and add a clue that the villain was a huge fish and probably on tilt too....

I only played one game ( 3rd in a $7.50 Full Tilt super turbo) on Wednesday night after having a great time looking after Step A.Last night began with two suckouts at Party $22 single table turbs before I won the 3rd.It was back to Full Tilt after that to take 1st and 3rd in a couple more $7.50 super turbos.

I was watching Question Time and only single tabling.I need to be careful as I find myself multi-tasking too often when playing poker these days.Money can still be made when playing on auto-pilot mode as the competition is so awful, but paying attention and having a better idea of how loose/tight the villains are raising and calling can only lead to more profit.

I do wonder if I use distractions such as watching tv to lessen my emotional involvement in the game and as a way of softening the repeated beats that are a constant when playing turbo sngs.One of my better poker attributes has always been ( cue bankroll wrecking session!) my steam control.I've certainly allowed tilt to creep in at times and have played a few games on full spewing monkey tilt mode, but generally it doesn't happen often.

A great philosopher once wrote, "Naughty naughty,very naughty".( The Shamen:Ebeneezer Goode, 1992!).



Err wrong quote! WW Bartley did write :

For every ailment under the sun
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try to find it;
If there be none, never mind it.

Play your best game,check your hand histories and if you've made the right decision but the result didn't go your way then never mind it and move on! Similar to accepting with serenity the things ( like the random number generator!) that cannot be changed and having the courage to change the things which can be changed.( like your mindset after bad beats)

If you're a highly competitive person then forget poker skills and use that instinct to see yourself in a mindset battle with every other poker player.Don't be weak and give into the frustration of constant beats and missed flops.If you can cope better than the next guy/gal then that will go a long way to making you a better and more profitable player than them, even if they are more skilled.Let it go!

Time for a quick non-poker related rant now.Balloons.Why? I exited the lift at work today to find dozens of balloons had been tied to tables and chairs.Ooh balloons,how can anyone not have fun at work when there's a couple of dozen brightly coloured balloons on display? I see it's spread to car dealerships and shops who feel these outdoor balloon displays will suck customers in to discover just what a fun,friendly, place of jolly japery that particular establishment is.Bollocks.Balloons are for kids and for bursting to watch the dog chase round the room.Nuff Said.

In other news I see even the donkeys are protecting themselves from the evils of Pokerstars random number generator...



It was actually quite a sad story about a poor donkey who fell down a hole and was rescued hours later.( hence the foil coat to warm him up).It was a great excuse for Rosie and Juices favourite newspaper,The Sun,to legitimately use a photo of said donkey whilst still stuck.Alongside it was the headline, "Ass Hole".

Ok,tonight I'm heading over to the s-mans for a bit of Rocky Balboa and will probably hit the tables when I get back.After today's post I'd better not feckin' tilt...

Competition Time...

As per my edit to the monthly stats post, I played five $16's without cashing on Monday night which left me up only $423 for the month of June.I suppose it's still a winning month and I shouldn't complain too much.It was just frustrating as I've been making a lot more in recent months and with a week off work too,I was really hoping to reach at least the $1k mark.

My main achievement in June was knocking one of my hero's,Jennifear ( Punkinbear on Stars) out of a $16 turbo. I managed to resist acting like a starstruck fanboy and stuck to a quick "gg"!Her posts and articles on Pocket Fives have been a huge help to my game and she definitely makes my top 3 list of most fearsome online female players.( Along with Annette _15 and a certain Bristol blogger)

I managed to get July off to a reasonable start last night,winning one of the four games I played for a $44 profit overall.Not much else to report today.I'm looking after Step A tonight and won't have net access which is a good excuse to take a night off from playing poker.( I'm still sad enough to take my laptop and watch some previously downloaded Cardrunners videos!)

Here a couple of quirky wee poker hands I've played over the last couple of nights which should probably be filed under the "What were they thinking?" category!

PokerStars Game #18493899678: Tournament #93995760, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/06/30 - 19:10:19 (ET)
Table '93995760 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: zagga (1630 in chips)
Seat 5: gavana77 (1200 in chips)
gavana77: posts small blind 10
poundurace: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Ah Kh] >>> Ahh good old AK.I sit poised over the raise button.

gretske: folds
Shtack: folds
Norskei: calls 20
zagga: raises 80 to 100 >> 5bb or so is standard for me here.
hmloor: folds
ro1_nl: folds
johnny502: folds
gavana77: calls 90 >> Hmmm,I have a caller.
poundurace: folds
Norskei: folds

*** FLOP *** [2h 5s 4c] >> Not great flop for my Big Slick.I'll probably make a decent continuation bet to represent a big pair and hope the villain folds.

gavana77: folds > Perhaps I should forget the c-bet and just hope he folds! ( if it's not clear gavana77 could have checked here instead of just insta-folding!)

zagga collected 240 from pot >> Ahh Big Sick,so powerful it can make villains crumble and fold.

zagga: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 240 | Rake 0
Board [2h 5s 4c]
Seat 1: zagga collected (240)


PokerStars Game #18516067948: Tournament #94114633, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/07/01 - 18:27:00 (ET)
Table '94114633 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: NuttyProff (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: zagga (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: master_fp (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: paco02 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Totò 17 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Supachico (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: zeze1978 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: tof17 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: M.S. Hanson (1500 in chips)
zagga: posts small blind 10
master_fp: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Qh Ad]
paco02: calls 20
Totò 17: calls 20
Supachico: folds
zeze1978: folds
tof17: folds
M.S. Hanson: calls 20
NuttyProff: folds

zagga: calls 10 >> It's been a fishy looking game so far and I don't fancy playing my AQ out of position postflop against players who can't fold.( if I raise and miss flop).

master_fp: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah Qs 4s] >> Bingo! Not much to worry about other than 44 and that would be a cooler.

zagga: bets 80 >> Hoping anyone with an Ace reraises me and wanting to build the pot and not scare anyone off just yet.

master_fp: folds
paco02: calls 80
Totò 17: calls 80
M.S. Hanson: folds
*** TURN *** [Ah Qs 4s] [6h] >> safe looking turn card.

zagga: bets 240>> I bet about 2/3 of the pot which I feel is enough to price anyone out of drawing to the flush and not enough that it will scare anyone with an Ace out of the pot.

paco02: calls 240
Totò 17: folds

*** RIVER *** [Ah Qs 4s 6h] [9h] >> Glad it wasn't a spade and not I'm too worried by the 9h.I reckon I'm still ahead although I'm not sure what I'm ahead of!

zagga: bets 520 >> A busted flush draw won't pay me anything so I'll bet enough to get value from my AQ if I'm up against a worse Ace.

paco02: calls 520 >>

Ok,I don't think I've ever offered any prizes on this blog but I'll transfer $10 on Full Tilt or Pokerstars to the first person to tell me in the comments box the hand paco02 called me with! I'll leave the competition open until my next post on Friday...( probably around 6-ish BST)