The highs n lows of a winning low stakes Sng player
Friday, October 31, 2008
Annual Stats
I did end up going out with my cousin last night and whupping him at pool before heading home later on and hitting up a couple of $22's,taking one down and coming 2nd in the other.
I did manage to make the most of one timing tell when the blinds were around 100-200 in my first game.I looked down to 88 in the cut off and was deciding if I was going to limp or raise when a solid regular ( I'm starting to recognise a few names) insta-limped from UTG.( first to act preflop). The limper had about 1200 behind and my own stack had been whittled down to 1.4k by this point.
It's always dangerous to use your own ranges to assign hands to others but I was as certain as I could be that the villain was limping 55-99 or a KQ,AJ,A10 type hand.( not that I limp AJ or A10 from utg!).99 worried me a bit, but against his range I felt I was well ahead and a shove would force him to fold ( giving me 400 from the pot ) or he may call off with 55-99.It folded round,I shoved,he called with 77 and I doubled.If he'd taken a second or so longer to act I may not have shoved my 88, but the instant nature of his limp made it easier to pin him to a hand.I hope that makes sense and doesn't just look as if I posted it to look like a smart arse!
Monthly stats: Stats include $2000 Stars cashout on 21st Oct. Pokerstars $7962 ( + $291), Full Tilt $728 ( + $123),Party $2544 ( + $741),Ladbrokes $373 ( - $30) Bet 365 $424 ( -$43) ,Pokerroom $36.Total $12067 ( + $1082 for month)
Annual profit total = $15667.
To the stats and that's me at the end of my fourth year of real money online poker and I'm happy to say it's been my most profitable ever.I made around $4.5k per year over the last three years playing cash games and would have never have dreamt that switching to sngs would be so lucrative.Unless I can learn to play more than four tables effectively they'll never make me rich, but I'm happy making a few dollars per game over a few hundred games per month.
Almost all of those games have been 18 player turbos on Stars, although having played single table $22's and $33's on Party, I feel just as comfortable with that format now.Stars has been my main poker home over the last year,but Party's games are just too soft to ignore.My main observation is that Stars players ( in general) play the bubble better than Party donks who seem far more keen to knock each other out given the chance.
I've only played a few Mtt's over the year and had my biggest cash ever of $4.2k in the Stars $50k gtd back in July.I did promise myself I'd play more Mtt's and haven't stuck to that at all.Maybe that will change over the next year.
I've never really been the type to set myself goals for the year.Improving my multi-tabling skills,playing more Mtt's,getting in more volume,trying not to obsess so much over short-term results and playing more PLO are this years loosely set targets.
SirAlcanthang has come with the goods again on behalf of Full Tilt poker.First prize in this weeks Brit Blogger game will be an entry ticket to Full Tilts FTOPS Event 7 worth $109! The event will be hosted by Full Tilt pro,Ryan Daut, and the prize pool is $600k!
I've been too busy to play much poker this week.I managed to finish another set of bad beat ridden $22's on Monday night with a win and I won the only $22 I played on Tuesday evening after I got home from freezing my nuts off at the football.
Last night I was on taxi duty,picking up Step A after work and taking her and the ex Mrs A to the Cascada gig at Glasgow's Carling Academy.They both enjoyed it and the big hug I got from Step A made all the driving to and from the town well worth it.I only played a couple of games later on and busted out of my only $22 when my Queens were busted by Jacks.
I plan to fire up a quick annual stats only post for my own records tomorrow as the 31st marks the end of my fourth year of real money poker.I had also planned to write a quick summary of the last year..and I will get round to that!
I've just woken up after a quick 45 min nap.Time for dinner and if my cousin doesn't call soon re pool game it's poker time...
Thanks to everyone who showed up to play the first ever Turbo Brit Blogger game on Full Tilt and congrats to Lisa for taking it down.I bubbled after shoving Ace rag into AK, but at least I didn't get the monkey again. Look after him Matty! I hope everyone enjoyed the new faster turbo format and we get a few more players next week.If any other Bloggerment regulars ( weegem maybe?) require to swap some funds from Stars to Full Tilt to play the Blogger then let me know via comments or email.
The poker gods were not kind at the weekend.Thankfully the pound plunging further against the Dollar means $10k which was worth £5714 at $1.75 not long ago is now worth £ 6460 today at the $1.54 rate.According to a forecast in The Times it could go as low as $1.38. I feel a large cashout coming on!
Without Sharkscope ( doesn't work at Party for sngs) or proper record keeping I've no idea exactly how many games I've played there this month.I would guess I've played about 150 $22's and about 15-20 $33's.As I pretty much crushed those games for the first few weeks of the month I can't really ( oh but I will) complain about losing a few hundred $$ now I'm running like crap.It only takes ten bad $22's and few nasty $33 bad beats to add up to that few hundred and a mini bad run of variance is just standard turbo stuff.Of course having been used to swings at $16, I'm having to up my gulp limit a bit when it comes to having a bad night/week/month at $22/$33.
Perhaps though my worries are over.As anyone reading this space can see I've starting using a hand re player and I'm very glad I did as the company behind it have emailed me with a fantastic opportunity!
"Hi zagga,
Yes, pro poker players make an average of $1,000 every time they play! Can you imagine what that would be like, zagga?...
>>> Oooh I can ,I can! No more bad beats or downswings.Just $1k average every time I play!!
You want to go on holiday with your partner but you have just brought a new house with your massive poker winnings so your a bit short.
>>> A new house?!! Woot! I thought I was doing well buying a new plasma TV!
No worries! You decide to put in a whole week of poker play and one week later you are on the beach with $7,000 spending money!
>>> As they used to say on Captain Caveman.......ZOWY!
Of course if you run out there is a computer in your 5 star hotel so you can always win some more.
>>> And perhaps Haley Holt and Vicki Coren will indulge me with a personal massage as I play...
This is the life of the pro poker player, zagga. Now I'm not going to pretend to you that you will get to this stage instantly
>> I can wait a day or two!
BUT if you study Kim's book and practice (not with real money) over the next month, I am going to 100% guarantee you WILL make an average of $100 every time you play! If you can't make it work for you, I will MAKE SURE you are refunded in full and since you will have been practicing with play / demo money, you cannot lose, zagga
>>> My favourite part of all! It's back to the play money tables to perfect those $100 per day profit making moves.Great riches await me! I wont forget the little people though.When I begin averaging $1k per day I think a "Win a Brit Blogger Buy-in" competition ( worth $5.50 and may not be swapped for cash equivalent) may be the best way of spreading my wealth a little.Watch this space....
If you're looking for other ways to rapidly increase your bankroll and impress the lady in your life ,perhaps I could forward you the "Astonish her with growth" email which surprisingly was filtered into my spam folder....
Ok,busy week ahead so I probably wont be posting much...
I'm not much of a poker fanboy.I couldn't give two hoots if Hellmuth had another blow up or who the latest "sick sicko mtt" player is this week.Occasionally though I'll fire up the Railheaven tables on Full Tilt and enjoy watching the pros play at nose-bleed stakes.Who says you should never go broke with only a pair in Holdem...
Maybe Durr was building Castles in the Sky..
Or maybe he'll get Another Chance...
Either way it was a good excuse to post a couple of top tunes!
My new tele was delivered yesterday and looks fantastic! 42" is more than big enough for my wee flat and I've already watched plenty of football and "Saw" on it.I even watched about 5 mins of Strictly Come Dancing" but only because it was on Virgins high definition channel!
On the poker front I managed a decent run in Dr Paulys PLO game,finishing 5th.I could maybe have been tighter and tried to scrape into the money, but I got my money in goot and I think I'd play it the same way again.( not sure about my preflop call though!)
Afterwards I played some more $22's and $33 turbos on Party and finished down about $60 there after running like crap, especially at $33's where only a 2nd place finish in my last game really helped keep me afloat.Over at Stars I muddled along with $16's and a $27 and finished up about $30 for the evening.
That's nearly my 4th year of real money online poker over ( Oct 31st) and I'll be firing up a stats post some time next week.I'm also going to the football on Tues,taking Step A and ex Mrs A to the Cascada gig on Wed,playing pool on Thurs and heading out on Friday night! That's if I don't just cancel the lot and stay in to watch my new tv!
Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Brit Blogger game on Full Tilt.No need to be a Brit or a blogger....!
Oh and here's a quick guide on how to go from being on the bubble to getting Heads Up in one easy move....( from a $22 on Party)
This weeks new turbo Britbloggerment is now available for registration on Full Tilt starting at 8pm gmt on Sunday.( 4pm est in lobby due to clocks going back).Password is "donkament" and it's open to all.Tourney number on Full Tilt is 65781530.Find it under the private tourney tab with the wee "t" for turbo next to it! Thanks to co-host Mr Cloud for coming up with the excellent banner!Feel free to borrow and pimp the game...
Before the Bloggerment on Sunday there's Dr Paulys Saturday PLO game...
Since my last post I've donked out a couple of $22's and played five or six $16's on Stars, taking a first and second place to move into profit for the month on Stars sngs.I've also been out for a fine curry with my Mum and Dad and my Mum proudly told me she is now in profit over her last three months of play on Stars!Has she been reading more books or actually listening to any of my advice? No,she's been playing "Hearts" at the same time and this is helping her be more patient! Whatever works I suppose.
Anyway the 2nd place finish last night came in a game I really should have won after accumulating a 16k chipstack by the time the bubble came around.A couple of readers mentioned they like seeing hands with explanations on my blog.I tend to feel a lot of these are simply hands where the nuts are flopped and any idiot could make $$ ,but here are a few that are hopefully a bit more interesting.I should probably have cheated and made about four posts from these hands but I think it's better to post them as they are still fresh in my mind...
PokerStars Game #21438946850: Tournament #116021755, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2008/10/23 19:17:56 ET Table '116021755 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button Seat 2: Lythande71 (3680 in chips) Seat 4: zagga (1725 in chips) Seat 5: Pokinaround2 (1300 in chips) Seat 6: MadeInITA (1659 in chips) Seat 7: NLGeronimo (6221 in chips) Seat 8: oconnor8 (2065 in chips) Lythande71: posts small blind 75 zagga: posts big blind 150 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [9s 6c] Pokinaround2: calls 150 MadeInITA: folds NLGeronimo: folds oconnor8: folds Lythande71: folds zagga: checks *** FLOP *** [Ts 5h 9d] zagga: bets 300 >>>>> Unless villain has a 10,overpair or JQ type hand then my bet should win the pot.I try and bet enough to look strong and put the villain off bluff reraising. Pokinaround2: calls 300>> Hmmm *** TURN *** [Ts 5h 9d] [8c] zagga: bets 450>>>>>> Picked up a gutshot and decide to fire again. Pokinaround2: calls 450 *** RIVER *** [Ts 5h 9d 8c] [Td] >> chances are he doesn't have a ten here and is worried I do as I led out post flop.I'm also more likely to have a ragged hand which connected with this board as I'm playing for free out the big blind.( though I'm not sure I'd credit the villain for considering this)
zagga: bets 825 and is all-in>>
Pokinaround2: folds >> He can't have had much at all to fold for his last 400 ( aprox) into a pot of over 2k.
Uncalled bet (825) returned to zagga zagga collected 1875 from pot zagga: doesn't show hand *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 1875 | Rake 0 Board [Ts 5h 9d 8c Td]
Game #21439122594: Tournament #116021755, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/10/23 19:24:58 ET Table '116021755 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button Seat 1: Pistolpeak (3500 in chips) Seat 2: Lythande71 (2786 in chips) Seat 3: MrDurden (2210 in chips) Seat 4: zagga (3925 in chips) Seat 5: vitus69 (3380 in chips) Seat 6: MadeInITA (3718 in chips) Seat 7: NLGeronimo (6421 in chips) Seat 8: Deluk4 (290 in chips) Seat 9: muttern3k (770 in chips) MrDurden: posts small blind 100 zagga: posts big blind 200 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [5c 7d] >> vitus69: folds MadeInITA: folds NLGeronimo: folds Deluk4: raises 90 to 290 and is all-in muttern3k: folds Pistolpeak: folds Lythande71: calls 290 MrDurden: folds zagga: calls 90>> I didn't sharkscope Lythande but he had a platinum star ( meaning he plays a lot of poker on Stars) and I assumed he was probably a mulit-tabling winning player and wouldn't get too frisky post flop unless he hit board.I was hoping to hit something cheaply and probably check it down.I actually considered shoving or at least reraising here too because the shortries range was wide and I thought if Lythande71had any kind of really decent hand ( even a decent soooted Ace hand probably enough) he would have reraised to isolate which meant there was a good chance he'd fold if I did reraise.I decided not to partly because I felt my tight image wasn't worth compromising for a smallish reward.
*** FLOP *** [3s 4h 5h] zagga: bets 600>> I bet out with my top pair and gutshot,feeling confident Lythande will fold here most of the time. Lythande71: calls 600 >> Awesome read as he snap calls! *** TURN *** [3s 4h 5h] [7h] zagga: bets 1400 >> It's unlikely Lythande has a 6 and as I've hit two pair and could be representing having hit either the flush or straight I feel it's worth betting out. Lythande71: folds Uncalled bet (1400) returned to zagga *** RIVER *** [3s 4h 5h 7h] [2h] *** SHOW DOWN *** zagga: shows [5c 7d] (two pair, Sevens and Fives) zagga collected 1200 from side pot Deluk4: shows [Jc Kc] (high card King) zagga collected 970 from main pot *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 2170 Main pot 970. Side pot 1200. | Rake 0 Board [3s 4h 5h 7h 2h]
PokerStars Game #21439182836: Tournament #116021755, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2008/10/23 19:27:23 ET Table '116021755 2' 9-max Seat #5 is the button Seat 1: Pistolpeak (3450 in chips) Seat 2: Lythande71 (1846 in chips) Seat 3: MrDurden (2060 in chips) Seat 4: zagga (5055 in chips) Seat 5: vitus69 (3530 in chips) Seat 6: MadeInITA (3468 in chips) Seat 7: NLGeronimo (6371 in chips) Seat 9: muttern3k (1220 in chips) Pistolpeak: posts the ante 25 Lythande71: posts the ante 25 MrDurden: posts the ante 25 zagga: posts the ante 25 vitus69: posts the ante 25 MadeInITA: posts the ante 25 NLGeronimo: posts the ante 25 muttern3k: posts the ante 25 MadeInITA: posts small blind 100 NLGeronimo: posts big blind 200 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [7d 7h] muttern3k: folds Pistolpeak: folds Lythande71: folds MrDurden: folds zagga: raises 400 to 600 >> I'd raised NLGeronimo's big blind a few times,usually with a decent hand.I was half expecting him to play back at me this time....
vitus69: folds MadeInITA: folds NLGeronimo: calls 400 *** FLOP *** [7s 5c Ad] >> Yes the hero flops a monster and can hardly mess it up if he tried!
NLGeronimo: bets 600 >> Nice donk lead into me on a sweet flop.Hoping he has Ace but aware he could be making move to recover some of the blinds he probably feels I've been stealing.
zagga: calls 600 > I chose to flat call because the board was so dry and I want to give the villain the chance to lead out again on the turn.
*** TURN *** [7s 5c Ad] [3h]
NLGeronimo: bets 1000
zagga: raises 1000 to 2000 >> I don't min raise often but felt it would build pot nicely.
NLGeronimo: calls 1000
*** RIVER *** [7s 5c Ad 3h] [5h] NLGeronimo: checks zagga: bets 1830 and is all-in >> I'm fairly sure he has the Ace now and if he likes it enough to lead on the flop and turn then I think he'll call an all in. NLGeronimo: calls 1830
*** SHOW DOWN *** zagga: shows [7d 7h] (a full house, Sevens full of Fives) NLGeronimo: shows [Ah 6h] (two pair, Aces and Fives) zagga collected 10360 from pot *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 10360 | Rake 0 Board [7s 5c Ad 3h 5h]
Seat 4: zagga showed [7d 7h] and won (10360) with a full house, Sevens full of Fives
Seat 7: NLGeronimo (big blind) showed [Ah 6h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fives
PokerStars Game #21437700569: Tournament #116014419, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/10/23 18:27:00 ET Table '116014419 2' 9-max Seat #1 is the button Seat 1: tascio (2205 in chips) Seat 2: w8ing4cards (2935 in chips) Seat 5: 12Michael12 (260 in chips) Seat 6: zagga (1450 in chips) Seat 7: getö (802 in chips) Seat 8: lil__red000 (1685 in chips) Seat 9: dlake32 (1350 in chips) w8ing4cards: posts small blind 15 12Michael12: posts big blind 30 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to zagga [7s 7c] >> I'd usually limp here with 77 early on in sng with blinds still low.I chose to raise because it was my first bet and I wanted to get heads up with the shortstack in the bb as I reckoned 77 would do well against his random hand.The shortstack had just lost a big hand and in my experience they almost always shove a huge range on the next hand if left very short.
zagga: raises 90 to 120
getö: folds lil__red000: folds dlake32: folds tascio: folds w8ing4cards: calls 105 >> hmm I think it was this player who crippled the bb's stack with a donk move in the last hand.Hopefully the big blind shorty shoves as planned.... 12Michael12: raises 140 to 260 and is all-in >> Thankyou Sir! zagga: raises 1190 to 1450 and is all-in>>> I don't think w8ing can have a very strong hand if he's only flat calling so I shove to isolate and get HU with shorty with the extra dead money in the pot w8ing4cards: calls 1330>> used his timebank and called.Stronger than I expected but I was still slightly ahead on this coinflip *** FLOP *** [5h 3s 8d] *** TURN *** [5h 3s 8d] [3d] *** RIVER *** [5h 3s 8d 3d] [4c] *** SHOW DOWN *** w8ing4cards: shows [Qh Ah] (a pair of Threes) zagga: shows [7s 7c] (two pair, Sevens and Threes) zagga collected 2380 from side pot 12Michael12: shows [Kc Kh] (two pair, Kings and Threes) 12Michael12 collected 780 from main pot *** SUMMARY *** Total pot 3160 Main pot 780. Side pot 2380. | Rake 0 Board [5h 3s 8d 3d 4c]
Looks like my bankroll has had a good day without me playing a hand thanks to the Pound weakening further v the Dollar. All the more reason to hit the tables later and try and win some more fine US $$!
For mainly work reasons I like to keep myself fairly anonymous on the net.I had a shock this morning when a girl at work shouted "Acornman" across the office as I was approaching.Thankfully she was actually hollering at the Aircon man behind me!
Thanks to AllanDuke for the comment reminder re setting up the Bloggerment on Full Tilt.I've emailed Alcanthang and will post the tourney id as soon as I have it confirmed.This Sunday is also the start of the new Raisetheriver league and it looks like there will be some fine prizes up for grabs from cash overlays to Deuces Cracked and Sharkscope subs.For a few reasons I won't be participating this time round but all the details are on the raisetheriver forum for anyone interested.
Just had some good news.My car is in today to get fixed and Ford have just called to say the repair will only be £99.It's a known fault and although Ford has now agreed to fix these problems for £99,they were previously trying to tell me my car was the Mark 2 version and didn't qualify for the £99 deal.Thankfully the local Ford garage has seen sense! Result!
On the subject of results I thoroughly enjoyed watching Man utd beat TFOD ( The forces of Darkness!) 3-0 going on 8-0 last night.A definite case of men against muppets...
Things continue to go quite well on the poker front although I've been lazy and not racked up much volume.I donked out of two $22's on Monday evening before taking down a $6, 20 player game I played with Rosie and Juice.Last night I donked out an $11 on Party ( standard A4 shove from small blind into AK in bb)before cashing in a $6 game and finally winning a $22.
I thought that seeing as I'm looking after the monkey this week ( he moves in with whoever came last in the Bloggerment)it would be appropriate to post one of the fishiest monkey chip spew hands I've seen for a while.( and I've seen a few!).This is from an $11 single table Party turb.I wasn't involved so I've taken my hand out of it.
***** Hand History for Game 7476449181 ***** 100/200 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (STT Tournament 42607708) - Tue Oct 21 17:38:03 EDT 2008 Table Speed 1331301 (Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button Total number of players : 8 Seat 1: smatechiller (3720) Seat 3: Acornmn (1720) Seat 4: Nine1989 (1410) Seat 5: OGille100 (2840) Seat 6: kbraun22 (1650) Seat 7: hash_girl (1910) Seat 9: washington93 (5060) Seat 10: riderz222 (1690) kbraun22 posts small blind (100) hash_girl posts big blind (200) ** Dealing down cards ** Acornmn folds washington93 folds riderz222 folds smatechiller folds Acornmn folds Nine1989 folds OGille100 folds kbraun22 raises (1550) to 1650 kbraun22 is all-In. hash_girl calls (1450) ** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4d, 9d, 6c ] ** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8h ] ** Dealing River ** : [ 6h ] Creating Main Pot with $3300 with kbraun22 ** Summary ** Main Pot: 3300 Board: [ 4d 9d 6c 8h 6h ] kbraun22 balance 0, lost 1650 [ Jd 4c ] hash_girl balance 3560, bet 1650, collected 3300, net +1650 [ Jh Jc ]
Ok,dinner and dog walking tonight before hitting the felt...
Thanks to everyone who showed up for last nights Bloggerment and congrats to Kronsdat on taking it down.I went out on the final table bubble.... which would have been a better achievment if more than ten players had actually started!I just hope Nacho doesn't eat the monkey...
After sifting through the millions of comments and emails ( thanks Rosie and Krons!) it's been decided to take the Britbloggerment to Full Tilt for the moment.Look out for a new banner soon.8pm start,$5.50,Turbo and password still donkament.The game is open to all,not just bloggers so fire it up and prepare for donkery next Sunday.I'm looking forward to it already!
After the Bloggerment my evening at the tables went reasonably well.I scraped a 4th in one $16 and crashed out of four more before finally taking one down.Over at Party I played about six $22's and won a couple of 'em to keep my decent run there going.I just wish Sharkscope worked at Party as I'd like to be able to see accurate stats for numbers of games played/roi etc.
I've signed up to the same hand replayer Mr Cloud uses to replay hands on his fine blog and I'll try and remember to save more hands I feel are worth a second look.Here's one from about a month ago as a tester to start things off... ( Party $22 single table turbo)
***** Hand History for Game 7412805141 ***** 20/40 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (STT Tournament 42214134) - Mon Sep 29 13:27:15 EDT 2008 Table Speed 1330758 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button Total number of players : 10 Seat 1: Tirris (1520) Seat 2: Playerluis77 (2000) Seat 3: stefaned (2000) Seat 4: pokepiknl (3120) Seat 5: GaunersUtd (2000) Seat 6: breton92bis (1480) Seat 7: Acornmn (1920) Seat 8: doug9000 (1960) Seat 9: Kaubi (2000) Seat 10: Vitoria_BA (2000) doug9000 posts small blind (20) Kaubi posts big blind (40) ** Dealing down cards ** Dealt to Acornmn [ Kd, Qd ] Vitoria_BA folds Tirris folds Playerluis77 folds stefaned calls (40) pokepiknl folds GaunersUtd folds breton92bis calls (40)
Acornmn calls (40) >> I don't always play KQd early on in sng's.On this occasion I was getting nearly 4-1 and would have position post flop.
doug9000 raises (140) to 160 >>fishy looking raise as it's too small to take the pot there and then or to narrow the field.
Kaubi folds stefaned calls (120) breton92bis calls (120) Acornmn calls (120)>> Great odds to call here too.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, Jd, 4h ]
doug9000 bets (340) >> His preflop raise was too small and now he's making a weak flop bet.Good players may make weak lead type bets to induce action but in general bet sizes tell the story and a weak bet means a weak hand.If he had made a decent bet here I make an easy fold.
stefaned folds breton92bis folds
Acornmn calls (340)>> With a gutshot and two over cards I felt it was worth calling here.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Qs ]
doug9000 bets (200)>> Now he makes an even weaker turn bet.
Acornmn raises (980) to 980 >> I raise for value.
doug9000 calls (780)>> Don't like the call.Maybe is he trapping with a monster.
** Dealing River ** : [ 6d ]
doug9000 bets (240)>> A true ( especially after results known) wtf moment!
Acornmn calls (240)>> It's not much more to put the villain all in here but if he has been trapping I'll save my last few chips. ** Summary ** Main Pot: 3800 Board: [ 9c Jd 4h Qs 6d ]
Acornmn balance 4000, bet 1720, collected 3800, net +2080 [ Kd Qd ] [ a pair of Queens -- Kd,Qd,Qs,Jd,9c ]
doug9000 balance 240, lost 1720 [ Kh 5h ] [ high card King -- Kh,Qs,Jd,9c,6d ]>> Well played sir! Heeee hawww!
More junk emails to deal with this week.This time the title seems to be encouraging me towards buying a budgie or perhaps a parrot.I'm not sure what else "Real men should have real pecker" can mean...
Ok,tomorrow night I'll be cheering for Man Utd as they take on the Darkside of Glasgow in the Champions league.About 12-0 sounds goot to me!
Hoping to catch up with the s-man and my cousin too this week and also see my parents before they go on holiday.
If you're at a loose end tonight fire up the Bloggerment on Stars and join in the donkery! It's under the "Private" tab and is open to all....
My Bloggerment co-host ( Mr Hannah Montana ) has emailed me re moving the Bloggerment to Full Tilt again for a while,starting it at 8pm and making it a turbo.I'd be happy to give that a go.All thoughts on the subject welcome.
On the poker front things continue to go reasonably well.I cashed $2k out of Pokerstars and finally ordered my new tv and took out enough to cover next months road tax bill too.The tele and a new Virgin + box arrive next Saturday.Roll on!
Thanks to Poker Jones for the comment left on a recent post about me stepping up a bit.I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone more often over the last couple of weeks and it's made me realise how poor my concentration and focus had become at my usual $16 games at times.I suppose this is partly because I'm way over-rolled for them and partly because the opposition is so bad that it really doesn't take a lot of skill to beat them.
I've played a few $27's and a $38 on Stars now and haven't had any breaks.My $33 and occasional $55 ventures at Party have been much better.The Stars $38 was an 18 player and I busted in 6th after running my 1010 into AJ.That hand would have given me the chiplead and hurt for a moment or two before I realised it was basically a standard flip and not something I'd think twice about at $16.
I'm actually down $78 overall at Stars sngs for the month but that's only over 36 games.My PLO/Bloggerment wins ( On the PLO front Dr Paulys game was set up as HU Omaha by mistake this week and I was pwned in my first game) mean I'm still in profit on the site for the month but I can't believe I've only played 36 games on my favourite site!
Actually I can believe that.Why play regular filled $16's on Stars when the Party fishbowl is so much jucier?I just hope they never let the Americans back in to ruin a good thing! Keep Party full of fishy Euro/Canadians!
Monday night at the virtual felt was a crock of crap.I decided to warm up by firing up four $6.50 ,18 player turbs.By complete co-incidence Burnley Mik was at one of my tables and Matty and Lisa ( Bloggerment regulars) were at a couple of my other games.Did playing in such illustrious company bring me luck? Did it fcuk!
Having KK busted by QQ rivering a Queen set the tone for the evening.Next up on another table I was all in with JJ against two players both with AK. Pokerstars "fourteen Aces" deck ensured the Ace came before the river.Stars then obviously introduced their special "all rags" deck just in time for me to lose with AK v 55 before I finally scraped a 4th place finish after shoving A10 soooted and running into AK.
The $16's were not much kinder and only a 2nd place finish prevented me from dropping more than about $30 overall.I was at least sensible enough not go to to bed too late and I intend sticking to a routine that wont leave me looking and feeling like a zombie during the day.
On Tuesday evening I watched a few cardrunners vids before hitting up a few Party turbs later on and making about $80.
I was over at the ex Mrs A's looking after Step A last night.We watched Family Guy dvds,played Guitar Hero, I learned who the hell Milly Cyrus is and Step A now knows that Les Dawson hosted Blankety Blank and wasn't in Dawsons Creek as she thought!
Ahhh who says spam emails are a waste of time? It may mean taking the PC/Laptop through to the bedroom if you're on a downswing or don't win generally at poker, but I'm sure the "Be a winner in bed" email I receieved could help lots of players improve their roi or bb/hr rate....
On the subject of smut the boys at work have a couple of nicknames used to keep things subtle around the fairer sex.For example a "Harold Gollum" is a bum ( that's your ass for US/Canadian readers) hence the phrase,"ahh that's a fine Harold eh?" and a "Des O'Connor" is the rhyming slang for a stonner ( hard on).Well today around 3pm our big boss brought a newly graduated 22yr old babe to my desk to learn about the multi-faceted nature of the complaints I deal with.Within five minutes of her sitting down one of the boys approached me to say I needed to return a call from an angry customer.That would have been fine but the sticky note he passed me with the customers number on it simply said "Raging Des O'Connor" beside a fake number and I had to nearly chew my lip off to keep a straight face.
Ok before I go here's a wee clip of some bloke in a corner shop doing superb impressions of Raffa,Gerrard,Owen,Carragher and Crouch...
I think I'm still in shock after taking down Dr Paulys Omaha game on Saturday night.I've only played a few PLO turbo sngs before and my only hope pre-game was that I wouldn't go out first or make a complete donkey of myself.I probably managed the latter but for once the poker gods were on my side.I really enjoyed the game and having to think hard ( well as hard as is possible when partaking in fine herbal greenage!) when it came to hand values etc made a welcome change from the almost robotic way I play Holdem sngs turbos.Having said that, once the final table was down to the bubble, the cards mattered less and I managed a couple of steals before luckboxing my way to glory!
I only played a few ( nl!) turbos after that game and took down a couple.I usually seem to start the month badly and pull it back but so far this month ( especially at Party) I'm doing well.I included a few more Party $33's amongst my games and continue to be amazed at some of the donkery on display.In one game we were down to three players and I was the very shortstack by some distance.The bigstack shoved and the medium stacked second placed player called with K9 soooted! ( he lost and let me easily move up to 2nd place)
I'm learning to focus more on finishing first at single table sngs.At 18 player games the payout structure is flatter and most of the time I'm happy to take first or 2nd. ( $81 to $108 is jump at $16's). At the $22 single table the structure means it's $60 for 2nd and $100 for first which means it's far more important to try and win when Heads up.
Yesterday I was out with my Dad looking at new Plasma sets.Here's the new hot fav!I had a fine roast dinner over at my parents place before heading home in time for the Bloggerment.Thanks to all 9 players ( full table at least!) who showed up for the game.Unfortunately thanks to AOL's wonderful broadband service Lisa and Jd were disconnected for most of the first hour or so.As this was the final table they were allowed about 6 hours to reconnect on every hand and at one point it seemed like we'd still be playing at Christmas.The chatbox was a laugh as usual though and when they finally reconnected JD did very well to chip up and began the HU battle with me at the end with a decent chiplead.We battled back and forth for what seemed like ages before I finally caught a few hands and took it down.
It's funny how some weeks the ideas and thoughts for blogging seem endless and other weeks I feel as if I've said it all and there's nothing original to write about.Perhaps it's about time I cut my posting frequency down a bit.Hmmm.
On Thursday night I took down a couple of turbs and cashed in a couple more on Party for a decent profit and I sensibly went to my bed at 11.30 to try and catch up on a little sleep.I'm not keen on playing when very tired as it seems to affect both my decision making and my reaction to the beats.
Last night before heading across to the S-mans for the evening I began the "Nacho no crisps diet ".( chips for any US/Canadian readers!).This was because when I popped in to pick up Step A to give her a lift to her Dads yesterday the dog jumped up with so much enthusiasm he cut my gum!Much as I adore salt n vinegar crisps, a packet now would be more painful than losing to a runner runner gutshot!Thanks Nacho!
I did manage a feat yesterday which is rarer than flopping three Royal flushes in a row.Yes,I managed to impress a teenager!I heard the girl next to me at work mention Cascada were playing at the Carling Academy in Glasgow and I managed to get a couple of tickets for Step A and the ex Mrs A.Step A's "whoaaa thanks" made it well worth every penny.I just wish I'd bought myself a ticket now as I do love my dance tunes!
Back to last night and I enjoyed a fine evening watching "Hancock" before arriving home around 1am.Friday nights and weekends in general are probably the juciest times to play poker but I was so dang tired I managed to watch half a Spacegravy training vid before hitting the sack about 2am and not getting up until 1.30 pm today!
Almost time to raid the poker account for a new tv.I was looking at a 46" Sony but in truth I don't watch a lot of tele and I reckon this baby would fit the bill nicely.I remember years ago my Mum and Dad buying a 33" set from a pub liquidation sale and it looked massive at the time.Now I'm worrying that a 42" set may not be large enough!
Ok,off to watch the second half of the Scotland v Norway game ( 0-0 at h/t) before taking Nacho out again and enjoying a nice chilled out Saturday.I may even ( if I remember) try out Dr Paulys Omaha game on Stars at 9.20pm UK time.After Dudleys recent success I reckon I should redress the balance with some donkery!
I'm half asleep again today after staying up until 2am ( up at 6am today) watching Rosie as she cashed for nearly $800 in a $6 mtt.2nd from 1500 and if JJ had held v K7soooted it would have been a win.
I made about $30 on Wednesday night and only played a couple of $16's last night.Stars continues to hate me but at least I broke my recent non-cashing duck and came 4th in one game.Once again the $16's were full of regulars and I'm asking myself why I bother when Party is so much softer.I also bubbled a wee $6 PL Omaha game.The great thing about playing Omaha is that I'm so clueless I'm not even sure when I've suffered a bad beat! Thanks to Rosie I've at least now glanced at a starting hand chart for the first time...
I decided yesterday that I'd never buy another Ford car again.I mentioned that the speedo,fuel guage etc had all failed on my Focus St170 and that thanks to the BBC Watchdog programme Ford had agreed to replace the faulty cluster units for £99.As far as I was concerned that was still £99 too much but I was willing to accept that charge and just get the work done.
First of all the Ford garage I left my car yesterday morning didn't have the unit in stock.This meant that leaving it there all day and having to get a taxi ( due to train strike) to work was a complete waste of time.To top it off Ford say it's only the older version of my car which qualifies for the £99 deal and only after a battle did they agree to even reduce cost from £350 to £192.I've booked it in for next week and will buy another brand in future.My car is only two months outside it's manufacturers warranty and as far as I'm concerrned Ford are a disgrace.
Between them and the police this morning....There was a huge queue of traffic on my way to work.At first it looked like two lanes had to merge into one due to an accident and no doubt that's what caused the jam to start with.As I got closer it became obvious the damaged car had been moved off the road ( the accident happened at the entrance to a car park) and the reason cars were still queued back for miles was because of the police car parked in the inside lane.I had to quickly grab my nicotine gum ( I don't smoke during the day) and chew fast to stop myself lowering my window to ask the police what the hell they thought they were playing at by parking there! ( probably not a wise idea!)
Ok,no more whining today.Here's one from the paper I liked....
We read in retired Glasgow detective Joe Jackson's biography, Chasing Killers, about fellow detective John McVicar, when a humble constable before becoming head of CID, nipping in to Tam Shepherd's Joke Shop to buy a plastic dog crap. At the time John had to look after stray dogs that were handed in.
So he put the fake crap on the station floor near the duty inspector's desk and poured steaming hot tea on it to make it look more realistic. The inspector arrived, threw a fit, told John to clear it up and was stunned when John picked up the offending poo with his bare hands, before realising it was a joke.
The inspector thought it was so funny he asked John to set it up for the divisional commander, who was visiting shortly.
John, though, went to the kennel and brought back the real McCoy, which he placed on the floor. The commander came in, saw the poo, demanded it be cleaned up, and the smirking inspector bent down to pick it up...
Good news on Sunday evening! After the "Linkin Park " and "Super Nacho" T-shirts were consigned to the bottom of Step A's drawer it seems she actually likes the "Save the drama for your Mama" T-shirt I brought her home from Amsterdam.1/3 aint bad.The ex Mrs A no longer works on Wednesday nights which means there's no need for me to babysit.She is still working on Monday nights though and although Step A 's usual routine is to go to a pottery class and then to stay at her Grans,she seems to be getting bored of the pottery and I'm hoping she'll require a babysitter again. Nice to note to that "what's the point?" seems to have taken over from "it's so unfair" as the wee ones latest teen catchphrase!
Thanks to the 15 players who showed up to play in this weeks Bloggerment and congrats to poker pro Amatay on taking it down.My own game lasted until my AK couldn't improve against Dudleys JJ.
I fared slightly better in the last RTR league game of the series,scraping into the money in 3rd position.I quite enjoy these social Sunday games.The entry fee may only be $5.50 for each game but most of us have played many games together and that always makes it more interesting.
I've been playing more and more on Party recently and decided to try out a couple of wee $16 ( 18 player) at Stars to get back in the swing of them.AK into AA and QK into A5 ended those games.I did manage a 2nd place in a wee $11 at Party to break even for the night.
I've a busy week ahead.Tomorrow night I'm going over to the s-mans,I've booked the car into get sorted on Wed and my cousin and I are going out to shoot some pool on Thursday evening.
I watched another fine Spacegravy vid on Sngicons last night before grabbing a quick 1/2hr of sleep and then hitting the tables at Party.As I was feeling so tired and chatting to Rosie I stuck to the $22's with a few $11's thrown in and despite the usual beats and suckouts I came out about $100 up overall from those games.
At some point Rosie suggested playing a $6 ,$1k gtd MTT.I'd come close to registering for both the Daily $50k gtd on Stars ( $55 entry) and was tempted by the $55,$18k gtd on Party, but had opted to play turbs instead as I wanted action not a fold fest!
I agreed to play the $1k gtd as it was only $6,seemed to have a low number of entrants( 260 starters) and I could keep playing turbos too.After getting the blame for landing Rosie in a slow speed ( now turbo format) Double or Nothing game on Stars the other night I think it's only fair to point out that the $1k gtd Mtt Rosie insisted I must play ( well not quite but it helps the story!) turned out to be FFL! ( that's Fixed Fuckin' Limit)
The only other FFL games I've played have been by mistake too and although it's still Holdem I don't have much of a clue as to how to play FFL profitably and had never played an FFL Mtt before.Thankfully the player pool seemed populated by donks who hadn't seen a deck of cards before and around 300 years after we started, Rosie and I had somehow made the top 20.I think it definitely helped that we were both gunning for the top 3 and not too worried about stalling to make the top 30 and a $9 ( or whatever it was) profit.
I think Rosie went out around 14th and headed off leaving me to battle my way through more donkeys before hitting the final table.To cut to the chase I came second for $211.I would have saved a screenshot, but in all honesty as soon as the game was over I was more annoyed at myself for not closing it out properly against a player I reckoned I had an edge over.On reflection it was 5.30am,I was shattered,hungry and have little FFL experience so I should have been more pleased by my finish position.I rolled up another to celebrate and took down a wee $14 super turb on FT before bed.
Just watched Rangers go down 1-0 to St Mirren.We didn't play well and they hit their two outer and scored with their only shot on target.
Almost time to walk my boy and give Step A a lift home.If I stop and buy the Yorkie Puds ( not the famous Betfair blogger!) the ex Mrs A has promised Sunday dinner which sound like a tastier option than the ready made carbonara I had planned!
I'm not sure if the s-man is visiting yet tonight.If so I don't expect I'll be too focussed on the Bloggerment and RTR games but I will be there!
I mentioned feeling so tired it was almost like a bad case of jet-lag....
"The Silver Shadow has now become a sports classic silhouette and has recently been adopted again by youth culture and worn by bands such as 'Goldie Looking Chain'." From The Hi-Tec Official Website.
Now whilst I'm more familiar with goldie looking fish than "Goldie Looking Chain" I've always been a fan of Silver Shadow trainers.Last time out the only shoes available were a very similar looking pair of trainers from Hi-Tec and they have proved to be a reasonable subsitute for the legendary classic daddy of all training shoes.All was well until my workmate pointed out at lunchtime on Thursday that I was wearing one Silver Shadow shoe on one foot and one of it's similar looking ( but non-legendary ) shoe cousins on the other foot! Aghhh! Cue a quick visit to buy a new pair...
After a good beat at the dentists ( 10 minutes for scale n polish with no pain at all!) I cooked up some dinner ( 4 minutes then ping!) ,watched some football and won a wee $11 sng on Full Tilt to warm up.
I read about Pokerstars new "Double or Nothing" sngs on Pocket Fives and reckoned they sounded similar to Bodogs super soft beginners games.On Stars they are 10 seat sngs which payout double the buy-in to the top 5 finishers.They have games at all buy-in levels after Rosie persuaded me ( ahem!), I gave a wee $5 game a go to try it out.The only problem is that they are slowwwww speed games.The game we played in was very fishy and I easily double my $$ after lots of folding and only playing a couple of big hands.
I was too tired to play much more and after cashing in a wee super turbo I hit the sack.
Last night I could barely keep my eyes open and didn't play much poker.My wee cousin phoned just after midnight and obviously took the hint after hearing my tired sounding voice....and promptly turned up with a couple of neighbours about 1/2 hour later.I ended up sitting out my Mtt ( just a wee $11 one) and crashing out when they left.
Today I'm chilling out,watching football,playing poker and looking for the rain to stop so I can walk Nacho.I'm also looking around a few Ford forums after the fuel,speedo and rev counter on my ST170 dashboard have ceased to bloody work.The car is only just over 3 years old and it's not long since it had a big service and MOT.I don't know if something has disconnected after going over a speed bump or the dashboard "cluster unit" has failed.Not the end of the world but a pain in the arse.
Ok,that's all for now.Don't forget to register for the Britbloggerment game tomorrow....
Here's a couple of all time classic trance toooons...
Back to work yesterday and the early starts have left me feeling almost jet-lagged.I think I need a holiday....
I really enjoyed my time off.When I've been off previously I've always tried to cram in loads of poker to try and make money.Looking back I think I tried to play too many tables too quickly.Build slowly would be my advice to anyone new to multi-tabling.
I ran horribly and probably didn't adjust well either.On reflection there's no way I'd ever want to leave my job and play poker full-time.( it was a vague thought at the back of my head) I'd certainly consider going part-time ( job share) at work and using the poker to make up the money difference but I'm unlikely to follow that through and take the plunge any time soon.Poker profits are great for topping up my salary and for paying for everything from holidays to car repair bills but I don't fancy relying on them to pay my mortgage.
Anyway on Sunday night the S-man came over to chew the fat.I played the Britblogger and RTR games too although I wasn't paying much attention and didn't last that long in either game.It was great to see 17 players turn out for the Bloggerment.Congrats to Matty who took it down.
Monday was a local bank holiday and after taking Nacho out for a game of football I hit the tables fairly early on.It was funny reading Cell1919's comment about Party Poker on Rosie's blog.(Party is not his favourite site!) Personally I like their new software update and the single table $22's are far softer than most $16's on Stars.In general Party players seem to have no idea how the push/fold sng endgame works and what adjustments they should be making as the game progresses.
Good players tend to be very tight early on and very loose/aggressive late in the game and bad players seem to splash about in lots of pots early on, but fold too often ( or make daft calls) and don't push enough around the bubble.One guy yesterday called a big stacks shove on the bubble with A10 when another player had about 100 chips left and would have been all in on the next hand.I don't chat at the tables ( non blogger games) but a quick "lol" was very tempting!
I still feel I ran badly ( a watching expert poker blogger agreed!) but thankfully I managed to win about $140 overall by the end of the night.
Last night I broke even after messing around with a few wee sngs.I will play higher when I'm feeling a bit more alert and not half asleep! ( thanks for comments Amatay n Pud!) It's not so much that I'm worried I'll be outclassed at $33/$55.It's more a case of adjusting to losing say $600 over ten games and still being able to maintain focus and avoid tilt.Variance means that it's not even up for debate that I will go at least 0/10 games without cashing on at least a semi-regular basis.( that's just how turbos are) .
It takes at least 1-2k games to get even remotely close to an accurate roi but I'm willing to try the $33's and move back down if variance/my play means I lose 20 buy-ins.I think I'd feel more confident about moving up if I was running a little better.Hopefully my current crappy luck will change a bit and I can get a few more hands to hold up.
Here are my monthly running totals.That's the new name I'm using instead of stats.I think I need to relax a bit over my profits.I hate posting a monthly stat and then dropping below that level in my next session and feeling pressure to "catch up".Poker will always be an up/down type of game.The luck factor makes that the case.I do expect to keep winning overall though and so long as my running total is generally upwards then I'll be happy.
My October goal is to run better at the tables and to not lose 20 buy-ins at $33! It's the last month of my poker year ( Oct 31st is end of my fourth year of online real money play) and I'll probably keep battering away at the Party poker turbos.I'm tempted to aim for $500-$800 profit but I think instead I'll settle for aiming to play a decent volume and to maybe play a few Mtt's too.
Ok,that's all I have for now.I have an appointment with the dentist tomorrow after work which I've been putting off for ages.My usual rule with Doctors and Dentists is that if it don't hurt there's no need to go, but you only get one set of teeth and even at 36 my Mums nagging is good for something! No pain....Onetime!
No poker tonight as my wee cousin was over for the evening.We watched the football and he pointed me in the direction of these two youtube gems.Enjoy!
I'm a 42yr old bloke fae Glesga.Got a dog called Nacho and a job dealing with angry customers all day.Twitter:@HeavySprinkles
I love Rangers FC and playin' poker.
Pokerstars:Zagga
Party:Acornmn
