A much better month than last months $337 profit.I did actually think I'd made more but that's because I had my Stars total from the end of October stuck in my head!
Ok,best wishes to all.Back sometime in the new year....
ps Been on my fav footy forum and they're nominating the best threads of the year.I missed this one but it sounds good....
"There was a guy looking for some help in the techy section who had bought some kind of computer that used voice recognition to access it, but his dog had barked while he was setting the voice password and he couldn't unlock it" :-)))
Actual start time is 9pm gmt/4 pm est under the Private tab in the Full Tilt lobby.
The football was crap yesterday.Rangers lost 1-0 and the police sunk to new depths,this time confiscating a banner from the Rangers end which showed the same "Offended bus" I posted the other day.( reason given was that someone might be offended by it!) Still,at least nobody risked arrest by singing the Hokey Cokey.One Scotland,Many Cultures (unless you're a Rangers fan).
I picked Nacho up after the game,took him for a long walk and watched some poker training vids before having a baby.Ok,I didn't have a baby, but apparently my Mum would like me to have one. No casual relationships or FWB's for me eh! My sister and hubby are going through IVF stuff at the moment and hopefully that will work out and my Mum can get her wish for a kid in the family.I have always wanted kids of my own and who knows what the future holds.It's not on my list for the January sales though!
To the poker and I began last night with Dr Paulys PLO game on Stars as it's a nice break from the NL turbo grind.Even after glancing at the occasional starting hand chart I'm still a PLO donkey, although I actually enjoy having to give hands some thought instead of operating on almost auto-pilot.( even if these thoughts only extend to "It looks shiney,I call"!) The good Doc even questioned my move when I raised KKK4 and took a pot down at showdown.My logic was that it had folded to me in late postion,it was Xmas time and three Kings are always good at this time of year.... **
I bowed out the PLO game in 11th place,fired up a couple of $22's at Party and managed to take one of them down.As Sharkscope doesn't work on Party and I'm too lazy to keep a proper record, I'm going to email Party support and see if they can provide me with some stats for the sngs I've played there.There is certainly a lot less variance when 3/10 get paid instead of the 4/18 I'm used to at the two table games.
I moved over to Stars and two wins and a few wee cashes from 21 games saw me finish the night with a $35 overall profit.I was 4 tabling for most of the session and was glad to finish ahead after not playing particularly well for most if it.Tiredness,being in a crappy mood after the football and suffering from a frustrating start ( usual beats and lost flips) are my feeble excuses!At least I hit the sack around 3.30am ( 6am finishes really are not healthy!)and made around $80 overall.
My plan tonight is to play the Britblogger game on Full Tilt and also the Million Dollar Turbo Takedown Mtt on Stars.
I've had a good Xmas so far,enjoying time spent with family and friends, and of course playing a bit of poker too.
As ever,when it comes to poker,I struggle to find stuff to write about when it's going reasonably well.I'm sure a 10-20 cashless streak of sngs is just around the corner, but for now I'm plodding along nicely at the $22/$33's on Party and the $16's on Stars ( with some successful $38's too).
I've been playing my usual 3-4 tables at one time and now feel totally comfortable with three, and quite at home with four tables on the go.Badblood's post about age affecting his multi-tabling skills has got me thinking that perhaps the 12-24 tabling is best left to the video game kiddies.If I can slowly build up from 3-4 to 5-6 tables I'll be happy with that.
I typed most of the above earlier before my cable connection crashed and it reminded me that I need to buy some sort of dongle usb back up for my main connection.The beats are frustrating enough without it going down when playing.
Ok,the s-man has been given special leave by his Missus and is popping over for another sesh on the ps3 shortly.I can't be too late in bed as I'm up early for the Old Firm game ( Rangers v celtc) at Ibrox tomorrow.We're 4 points behind and can't really afford to lose.We have gone over a year without being beaten at home and I just hope the team can step up and do the business.
Thanks for reading.Back with monthly stats post in a few days...
Ahhh where to start.... I could begin by putting my left leg in,my left leg out,doing the Hokey Cokey and shaking it all about,however an MSP ( Member of Scottish Parliament) ,Michael Matherson,has warned that "It's important that police and football clubs are aware of the sinister background to this song and take appropriate action against those who use it to taunt Catholics".Only in Scotland.Feckin' idiot needs a reality check.The world really has gone PC mad.
As I'm in rant mode, what about feckin teenagers? Step A has decided ( in all her naive wisdom) that their neighbours are actually nice people,despite them blowing up the ex Mrs A's car last year,slashing Step A's trampoline and lying to the police to try and get me and the ex into trouble.Grrrrrr!
Still,at least my work kindly contributed £20 towards the cost of our £18.95 Xmas dinner last Friday night at a fine Italian place in Glasgow.I only stayed for the meal and drunk a 1/2 pint of lager and a cola.I arrived at my work today to be told I owed £12 for the teams drinks.Did my generous carefree nature mean I happily handed over the £12 with a cheery smile, or did I let the organiser know what a feckin' rip off it was? Take a guess...
To the poker ( at last eh) and congrats to Betfare on taking down the Brit Blogger game.I'll hopefully have some news in the new year about some spice being added to the last Bloggy game of each month.Watch this space...
I watched a BigJoe vid on Sngicons before I began playing yesterday, and he said something that stuck with me about people not realising just how ridiculous the beats can get when grinding turbo’s.I also watched a Cardrunners vid where the guy was playing 40 tables at one time.The point was that he had played millions of hands and had graphs with break even blocks of 100k hands.Makes me feel better about running so poorly on Stars over recent months!
Classical music has been helping too.I think I read on Rossi’s blog about how he tunes into Classic Fm to help sooth the beats and it definitely seems to help keep me calm.I also used some of the Xmas money my parents gave me to buy a memory foam mattress topper and I wish I’d bought one years ago as I’ve never slept as soundly as I do now.
Ok,I really do intend to take a blogging break for a week or two.Have a great Xmas!
Perked up a bit since my last post.Big thanks for the comments.Top geezers!Looking forward to another fine evening on the PS3with the s-man shortly.Got one last turbo to donk out of first.Merry Xmas readers!
Sunday night was another crock of crap at the tables.I found myself feeling more and more frustrated as the night went on and I put a lot of that down to feeling completely exhausted.( all my own fault) Three ( 18 player) bubble finishes didn’t help my mood and I didn’t really put much effort into this weeks Brit Blogger game either,crashing out early on after donk slow playing two pair.Congrats to Total Crud ( great name Matty) on taking it down and thanks to all who showed up to play too.
I only played a few games on Monday and although I did manage a 3rd and 4th place finish for a whopping $25 profit,it still felt like I was being scudded at every turn.
Tuesday didn’t begin well. The kettle had boiled for my morning tea and the weetabix were in the bowl before I discovered I had no milk.How annoying is that?!! I had a quick cup of green tea before heading off for another day of dealing with ten page customer complaint letters.
After work I grabbed a quick pub dinner and headed over to the s-mans for a fine evening of COD 5 shennanigans.I’m glad I did because I was in a really dark mood all day and needed some company and all out warfare to help me snap out of it.
I didn’t get home until 11.30 ish and despite planning a poker free evening,I couldn’t resist a wee $20 turbo on Pokerroom.I took it down and will try and get a few more games in tonight inbetween seeing a man about a dog.
Ok,thanks for reading.I’ll probably be taking a blogging break for a few weeks until after the new year or at least until this classic 80's tune leaves my head...
Actual start time is 9pm gmt ( 4pm est in lobby under "Private" tournaments)
I finished Friday night up $6 over 15 games on Stars.Last night the s-man was over for an evening of football and COD 5.The s-man isn't a big football fan, however I think even he enjoyed El Grande Classico live from the Nou Camp.Barca beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the worlds third biggest football derby game.( rated just below Burnley v Blackburn ,with Rangers v celtc being numero uno!)It was an excellent game and it was great to see Messi bounce back from being scythed down time after time to score a peach of a 2nd goal for Barca.
I did squeeze in a quick $22 during half-time and took it down.The s-man and I fired up COD 5 ( Call of Duty 5) on his PS3 afterwards and made more progress on the march to Berlin.
The s-man left around 1.30 ish and I wish I'd gone to bed instead of hitting the tables.I don't believe in doomswitches,cashout curses or any of that nonsense, but for the first time ever I have sent Stars a half joking email today to ask what the odds are of having KK busted by a smaller pair making a set four times in a row.( Aces made it number five when they lost to 77).Those were just some of the two outers I ran into.It probably hurt more because I stepped up a bit from my usual $16's ( about time eh!) and was playing $27's,$38's and even a couple of $60,18 player games.It was frustrating because I was aware I was just running horribly and wanted to play through it things swung back round my way a little.( it was 6.30am before I went to bed)I made 3rd in my last two $27's to reduce my Stars losses to about $200 for the night.
At higher sngs stakes $200 isn't a big deal I suppose and I've certainly moved on mentally from the days where a loss like that would devestate my game and confidence.I'm still about $40 up at Stars for the month and a lot more at Party and Ipoker so it's time once again to just take a big deep breath,sook it up and move on.
I'm glad I'm not addicted to poker.It's not as if I surf poker forums and watch training videos when I'm not playing,spend lunchtimes in Borders reading Bluff and other poker magazines, and like to take a complete break by watching the latest EPT coverage on Ch4.No reading poker blogs and reviewing my hand histories.It's just a wee hobby to me...
To the tables and for once I've actually made a decent start to the month.I've taken down a couple of $33's and even managed a winning night on Stars since I last posted.I don't like to generalise, but two games in particular summed up the difference between Party and Stars.I fired up an 18 player,$16 turbo the other night on Stars and it was 22 minutes before the first player went out.( I followed shortly after when my KK fell to feckin' A8!)I was playing on Party at the same time and the $33 I won took a total of 29 minutes to finish.I still love Stars software and the 18player structure but more and more I'm asking myself why I don't just stick to the worlds largest fishbowl.
I also had a fine afternoon yesterday.The company I work for gave us a half day off for Xmas shopping ( our team xmas "lunch" is now at 4pm so they giveth and they takest away)and I went over to my Mums on the way home for some pokery fun.I helped my Mum cash in a few $16's and the good news is that according to Sharky my Mum is now a winning player over the last year.We've come a long way since her raising with K10 from early postion days.
If I can help a wee old lady ( my Mum would lurvvve that description!) win at poker it has crossed my mind that I could help others too.I've had a couple of requests for coaching in the past that didn't come to anything for one reason or another, and I've no idea if anyone would be interested anyway.I don't even claim to be an expert sng player.How can I be as I only play up to $33 buy-in level?! I do however pretty much crush the low level turbos I do play and reckon I could help improve the game of anyone struggling to do likewise.When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher and the thought of combining a bit of teaching with my favourite hobby may be fun.I've not given much thought to any charges or even the style of coaching yet.Low and laidback come to mind though!Leave me a comment or drop an email to delcura03 at yahoo .co .uk if you're interested.
Rangers won 7-1 and celtc lost at the weekend so all is right with the world again.There were a few funny comments from the bloke behind me at the game.Our captain,Barry Ferguson,is struggling a bit after coming back from injury and has been getting a bit stick from some of the fans.Some have never forgiven him for leaving us to try his luck in England before he returned and was appointed Captain again.Anyway, this bloke tells us all he was " Late home last night,about 4am".The Missus says "What the hell's going on,coming in at this time?"."Fuckin Ferguson" our boy replied...Maybe you had to be there!
I didn't actually play much poker on Saturday night after bubbling Dr Paulys PLO game.I did watch Rosie cash in yet another Mtt and for the millionth time promised myself I'd play more of them...
I passed a Bot test on Stars at the weekend.I thought the aliens had landed when I noticed my 'Stars chatbox prompting me to type the word "Recoils" within the next 100seconds.At least it proves they have a sense of humour as it feels like all I've done on Stars recently is recoil from one beat after another!
I had a wee brainwave on Saturday night.Sit and go games are all about volume.If I'm making nearly $3 per game then it's no good feeling up or down over daily swings.I've not worked it out yet but I'm going to set myself a volume target,go for that and focus less on the short-term.I've now played 3.5k sngs on Stars and have got to have enough confidence in my game to know that regardless of swings, I'm still making $2-$3 per game.
To the Bloggy and thanks to all who showed up to play this week.Although the field may have been small,the assembled players were of the highest calibre and only a true poker warrior was going to triumph.( any guesses yet who that may be?!!) Yes,I luckboxed my way to victory after winning a few flips, and finally taking out "Betfare" heads up when my AK beat his 88.
It was great to see my old mate,Al Eleven,back at the felt and in the chat too.The S-man was round for an evening of COD 5 and after catching up with Al,we blasted the Japs until just after midnight.
After the s-man left I played an $11 sng with Juice ( didn't cash) and took down a $22 before hitting the sack.
Ok,that's me just about done.Btw ( By the way) if anyone is ever unsure of any acronyms or poker phrases used on the blog feel free to drop me line or leave a comment.Don't be left in the dark! Google is also your friend too in these situations.It's certainly helped me wise up!
I was probably too tired to play decent poker over the last couple of nights.I did some boring stuff around my flat,watched another training vid and hit the tables about 10pm for a few games on Thursday evening.For a change I played two $16 single table turbs on Stars and was lucky to come second in one after playing quite poorly.I took my $9 overall profit and fired up a couple of $22's on Party.I may try starting most nights by playing a couple of $6 games to warm up from now on as I always seem to feel a bit out of sorts when I first sit down.
Anyway I ran into a bigger hand in the first $22 and took 3rd in the other when a numpty villain called my 1010 shove with 108sooted and hit runner runner spades.It was Iron Maiden time ( Two Minutes till Midnight) and for once I decided to be sensible and go to bed instead of rolling another and playing more poker.
Not Iron Maiden....
Last night I could barely keep my eyes open and didn't start playing until late on.( apart from donking out a wee $6.50 PLO turb).I was feeling tired,bored and restless and should probably have stayed away from the tables.Inspired by Amatays post,I fired up a couple of slow speed $26 ,45 player games on Full Tilt and played like an idiot in the them.I'd actually crashed out the first one before I realised it wasn't a turbo...
In my third attempt I came 11th and if I could actually win a coin flip,I'm sure I'd have cashed.The games are certainly lived up to their fishy billing and after getting 10 hours sleep last night, I'm looking forward to playing them tonight when I get back from the football.
I did hear from Dudley ( Resdent Evil) last week and he let me know he's ok.( no recent blog updates!) He said he has been inspired by the X Factor and is now dedicated to following his musical dream.Look out for him pop pickers!
I mentioned feeliing bored and restless.Part of me is enjoying being 36 with no major commitments.My mortgage is relatively small and financially ( (partly thanks to poker) I'm far better off than I expected to be when I moved back to my flat last year.Playing poker,staying up late,long lies,pub dinners,smoking a ton of herb and total freedom to come and go as I please are all great I suppose.It's just not where I expected to be at this stage of my life.I see the ex leaving her heating off to save money and can't help feeling ( despite the fact that she dumped me!) that I somehow let them down.Perhaps after living on my own for so long I was too set in my ways ( selfish in other words) to adapt properly.
I did meet someone else ( almost exactly a year ago) and for obvious reasons I don't feel I can write much about that here.Distance,state of mind,other issues and the fact it's not worked out a few times now (and each time we've not spoken for at least a month), mean I genuinley don't know if either of us feel it's worth pursuing again.
Ok,enough of that! Here's an interesting wee hand from the bubble of the $22 I played in the other night.( the one I cashed in and ran 1010 into 108)It's not a move I make very often.It was based on my read that the villain was a good, solid player who knew he should be raising wide to steal because of the shorty.He also knew he couldn't call my shove without a top 5 hand as this would cripple him.I expected him to think that I would know that I couldn't raise without a monster myself thanks to the shorty and that he'd be more likely to respect my bet for that reason.Perhaps I didn't need to take a chance here and it was a donk move.It felt right at the time though and sure enough the villain folded.No fear!
Ok,don't forget tonight is Dr Paulys PLO donkfest and Sunday is Brit Blogger day.( 4pm est/9pm gmt)
I’ve had four cups of tea ( two green,one white and one ginseng) to wake me up today after I stayed up too late last night,gambling on being snowed in today.The town I stay in is set just above Glasgow and if it’s going to snow anywhere, it’s usually here.Not last night though.Hmmf!
I did arrive at work to some good news.The companies latest plan to reduce it’s costs and carbon footprint has finally meant an end to the sub tropical office temperatures we’ve had to endure for years.The thermometer will now be set at 21c and the the cool air blowers will come on at 24c.That should help me stay awake around 3pm when I could usually do with a nap.Good old global warming! Of course I already do my bit for the worlds carbon footprint by eating as many of those pesky methane emitting cows as possible.( cows along with the S-man and Al Eleven produce far higher emissions than cars every year).Make my steak medium please!
On the poker front it doesn’t feel like there’s much to report.I was 0/4 at Party last night before a win and 3rd place finish helped me back into profit by about $40.Although I’ve been staying away from the addictive super turbs at Full Tilt,I relented last night and took down the wee $7.50 I played before bed.
Not got much else today.It's probably about time I made my posts a bit shorter anyway...
I won a couple of sngs on Monday night after making a conscious effort to sharpen up my heads up game.Like a football team 4-0 up at half-time,I’ve been a bit guilty of taking my foot off the gas and settling for a decent cash at the HU stage.It’s more of a problem at single table games ( as opposed to 18 player turbs) as the payout jumps are steeper.( 50/30/20 instead of 40/30/20/10 )
I took a break from the poker last night ( playing at least!) and popped in to visit my parents before heading to the s-mans for some Call of Duty 5 action.I didn’t get back until just before midnight and watched a Cardrunners vid before bed.It was a leakfinder video and I wasn’t expecting much as people only usually seem to submit videos for the pro’s to analyse when they win/play fairly well.This time though the player involved made a ton of errors and I found I learned far more from listening to how the pro would play the rest of the hand after an initial error had been made.( Adanthar's review of Leedslad'smtt )
I should probably be watching videos on currency exchange rates as they are affecting my bankroll far more than the results of a few games each night.I almost punched the air when I heard more tales yesterday about the “Pound plunging against the Dollar”.
Ok,just back home after a fine pub dinner.Time to watch some football and maybe hit the tables later...
Thanks to everyone who showed up for the Brit Blogger game last night.Things weren’t looking good with only four starters by 9pm, although a late rush meant we had a full table at least.I was late starting myself as I was heads up at a Party $22.I took that game down and settled back for some suckout Bloggy action.I was only dealt two playable hands.My KQ shove UTG sucked out on AQ before I shoved 22 from the button into 44.Congrats to Mr Cloud on taking down his 647th Bloggy title!
As I was watching Rosie pwn ( her favourite word!) an Mtt on I-poker I decided to play a quick $20 single table turbo there and it couldn’t have gone any better.I had the bigstack by the time the bubble came around and I was even able to keep the bubble going by leaving the shorty alone long enough to plunder more chips from the others.By the time I got heads up, my opponent had less than 2k.
After those two wins the only way was down and so it proved with a failed $22,$33 and two nasty $16 turbos. One $16 in particular frustrated the hell out of me. ( for a minute or two at least). There were ten left,the big fish on my left raised,there was one caller and a solid shark regular ( Manhat0n1te) shoved for about 2.5k.I looked down to Jacks,put the shark on KK/AA,duly folded and tried not to look too smug as the shark showed Aces and the fish J10.Good fold me…..until my annual one outer suckout Jack arrived on the river!! I rarely chat at all but squeaked a quick “nooooo” in despair.A few minutes later I pick up Kings,get it in preflop v the same fishies KJ sooted and crashed out when he hit his flush. Standard...
I did go bed a bit annoyed at the last few games I played and telling myself to try and be a bit happier about winning $70 overall.I have actually been enjoying my poker more recently despite the not so great results.Sometimes poker feels more like a part-time job than a hobby and I feel like I have to play as opposed to actually wanting to hit the tables.
Time for a couple of non poker grumbles before I go.We had girls from Frasers ( huge dept store) in our office today selling cosmetics,perfumes etc.Nothing wrong with that but why the white lab coats? It seems it’s all part of the same con to make it look as if there is actually some genuine science behind their overpriced potions.You’re not Doctors! Dress appropriately.Short skirts and crop tops perhaps….!
Pay as you go mobiles eh.I don’t want to listen to a 10 minute sales pitch everytime I top up my new phone! I nearly launched the damn thing through a window the other night after enduring some spiel about their new “surprises” promotion.They’ll look feckin’ surprised when I turn up at their offices with an AK47 and ram the damn thing where the sun don’t shine.
Ok. Looking after Nacho tonight,over to the s-mans for some COD 5 action tomorrow night and looking forward to the weekend already.
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
