Annual Stats + Uncle Acorn!

It's only 6 weeks so we shouldn't take anything for granted but all being well I'm going to be an Uncle! For anyone unaware, my sister had cervical cancer a few years back and is unable to carry a child, however my sis and brother in law found a surrogate,paid a fortune to go through IVF and it finally looks like it's paying off.

Oct 31st is the end of my 5th year of real money online poker and here are my monthly/annual stats...

Monthly: Party $4854 ( - $53 over aprox 200 sng's) Stars $618 ( + $63 over 3 sngs)

FT $95 ( =). Total $5472 + $10 for October.


Total Annual profit Oct 31st '08-Oct 31st '09 = $5007.( aprox 2.5k sngs)

After making three times that last year I always felt I was going to be on a bit of a hiding to nothing trying to repeat that success.I've only averaged just over 200 sng's per month and at a couple of $ per game profit,it's always going to be hobby money.Perhaps I should look at becoming a Trick or Treat pro....

Righty time to go buy some wine glasses and slap on the High Karate....

Friday Update

I had been feeling a little better yesterday so I took Nacho out for a decent walk and then went to see a man about a dog last night.Arriving back I felt a bit dizzy and realised I'm still not 100% over the swine/man flu virus.I did sleep for over 10 hours last night though and reckon I'll be fighting fit for dinner at Mum and Dads later, followed by an evening over at the s-mans.I was in two minds about postponing tomorrow nights re-arranged date, but the lady in question has sent me a few hot pics by text and I'm not waiting another week!

On the poker front I'll post my annual stats tomorrow sometime.I did some 6 tabling of the $22's yesterday and dropped about 10 buy-ins through a combination of bad beats and rushed decision making to leave me 5 buy-ins down overall at Party for October.I am up a wee bit on Stars and after my PLO sng win the other night I played my first hands of PLO cash at the baller $10 by-in level.I lost nearly $8 when my A5 flopped a full house and lost to a bigger rivered boat but came back to make....$3 profit overall.I'm still pretty clueless as to what is and what isn't a good PLO hand but for $10 stakes I'm happy to just muddle along.

I was watching the news last night and they covered the touching story of a wee girl called Sophie Atay.I copied the info below from her justgiving website.Feel free to click on the link,make a donation and help sent Sophie to the States for treatment.

"Sophie Atay was born fit and healthy on 15 November 2007 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. One day whilst drying Sophie after her usual bath her mother felt a lump on the left side of her tummy. After numerous and frustrating hospital visits over a 10 day period Sophie was diagnosed with neuroblastoma stage 4 (high risk) on Monday 16 February 2009. Sophie's family are now looking to raise funds to take her to the Memorial Slone Kettering Hospital in New York for treatment."

Ok,thanks for reading.Back soon..

We are the People

I missed going to Ibrox for the Gers 1-1 draw at the weekend, although I did watch it at iraqgoals.net. Our manager,Walter Smith,has said that Rangers are in real trouble financially and are being run by the banks.This seems to have moved takeover talks up a gear and I hope a decent buyer with the clubs interests at heart will come forward and help get us back on a sound financial footing.Ex chairman Murray had a go at trying to spend our way to European success back in the 90's and despite achieving 9 domestic league titles in a row, we're still paying for that folly now.




So I'm still stuck at home with swine flu.My temperature has dropped back to normal today and only a dry cough and an all round feeling of weakness remains.I'll probably stay off work for the rest of the week too.

They say you shouldn't play poker when ill,tired etc and as ever I don't listen to anything "they" say! Things have been swingy as always at the $22's and everytime I got close to ( within $100 or so) to breaking even for the month I'd hit another run of 6,7,8 games without cashing.Last night I'm happy to report that I finished my 3 tabling at Party with 3 sweet wins to take me slightly into profit for October.There's no point in getting too excited by that as another standard run of 8-10 ( or more) cashless games could be just round the corner.

After those 3 wins on the trot I decided to move to Stars and played a $16 PLO turbo sng for a change of pace.I took that down too and went to bed after watching some of the Poker Million coverage on tv.

I've also just finished reading the Mike Matusow story and would highly recommend it.It was a real page turner* and is well enough written to be of interest to non poker players too.

I'm probably way behind the times but I was sorry to read that Frankie Boyle will no longer be on "Mock the Week" as he was the main reason I watched that show.Watching Emily Maitlis getting her knickers in a twist quoting Frankie's joke on Newsnight was almost as funny.I actually have a lot of respect for the Queen but it doesn't stop me enjoying this clip.( NSFW!)





*as opposed to other books where you just read the same page over and over again.What a stupid phrase!

Running Hot

Over 38c to be exact.Yep with a night out at the s-mans planned for tonight and a hot date lined up for Saturday, the nice nurse on the NHS 24 hotline reckons I probably have swine flu which means staying indoors for a few days.Hopefully it's only ** Man flu and I'll feel better in a few days.

I could barely keep my eyes open yesterday and the dry cough and runny nose are the other main symptoms.Thankfully I've not got it so bad that I can barely move, but I'll have to miss the Gers home game ( feckin' Brucey bonus the way we're playing!)mainly because if it is swine flu I don't want to pass it on.( unless Neil Lennon has plans to sit in the Gers end tomorrow...)

I've only played 5 sng's all week and with a eight days to go I'm still heading for my second losing month of the year.( my year end is Oct 31st) No big deal really as I've only played about 135 sng's since Oct 1st but it's a little frustrating after having such a good month last month.

Back next week...

** Obviously still as lethal as the Bubonic plague!

Time Attack

The s-man was over on Monday night and he brought a UFC game with him.( for the PS3).We spent 10 minutes on the tutorial and then abandoned that for a couple of furious button mashing scraps.( 1-1!) We did have time for a few Motorstorm races too and managed to rack up a few more ranking points. We've made it to Gold Veteran status but our "time attack" times are still about 5-6 seconds behind the best players. Looking online there are actually forums, youtube vids and plenty of rivalry between players who play the ranked games ( racing up to 11 others) and the time attack guys who race alone ( usually following the best time ghost) to set lap records. There are maps available to show when to use your "boost" more efficiently and a ton of discussion on technique, workable short-cuts,game glitches etc.The s-man and I just like to fire up a game and play.

Where’s this going? Well to draw a poker analogy , if you ever wonder how on earth some players make the plays they do then my guess would be that these guys/gals just like to sit down, fire up a poker game and play. They probably don’t read poker books, forums or blogs and couldn't care less about roi/hourly rate or how many bbs/100 they are up or down this week/month/year. They may take great pleasure in hitting their two outer in the same way I enjoy it when my Monster truck generates a lovely crunching sound as it rolls over the motorbikes of the more serious contenders, but overall they’re probably losing players. That 2 outer buzz is probably a major factor in keeping them in the game and for that ( and all the fish) we should be grateful.

Last night I was at Ibrox to witness what was probably the worst result Rangers have ever had in Europe . We lost 4-1 to the Romanian champions and two own goals, a deflected free kick goal and two own goals can’t hide the fact it was a pathetic spineless performance.I was more angry at the lack of character being shown by the team than the poor quality of their play.There was some booing after the fourth goal went in and while I could understand my fellow supporters frustration I think booing while the game is still being played is almost like a form of poker tilt. It may help release some of the pent up frustration felt by the individual fan but it’s not going to help the team actually improve on the pitch.In fact if anything it can only serve to lessen the confidence of the players which in turn leads to more mistakes and poor play.

Anyway to try and finish on a slightly happier note I've mentioned before that fellow car drivers failing to use their indicators makes my blood boil.On the other hand I do love it when the cars coming towards me on the other carriageway are flashing their lights,I slow down and over the next hill is a policeman waiting with his speed gun.

Back soon....

Head Bangin'

I hit the tables on Friday night and would have been better off banging my head against a brick wall.On Saturday Two Pies came round to watch the Gers win 2-1.Our plans to head to the Alea were scuppered due to the casino running a Nut's pub poker league game instead of their usual £22 turbo tourney.I fired up some online tables and Two Pies watched as I crashed out of game after game without cashing.I did manage to finish with a couple of wins to stem the tide a little but it was still a brutal wee session.The s-man arrived about 7-ish and a marathon Motorstorm session followed.

Yesterday I watched the football and stayed off the laptop until late last night when I took 2nd in a couple of $22's to leave me about 19 buy-ins down for October.If the poker gods are reading this I'd like to apologise for my winning month last month and point out that it was all due to luck/running good.Now please let me win a hand...!

My Amazon order arrived at the weekend and I've made a start on Colin Moshman's sng strategy guide and the Mike Matusow story, "Check Raising the Devil".I like the Moshman book so far with its examples of how he would play different hands according to position,player type,blind levels and I've been looking forward to getting my hands on the Matusow story for a while after reading good reviews.Vicky Coren's book has also arrived and it's next on my reading list.

I'll try and squeeze some poker in this week.The s-man is coming over tonight,I'll be at Ibrox for Rangers Champions League game tomorrow evening,Nacho get's his booster jag on Wednesday and I may be visiting my folks on Friday before going out.

Anyways thanks for stopping by and if you "follow" this blog via blogspot and wonder why I don't follow yours it's probably because I use bloglines to read most of my favourites.No doubt I'm behind the times and some blogtwitterbook has now overtaken bloglines but I like it!

Back soon...

Supreme Victor

No bad beats at all to complaint about last night.I wasn't outdrawn once and halted my slide by not dropping any buy-ins at all! As you've probably guessed I didn't play any poker, although I did watch a training video after the s-man left and I'd finished whupping his best time attack times at Motorstorm Pacific Rift.I did manage to win one race but as usual far more pleasure was gained from punching other riders off their bikes and knowing that somewhere in the world somebody was sitting in front of their television cursing the Supreme Victor.( my latest MS Trophy!)

The plan is to hit the tables tonight,be up in time to watch the Champions play St Johnstone through in Perth at 12.30 and then head to the Alea casino for another go at their £22 turbo tourney.I always consider my entry fee as money spent and haven't given any consideration to playing any of the games in the £50-£100 range which run in Glasgow poker venues.They seem far too rich for my taste despite the fact I'll probably return from the Alea and happily wager approx £55 four tabling the $22 turbo's on Party.My "gulp limit" is certainly far higher online.I posted yesterday about losing 7 buy-ins in a row the other night and although it did cross my mind that the total sum lost equalled about £95, I went to bed and slept like a baby without giving it a second thought.If I lost the same total at a Casino I wouldn't be a happy Acorn at all.

Perhaps that difference in mindset is because no matter how badly I run online I know I'll always make it back at some point.Offline feels more like gambling to me and my attitude to gambling has always been that the money is spent and any winnings which come from it are a bonus.

Away from the poker I'm keeping all my fingers n toes ( and obviously saying hello to lone magpies) crossed that my sister and hubby run good on the IVF front and it works out this time.They should find out next week and I'd take all the bad beats going and more this month if that could be balanced by things working out for them just the onetime....

I've also registered Nacho with a vet ( the ex got free treatment for him as she didn't work)and can only hope he'll cope with the change of surname without needing doggy counselling.Booster time for him next week so that should be fun.

Ok,posting about the dog's upcoming injection must mean this post has well and truly jumped the shark.

Thanks for reading and good luck to Burnley in the big game of the weekend away at their rivals Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

Back soon...

Bye C/runners...

My crap month at the virtual felt continues.After pulling back a little from being 25buy-ins down I managed to play seven turbo's the other night without cashing.Last night I only played a couple of games and cashed 2nd and 3rd.

Cardrunners seem to have a problem with my credit card payment this month.I called the card co and although there are no problems at their end, Cardrunners cannot process a payment manually and I need to put my details in again.I've learned a ton from Jackal69,Braminc,Dirtybrasil and co from watching their sng vids but the main focus at Cardrunners is cash games and I'm a turbo sng donkey these days.I'm still a member of Floattheturn ( formerly sng icons) and one training site payment per month is probably enough for me at the moment.

The real training I should be doing is making more use of ICM calculators to help improve my end game.I first discovered ICM via Sitngoplanet and even knowing a little of the basics helped my game.I'm not into Maths though and rely on feel and experience to try and make the correct ICM decisions.I also like to think I've a decent feel for game flow too ( much easier when only 3-4 tabling)and that helps boost my roi.I must admit too, that so called experts on forums stating that you simply need to "learn ICM" to profit at sngs are full of crap,implying it's like some sort of times table like you learn at school and once you know it you'll be expert.

At the end of the day ( it's 11.59pm ) the most important factors when doing any kind of ICM calculations are the hand ranges you put your opponents on.

Ok,cutting this short as it's 7pm and I haven't eaten yet.( Nacho has of course!)

Tonight it's Motorstorm Pacific Rift online.Back soon.( and yeah I am old enough to think Brothers in Arms was a fine album!)

Back to the Grind....

I’d love to say I’m back feeling refreshed after a two week break from work, but the truth is I’m feeling almost jet lagged after getting used to late nights and long lies.

Tempting as it was to get away for a few days, I simply enjoyed relaxing and taking it easy. Long walks for Nacho, online poker,football,PS3 gaming and mindless net surfing were the order of most days. I also hit the Alea casino last weekend for another go at their 3pm , £22 turbo tourney which attracted over 70 runners. My AJ didn’t improve v 88 all in pre flop with less than ten big blinds left and that was that.I intend giving it another go this weekend as I’m starting to feel a bit more comfortable playing live.

As per my September results post I ran well and posted a healthy profit over relatively few games.Going into October I knew I wasn’t going to continue averaging $7 profit per $22 game ,but I wasn’t immediately prepared for the the kind of bad run you wouldn’t believe was possible unless you play a lot of sng’s. The 25 buy-in downswing I suffered at Party back in March certainly helped me cope better this time, although it’s hard to stay sane when you can almost call out in your head the 2 outer card your opponent requires and bang it arrives by the river.( over and over again)

I’ve never ever believed online poker is rigged in any way, but playing 2-3 tables I began to notice I was being dealt the same hand ( sometimes even the suits matched) on two tables at the same time on a seemingly regular basis. When I started to point my mouse at the wee boat on my screen saver photo to try and ensure I was dealt a better hand ( I did it once and of course was dealt KK so it must work ) I knew it was time to stop being silly and get back to focusing on the poker.

The company I work for are still offering a years salary to anyone who wishes to leave by the end of this month. Part of me wanted to use my time off to try and 4-6 table for 6-7 hours and see if I had it in me to consider jacking in the 9-5.In reality I played approx 100 games over the last 12 days which isn’t bad for a hobby player,but comes nowhere near the 70-80 sng’s I’d need to play per day if I wanted a decent full-time income. Of course I was in holiday mode over the last two weeks and perhaps if forced by circumstance I would have enough self discipline to get up at 9-10am and put in 6-7 hours of multi-tabling.The chances are though that I’m just not cut out for endless hours of grinding and I’m far better off just making a few £k every year as a hobby.( cutting back to 4 days per week is a more serious proposition)

October 31st is the 5th anniversary of my real money online poker playing adventures and after making $15k last year, ( including $4.2k Mtt cash) some quick addition shows I've slipped back to only making $4.5-$5k over the ( nearly) 12 months since Nov 1st '08.I've only played approx 2800 sng's over that period and realistically if I'm only going to play about 200-250 games per month then I can only expect to be making around $400 profit.

I suppose I've also made a small step up from the Stars $16's to the Party $22's and have also had to adjust to playing 10 seat single tables games instead of the 18 man games I played previously.After reading a 2+2 thread on how the Party $22's are infested with solid regulars perhaps I should be grateful I'm making anything at all there!

I do plan on using poker winnings to pay for the usual stuff like council tax,car insurance,Rangers season ticket etc when they come round next year so I don't want to blow through my whole roll but I do plan on taking bankroll management a bit less seriously at times and taking a few more shots.( playing a few $55's and one $109 sng over the year is just too nitty!)

Back soon...

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2-1 to the Scottish Champions today at Ibrox v celtc.Wheeeeee!