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!)

Historic Day! Will You be Watching?

It may have seemed like it's been a long time coming, but history will finally be made today.Millions will be eagerly watching events unfold wherever they are in the world on this important date and like the moon landings,Diana dying, or the Twin Towers attack,people everywhere will no doubt always remember witnessing..... Bullmeister and Acornman mulling around in the background during the Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game being shown tonight on Sky Sports 2 at 10pm!

In a reoccurring theme I've not played much poker since my last post.I did play a couple more $26 ,45 player games on FT and although I'm sure they can be very lucrative,they can also be pretty soul sucking when running like crap.The s-man was over last night,this time without his PS3 and headed home after a fine evening watching Stallone in Cobra.I remember loving that film as a kid ( 14 when it came out) and enjoyed it again despite the crap 80's rock power ballads! ( no Whitesnake or anything decent!)

I've managed to resist those Super Turbo bankroll suckers on Full Tilt recently but hit a couple of $14's before bed,bubbling one and being sucked out on in the other game.I did at least get to bed for 12.30 and will be trying to stick to a reasonable bedtime from now on.Whenever I've been off on annual leave etc,I always promise myself I'll smoke less and get to bed earlier!I think I have to stick to that to keep my mental health in good order as I had some pretty dark thoughts running through my head just before Xmas.

Righty,to the poker and I've now begun checking some of my sng exit hands using SNGET ( sit n go software I mentioned in my last post) to determine if my exit push/calls are correct.I'd always been a little scared of the tech/maths stuff when using these tools,especially as I used to play exclusively 18 player games where the payout structure differs to the 9 player games to complicate matters further.In actual fact it was quite simple to input the figures involved,adjust the villains range and discover if my move ( push or call) had a positive or negative expected value.

When I first began playing sng's I'd have looked at the example hand given and used an odds calculator to work out how A7o/s ( off suit) plays against the villains K9s (suited).Now I've been playing a little longer I instinctively push/call based on previous patterns,stack sizes,image ( villains and mine) and a host of other factors.For the hand below I didn't say to myself,"Aha he's pushing with about the top 23% of hands,a call here would be slightly +ev".I do get a rough picture in my head of the type of hands I feel are being pushed into me and then try and guage the strength of my own hand in comparison before making my decision.

You can't do these during play but the idea is that over time,with enough practice,it will be easier to recognise a good push/call from a bad one.I was relieved to read Manhaton1te ( one of the very best 18 player low-mid stakes sng players) write on a forum that he just plays by feel and doesn't use software tools.At the end of the day it's not the tools themselves but the information ( hand ranges ) we put in which really makes the difference.I think I have a reasonable grasp on the push/call end game, but I'm always willing to learn and SNGET software etc can only help me improve my roi.

In the example below from a Party $33 turbo,the villain shoves his K9 sooted from the button on the bubble.Nobody likes being on the end of a "donkey call" but there is definetly a fine art to calling light at the right times too.I felt it was a close one when he shoved and the main reason I called was because I felt I was slightly ahead of his range and I would have been in a fairly weak position if I'd folded.The button would have had 3340 compared to my 1640 ( and I had another 200 to pay in the small blind next) and the implied collusion which often sees the shorty picked on could have seen me exit quite soon.I'd probably have had to shove any two cards into the big stack on the next hand if I'd folded.




The hands highlighted in purple using Poker Stove are my best ( conservative) guess at the hands he would be pushing into me.




Using that hand range I can then give the button player this range using the SNGET tool and it then tells me the expected value of folding or calling in this spot.



It looks like my call was slightly +ev here.

Ok,I hope that wasn't too dry and boring! Thanks for reading and if you disagree with any of the above ,feel free to comment and I'll edit as required if you're right!

Back soon...

The Matrix

I didn't get a lot of poker played last night,however I did discover I had SNGET on my lappy.( a sit n go piece of software) It's mainly for calculating equity using ICM ( Indpendent Chip Model) and also has an excellent interactive quiz to test push/calling skills around the bubble.In all honesty I'm not a maths guy at all.I play about with push/calling ranges on Poker Stove, but I don't spend hours calculating if moves are slightly + or -ev in every situation..I did feel good at getting 17/20 on "hard" mode until I did another quiz and was rated "horrible"!

The good news is that I can see why I scored that way.In one example ( set it up to show 4 players left with top 3 paying) the bigstack ( 9k stack) had folded and I was on the button with 4.5k holding 97o/s.The small blind had aprox 2k and the big blind had a similar stack to mine.I was given the info that the big blind was calling with 20% of hands and the blinds were 600/1200.I chose to shove and obviously if the villain in the big blind is calling as wide as 20% then my move was slightly -ev and my answer was wrong.

I can't argue with that if the big blind is calling with the top 20% of hands on this occasion,however even if his vpip ( the percentage of time he voluntarily enters the pot) is higher than 20%, in a real game that doesn't mean that he's automatically going call with that range in this specific spot.It does mean exactly that in the quiz as it tells you precisely the % the villian calls with in this particular hand.

I think game flow and stack sizes are just as important as cards and ranges.In my usual game with a tight image, if the bb was a calling station donkey I may fold my 97, but if I thought he had any clue,I'd shove here all day, because if the shorty folds, the BB is going to call far tighter than 20% as he knows the shorty will be blinded out soon anyway and he wants to survive.

I hope that makes sense! Another example of a game flow situation came about in the only $22 I played last night.There were still 7 left at 300/600 and I had just over my starting stack having played one hand and with stats of 3% vpip and 3% pfr.I shoved all in UTG ( first to act) with A9c.I did expect not to be called too widely due to my tight image and I wasn't overjoyed at having to shove in this spot,however I was about to lose most of my fold equity and simply couldn't afford to wait for a more +ev spot.Luck is a huge factor too here.I could have run into a better hand and wondered if my shove was rash.As it was I won that pot uncontested and ended up winning the sng.

I'm not rubbishing these tools and software at all.I intend to do plenty more bubble quizes and would highly recommend them to anyone looking to improve their sng end game.The lite version of SNGET is free ( including quizzes) and Poker Stove is free too.

Rosie had recommended the Matrix sng format on Full Tilt and as a wee change I fired up an $11 game to try it out.You play 4 sngs at the same time against the same people.There is still a 1/2/3 payout although some of the prize pool is dedicated to an overall leaderboard for the 4 games.I crashed out of two games early after losing flips and nearly gave up at that point.The games are standard speed ( zzzzzz!)and I didn't hold out much hope.Luckily I managed to win both of the remaining games ( great fun owning the same guys on the bubble of each game!)and gained enough points to win overall too.

I may say I play poker for the money, but winning that $27 was far more satisfying than the quick $100 ( for winning $22) I won earlier!



Ps Go on the sheepshaggers.Aberdeen 4-2 up against the mutants with 3 minutes left.After our win yesterday mayybe this title race isn't over, despite our off-field financial worries....

Middle way

I messed around at a couple of $6 sngs last night ( 4th in one for a whopping $3 profit).Later I also played a couple of $16's and came fourth and first.Just before bed I hit up a $200 nl 6 max table on Ladbrokes and won a quick $35.

I now have a mini-mission! I have 152 points from 5 games on Stars $16 "Earth" leaderboard and I want to try and hit the 20 game mark before Rosie arrives on Friday night! Tonight the flat needs cleaned,washings need done and I'll be looking after my boy.Tomorrow night I'll be out at the Rangers game until after 10pm so I need to get a move on and start hitting the tables!

I posted a Sharkscope screenshot the other week which showed I was sitting 17th on the average profit board for the 2-3 table,$6-$15 games I play in.Although I now have enough faith in my turbo game not to be scared of any player at my level,I do believe I have an edge over most simply due to the low quality of most players and the smaller number of tables I play simultaneously.

I may not make as much profit overall as the high volume multi-tabling pro's but for the most part any superior skills these pros have is nullified to some extent by the number of tables they are playing.

I've said before I don't know ICM ( Independent Chip Modelling) inside out by any means but reckon I'm not bad at assigning pushing/calling ranges and more importantly playing a maximum of 3-4 tables means it's easier to work out which of my opponents are using it and who isn't.I feel that is vital to cashing/winning in these turbo's.

Maybe I'm wrongly using my own lack of ability to play a ton of tables as a benchmark but no matter how young and sharp,I can't see how anyone can play a load of tables without missing out on some of the reads and subtleties of the individual game and this is where I can gain enough of an edge to keep me ahead versus these guys.When taken with the far bigger edge I have against the fish ,I wonder if playing 2-3 tables at once can be almost as profitable as multi-tabling.( 6-12 tables etc)

Of course many of the players in these games are so terribly bad that any vaguely solid strategy is going to be profitable even when multi-tabling.( which is probably what most $16/$27 pros rely on)

I just feel there's a niche for reasonably solid players who only play 2-3 tables to take advantage of the fish and the the multi-tabling sharks.

Ok,posts will be sparse until after the weekend! Thanks for reading.To the washing machine...

$6k Sng profit reached....

After my recent battering at the $16's I moved back down to $6 turbos to get my mo-jo back and managed to scrape 243rd place on the Stars planet leaderboard with a 382 score and a profit of about $130 for the evening.I also won a quick $70 at a Laddies cash table just before watching Joe Calzaghe beat Hopkins and going to bed.

Yesterday I was at Hampden to watch Rangers win on penalties to get through to the Scottish Cup final after a poor performance.The manager had rested a few players and I can only hope they lift their performance levels for the big game against Fiorentina this Thursday.

After an early morning message from my Mum ,I also filled up my petrol tank as talk of a new fuel strike grows.I'm glad I did because the queues were getting long tonight!


Later last night it was a bit disappointing that only eleven turned out for the Britbloggerment game on Stars.Perhaps it was just a blip.I certainly hope to see Wee Gem,BM,Dudley,Tan,Stephenhall,Matty,Rob,Mauzj,Cloud,Al Eleven,Kronsdat,Amatay,Sir Al,lisam8319 and co back for future games!Those names are just off the top of my head,no offence to anyone I've missed.I did starting adding links but it was taking forever...

Congrats to Cell 1919 who took it down after one of the longest bubbles at $5 level I think I've ever played.Thankfully for once poker justice was done and it was the fish with no class,celtcriver,who swam back to his fishbowl empty gilled in fourth.Frankly I'd be happier if he stayed in his bowl and didn't play the Bloggerment again as neither his play nor his chat added anything to the game.(and that genuinely has nothing to do with the fact we support rival football teams)

After the Bloggerment I fired up a few $16's and managed a win and a 3rd place from my five games.The 3rd place finish was my own fault as I had a decent lead over the shortstack when I shoved Q10c into the bigstack.My thinking was that although the Maths/ICM would probably say it was a dumb move,the chipleader would "know" that I wouldn't be shoving into him unless I was very strong and would only call if he had a premium hand himself.He'd also been quite tight and had shown he was capable of folding but he called with A10,my Q10 didn't improve and I was left cursing myself for my own stupidity!

I did register for Uncle Chucks 420 tokers game on Full Tilt last night at 2am although it was on too late for me to actually play in it.I did find it funny that the banner for that game mentioned requiring rebuys as it was a weed smokers game.I think I'd need additional rebuys if I didn't smoke and play!

I've a busy week ahead.I'm off to the Alea casino ( non poker!) tomorrow night,possibly babysitting on Wed,semi-final of Uefa cup at Ibrox on Thursday and best of all,Rosie arrives on Friday to stay until Sunday.After Rosie's flight back on Sunday it's Rangers v celtc again from the Piggery and this time my cousin and I have tickets.

I mentioned possibly babysitting as I'm not sure where things stand with Step A.I usually look after her on Wednesdays nights as the ex is working however over the last couple of weeks she has been off school and has just gone to the ex's work until midnight.The ex said she wasn't sure yet what Step A wanted to do this week now the school holidays are over.

Step A recently came back from her own wee holiday with her gran and had brought back presents for everyone and when I half jokingly asked where mine was she told me I wasn't family anymore.The ex made some weak remark about how I'd given her money for her hols and she should have bought me something but that's not the point.

I've definitely moved on and accept I'm not part of their family anymore but I do feel I deserve a little more thought after helping to bring her up for over seven years.The most heartbreaking part of splitting with the ex last year was knowing I wouldn't be living with Step A on a day to day basis as I've grown very very fond of her over the years.

It was tough enough establishing and maintaining a relationship as a Step father ( never official as we only lived together and never married) and just being "Mums ex boyfriend" carries even less weight it seems.I'm going to have a word and leave it entirely up to her.With nothing between her Mum and me anymore it's up to us if we want to keep in contact.

I taught her to swim,ride a bike ,use a swing and so much more, but if I'm only a taxi driver and ATM to her these days then it's maybe time to let go a bit.I'm also aware she's now a typical teenager and that being thoughtful and giving thanks are not going to be typical behaviours regardless of how close/distant we are, which means I need to be even more careful about what I say to her.Time will tell on that one.

Ok,that's more than enough for today! On the poker good news front I've achieved my goal of breaking through the $6k profit barrier on Sharkscope which I'm quite pleased about.( though it's not by much and could easily drop below $6k again!).Next goal has to be $7k.Watch this space....

Don't Bogart me...

I had a terrible night at the tables on Monday night losing $130 over nearly 30 games of gross suckouts and lost races.I was so caught up in it all I forgot all about Hoyazo's "Monday at the Hoy" 6 max nl blogger tourney which I had intended playing in.I do seem to have slipped into the habit of 4/5am bedtimes during this time off work, and if I'm up and there's a blogger game on, then count me in!

Yesterday I took my boy a long walk and after watching a cardrunners video,I hit the tables myself and although I certainly wasn't running well,I did manage to pull back Monday nights deficit and have now boosted my turbo sng profits to just over the $5k mark according to Sharkscope.( Zagga on Stars)

I also took some reassurance from a couple of regulars getting steamed in the chatbox after bad beats.I don't ever go mad in the chatbox but turbo variance could drive a person insane at times and it was nice to see some of the big winners are only human and it gets to them at times aswell.

One of my mental tricks when running really badly is to ask myself how a multi-tabling solid winner ( at my stakes) like Powelljam or The Big Ern would deal with it.The answer is that they keep playing good solid poker and don't to let it drag their game into the land of tilt.I seem to be handling playing 3-4 tables at a time better than previously, although I'm always wary of letting a few bad beats knock me off my stride and into that horrible runaway train tilt mode that can affect us all at the tables.

Overall I think my tilt control is reasonably good for the simple reason that it has to be or I make a tough game even tougher for myself.I won't deny it can creep in a little at times and cause me to make the odd loose call or dodgy decision, but I'm usually self aware enough to recognise it's happening and pull back.

The turbs also seem to have toughened me up mentally for cash games.After missing out on Bodogs blogger game I messed around with a little $25 nl cash play before bed and laughed at the guys moaning about losing to 4-5 bad beats in a row as if it was the end of the world.Try losing 10-20 in a row!

I had also planned on playing in smboatdrinks game on Full Tilt last night, but I missed the registration because I was on the phone to Bodog trying to find out why I couldn't access their Tuesday blogger game on my newly set up account.

I will be playing in Mookies game at 2am UK time assuming I'm not deep in the depths of poker turbo hell!

Tournament: The Mookie
Where/when: Full Tilt, Wednesday 22:00et ( 2am gmt)
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

On Thursday night much later after the Rangers game I plan to play in this one..

Riverchasers Online Tour
No-Limit Hold ‘em, Double Stack
$10+1 NL Full Tilt
Every Thursday at 21:00 ET ( 1am gmt)
Password: riverchasers

Ok,here's the last $15 turbo hand of the night I played and I wondered if anyone has any thoughts on my shove.I've written before that although I don't know ICM ( Independent Chip Modelling) inside out I think I have a decent feel for how to play according to stack sizes and the shoving/calling ranges of my opponents.

PokerStars Game #15918115293: Tournament #80580612, $15+$1 Hold'em No
Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2008/03/11 - 23:59:25 (ET)
Table '80580612 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 4: zagga (10120 in chips)
Seat 7: ginbo10006 (11875 in chips)
Seat 8: Ratostrikes (5005 in chips)
zagga: posts the ante 50
ginbo10006: posts the ante 50
Ratostrikes: posts the ante 50
zagga: posts small blind 400
ginbo10006: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [5d 5s]
Ratostrikes: folds
zagga: raises 9270 to 10070 and is all-in
ginbo10006: calls 9270
*** FLOP *** [Jd Ac 9h]
*** TURN *** [Jd Ac 9h] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [Jd Ac 9h Qc] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
zagga: shows [5d 5s] (a pair of Fives)
ginbo10006: shows [Ah Qs] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
ginbo10006 collected 20290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 20290 | Rake 0
Board [Jd Ac 9h Qc 2d]
Seat 4: zagga (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and lost with a pair of
Fives
Seat 7: ginbo10006 (big blind) showed [Ah Qs] and won (20290) with two
pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 8: Ratostrikes (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


In this hand the bigger stack than me was a slight winning player over a tiny sample size( $150 profit over 142 games) and I felt that with us both having aprox $10k to the shortstacks $5k,that he wouldn't be able to call my 55 shove with anything less than QQ-AA and maybe AK.I had certainly opened out my game as I do at the late stages of any turbo,however I had only shown down good hands and was not obviously shoving any two cards there.It's probably my mistake for not assigning him a wider calling range although even if I included AQ/AJ/A10 I think my push may still have had a postive expectation.( Expected Value + in poker terms).

I'm not long up! Time to walk Nacho,head over to pick up a meal and Step A from the ex's work and perhaps try to get a game of poker on the ex's pc which runs more badly than me in the turbos!

I have had one good beat over the last week.I live in a flat and the downstairs neighbour moved out just before Xmas.The place has been empty until last Monday and I've been enjoying the peace and quiet so much I was dreading being unlucky enough to be stuck with a new noisy person, but thankfully ( not met them yet) they've been very very quiet so far and the noise levels are nowhere near as bad as they were with the previous occupant.( she was big and I could hear her snoring!)

Ok here are a couple of youtube clips.The first one is for Al Eleven,the S-man,Uncle Chuck + friends and anyone who enjoys da herb and the second is my favourite song by The Cure...

ps I can't believe my next post is my 800th post after nearly three years of blogging.I don't half spout a load of guff!

Ebb and flow

On Monday night I only played one wee $6 ,45 player turbo ( didn't cash) as I was over at the ex's looking after Step A and Step A's pc is slower than a week in jail.Step A was also playing the Sims on her Nintendo and I was amazed that a kid could be kept busy for so long simply building virtual stuff for her simms world.I did really enjoy spending time with her and I even got a hug later before I left.( that may have more to do with the £10 I gave her towards a swimming outing this week!)

Last night I chatted to my sister on the phone before watching an excellent cardrunners sng video.The pro ran through several ICM calculations and although I've dabbled with ICM calculators in the past,I'd always thought I needed to fill in the chipstacks etc manually everytime.I've now learned you can simply import the hand history detail and the sng tool does the rest.

It was fascinating to discover for example the exact optimum calling range against an any two card shove from an opponent.( usually applies during the latter stages of sngs)I'd always gone for A7 and above and it seems my instincts were not far off.

ICM tools ( Independent Chip Modelling)are only really effective if the hand ranges assigned to opponents are accurate.An aspect touched on by the pro and one of the main strengths of my own sng game is getting into the ebb and flow of a particular game and making moves ( + ev or not) to ensure that my stack never gets too low and that I'm always in with a chance of making the money.

ICM doesn't take into account factors such as the blinds going up in the next hand and sometimes seemingly -ev shoves have to be made to stay afloat in these games.It's those moves I find far more tricky when I'm playing more than three tables and have little idea of my opponents calling ranges.

Feeling inspired by the video,I fired up a couple of $16's ( usual 18 player turbos) and came 3rd and 4th for $49 profit.I was actually rather annoyed by the 3rd place finish as I was the big stack,shoved AK and was called by A9.The seemingly inevitable 9 duly arrived on the river.I had AK sooted ( and less than 1k chips) on the very next hand and managed to run into QQ which considering there were only three of us left seemed damn unlucky.

On reflection I can't be too unhappy at making $49 profit for less than an hours play.No point in torturing myself with ifs,buts and maybes.

I did hit a Laddies $200 nl full ring table for a quick half hours play before bed and although I made a miniscule $3 profit ,I didn't feel at all intimidated by the players or stakes.I think watching the cardrunners vids and seeing the mistakes made at that level has shown me that $200nl is not always the shark pool I'd expected.

Ok, off to Ibrox tonight to watch Rangers play Panathanikos in the Uefa cup and then back to the ex's to look after Step A until midnight....

Raising Air

Not much to report from yesterdays poker after I played for a couple of hours last night and broke even.I dabbled back at the cash tables for a while before joining Juice for a couple of $16 turbs.In the first one I picked up the Nolan sisters ( QQ) very early on and after a raise and call before me,I shoved and faced 99 and AK ,with the Ace on the river sending me out.

I was 6th in the next one and came 3rd in the last one I played in.Actually the last one had an amusing moment when one of the better regulars ( A void in me) had pushed with q6 when it had folded to him and unfortunately for him, he was called by a better hand.Some muppet typed “q6?” in the chat as if a mistake had been made when in reality Mr Void was the short-stack,the blinds were high and it had been folded to him.I’d been lucky enough to get a couple of my fresh air steals through, but I was still tempted to write “q6?,yeah what a donk” in the chat to deflect from the fact I was playing in a similar way!

It was actually quite reassuring to see a solid regular push with nothing as doing so seems to be one of the secrets of winning in these games.It’s certainly better to shove with nothing while you still have fold equity, rather than wait and simply be blinded down.It was probably an ICM ( independent chip model) decision from Mr Void.

Although I’ve read some excellent ICM articles, ( see planet gong for more) I’m not a maths person at all and make most of my plays based on the situation,instinct and experience.Certainly on occasion I wish I did know ICM inside out as I’m left timing out on a crucial decision, but most of the time ( certainly at $16) I feel quite comfortable just applying the basic principles.

Tonights plan is maybe steal a wee ½ hour nap before playing in the raisetheriver league game at 9pm.I’m looking forward to a nice chilled out weekend.

Don’t forget Sunday is Bloggerment day on Stars and the tourney is now open for registration.It’s under the private tourney tab,password is donkament and it’s open to all bloggers and readers as always.( $5.50 entry fee)

Enjoy the weekend....

Bloggerment tonight...

Dudley may reckon Rangers will struggle against the mighty Barcelona in the Champions league this season but this man doesn't!

To the poker and once again the poker gods were not on my side at the sharp end of a blogger tourney.I felt I played quite well in the Raisetheriver $10 main event and was feeling confident when heads up with Cogsgoigne at the end.We were both about even in chips when I raised with 4h5h from the button,flopped a flush,called Cogs push all in ( he had nut flush draw) and after a blank turn, I was 2nd again when another Heart hit on the river.I've no problem with Cogs shove and it's just the way poker goes sometimes, but after losing to a rivered gutshot when headsup in the charity game a few weeks back,this was another hefty kick in poker stones!

No point whining though and at least the $33 2nd prize covered the cost of my RTR world series.Hats off to BM and co for organising it.

After a quick break and a herbal refreshment I played in one of the $11, 180 player turbo games I'd read about on Raisetheriver.The top prize in these games is $594 and I fancied a bit of that! My exit from the first one gave me plenty of food for thought.There were 22 left with the top 18 spots paying.I had 9.5k in chips and was sitting about 15th when I picked up AK under the gun.( first to act).As the blinds were 1200/800 with antes, I knew I wouldn't have much fold equity left if I laid down my AK and tried to scrape into the money.18th paid only $18 ( for a $7 profit) and I'd already decided I'd rather gamble and build a decent stack if I got the chance around the bubble.

I reckon the ICM calculations would probably say to lay down AK here and make the money first ( ye old better to make 20% profit than lose 100% of buy-in scenario)but I was after the beeeeg money and pushed all in....only to run into a bigger stacks JJ and go out when my hand failed to hit.

I played one more short 180 player turbo and went out when my Jacks fell to Tens.( ten on flop sealed it).Tens were the hand of the night.I laid 'em down to Mr Clouds AA preflop in the RTR game and pushed BM off a hand with them too in the same game!

I hit the cash tables and although I lost $100 of my Inter take a shot roll ( overplayed A10 on an Ace high flop) I won $80 at Laddies.

Here are a couple of my favourite hands from last night..

In this first one I called a raise with A7s and when the villain led out for half the pot post flop it was a marginal decision to call.I reckoned I could win if I hit another 7 ,an Ace or if a scare card fell.When the perfect scare card which completed both the flush and straight draw it was the perfect time to reraise and take the pot.

This hand was one of my smaller winners but I liked it because I all the factors were in place to get away with a small semi bluff.If someone had the 6 or 7 I would have expected a bet post flop due to the flush draw being out there.When nobody bet and the Ace fell on the turn it was easy to bet the scare card and take it down.

Righty that's it for today.Don't forget to register for tonights Britbloggerment.......

I Call Mofo! ( + stats)

Apologies for yesterdays whiney woolly post.I should have listened to my Mum who says that if you don't have anything good to say,don't say anything at all!

I spent part of yesterday afternoon learning that ICM isn't an abbreviation for my post title but actually stands for Independent Chip Model and is a maths based method of deducting if a call/push at a sng has a positive or negative effect on overall tournament equity.I'd looked at it before, however this was the first time it really seemed to sink in a bit.Between that and reading Jennifears ( shark at $16 turbo level on Stars) breakdown of a tourney she played and the follow up destruction of her post by a 2+2'r and I realised just how much I have still to learn.( a ton!)

I'm not a maths guy at all and can only hope that my feel and intution lead me to make the right ICM moves more often than not.I did learn that it's not really practical to do ICM calculations during hands and it's more of a tool to be used to go back over hands and work out if the best move was made.This is unlike basic tools like Poker indicator and Sharkscope which I use to help me put players on pushing/calling ranges.

I did find it amusing to note on one article that the author dismissed us one tablers as recreational players.I became rather annoyed at that until I realised it was true!I think it was the implication that one table hobby players are just playing for entertainment.Sure,at $2 per game profit I can hardly claim to be semi-pro but I can assure such posters that while I'm no ICM genius ,I put in enough effort to not be overly bothered about playing with a 12 tabling "pro" tighty push or fold merchant!.


I did pick up one quote from a chap called Kajun on a Pocket fives post which I found interesting.He wrote " You also see alot of people isolating against an all in shortstack player with Ace rag. It's like wtf".

I made exactly that move in an sng and felt I'd played it well! The shortstacked player had just lost a big hand and pushed around 400 in chips on the next hand.I made a large reraise with A7 and beat the shorties 47o/s to win the pot.I had a tight image and didn't feel I would get any other callers unless I ran into a monster.I was going to ask if anyone out there had an idea why Kajun would question my type of play.I think the reasons are that a)I risk the risk of running into a better hand from any of the other players still to act and b)with A7 v 74 I totally dominated but if the villain had 64 then I'd only be slightly over 60/40% favourite and would lose too much overall tournement equity by playing this way.Any other suggestions welcome!

It all sounds very complicated and in some respects it is ( to me anyway!).I think the basic premise seems to be to simply enforce the old adage that the difference between what you can call with and what you can raise with is often huge and to reconsider making calls near/on the bubble when moving up one place can make a big difference to roi ( return on investment)over the longer term.

To the poker and I began by winning a wee 18 player $1.75 turbo I only entered because I thought my Mum was joining the same one.I came 9th in my first $16 game of the night and won the next one after taking the lead quite early and never looking back.

The cash tables beckoned and I had another decent night at Party and then Ladbrokes 6 max tables.I was even lucky enough to join a $100 nl 6 max table at Laddies and win a buy-in with AA v KK after only a few hands.It was a close call though because I'd bet out 5bb preflop and decided to flat call the villains raise to $10 instead of trying to get the money in at that point.I've been learning that slowplaying can be a bad idea not because it always lets the villain catch up or overtake in the hand but because a scare card ( villain has KK for example and flop comes low,I hit a set and check,the turn brings an Ace and action dries up) can halt the action.

Anyway the flop came Q J 3 and he pushed all in.With his action preflop a set of Queens or Jacks seemed possible and although I knew the table was loose ( highest average pot of all open $100 nl tables) I ended up reasoning that with a hand as strong as a set he wouldn't go all in and I made the call hoping he was on an KK,AQ,AJ,A10 type hand.

It was certainly a nice way to end my night!

Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Britblogger game on 'Stars at 9pm bst.Password is Donkament and it can be found under the "Private" tab.

There are eight in already including the current PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker winner,Daleroxxu!!( a fellow Scot) Be careful out there as this lad can play a bit! Are you up to the challenge?

Ok,here are my latest bankroll stats. Pokerstars $175,Party $859,Ladbrokes $1358,Full Tilt $1287,Pokerroom $567. Total $4246 ( + $362 since 13/5 )