Pick that out!

Before I bought Jared Tendlers book "The Mental Game of Poker" for my kindle I genuinely thought I'd probably be wasting my money as I didn't think I had any problems with that side of my game.In fact I've always considered it one of my poker strengths.I've never blown through a bankroll on monkey tilt , I don't berate fish at the table and if I do feel my game slipping due to repeated bad beats I used to simply stop playing.

Having finished the book I'm happy to admit I had more mental game leaks than I first thought.The good news is that I also realised that just writing down poker thoughts in the form of this blog has probably helped my game far more than I ever thought possible too.

For years I've also had a problem with just getting down and playing whenever I plan a poker session.I'd surf the net,watch training vids and do everything bar actually firing up the tables.The book helped me realise that I was delaying my sessions due to the accumulated negative emotions I'd built up due to all the previous downswings and bad beats I'd experienced in the past.

These days I'll warm up with a heads up game or a few micro stakes sngs and then happily dive straight into playing 6-8 tables.I may still take a breather when running very badly, but I'm also jumping back on the horse far more quickly than I did previously and the increase in games played can only help increase my overall profit.

Reading the book also helped me take last weekends downswing pretty much in my stride and I actually surprised myself at how accepting I was of such a nasty run of cards and the bankroll hit that came with it.That's not to say I wasn't muttering stuff like "You've got to be joking" as the beats were coming thick and fast but after each beat I'd immediately inject some logic into my thinking and get myself back on track without the need to take a long break or stop playing altogether.

I've been lucky with the poker books I've read.I began with "Killer Poker" by John Vorhaus and his "bet big or go home" philosophy was ideal for the micro/low stakes cash games I started out playing.I liked his views on the mindgames side of poker too and that was one of the reasons I chose the anonymous give nothing away name of Zagga as my Stars username.The fact the name is also a dyslexic anagram of Gazza ( one of the best footballers I've seen play for Rangers) also played a part.I wish I'd been thinking along similar lines before coming up with the stupid Acornman name I use on this blog!

I remember taking a lot from the Matt Matros book "The Making of a Poker Player" and other books like Double A's "Pressure Poker" too.In short if I was to give one piece of advice to any of my poker playing readers it would be to buy Jared Tendlers book.( and this is not a paid ad even if it probably looks that way!)

I'm not sure what games I'll be playing this weekend.I reckon I'll go down the Mtt route again although I may give the extremely high variance $51 hyper mtt's a miss despite getting so close to a decent cash in one last week.As well as enjoying the change of pace in Mtt's I also got to play with some of the big names in the Mtt world.I'm not up on who all the latest "ill sickos" are but I did resteal from Pearljammer ( a gutsy move with AK!) and locked horns with Busto_Soon,Thay3r and Rooney_Dives who I recognised from Pocket Fives forum threads.

I also played with a dutch teampoker stars player called Fatima Moreira De Melo and after googling her name I found it quite amusing that a hot looking top Dutch hockey player and TV presenter could be sat on the virtual right of a stoned Scotsman playing poker in his boxer shorts.

Away from the poker I enjoyed watching the second leg of the Copa Del Rey cup game between Barcelona and Real Madrid last night.What a peach of a goal from Danny Alves.Pick that out son!( love the Spanish commentary on this clip too)



I've been reading about the upcoming Superbowl final on a few US blogs and I won't be staying up to watch it as I've never been able to get into American football.I did read the other day that a Scottish born bloke called Tynes plays for the New York Giants.So does that mean I'll be supporting the Giants v the Patriots? Nah,he's a Celtic fan apparently so in the time honoured sports fan tradition of being childish and petty I'd just like to say f*ck the Giants and come on the Pats!

Ok,more than enough wittering for one post.Back soon...

Jared Tendler on Raise the River Forum

Thanks to the hard work of Matthew 'YorkshirePudding' Pitt, mental game coach Jared Tendler has agreed to do a Question and Answer session on the UK forum RaiseTheRiver. Anyone can sign up and join in, so if you have questions about the mental side of poker, or any questions about Jared's book 'The Mental Game of Poker' feel free to sign up and ask your questions in this thread. Copied from Everton Yorkies blog as I just realised I promised to mention this on a post yesterday and I'm too lazy to write a wee spiel of my own! Sadly my two week holiday from work is nearly over and it's not been much of a last week as the sore throat I thought came from shouting at the football last Sunday turned out to be a bit of a nasty cold.I was still fit enough to go and visit the Big Chap on Wednesday and enjoyed watched Nacho giving his dog Baxter more than a run for his money in the fields surrounding his place in Leadhills. I've also been for pub meals with my Dad and Sis and played a ton of Black Ops and poker too.My Mums hip replacement op went well and I've just had a text from her to say she's going home today which is great news. The poker was going well until last night when I decided to give the 180 $8 and $15 games a go and ended up losing just over $300 in 35 games.I can't complain though despite the endless beats as that's the nature of 180 turbo's and if even one or two key hands had held it could have been a profitable night instead. It's still been a decent month at the virtual felt and I'll stick some figures up at the end of the month as usual. And now that I've worked out how to upload video clips from my phone here's another exciting one of Nacho in my flat... Back soon...

When a Roll is not a Roll..

I've been reading an interesting 2+2 thread where mental game coach,Jared Tendler,gives some great advice on the part of the game I'd give at least equal status to poker skill.I've only read a few pages and I can already see that part of the reason I don't play higher stakes at the moment despite having the bankroll is because I've already spent a good chunk of my bankroll in my head.

I'm hoping to spend about £900 on paying my council tax upfront next April,the usual £450-ish for my football season ticket in May,car insurance in June etc etc.Now all these commitments are months away and even making $400-$500 per month between now and then should cover most of them, but subconsciously although I'm working with $4.5k ( aprox my roll after recent cashout towards car) I feel that at least half of that is already accounted for and indeed spent.

I like the cushion of having a big roll.I can lose 10-15 sng buy-ins on a bad night or two and sleep like a baby as I know I have plenty behind.My Stars roll was down to 58 cents with 4 games in running at one point and luckily I took one down and have built my roll there to about $550 since then.To be fair I knew that even if I'd busted it,I still had plenty on Party.

Of course the fear of failure and the fear of losing more than say $300 in one session also put me off attempting to play much higher.( though with the quality of recent herbals obtained I'm not sure it's possible to play any higher!)

Maybe I should simply cashout a good chunk now and push the boundaries a bit more with the cash I do keep in my roll.

As per the 2+2 thread I often see winnings as money earned which means that after having such good month in September I was reluctant to play much in October because I knew I wouldn't run as well and there was always a chance of hitting a downswing and losing back some of the money I felt ( wrongly) was earned and in the bank.In fact all I'd done was to add Septembers decent profit to my bankroll which is there to be played with and which is designed to absorb all ups and downs at the levels I play at.

Away from the felt I did enjoy seeing Step A when I took Nacho to her Dads for the weekend.Apparently I didn't notice her new "scene kid" hair do.I've heard of Neds,Goths and Emo but being a scene kid is a new one for me! She did go ice-skating on Sat night and at least used the £70 skates I bought her earlier in the year,probably for the first time.I also met the the ex Mrs A's brother the other day and asked him to ask his other sister ( Step A's aunt) to try and keep in touch with the wee one as she doesn't have much of a female influence in her life now that her Mum has buggered off down South.

Righty thanks for reading and thanks also to everyone who pimped/showed up to play in Sundays Bloggerment.QKs losing a race to JJ was my downfall this week.

Back soon....