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....

Tues Update

After chatting to my neighbours, it seems the tennant who stayed here had big problems with the local "Young team" and I'm 100% sure the broken window wasn't aimed at me.Hopefully word will now get out that he's gone and I'll be left in peace.

Someone asked in the comments for feedback on Cardrunners and having watched another video last night I am even more pleased than ever with my investment.I am currently reading Harrington on Holdem and although the worked examples and the thought processess described to reach decisions are excellent,I don't feel it's much of a match for watching a pro talk me through countless decisions over an online poker session.

I played two Bet 365 $50 nl, 6 max tables after the vid and the main improvement I've already made to my game was to ramp up my preflop aggression.I've always believed in "lethal limping" at $25nl and $50nl with marginal hands( hit big v monsters and get paid off) and overbetting hands like premium pairs.The bottom line is that I make my money by simply playing a tighter game than my opponents and therefore when I do enter a pot it's usually with the best hand.

At $100 nl and above ( esp if I want to play $200nl upwards) I need to improve my game massively to continue to make a decent profit.To be fair I've always used table selection ( picking wild loose high ave pot tables) and my uber tight/aggressive style seems to work there, but I want to be able to mix it up at any table I sit at.

The only problem I have with cash tables just now is that my laptop is too slow/overloaded to allow me to run Pokertracker when playing.Last night there was a raise and reraise before the action was on me holding the Nolan sisters.( QQ) I flat-called and folded to an all in from the reraiser on a 10 high ragged flop.I just felt he had KK/AA as I was fairly sure he'd been playing quite a tight preflop game.Pokertracker and GT+ would have confirmed this for me and made my decision easier.

Ok,back soon ....

Training + Stats

What a great result for Scotland yesterday! We beat Ukraine 3-1, with goals from Miller,McCulloch and McFadden.We'll probably still need to beat Georgia on Wed and get a point v Italy which is going to be tough but the team are flying just now so you never know...

After watching the game I decided to take the plunge and sign up for cardrunners.com.I chose cardrunners over Pfx mainly because first and foremost I'm a cash player and cardrunners seems more suited to ring games.I watched a couple of the vids and was keen to play some pokey, when my cable tv and internet went on the blink! Called cust services and was told it was a fault in my postcode area and it should be fixed within 24hours!

After failing to find a neighbours wireless connection to steal, I dug out my Play station 2, loaded up Medal of Honor and spent an enjoyable couple of hours doing my bit to save the free world from Nazi domination.When at last my services returned I logged on and began to wish it was still down...

I joined a $100nl 6 max table at 365 which had an average pot of $71.Very juicy and within a few hands I picked up QQ.A bet,a raise and I reckoned it was such a loose table that I probably had the best hand and shoved.Against one opponent and with a decent read that may be ok, but although one guy called of his stack with AQ ,the other had woken up with KK and my Nolan sisters went down in flames.( Mr KK turned out to be a real rock and if I'd been at the table longer I like to think I may have laid those Queens down)

I played a $16 turbo next at Stars and continued my recent habit of running into Aces when I pushed AKsooooted into 'em to crash out in 15th.( from 18)

Next up was Laddies and I stayed in my comfort zone and played $50 nl 6 max there.I was up a wee bit when I had my KK scudded by some muppet and his Q8.Maybe he knew the 8 was coming on the river after hitting his Queen on the flop and I'm the idiot!
Why else would he call big bets on the flop and turn? I do wonder what ( if anything) hand he put me on.

The 365 loss isn't part of my main bankroll and the good news is that losing aprox $165 in one night didn't cause cold sweats and certainly wont affect my poker confidence.

Having said that, I'd been chatting to Rosie on the IM thing and ended up railing her all the way to 2nd place in a $5 mtt at Full Tilt. It was a great run ,though the winning villain sucked out on the last hand to deny Rosie 1st place and an extra $200.Still a $322 pay out for a $5 entry is a fine return on investment! Congrats again on a great finish Rosie!

Jumping back to the cardrunners sub and I almost feel it's paid for itself,even after watching only a couple of videos.( of pro's playing and talking through their moves)It is refreshing to watch vids aimed at players who have a bit of experience.Poker shows on tv are great but when you've been playing for three years ,the constant newbie guides ( "this is the button which means you are the dealer" etc) end up grating a bit.

The main thing I've picked up so far is...send me £61 and I'll tell you! Cheque in post? Ok,it's the art of four betting or restealing preflop at $100nl and above.Below $100nl at cash tables the concept of fold equity hardly seems relevant sometimes because it's Nofoldem Holdem and more often than not the villain will call you down.

I did enjoy Action Jeffs $27 turbo at Stars video.I recognised two of the players from my turbo exploits there and when Jeff flopped a set with AA against one villain ,he was sure the villain didn't have much.Jeff wasn't using any databases for research ( sharkscope etc) and to be fair he didn't know any of the players.I knew the villain in the hand was a big winner and I wasn't surprised when he showed a lower flopped set at showdown.( enjoyed the rant that followed too!)

Ok,I've had my rolls n sausage.Time to take Nacho up the road before hitting the tables.It's the Pokerstars World Blogger game at 8pm ,followed by the Bloggerment at 9pm.

Here are my latest updated stats.Only 17 days until the end of my 3rd year of online real money poker...

Ladbrokes $2011 Party $1595 Pokerroom $438 Stars $680 Full Tilt $167 ( includes -$1400 cashout from FT poker roll) Total $4891. ( + $70 since 1st Oct)

This excluded my "take a shot" Bet 365 roll, although I plan to withdraw it soon to buy a new laptop.( I will probably include it at end of the month to help get me to over $4k profit for the year,if I don't blow it!)

$70 profit over two weeks is mince but better than losing and it's quite pleasing that my Full Tilt cash out will not leave me needing to completely rebuild my roll before playing too much higher.

Actually 365 is so juicy I may add my account there to my bankroll and withdraw from Pokerroom.

Enough witterings for today.....

More Donkery

My Kings were crushed to knock me out of the first $15 ,18 player turbo at 'Stars last night and I bubbled in the next one when I pushed with Ac2c and ran into AK.I followed this by moving to Pokerroom to play some $50 nl full ring.

I semi-bluffed my way to the first pot at that table when my straight draw missed and I bet it anyway( after betting on the flop and turn).My second hand at the table was the Nolan sisters ( QQ) and I raised 6bb and got one caller.To cut a donkey tale short, I ended up almost (still had my winnings from the first hand) all in on a low ragged rainbow flop against Mr 66 and his set of sixes which became dem quad biatch sixes by the river.

The scary part was that afterwards I realised that I'd seen the flop,guessed that the villian either had 1010,JJ,KK or AA and decided to take a gamble.I had no reads at all as I'd just sat down and I never even blinked to think anything through as the raise/reraise scenario was unfolding.Ok so it wasn't 103 I'd played but it was still very very poor play.

It's not much of a post today but at least I've got it out of my system now and can hopefully move on.Mrs A is working tonight so I plan on playing Laddys player point Wsop freeroll in 20 minutes.I wonder how I'll donk out of that one!

Back later in the week.....

ps Here's a great clip showing some of the finest football of all time ( not me at the local five-aside surprisingly enough).Brazil 1970.