Monthly Stats

It's been a funny old month at the virtual felt.I ran well at Party,moved over to Stars and managed to run my $536 roll down to $1.58 before bouncing back slightly to finish on $157 there.Actually, I didn't find that my pish poor Stars run funny at all.After my Party success I was hoping to make at least $1k this month but the poker gods obviously decided otherwise.

I played the Turbo-Takedown and cashed for $85 on Sunday before losing those winnings and a bit more at the $16's through a combination of poor play,lost races and bad beats.

Last night I watched Andy Murray win at Wimbledon whilst 4 tabling the $6.50,18 player turbs.I actually ran quite well, won a couple and cashed in a couple more.I even replied to someone in the chatbox when they mentioned that "you don't see that playing live".I'm usually Mr Silent at all times and a lot of the time these days I have the stats or info showing rather than the chat, but it was only a $6.50 game and I had a friendly chat with the guy after telling him online poker is definitely not rigged!

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of players have no idea ( not my knowledgable readers obv) how variance works and the type of downswings which are completely standard even if you're a solid winning player.Perhaps that knowledge comes with experience.Here are the stats for a Party grinder ( great name btw).Playing 842 games and being down over $300 must mean he's a bit of a fish eh?



Errr no,he's actually ranked number 1 on the Holdem 9-10 turbo $16-$35 total profit for '09 leaderboard.



It's not how hard you can punch but how many you can take and keep coming back for more.

Party Poker $3041 ( + $738) Stars $157 ( -$379) Full Tilt $103 ( =).

Total $3301 ( + $359)


Back soon...

Show me the money!

It looks like I'll finally be moving up in stakes,buying a larger house and trading my Focus ST in for an Aston Martin DB9!I may even run another "guess the villains hand" competition and double the prize money!

"I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the
assets and Capital valued at £12,540,000.00 Million Pounds left behind
by my client.I seek your consent to present you as the next of
kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the
proceeds of this account can be paid to you."

I'm not getting too carried away though.It's only 1567500 buy-ins at $16 and variance is a biatch at the moment....

I didn't start playing the Bloggerment until after the incredible Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer.It was a truly stunning display of tennis from both players and Nadals five set win has to go down as the greatest game of all time.Not only was the quality of tennis sublime,the incredible resilience and spirit shown by both men made it a match which will live long in my memory.

Nadals after match comments when asked if he felt down after losing two match points in the fourth set were telling and could easily be applied to the poker table."When I was sitting down, I just say: I am playing well. I am doing well. I am with very good positive attitude. I played with a very positive attitude all the time, fighting a lot." He added ""I just focus on every point," he said. "Is possible to think too much. If you think too much, you not gonna play well. I just focus on next point."

Thanks to the nine players who turned out to play last nights Britbloggerment game and congrats to Wadhead for taking it down.My own exit was typical of how I'm running at the tables.My JJ was rivred by 88 and that was that!

I had warmed up by four tabling $6.50's and after the Bloggy I moved back up to $16 and played five games.Every hand is a new hand, but it's getting hard not to see the kind of run I'm on as a downswing and reading forum posts about 1000 game downswings or breakeven runs do not fill me with much joy! I did win the last one I played but endured more beats and suckouts.39 soooted busting my KK and having my 66 busted by 68 ( 8 on turn) were last nights biggest junk kickers.

In light of how badly I'm running I've decided not to set any lofty goals for July.Obviously I want to push on and make as much as possible but I'll start by aiming to break my Stars roll back through the $7k mark and hitting $8k profit on Sharkscope.( at Stars)

I did finish my night by playing four $7.50 super turbos ( 300 chips,3 min blinds) on Full Tilt and winning two of them.I may have a go at four tabling them at some point.Hmmmm.

Ok,that's plenty for a Monday.Back later in the week...

Gimme a brake ( pad!)

Last night ended up being a bit busy.I had two new tyres fitted after work and was hoping not to have to drive anywhere before my car gets her first MOT today because the brake pads have worn away and there's a horrible loud grinding sound when I try and slow down.If it's damaged the brake disc that's a far more expensive repair.

I wrote that earlier and what a feckin' day of it I had with Arnold Clark Ford garage in Rutherglen.They called me around lunchtime to say it had failed the MOT ( annual check to make sure a car is road worth beginning once car reaches 3 years old) due to the brakes.Errr what? I told them the brakes needed fixed but no they go ahead and test the car anyway,tell me they can't get the new brake disc/pads until Monday and if I take it elsewhere they would charge me for another MOT!

On top of that they tried to stiff my on the price too,adding £60 on to the original total.One short meeting with the manager sorted things, but I still had to go elsewhere for the disc/pads and will now have to go back next week for MOT to be done again.Grrrr!

Anyway,I'd just settled down to watch the football last night when the ex called to ask if I could take Nacho as she was having more problems with her neighbour and was staying elsewhere last night.I couldn't leave my boy and drove very slowly and carefully to pick him up,missing two Spanish goals in the process!It should be a cracking final on Sunday between my two tips to win the competition.

I also watched a bit of Andy Murrays fine straight sets win at Wimbledon and hopefully he will go on a decent run to at least the semi-finals.I'm not a huge tennis fan although I usually watch Wimbledon.The Borg v McEnroe final way back in '81 got me interested in the game and I recall hitting a ball against the back wall of our house pretending I was one player and then the other.I love the scoring system they use and the great test of character the game provides.

Not much else going on.At work my new seat is surrounded by women and instead of discussing football transfer speculation and the Euro championships ,I've been bored rigid by talk of star signs,hair straighteners and handbags.Zzzzzz!

I eventually fired up a couple of $16's on Stars around 11pm and after shoving 77 into 1010 to finish 7th in one game,I managed 3rd in the other one.I would probably have made 2nd place if I hadn't got frisky when I flopped two pair against the bigstack who had flopped a better two pair.Considering there was a very shortstack in 3rd place my shove was rash, although if I had won that hand I would have had a huge chiplead over both villains.

Ok,don't forget to register for the Euroblogger and Britbloggerment games....

Break-point

Just a short post today as I'm exhausted from not sleeping well.I went to bed around 4am and ended up getting back up and trying again around 7am ish and finally dropping off.I had dropped Mrs A off at her work around 6ish last night and she's still not home yet today.I had to leave the front door unlocked as I wasn't sure if she'd taken her key or not and I wasn't about to phone her to check.No more to say on that just now but if the sleepless nights continue I'm going to the Docs for something to help knock me out.

I did enjoy a laugh playing poker last night with the San Jose Salmon and the s-man at Pokerstars and made the money in a few turbo sng's.I was rivered a few times too,the worst of which was shoving from the small blind with 88 and being called by the Big Blind donkey and his 78.( 7 on flop and turn).As usual I had no problem with the donkey actually calling ( that's why he's a donkey afterall!)but was just annoyed at my own rotten luck.

I did play a little more Full Tilt $200nl ( full ring) and made $30 by playing extremely tight but aggressive poker.( the wee owl next to my name on Pokertracker backed that up).I was $20 down at one point but a raise with AK and then firing two bullets on a J 10 5 flop ( gutshot and two overcards) won me a wee pot and put me in profit.

San Jose Salmon mentioned playing for the buzz and there were certainly a few heart thumping moments at that table.I worry about that a little as I want to play good poker and not chase the buzz of a big pot.At $50nl and even $100 to an extent I'm happy or sad to win or lose a buy-in but I'm generally detached enough not to get too emotional either way and I think that helps my game.

Ok,off to finish watching Federer v Nadal in the Wimbledon final.Seems a long time since I used to batter a tennis ball off the wall of our old house taking turns to be Borg and McEnroe.

Don't forget to register for tonights Britblogger game on Stars.All welcome.See previous post for details.

Oh and hats off to Mark at Plant Gong for a real laugh out loud post.Spot on too.Bad beat me and yer getting banjoed!

Common People

I've been jumping from one site to another over the last couple of nights,playing everything from a $6 turbo to $200nl Full ring at Full Tilt.

Mrs A and Step A also arrived home early yesterday afternoon due to the rainy weather at the caravan site they were at.Considering she spent most of last night at her friends place two doors down ,I'm not kidding myself that any serious talk we have is going to lead to any change in our current situation.I'll need to tell the letting agency to give my tennant ( in my flat)2 months notice early next week and I don't reckon there will be any going back after that.

Back to the poker and I think I've been playing reasonably well and having been coping quite well with the usual swings in fortune.I've also been laying down my big pairs far more often when I've felt they are beaten and although I've still made the occasional awfuckit call,I've managed to keep my emotions in check afterwards and not leak more $$$.

I read a couple of great quotes from a Bobby Baldwin interview over at Tao of Poker ,
"There's always more to learn about poker. Also, make certain that you can take a punch. You will lose big pots. You will lose everyday for a month sometimes. You have to have the confidence that your game will prevail in the end."
"Even if you are the best player in the world, you still have to contend with Lady Luck. She can be a bitch sometimes."

I think I still need to start each game with more confidence.Part of the problem is that I detest arrogance as a personality trait and yet a certain amount is required to say to yourself "I'm the best player at this table and I'm going to show it".In reality though there's no need to be the best player as long as there are one or two fishy types who are obviously out of line with their play.

Mind you, I saw one player raise all in preflop for a buy-in with A8 and the other guy call that bet with Q10soooted.Total fishfest? Well the caller was some guy called Phil Ivey....( Full Tilt high stakes table the other night).All meta-game and way above my head I'm sure but on the face of it ...he's a donkey!

I enjoyed my wee stint at the Full Tilt $200 nl table I mentioned and I'm tempted to devote my whole FT roll ( nearly $1500) to taking a shot there.I have enough faith in myself to know that I'm very very unlikely to go broke playing $50nl on a $3k roll ,let alone the $4.5k I have in total and taking a wee shot doesn't seem out of the question.I have also been two tabling $50nl 6 max more often and finding that mutli-tabling helps make the decisions more logic and read based and I'm not letting emotions cloud the issues as much.

It's as though sometimes in my head I need to separate my leisure poker ($6 turbos etc) from the more serious stuff where I'm not just playing to pass time or have fun but to try and make a decent profit.

Ok,it's a lovely sunny day.I'm off to watch more of Wimbledon and walk Nacho.

Here's a couple of songs from the album which helped me through my last break up.Truly "Different Class"...