Knock knock + stats Ytd

The title is because ( I made up with my Mum at the weekend) my parents have offered to buy me a new front door for Xmas! What a great idea!

Congrats to Spid for taking down the Bloggerment for the second time.I finished a lowly 12th after overplaying 66 and then running A8 into Hammerheids AJ.

I mentioned overplaying the sixes and both Cogs and Rosie ( both players I respect) have mentioned my habit of overbetting recently.I think it comes from the fact I usually only play turbos and not standard speed games.I have tried to tone down my preflop raise sizes a little but my “bet big or go home” philosophy has served me well and I’m not sure I even want to adjust my strategy too much.

I hit up a couple of $16 turbos afterwards and had my Aces scudded by KJ only a few hands into the first one.Yes the fish called off his whole stack without hesitating with KJ.A king on the flop and Jack on the river left me shaking my head at my poor luck.The second game I played ended with yet another nasty one and I reflected that at least I’ve played enough turbos now to not get too hacked off.

Partys cash tables were calling and I’m pleased to say I won $75 during a very short $100 nl 6 max session thanks to fish who called with crap.I only won two big hands for my profit.In the first one my AK was good on a King high board and for the second I called a raise from a tilty shortstacked moron with A10.We saw an Ace high flop and I checked to the raiser,awaiting his enevitable all in bet ( he had k6 sooted and had missed board totally) and he didn’t let me down.

I read an interesting article on tilt recently which concluded that winners tend to sit on gains and losers chase losses.Despite the impression probably given by this blog I wonder if that’s one of the reasons I don’t play more often.Yesterday I was free all day but my first game was the Bloggerment at 9pm.Most evenings I don’t start playing until later either and I wonder if the desire to sit on my winnings ( lowly as they are) has something to do with it.The other factor is that I usually feel exhausted from work between 7-10pm and it’s only usually after 10pm when I get my second wind and feel like I could stay up all night.

The article also mentioned that bad beats lead to tilt because when people see that they are for example, 80% favourite when their money goes in on a hand ,they mentally bank the winnings, which leads to a major shock to the system when they lose to that nasty 2 outer.Perhaps I reasoned , I deal with beats quite well most of the time because I’m an inherently cynical pessimist who doesn’t mentally bank the pot when I’m a big favourite, because I’m just waiting on the “enevitable” bad beat coming!

Either that or the repetitive nature of the beats has numbed me slightly to them.I’m not claiming I’m immune and several in a row can still awaken my tilt monster but generally I reckon I cope reasonably well.

Ok, here are my updated end of the month stats.I now have only one month to go before the end of my 3rd year of real money online poker and the last time I checked on June 7th I'd made $1599 in profit since Oct 31st '06.The overall total was $4254.Profit since June 7th is $1967.Overall profit this year so far is $3566.I made aprox $4k per year in my first two years and after a poor start to this year it looks like I'll make about the same again.

Full Tilt $1530, Party $1625,Pokerroom $440 ,Pokerstars $685,Ladbrokes $1941.Total $6221. ( + $414 since 20th Sept).This also excludes my Bet 365 "take a shot" roll.

Nae World Cup for me + Stats

Not too happy with myself for just bombing out of the final heat to qualify for the Scottish world cup team at 'Stars in 16th place.I'd called a raise with AK sooted and played it too slowly on an Ace high flop.I did bet, but not enough to stop Mr JJ catching his Jack on the river.

That saw me reduced to just over 1k in chips.I picked up AK sooted again in late position and raised preflop.The flop came Jack high with two spades and I led out for 360 ,only for the villain to take his time before pushing all in.I had 495 left and though I was sure I was behind, I felt I had to call and try and hit one of my two overs.The villain showed 1010 and I was sent to the rail after no Ace or King fell.

At the time I thought I was getting good pot odds to call off my last 495 ,though now I'm wondering if it would have been better to fold and try and rebuild in that spot.

My Headhunter jinx continued ( not taken one bounty in three games) last night at Interpoker too after my Kings were busted by some muppet and his 108 soooted.I'm still getting the hang of how to adapt to these games.I like the idea but I'm not sure that style of tourney suits my game.

I did have a bit more joy at the Stars $16,18 player turbos last night.I went out of the first one after another nasty suckout and then decided to fire up two at the same time, which is not something I've tried too often with sng's.I bubbled in one and won the other for a wee profit.

I moved to Laddies and two tabled for a while ,winning my biggest pots with top pair,top kicker.I even played heads up for 1/2hr and watched my stack swing up and down until I finally took most of the villains with a well disguised straight.I looked about for other very shorthanded tables, but there were only ones with 2-3 players all with well over the table buy-in, and as it was losers I was looking for,I stuck to 6 max and full ring games.

Here is my favourite hand of the night...


** Game ID 799284703 starting - 2007-07-29 03:38:57
** hejaheja. [Hold 'em] (0.50|1.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- Acornman sitting in seat 4 with $93.50
- ShaunB1 sitting in seat 5 with $121.62
- pokerian sitting in seat 6 with $101.33 [Dealer]
- AndyRiz sitting in seat 7 with $162.19
- golffish25 sitting in seat 8 with $177.37
- Sir_Teddy sitting in seat 9 with $97.00
- pokerchutney sitting in seat 10 with $122.94

AndyRiz posted the small blind - $0.50
golffish25 posted the big blind - $1.00
** Dealing card to Acornman: 3 of Hearts, 4 of Hearts
Sir_Teddy called - $1.00
pokerchutney folded
Acornman called - $1.00

>>> Not a call I'd make everytime but if I hit the flop....

ShaunB1 folded
pokerian folded
AndyRiz called - $1.00
golffish25 checked

** Dealing the flop: 10 of Hearts, Ace of Hearts, 8 of Diamonds
AndyRiz checked
golffish25 checked
Sir_Teddy checked

>>> Three weak checks.I'll take a wee stab at it with my flush draw.

Acornman bet - $4.00
AndyRiz folded
golffish25 raised - $8.00
Sir_Teddy folded

>>golffish seemed a bit loose but no reads as to how good he is.Not sure a reraise would get him to fold so I'll call and see turn card.
Acornman called - $8.00

** Dealing the turn: 2 of Diamonds
golffish25 bet - $10.00

>>Now any 5 would give me the straight or any heart for the flush.If he has the Ace then I doubt I can push him out here by reraising.

Acornman called - $10.00

** Dealing the river: Jack of Hearts
golffish25 bet - $10.00

>>> His $10 seems weak and I reckon my flush is good here.

Acornman raised - $35.00
golffish25 called - $35.00
Acornman shows: 3 of Hearts, 4 of Hearts
golffish25 mucks:
Acornman wins $107.00 from the main pot

>>> It is indeed good!

Left Laddies about $130 up and hit my secret santa Interpoker account.I bought in for $80 ( nearly my full Inter roll) at a $200nl table and ran it up to $140 before logging off and getting to bed around 5am.I know I stay up far too late playing but the tables just seem to be so much jucier in the early hours of the morning.I blame the chair glue!

Ok, I'm busy trying to download Bet365 software and register in time for Kennys charity game.See previous post for donations link.Ok,I'm signed up on the site and now registered for the game!

I'm not going to include the £30 I now have on Bet365 in my main bankroll.This gives me two accounts ( Inter is my other secret santa account) outside my main roll and will be used mainly for fun and for allowing me to abandon my usual tight arse bank roll management rules.

Here are my latest stats ( further update at month end).

Pokerstars $255,Ladbrokes $1748,Party $1118,Pokerroom $483,Full Tilt $1520.Total $5124 ( + $377 since July 15th).

Great to see my roll over $5k for the first time ever.( always cashed out before hitting $5k mark)

It seemed a long way off after my -$700 tilt nightmare back in May.I move back home in Sept and money may be tighter, but hopefully I can leave the bankroll to ( hopefully) grow further.Considering the weakness of the US dollar I really should probably set up a separate bank account and withdraw most of my roll from poker accounts and keep it there.Having over $1500 on Full Tilt for example probably makes no sense as I don't play there too often at all.At an exchange rate of over $2 per £1 and rising it's just giving money away keeping it there.

Just checked and we have 16 registered so far for tonights Britbloggerment game on Stars.( see yesterdays post for details).Hopefully we can have another record turnout.Only $5.50.Get registering.....

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 )

Pushing the envelope + Monthly stats

Thanks to all who took the time to leave the emminently sensible comments I received on yesterdays post and for that long overdue confession Juice :-)))

I agree with the general consensus that although it's probably better to keep this wee ghey poker blog outwith my family,it's not a "panic,hit blog delete key" issue if it doesn't remain that way.

After Sunday evenings tomfoolery last night seemed a bit tame.I did find it quite amusing that I wrote about why I'd rather be all in when shorthanded with 56off than A7, because 56 is less likely to be dominated by a bigger Ace.( AQ,AK etc) Amusing because I came 3rd in an 18 player $16 turbo last night at 'Stars after pushing with A7 and running into the solid players AQ.The poker gods do like their fun.Two more turbo's out of the money meant a tiny profit for the night.

On the subject of fun I've mentioned my somewhat frugal nature on this blog and my workmates took advantage of that last week.I detest the "put money in an envelope" office practice which seems to see an envelope go round the office for everything from engagements to somebodys flippin cat sneezing.I've been here twelve years and have never been the beneficiary of such an envelope.( despite trying to start one for my own birthday a couple of years back!)

Well last week a colleagues house was burgled and as she was off dealing with the insurance and police I came back to my desk to find yet another collection taking place for her.I was staggered that we now have to donate our hard earned cash for such an event, but reluctantly added my generous ( £2!) donation to my colleagues before the bassa's told me the next day they were winding me up.

To the stats and here's the update for the month ending April 30th....

Pokerstars $532,Pokerroom $772,Party $812,Ladbrokes $1429,Full Tilt $1248.Total $4793(+ $160 since 15/4) Monthly profit since 31st March = +$575

The $164 ave pot table ( $50nl) + stats

Mrs A was out last night so after my pizza I hit the tables with the s-man.I played five $6 turbos and only came out on top in one of them when I beat the s-man heads up with a highly skillful move, when I knew an Ace was coming on the river and suckered him and his cowboys into going all in preflop.A quick "nh sir" from the s-man and we moved on.(and if ye believe that...!)

I managed to win an $11 turbo after that before taking my own advice on table selection and checking out Ladbrokes lobby for any laddies maddies.I'm glad I did because I found a 6 max $50 nl buy in table with a $74 average pot.That wasn't a typo,it really did average $74 and that pot average peaked at an unbelievable $164 at one stage.The s-man witnessed it and sent me the screenshot above.( thanks s-man)

I watched in amazement as one player ( haue76) simply moved all in on every hand and rebought time after time when he busted.I was on the waiting list in number 1 position and almost had to wipe the spittle from my keyboard I was drooling so much in anticipation.I encouraged the s-man to join too and he was very unlucky to get it in the middle with A10 V A4 as the villain hit his lucky 4 to knock him out.

It was an unusual game in that all I had to do when I caught a hand was limp and then call the enevitable all in that followed.I berated the s-man for raising preflop ( 44 I think he had) because Mr All-in manaic simply folded to anyone else aggression preflop and the s-man took the blinds with his bet.( sorry s-man!)

So just what hands do you play when a maniac is all in on every hand? Any Ace and pocket pair? KQ? K10?

Well I won with 88,A9 and Aces twice for a sweet $240 profit.At one stage the maniac had over $600 and although he slowed down a little that meant he only raised $10 preflop and usually pushed no matter what the flop was.

He called me a fish and begged me to call several times before showing his nasty side and telling me I would die within 2 days."I hope not,I'm off to the Dam on Tues " was my jovial reply.All I was concerned with was keeping him at the table and managed to keep him sweet after a couple of others at the table made daft aquarium tapping comments."Are you usually a high stakes player?" I asked."What do you think" he replied. "Thanks for swimming with us fishies" I typed back.

I added him to my buddy list and want to thank him for his one man mission to make sure I stayed in profit after a not very spectacular two weeks at the tables since my last stats update.Table selection,table selection ,table selecton! Don't leave home without it!

I joined Rosie for a wee $10 standard speed sng and neither of us made the money before I won $10 at a 'Stars cash game and broke even after 20 mins at Party.

We're heading over to my parents place shortly for a mothers day/birthday meal ( Mrs A B/day on Tues) and plan to watch Blood Diamond on dvd when we get back.I'm looking forward to a long lie in tomorrow morning before I take a wee blogging/poker break for a few days.( did I mention I'm off to Amsterdam?!)

Here are my latest stats: Ladbrokes $1349,Pokerroom $747, Full Tilt $1236, Party $447.Total $3779. ( + $109 since March 4th)

Seven registered so far for the Britbloggerment $5nl tourney ( under private tab) at 'Stars on Sunday 25th at 4pm EST ( 9pm UK time).One week to go! All welcome and the password ( lower case) is donkament.

Ok,thanks to The Cloud for his last comment. I think I've got the start time sorted.It's damn confusing because the US clocks have gone forward already and our ( UK) clocks go forward next Sunday at 1am.

Soooooo the sign up time at 'Stars will always show as 4pm and on the day ( Sun 25th) we'll kick off at 9pm thanks to the clocks moving forward earlier that day.( at 1am).Sorry for any confusion.

In fact ( I'm sure he wont mind) here's The Clouds fine banner to clarify...Nice work!

ITM Full Tilt $11k Gtd

Big thanks again to Dr Pauly for stopping by and commenting on my last post.I've been an avid reader of his blog and writings for ages and I felt like I'd been visited by blogging Royalty when I saw his message.I'm looking forward to taking the Docs advice.Just over two weeks to go before I hit the Dam.

I mentioned back on Feb 18th that reading a Gcox post had inspired me to win another $26 token at one of Full Tilts $8.70,18 player turbo sats,but I still hadn't had time to use it until last night when I decided to tackle the $11k gtd at 11pm long with 563 others.

I started out playing a tight game from early position and saw a few cheap but fruitless flops from the cut off and button.My table was quite fishy apart from a shark on my right so stealing opportunities were few and far between and I had to pick my spots and players to steal from very carefully.I stayed at my first table for most of the MTT and that meant I had a chance to really get to know the villains and that helped me keep my stack at a playable level.

With 180 left I was still hovering around near the bottom of the pile, but hanging in and making aggressive moves whenever a decent opportunity came.Around this time I was moved to another table and to the immediate right of the tourney chip leader calling station and his 100k stack.This wasn't good news at all and I was forced into shove or fold poker just to stay alive in the game.At least pushing all in gave me some fold equity and I began to steal quite blatantly as we neared the top 54.

I seemed to be doing quite well and then my mindset changed from going all out for the final table to looking to jump another couple of places.I suppose this is where my lack of MTT experience came into play and before long although I'd been in the bottom 10% for nearly the whole game,I found myself nearing the final table.The blinds were getting huge and as I'd cut out my stealing and wasn't catching anything playable I moved all in (when folded to me and two hands away from being eaten by blinds) with K8.A villain raised to isolate,showed 55 and I finished 12th for $148.

I really don't play many Mtt's and when I do go out of any I do play it's usually with a few regrets but apart from a wee window in the game where I possibly tightened too much,I felt I played decent poker and made the most of the situations I found myself in.I never had over 20k throughout the whole game so I don't feel I was hard donr by in not making the final table and the better prizes.

Donked off $40 at a Laddys cash table afterwards after making a daft river call before winning back just over $40 at a Party $50 nl game when I chased a flush and got paid off on the river after making marginal calls on the flop and turn.( overcards and flushdraw v loose tilty player I felt would pay me off if I hit)

Ok to the stats and I'm just happy to have made a profit over the last fortnight after a host of bad plays and a few nasty beats.My 'Stars roll will remain outside my main BR for now.

Pokerroom $814,Full Tilt $1174,Ladbrokes $1262,Party $420.Total $3670 ( + $103 since Feb 18th)

Just watched Rangers beat Hibs 2-0 at Easter road with two fine goals from Charlie Adam.I've got a theatre trip on Tuesday night followed by the 1st leg of the Gers Uefa cup game v Osasuna
on Thursday.

Back soon....

Pick n Mix + Stats

I started my poker night last night ( inspired after reading Gcox's post) by winning a $24+$2 token at a FT $8.70 turbo sat.As usual the play was generally terrible and watching guys with huge stacks still pounding pots when the top 5 paid the ticket and they were almost guaranteed a seat was rather amusing.No plans for the ticket yet.I'd love to play in one of the US blogger games and test myself against some fine players but the 2-3am start times just don't work for me.

In no particular order I then won an $11 turbo at Full Tilt ,won $20 at Juices cash table with the hammer after raising it up preflop and hitting two lovely sevens on the flop,blew most of that at a 6 max $50 nl table and then decided to enter a Laddys 5 card draw $2 Pot Limit Turbo mtt with 22 players.

Yes this holdem only blogger who has no interest in omaha,razz or even fixed limit holdem ,spent 1 hour 15 mins playing a $2 5 card draw tourney.I've dabbled before at nl 5 card draw cash tables on 'Stars but never with any great success.I was chip leader for ages after everyone at the table went all in ( pot raise after pot raise) and my preflop trip sevens made the biggest boat and I knocked 'em all out.Once I'd stopped laughing I lasted another hour before going out.I also managed to crash out of Laddys late night crapshoot without ever really building my chipstack.

I headed back to Pokerstars and managed 2nd in another 18 player $15 turbo for a nice wee profit.I could complain that my A8 was miles ahead of the villians k8 before he flopped two Kings on the last hand when we both had even stacks but the truth is I got lucky against the same villian just on the bubble when my AJ made a straight v his AA so poker justice was probably done in the end.

I do at least have the temporary ( only 79 game sample) pleasure of having earned a wee shark fin next to my name ( zagga at 'Stars) according to Sharkscope.The problem is I rather like my wee fin and don't want to risk losing it by playing any more games at Stars!

I'm still keeping the roll I've built at 'Stars apart from my main poker bankroll that way if I bust it out I wont be too annoyed at myself.If it keeps heading in the right direction that may change.

I'm not long back from Ibrox where Rangers beat Falkirk 2-1 with goals from Boyd and Ferguson.I'm looking forward to Thursdays return Uefa Cup game.We are 2-1 down from the 1st leg and will hopefully do enough to make the next round.

Ok to the stats and it's been three weeks ( Jan 28th since last update).
Ladbrokes $1305, Pokerroom $861,Party $381 and Full Tilt $1020.Total $3567 ( + $359 since Jan 28th).