Gambling Man

I read an excellent quote from Layne Flack interview at Pokerworks where he says that many players simply can't handle the losses and failures due to their pride getting in the way.I expect that's why so many fish are convinced poker is rigged.It can't possibly be that they don't have the skills or emotional strength ,therefore it must be fixed in some way.

I've no doubt I need to be stronger too in the face of repeated beats and crappy cards and in truth it's a factor which has probably prevented me attempting to move up to $100 nl and beyond on a more permanent basis.

I think sometimes I also need to be less critical of myself and accept that sometimes there are no sure things in poker.It may be a calculated gambling but it's still gambling none the less.

Last night for example I won a buy-in at Party with QQ v JJ.The flop was low and ragged and I kept firing until the chips came my way.If he had flopped trips does that mean I'm a donkey for my play?

I suppose it's never as simple as above as I've not mentioned that the villain had lost a few big pots and had rebought.He also seemed the fishiest player at the table and seemed likely to be overplaying a pair lower than mine or AQ/AK.

I am a donkey (ok just a little one seeing as I'm being less harsh on myself!)for losing a buy-in at a 'Stars cash table a short time later after a blind steal went wrong.

I raised with A4 in the small blind and the bb called.The flop came 4 Q Q and I led out thinking I may be ahead anyway.He called and I fired again after a 10 on the turn.When the Ace came on the river I reckoned that I was good and as only KJ or any hand with a Queen beat me that I would bet out again.I was put all in for my last $17 and despite taking time to consider it, and despite the villains actions screaming "I have a queen", I talked myself into the call and he showed Q10 for the boat.

I went back to Party and won another $15 to give me a tiny profit for my nights play.I'm now down to $97 at 'Stars and will probably gamble ( that word again!) on a few $16 turbos and see how they go.

My biggest gamble of the day will be away from the tables though.I've promised Mrs A another driving lesson.....

Mortgage wars go on....

I called my mortgage firm today and they have said they will only pay the transfer fee ( they overpaid my remortgage amount by £5000) and not the additional £75 arrangement fee I requested.They charged me a £499 arrangement fee to set up the remortgage in the first place.

I'm looking forward to the battle.Even if I don't win, I guarantee it will cost them more than £75 in costs by the time I'm finished.I've already requested their code of practice, details of their escalation process and Ombudsman contacts.I'll also be writing to their chairman,chief exec and janitor!

I will be asking them for a full breakdown ( in writing) of their own arrangment fee, a justification for it and why they feel they shouldn't pay me a fee for arranging to give them it back.Of course I also want an explanation as to why the error occured in the first place and the steps put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.


I reckon I'll manage to come up with another minor ( but fairly obscure) dozen points I wish addressed too.I'm going to start with asking if they feel the signage outside my local branch is sufficently clean enough for a company of their size to be satisfied with it.

Maybe their records show that when I renewed my mortgage with them previously, I complained about the arrangement fee and eventually got them to cut it in half.Anyway time to go to war!!


To the poker and I managed another 4th in the one $15 turbo I played last night before heading off to spend some time with Mrs A.

After she went to bed I hit up two Party $50nl 6 max tables.Poker Indicator doesn't work on resized tables which is a pain but I like the using the tiling effect to see both at once.I may even have a go at 4 tabling.

Anyways I didn't play long but was lucky enough to almost double my buy-in which made up for Wednesday nights debacle.

This time KK held up but I was wondering during the hand if I'd be blogging about another of my donk moves ( yeah, mostly C's in your quiz Mr Cloud!)after possibly letting the villain catch his straight on the turn.Thankfully he had 55 and my check on the K 4 3 rainbow flop allowed him to catch his 5 on the turn and the money went in at that point and my set of Kings beat his set of fives to take it down.

This was one time I was glad I'd let the villain catch up in the hand as a big post flop bet from me would probably have won a much smaller pot.


The hand is here if anyone is interested.

I'll be taking Mrs A out for a driving lesson tonight before dropping her off at friends and hitting the tables.I may not make Kats donkamanet rebuy game tonight as I need to be up tomorrow for a trip through to Edinburgh to see Rangers play Hibs.As a season ticket holder I get 3-5 away games per season and this is my last one for this year.

As ever thanks for stopping by and don't forget to register for Sundays Britbloggerment game at 9pm bst on 'Stars.Password is donkament and everyone is welcome.