Coming Clean...

Ok, it's time to come clean and try and retain any readers I have left after my last posting...

I recalled Dr Pauly rewarding his loyal readers by hosting a tourney with a huge overlay to celebrate a blog posting milestone and I thought it would be a laugh to find a way to do something similar...but cheaper.( much cheaper!)

After a few smokes last week I read Ricky Rosa's post on the RaisetheRiver forum where he mentioned he hated reading bad beats in blogs( I always thought they were so popular...)and as it was my 1000th post I reckoned it would be a hoot to write the ultimate bad beat eye bleed post ,but include the words "20 dollars to the first three readers who comment on this post with only the words nobody runs as badly as you.Transfer to stars or tilt".

I could barely bring myself to proof read it before I posted ,but hats off to my most dedicated reader,Mr Cloud from Twitterpoker, who actually waded through all the crap and left the "nobody runs as badly as you" comment to earn himself $20.Mr C was also kind enough to turn it into a staking deal for a few Bloggerment games.It does look like poor Rubbish struggled through the whole post too, but being a tightarse Scot I'm only paying out on comments framed exactly as I requested.I'm sure ribs are pinging all over the world as the mirth of such merry japery takes hold...

Weekend wise I've not been up to a lot.The ex Mrs A was over to clean the flat on Friday night and after I dropped her off I hit the tables and continued to run like the beats posted last time.The S-man and Two Pies were over to watch Scotland lose 3-0 to a fine Dutch side on Saturday night.The main football highlight came earlier.I'm 1/4 Northern Irish and was cheering on Norn Iron v Poland when celtc goalie Boruc took a fresh air kick at a backpass and the ball rolled into the net.Rangers fan and Norn Iron player David Healy's grin at the hapless keeper just added to the happy moment.

After the game the s-man looked on in awe as the King of First Person Shooters ( me) destroyed the Helghan leader to complete Killzone 2.I don't mind playing it on "New Recruit" mode to give the S-man a chance, but I think I'll need to be switch it to "Very hard" or "Legendary" mode to at least try and make it a little more challenging....

On the poker front I've won back most of my Party losses and continue to struggle at Stars.The S-man is popping over shortly for another PS3 session so that only leaves tomorrow night to pull back the near $300 Stars has hit me for this month.Being in a "must get even" mindset is no good for playing decent poker so I've ( almost!)accepted it's going to be a losing month.

Righty,thanks for reading and I promise never to post another ton of bad beats again!

Monkey business

My youthful bones are beginning to ache a bit after Saturday afternoons exertions filling a skip at my Mum and Dads new place.Friday night had gone reasonably well at the tables.I made about $260 from the $16 turbs and hoped for more of the same for the rest of the weekend....

Perhaps the Euroblogger was a sign of things to come as my JJ fell early to Mr Clouds AK.Congrats to Mr C for putting my chips to good use and taking it down again.We'd discussed changing the name of the Euroblogger and now that Mr Cloud has won 2/3 of the games so far, a name change seems an even better idea.In fact I propose a name change every week until I take the dang tourney down!( rendering Mr C the two-time winner of a defunct tourney!)

I was also watching the Russians play some great football to beat Holland at the same time,led by the brilliant Andrei Arshavin who scored against Rangers in last months Uefa cup final.Apart from a couple of duff games it's been a great tourney so far and the quality of attacking football on display has been a joy to watch.

Saturday night began with a couple of decent cashes and then I hit a cold streak,finished down a buy-in ( $16) for the night and on Super Tilt ( 8 games without cashing) according to Sharkscope.It was 3.30am and although I was tempted to keep battering away at them,I resolved to get a decent sleep and begin the fight again another day.Greek philosopher Eplicletus said "People are disturbed not only by things but by the view they take on them" and my views on running badly are definitely helped by a decent nights sleep!

I fired four up on Sunday afternoon,took one down and came 3rd in another.Later on, I dropped Nacho off and discovered my ex's nightmare neighbour had slashed the canvas on the the wee ones trampoline.( the same neighbour who arranged for the car I bought the ex to be burned out in her driveway) I was fuckin raging and stood staring over the fence until they came out.When he threatened to sue for slander after I accused them,it took all my powers of restraint not just jump over the small fence and start laying into the pathetic bassa.

Needless to say I wasn't really in the best frame of mind to play the Bloggerment and after being pwned a couple of times by Surflexus,I called a shove with the hammer and earned myself the company of...the monkey for this week!( although he seems a bit restless and keen to leave for somewhere he'd be looked after better!)




Well done to Amatay for taking it down although with a week to go of his $10k challenge,I hope he was 8 tabling the $33's on Full Tilt at the same time!

I moved to Party after Rosie went out the Bloggerment and after coming 2nd in my first $22,I bubbled the other two games in horrible fashion.It was back to Stars for my last three games of the weekend and after two more bad beats I finally scraped 3rd to leave me almost dead even overall for the night.

The funniest ( not at the time!) hand of the night was in one of those Stars games when I was short stacked and chose to just check from the big blind with A5 because a tight regular had limped.The flop came Q 9 5 and when it was checked to me I shoved, only to be caught out by an insta-call by Q10.It's a fair cop,the games a bogey etc flashed through my mind as I prepared to crash out...but no, the poker gods decreed a beautiful 5 should fall on the turn! I'd just finished crying "Ha ha,at last a break!" when the queen came on the river to send me out.

Ok,thanks for reading.Back later in the week...

Bluffs n Steals

I didn't play too much poker on Monday night and like last night I was actually in my bed early at 0.30am.I did play a few games on Monday and managed a second place in one of them to boost my Stars roll to just over the $5k mark.

Last night I played a wee $6 turb ( 18 player as usual) with Juice and won it before blowing $70 at a Bet 365 cash table ( 2 pair v flopped set).

I'm trying to add more to my turbo game by incorporating more resteals( versus tight regulars and players I think have a fold button) ,betting into the raiser more often and bluffing a little more.I suppose making a large c-bet with AK when I've missed the flop counts as bluffing but here are some better examples from recent games...

PokerStars Game #16395402109: Tournament #83018926, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/03/31 - 18:56:55 (ET)
Table '83018926 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Cargy (1885 in chips)
Seat 2: jane0710 (1690 in chips)
Seat 3: zagga (1915 in chips)
Seat 4: sharp726 (2075 in chips)
Seat 7: brasi07 (1845 in chips)
Seat 9: apple1309 (2440 in chips)
zagga: posts small blind 50
sharp726: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [9h Jc] :My favourite poker hand!
brasi07: folds
apple1309: folds
Cargy: folds
jane0710: folds
zagga: raises 300 to 400 :I had given the big blind a fairly easy time and reckoned I'd take the pot preflop most of the time.
sharp726: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [4d 8s Ks]
zagga: bets 700 : Ok, I didn't like the call but it's time to represent an AK type hand.

sharp726: calls 700 : Oh dear.I put him on a King,a pair lower than Kings ( 1010,JJ,QQ most likely) or a flush draw.

*** TURN *** [4d 8s Ks] [Kd]

zagga: bets 815 and is all-in : Now there's another King on the board there's a far slimmer chance of him having one.Time to continue to represent a King of my own...

sharp726: folds : Phew!

zagga collected 2200 from
pot
zagga: doesn't show hand


PokerStars Game #16418339966: Tournament #83135342, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/04/01 - 18:14:08 (ET)
Table '83135342 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: vbandi001 (4805 in chips)
Seat 4: johnwes66 (8610 in chips)
Seat 8: tz.nguyen (10445 in chips)
Seat 9: zagga (3140 in chips)
zagga: posts small blind 100
vbandi001: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [2h 5c] : I'm in the money but I'm the shortstack and I need to begin chipping up and taking chips.The next largest stack to me is a fine place to start.

johnwes66: folds
tz.nguyen: folds
zagga: raises 400 to 600 : I could have raised more but I wanted it to look like I wanted a call with a big hand.

vbandi001: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [7s Kd Jh]

zagga: bets 800 : On a fairly dry board I was representing the King.Very hard for the villain to continue without being able to beat the King there.Once again, I also wanted to make my story consistent and tried to bet an amount that most players who did have a King would bet out here.

vbandi001: folds
zagga collected 1200 from pot
zagga: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1200 | Rake 0
Board [7s Kd Jh]


PokerStars Game #16418388424: Tournament #83135342, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2008/04/01 - 18:16:14 (ET)
Table '83135342 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: vbandi001 (4255 in chips)
Seat 4: johnwes66 (9160 in chips)
Seat 8: tz.nguyen (10195 in chips)
Seat 9: zagga (3390 in chips)
vbandi001: posts the ante 25
johnwes66: posts the ante 25
tz.nguyen: posts the ante 25
zagga: posts the ante 25
vbandi001: posts small blind 100
johnwes66: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [8d 9d]
tz.nguyen: folds
zagga: raises 600 to 800: I have position and a hand that flops well.

vbandi001: folds
johnwes66: calls 600: Ok,once again my steal hasn't worked preflop....

*** FLOP *** [Jh Ad 6h]

johnwes66: checks
zagga: checks : Apart from a runner runner flush draw I've totally missed the flop and as weak Aces could be a large part of his calling range I'm going to keep the pot small for now...

*** TURN *** [Jh Ad 6h] [7c]

johnwes66: bets 400 : Looked like a typical big stacks weak bet to try and steal the pot.If he had a big Ace I'd have expected a reraise preflop or a flop bet with the flush draw out there.

zagga: raises 2165 to 2565 and is all-in : Hoping it looked like I was slow playing a big Ace myself on the flop ( despite the flush draw) and was now springing my trap after his probe bet.If he as probing for information I wanted to be clear in my reply! ( I have that big Ace!)

johnwes66: folds : Phew!

zagga collected 2600 from pot
zagga: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2600 | Rake 0
Board [Jh Ad 6h 7c]

No poker tomorrow night as I'll be at Ibrox for Rangers Uefa Cup quarter final 1st leg against Sporting Lisbon.Come on the Gers....

Donkey tale

I watched a ton of football yesterday,dropped Nacho off and then hit the tables,playing two $16 turbos ( 18 player) and winning one of them.

At 9pm I began playing the Bloggerment and the DTD game and never really got into my stride in either.I did managed to suck out on Dudley’s Queens with my 99 but I was far from playing my best game and went out of both games after making poor calls.In the DTD game I think I reraised with AK and then called an all in versus AA and in the Bloggerment I called a raise and reraise with 1010 and failed to improve v QQ and AA.

I wasn’t really enjoying trying to keep up with the subtleties of play in both games although the chat was a good laugh as usual.I didn’t see who won the DTD game but congrats to Rob at poker4ever beating a tough opponent ( Matty) heads-up to win his first Bloggerment.

I played one more $16 with Juice and Al Eleven ( Juice made money in 4th) before finishing with a wee $5 sng at Full Tilt.Rosie went out of that one quite early ( after zooming into the top 10 of an mtt at the same time) and Juice missed the boat when registering.My heart wasn’t really in it and I was reduced to 300 chips after a daft call with 33.This seemed to motivate me and I ramped up the aggression and came back to take 2nd for a $7 profit.

The glory should be enough, but I actually wonder if my slack attitude in the $5 Bloggerment and DTD game were due to me having just won $108 in the $16 turbo I mentioned earlier.

On the life front last week was a bad week and I was feeling quite down and cheesed off for most of it.Mind you my Monday morning began with my boss in her new seat next to me.Tactics have been devised for that one.Plenty of baked beans and garlic chicken kievs etc will hopefully encourage a move!

I mentioned still feeling some sense of loyalty to the ex despite splitting over four months ago.Well when I picked Nacho up on Sat ( she was out) she had washed and left a tea-towel of mine out for me to take home.( my favourite “Wha’s like us “ towel). That seems to have been just the jolt I needed to snap me back to reality and I feel as if I have now moved on a bit more in my mind.

Righty I've just finished a big smelly garlicy chicken curry.Time to watch some footy and hit the tables...

Bounty hunters

On Sunday evening I came 8th in the Forum game after running 99 into 1010 and 3rd in the Bloggerment after not being able to lay down 33 to Cogs reraise.I was fairly sure he had me beaten but as it was 3-handed I convinced myself it would probably be a race and of course I ran straight into AA.

Congrats to HullJimi for taking it down and to Kenn for beating the Raisetheriver players and two pro’s including Simon “Aces” Trumper to take down the forum game.Fair play to Simon and the other pro Paul “action” Jackson for turning out and doubling the bounties on themselves after last weeks no-show.

Yesterday though, was simply a dreadful day.It began when I arrived at work to find my boss has moved to the seat next to mine. I managed to move my pc screen round a bit, but jeez it’s a pain.We have a lad up from Norwich to help with the new IT system and he said he supports celtc aswell as Arsenal.He wore his celtc top yesterday and I joked with him that he’d was too early to be dressing as a tramp ( vagrant) for Halloween.He laughed ( we’ve been firing banter back and forth for weeks) but my boss interrupted to say how that could be seen as being offensive.How about you mind your own feckin' business in future!

Between a new system I can’t work and the new seating arrangement,I’m feeling my stress levels rise and a trip to the Docs may be in order soon.( another manager had just been signed off for two weeks due to stress)

I picked up a tv stand and new vacuum cleaner on the way home before nearly crashing the car.I then picked up Nacho and fell out with him after he refused to give his ball back at the end of his walk! ( we made up soon afterwards!)

I do at least have a new girlfriend ,but I’m not sure it’ll last, as I hadn’t met her before she shouted “there’s ma boyfriend,hello sexy” as I walked past a group of neds/chavs last night on the way to get my sausage supper.As I walked back past them with my dinner I’m sure ( despite the s-mans slanderous slurs) I heard her say “ and he has such a fine head of hair too”….

Still no word back from two emails sent to Sngicons enquiring about gift certificates.They seem like a smaller outfit then pxf and cardrunners and perhaps the email contact is away just now, but the bottom line is that they’ve not replied to a potential customer and despite their site looking good ,I think it’s time to look elsewhere.

Back to the poker and I went 0/4 in $16 turbos on Sunday night.Last night I only played one 18 player turbo as I was in a seriously stonkingly bad mood and probably shouldn’t have been playing at all.I got lucky once and also resucked a King on the river with AK V A10 after a ten had flopped.I went on to take down the $108 first prize...which was nice.

Ok,thanks for reading...