Cup Winners...

My cousin and I enjoyed a highly entertaining league cup final at Hampden yesterday.Rangers looked tired after Thursdays efforts in Europe and credit to Dundee Utd for making a decent game of it,going ahead twice before Rangers won on penalties after extra-time.It's been too long since we last won silverware and I hope we can finish the season strongly and win more! Follow Follow...!


Did I recommend drinking herbal teas a few weeks ago? Fridays nights Ginseng cuppa has just cost me £80 for a new lappy keyboard and I can't even blame Riverstars for the beat..Thankfully the rest of the lappy seems ok.All connections seem to be as strong as ever....

Still,it's only ten $16's without making the money I suppose....

I think I'm still up at the tables since my last post.( by about $100 )Sat night was great fun playing with Al Eleven at Stars.At one point we were sitting placed 1st and 2nd in a $12,180 player turbo and made the final table together.( despite Al constantly nicking my blinds!).

I came 5th ( Al was 3rd) after shoving QK ( from sb) into A10 in the big blind.The play was so fishy it was almost surreal.I burst the bubble initially by shoving my tens and being insta-called by a medium stack I had covered.He had A10.Thankfully my 1010 held but what did Mr A10 reckon I'd be pushing with there? What part of my range did his A10 crush? There were a few shorties about to take the fall which made his call even stranger.

Last night was Bloggerment time again and congrats to Rosie who took down her 2nd title in just a few short weeks after beating a very weak fish headsup to claim her win.( just kidding J!)

Three key hands for me.I got very lucky with JJ against Kronsdats KK when I hit my 2 outer in a big pot.JJ then bit me on the arse by losing to 99 ( rivered straight) and KK lost to AQ ( flopped straight).Both were all in preflop and seem typical of my luck in bloggerment games.In truth I wasn't too bothered and I enjoyed watching Rosie take it down.

I chatted on the IM for a while afterwards and then played songs on youtube for a couple of hours.I didn't feel like poker and only played four more games,crashing out of the first two due to my own donkery and bubbling both of my final games.In one I ran A8c into AJ ( small blind shove into solid player with tight calling range in bb)and in the second one I think I was undone by the donkery of a villain.Opinions welcome though...

I had QJ and about 2k in chips.There was a mega shorty on 450 in the big blind and the 2 bigger stacks had folded to me.I shoved hoping to have a better hand than the shorties random hand if he called, and thinking my move would look stronger than it was ( why would I isolate shorty with a weak hand?)but the other villain who just had me covered also called with his QJ and were both toast v the shorties cowboys.Right move at the wrong time or donk move?

My instincts straight after two bubble finishes were to fire up some more,focus harder and keep plugging away but I was completely and utterly mentally drained ( not by the poker)and did the sensible thing and went to bed.

I'm off until Friday this week and may try and play in tonights US blogger game.

Tournament: MATH ( Monday at the Hoy)
Where/when: Full Tilt Poker, Monday 22:00 ET ( 2am UK time)
Game: NLHE 6-Max
Buyin: $24+2 or Tier I token
Password: hammer

Ok,back with more nonsense later in the week....

The beats go on...

I chatted to Rosie for a wee while last night before a friend popped over for a wee smoke and the usual fine banter.Many things can seem more amusing after a little herb and the sight of my friend donning a rubber glove to ensure his fingers didn't carry any smell home with him certainly tickled my funny bone.

After he left I hit the tables and continued to be screwed over at almost every turn.I kept Klopzis comment about staying positive in mind and managed to only lose $45 over 18 games but once again if the team from Candid Camera had jumped out from behind my sofa and asked me to "smile",I wouldn't have been too surprised!

I four tabled at times but mainly stuck with 2-3 which allowed me to play better and pick up some reads on the villains.Looking closely at my own play,I felt I was on form and playing well for most of the night.In fact I take it as a positve that my luck could run so very badly and yet I only dropped $45.That may seem odd, however I've been playing long enough to recognise a cold streak and that is most certainly something I'm having to deal with right now.I was almost tempted to make another video on the subject of running badly and playing through it.

My Stars roll is down nearly $400 this month and I'm determined ( cards willing) to get that sorted as the downswing I'm on can't last forever.It reminds me of my first casino visit on my 18th birthday.I worked as a driver for a Chinese restaurant and the owners took me for dinner and some roulette.As I ate a fine steak and chips I could see display boards which showed the numbers/colours that had come up at each roulette table.I had no idea of ( still not much of a clue)how probabilty worked and everytime I saw there had been a streak of 10-15 red or black numbers coming up in a row,I wanted to dash up to the gaming floor and bet the other colour as the red or black streak just had to be on the verge of ending...

I'm trying to view my recent downswing as just being one of those statistical streaky runs.If red was winning a coin flip or even an 80/20 then my display board just happens to be very black with only the occasional red thrown in.Apart from staying emotionally stable ( not tilting) there's not much I can do other than to keep banking my $3 Sklansky bucks profit per game and hope there's more red appears on my personal display board sometime soon.

I don't like getting myself so tired ( see last Sundays pathetic self-pitying post) that I can't retain a sensible perspective on the game but I suppose most poker players find that occasionally it all just seems so damn tough at times.

I have discovered the joys of Ginseng tea this week and now drink a few cups of it per day along with the green tea I've also been drinking a lot of recently.One of the cardrunners vids talked about drinking tea to help the mind.( talked about using excercise too but one thing at a time!)I honestly believe the mental boost these teas give can really help with focusing and making correct decisions at the tables and in life.It's hard to describe but they seem to help with an overall feeling of wellbeing and positivity.Maybe there's a reason the Chinese have been drinking them in one form or another for over 5000 years...

Hmm just checked my post and there's an invite for the grand opening of the Alea casino in Glasgow on Feb 28th complete with champagne reception and entertainment.I reckon I fancy a bit of that!

Ok,time to drop Nacho off shortly before hitting the tables to see if the good people at Riverstars have come up with any new unique ways to piss me off even further at their tables....

Much more and I run away....!