Proper Grinding

I had a fine weekend.My cousin,Two Pies,came round on Friday night after I'd seen a man about a particularly fine dog! My cousin told me he didn't like drinking tea, but enjoyed his ginseng tea and I sent him away with a few white,green,ginseng,milk thistle and nettle teas to try.This was after he'd watched as my Aces,Kings and queens were all busted at the turbos.

On Saturday I headed over to see my sister ( her birthday) and then to my Mum and Dads to cut the grass and help clear the back garden of their new house.I took Nacho a long walk and after dinner I sat down and played more turbos in one session than I've ever done previously.I used the cascade option and was nine tabling at one point.I finished down $15 over 61 games and didn't run well, but I didn't timeout anywhere and more importantly than that,I actually really enjoyed just making one quick decision after another.

Part of my multi-tabling problem has always been a wee voice in my head telling me to gamble too much and take more chances than I should.I called an all in on the bubble with AJ ( from the big blind) when the small blind shoved.We both had decent sized stacks and I called because I felt the small blind didn't have a big hand and if I'd won I'd have a huge chiplead.He had 22 and when my AJ didn't hit I thought about it more,I realised it was a dumb call.

It's easy to think "ahh well I've got 8 more games on the go,I don't mind gambling a bit more" but that's not the right way to play at all.Of course my edge is smaller playing so many games at a time and at times I will be making moves based on experience,patterns and instinct rather than solid reads, however that's not an excuse to loosen up too much and play like a donk.

I also played the Euroblogger and fought my way through the field to come 3rd.( from 3 starters!) Congrats to Hammerheid who won and to WeeGem who took down last nights Bloggerment.( I was 3rd from 8 starters).

The s-man came over last night and we had a good laugh watching Family Guy and sampling the herbal spriggage!

I six tabled the turbs for a while later and finished up slightly for the night and for the weekend which was nice...

Middle way

I messed around at a couple of $6 sngs last night ( 4th in one for a whopping $3 profit).Later I also played a couple of $16's and came fourth and first.Just before bed I hit up a $200 nl 6 max table on Ladbrokes and won a quick $35.

I now have a mini-mission! I have 152 points from 5 games on Stars $16 "Earth" leaderboard and I want to try and hit the 20 game mark before Rosie arrives on Friday night! Tonight the flat needs cleaned,washings need done and I'll be looking after my boy.Tomorrow night I'll be out at the Rangers game until after 10pm so I need to get a move on and start hitting the tables!

I posted a Sharkscope screenshot the other week which showed I was sitting 17th on the average profit board for the 2-3 table,$6-$15 games I play in.Although I now have enough faith in my turbo game not to be scared of any player at my level,I do believe I have an edge over most simply due to the low quality of most players and the smaller number of tables I play simultaneously.

I may not make as much profit overall as the high volume multi-tabling pro's but for the most part any superior skills these pros have is nullified to some extent by the number of tables they are playing.

I've said before I don't know ICM ( Independent Chip Modelling) inside out by any means but reckon I'm not bad at assigning pushing/calling ranges and more importantly playing a maximum of 3-4 tables means it's easier to work out which of my opponents are using it and who isn't.I feel that is vital to cashing/winning in these turbo's.

Maybe I'm wrongly using my own lack of ability to play a ton of tables as a benchmark but no matter how young and sharp,I can't see how anyone can play a load of tables without missing out on some of the reads and subtleties of the individual game and this is where I can gain enough of an edge to keep me ahead versus these guys.When taken with the far bigger edge I have against the fish ,I wonder if playing 2-3 tables at once can be almost as profitable as multi-tabling.( 6-12 tables etc)

Of course many of the players in these games are so terribly bad that any vaguely solid strategy is going to be profitable even when multi-tabling.( which is probably what most $16/$27 pros rely on)

I just feel there's a niche for reasonably solid players who only play 2-3 tables to take advantage of the fish and the the multi-tabling sharks.

Ok,posts will be sparse until after the weekend! Thanks for reading.To the washing machine...

Nine tabling micro turbs

I was too tired to play much poker on Monday night and last night I decided to have some fun at the tables.I opened nine $1.75,18 player turbos and messed about between tiling and cascading them.I think I played about 20 games in total and made a tiny profit overall.I quite enjoyed the fast paced nature of it all and managed to only time out a couple of times.

These days I wonder why I play poker.I feel like I'm torn between playing for pleasure and trying hard to make some decent ( for a low stakes player) profit for the year.

I did warm up for my nine tabling by playing an $11 turbo on Full Tilt.I'd been watching a cardrunners vid on sngs and the pro was talking about how people shoving all in early in sngs usually have a hand like AK/AQ.I had 99 on the button and when folded round to the cut-off,he duly shoved.I decided he wouldn't do that with AA/KK/QQ and that I'd take a coin flip and try to double.He showed AK and my nines held.It felt good to be right about his hand but I'm not sure that overall it was a wise call.

I did enjoy a situation which developed at one of my $1.75 tables when we reached the bubble and one of the players had been sitting out for most of the game.I had a marginal chip lead and began raising every pot when I was first to act or it was folded to me.

The blinds were high and I soon had double chipstack of my nearest rival and I continued to pound the table,raising almost any two cards.This prompted my fellow donks to get very annoyed, asking if I wanted the player sitting out to win and telling me I didn't know what I was doing.With a big stack on the bubble I'd have played the same way regardless of the sitting out player and eventually the most steamed up donk called light and crashed out 5th which I found highly amusing.

Just back after dinner at Mother Acorns where I had to laugh as my Mum whispered to me that she'd slipped £10 in my jacket pocket to pay for her sngicons subscription for the month!( don't tell Father Acorn!)

Ok,thanks for reading....

Eat my raise

The s-man was over last night,although this time without his Play Station 3 and Call of Duty 4.You can't beat getting called a "pussy faggot" online by some 12yr old kid as he merrily walks past and cuts your throat, as you're frantically spinning around wildly, trying to fire some rocket launcher which takes 1/2hr to load...

On the subject of wild kids, I did witness one funny moment in Sainsburys the other day when a wee girl aged around three suddenly piped up with "well if he does that again, I'm just going to stab him in the neck".Cue the shocked Mother asking where that came from and when told,"Jackie",assured the young kid in not very convincing tones that "Jackie" ( whoever she was) would never utter such a terrible phrase.I left the kid adamantly advocating the case that "Jackie" did indeed utter such words!

Grrr, my mobile phone is doing my nut in.Texts are sometimes taking ages to get through and although I'm not one of those 1000 text messages per day maniacs,if someone sends one, I do like to actually know about it and be able to read it!Sometimes it matters more than others.One that was sent at 4.15am last night finally got here at 4.25pm today! Be quicker to stick a stamp on it...

To the poker and after showing the s-man a little of Dauts 20 table video from cardrunners,I fired up a record ( for me) seven tables of $1.75 ,18 player turbs to see if I could handle the pace.I made about $15 from the seven games and quite enjoyed the experience even if the play at that level is barely a step up from play money.

After the s-man left, I joined Rosie and Juice for a few wee turbo sng's and I managed to win two $6.50,18 player games back to back and beat Juice heads up in one of them.The heads up battle was fun but didn't last long as I was lucky enough to be dealt some big hands at the right times.( makes a feckin' change it seems!)

By 3am I was on my own and decided it had been too long since I played a cash game session and promptly lost a $50nl buy-in at Party to a flush chaser.I moved to Bet365 and fired up a $100nl 6 max table where I made the mistake of calling a shortstacks shove after I'd raised with AJ from the button.It only cost me $20 ( he had AK) but I was aware I was still in turbo mode and needed to re-adjust fast or face losing my stack.

I reloaded ( I never sit with 10% less than the max buy-in at cash tables) and won $110 for a $90 overall profit.The cardrunners videos have improved my game and made me far more confident in my reads and less fearful of monsters.( it's ok to be fearful if anyone under 5yrs is reading this!)


GAME #786484227: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2008-01-06 03:43:11
Table Quorn
Seat 1: HumitoOOo ($215.83 in chips)
Seat 3: Goodnightwaltz ($169.90 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: hopefullyimprove ($163.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Mendacity ($105.30 in chips)
Seat 8: Barelyl3gal ($100.00 in chips)
Seat 10: kallo1 ($188.45 in chips)
hopefullyimprove: Post SB $0.50
Mendacity: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mendacity [DA S10]
Barelyl3gal: Fold
kallo1: Fold
HumitoOOo: Raise $4.00
Goodnightwaltz: Call $4.00
hopefullyimprove: Fold

>>>Only A10 but Humito has been raising a huge range of hands and I'd like to see a flop.

Mendacity: Call $3.00
*** FLOP *** [H4 C10 C3]
Mendacity: Check
>> As soon as I checked I thought I should actually have made a bet to see where I was in the hand.The problem was that if I bet and was raised he would representing a bigger pair than my TPTK ( Top pair,top kicker) and I would probably have to fold.

HumitoOOo: Bet $10.00

>>fairly standard continuation bet from him and didn't necessarily mean an overpair to the board.

Goodnightwaltz: Call $10.00

>> quick call made me think he was probably drawing.

Mendacity: Raise $28.00

>>>I decided there was a very good chance I had the best hand but it was vunerable and hoped my bet would force 'em to fold.I also like check raising hands like tptk as check raising really big hands ( sets,flopped straights etc) often looks too much like you have the big hand you are representing.


HumitoOOo: Fold
Goodnightwaltz: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $58.40 Rake $2.10
Mendacity: wins $58.40


This was the other one I took down just before going to bed.

GAME #786493169: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2008-01-06 03:58:36
Table Quorn
Seat 1: HumitoOOo ($197.18 in chips)
Seat 3: Goodnightwaltz ($140.90 in chips)
Seat 5: 0ne0ut ($100.00 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: Mendacity ($149.80 in chips)
Seat 8: Barelyl3gal ($102.60 in chips)
Seat 10: kallo1 ($183.75 in chips)
Mendacity: Post SB $0.50
Barelyl3gal: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mendacity [SK HK]
kallo1: Fold
HumitoOOo: Raise $4.00

>> No surprise to see Humito raising again preflop.

Goodnightwaltz: Fold
0ne0ut: Fold

Mendacity: Call $3.50

>>> Out of position against many players I'd be happy to reraise here, but this villain seemed a bit fishy and was almost guaranteed to continuation bet on any flop.

Barelyl3gal: Fold
*** FLOP *** [H4 D9 HJ]
Mendacity: Check
HumitoOOo: Bet $7.00

>> standard c-bet as expected.

Mendacity: Raise $18.00

>> Happy to take it down now or build the pot as I'm fairly sure my hand is good.


HumitoOOo: Call $11.00

*** TURN *** [H10]
Mendacity: Bet $40.00

>> I've no reason to put Humito on the flush draw but I could quite easily have been checkraising such a draw myself and as I now have an overpair to the board and the King high flush draw,I'm betting to take it down now.

HumitoOOo: Call $40.00
*** RIVER *** [H7]
Mendacity: Allin $87.80

>> Was unsure of this shove afterwards, but I reckoned he was bad enough to call with many lower flushes than my King highone.I was happy when he folded and the chips came my way.

HumitoOOo: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $209.80 Rake $3.00
Mendacity: wins $209.80

After that hand I even managed to resist my "last hand/orbit syndrome" leak and went straight to bed!

Ok,off to drop Nacho off,get my dinner in and play the Bloggerment....