I see fishy people

The mindset of the poker fish has always interested me.How can people be so stupid we ask ourselves? Lack of experience,the urge to gamble,the thrill of making mooooves,tilt and people with plenty of experience who simply don't "get it" are a few of my theories.I keep reading about how tough games are thanks to poker forums,training sites etc and although there may be a little truth in that,I remember reading a load of snooker books as a lad and they never turned me into Stephen Hendry! ( good enough to play blindfold with a hand tied behind my back and still beat Juice though! )

People who type "may as well be playing bingo" in chat boxes forget that thousands of people do play bingo online with no edge at all and probably see poker as just another gambling game.

I wrote about channel 5''s rip-off late night quiz recently and how daft people must be to think they stand a decent chance of winning.The fact is that most poker players just aren't as bright or smart as I'm sure my readers are and you have to take this into account when playing them.This means not using your own default hand ranges for villains.You may well only call that big bet or shove with a better hand but this doesn't mean a fish won't pay you off with something far worse.Of course it's highly frustrating to feel like your being continually be outdrawn but when I stepped down and played a few $12 ,45 player games last night I simply found the donkey calls provided a good general guide to the standard of play.Having my JJ cracked all in preflop by someone ready to get it all in early in the game with 23 o/s genuinely made me smile.

Maybe it's a bit of a leap and no offence meant to believers, but reading this recent Guardian CIF post on the growth of the psychic industry also demonstrates to me just how many more stupid and gullible people are out there.It's mentioned in the article that psychic,Sally Morgan,received more than 250,000 emails after her tv show was aired.This was just before they all logged on to Pokerstars....

Anyways I had another decent night at the tables and was also pleased to see that twat Ben finally get the boot from The Apprentice.( though some thorough media training meant he managed to come across as decent enough on the "You've been Fired" show afterwards.)

Back to the poker and I took down another $22 at Party before deciding to try out a few of these low stakes multi-table sngs I keep reading are so juicy.I fired up three $12,45 player games and can't deny the fishieness of the play on show.The bottom line is that I crashed out of two but managed to hit the final table with a big stack in one game and bullied my way to a win from there.The prize was only $154 ( $54 more than 1st in a $22) but it felt good!

Visiting my parents tonight,seeing the good lady tomorrow night and the s-man is coming over on Saturday night.The nerves and tension are also building already for Sundays league title showdown.I can barely think about it without getting butterflies and I can't put into words just how much it would mean to me to see the league flag returned to it's rightful home for a world record 52nd time.

Ok,thanks for reading.Back soon...

Guess the hand...

No poker on Wednesday night as I was babysitting and visiting my Gran.When I arrived home and put the tv on,it switched itself off and now only comes on for 1/2 sec before reverting to standby mode.It's less than 2 yrs old and now I need to decide if I want to pay for someone to try and fix it.I'm tempted to raid the poker account for a 42" Plasma but my Mum and Dad have lent me a 26" tv set for now, and as I watch very little tv,I'm not sure if I should be splashing out on a new one.Hmmm.

Last night I was over seeing my Gran again before Nacho and I had a fine dinner at my Mum and Dads.My Gran can't eat,is barely taking any liquid and sadly it's just a matter of time now.I even got a new suit yesterday and I'm expecting the phone to ring anytime with the news of her passing.Sad times.

I did hit the tables later,firing up three $16 tables and allowing myself to slip into donkey mode after my AK lost to 88 in the first one.I wasn't tilting but I was far from playing my best game.I hit up four more and after building a decent stack in all of them,I was dealt decent hands on all four tables at once and instead of using my timebank I rushed my decisions.This meant my premium pair was busted by a flopped flush on one table and I wasted my decent sized stack on another by calling someone down with JJ on a King high flop.( The second King on the turn convinced me he didn't have it.KJ obviously!)

I did win one and came 2nd in the the other to finish that set of four before failing to cash in a couple of $22's at Party.All very exciting I'm sure you'll agree!

Time to share a few thoughts on a player type you may recognise.Time to callout the Over Player.Yep while most of us are happy to fold our big blind if we don't have a hand or don't feel the same player is picking on it,the Over player will take his time on every single occasion his blind is raised even if it's only the first level.It's as if you've broken into their house,removed food from their babies mouth and had your wicked way with his Missus.

Too much credit is always given to the villains thought process which in turn leads to making hero calls against such villains.The Over Player always suspects he is being bluffed or outplayed and while the later is probably true,the chances are that they actually outplayed themselves with their Harrington like level 48 thinking.These guys/gals are not the worst of the players out there but they don't do themselves any favours with their over thinking and fancy plays.

Ok,tonight the ex is coming round tonight to clean the flat,I've got Nacho for the weekend and on Sunday my cousin and I will be at the Stydome for the first Old Firm game of the season against the soapdodgers.

Time for another Guess the hand for a wonderful prize competition! As nobody guessed correctly the last time I've decided that the $5 prize will.....remain the same! The only hint I'll give is to try and avoid using any kind of vaguely sensible poker thought process.This is Party Poker afterall! One guess only and I'll keep it open for a few days....

***** Hand History for Game 7333442607 ***** From a $22 turbo.
20/40 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (STT Tournament 41743721) - Thu Aug 28 18:36:57 EDT 2008
Table Speed 1333087 (Real Money) -- Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Onego_66 (1960)
Seat 2: rfireky (1840)
Seat 3: quintee (1840)
Seat 4: Rococo8200 (2000)
Seat 5: Sotha_Sil (2000)
Seat 6: Acornmn (2000)
Seat 7: reddevil339 (2700)
Seat 8: infamous6666 (1800)
Seat 9: afrim303 (1940)
Seat 10: Call_Any4 (1920)
Onego_66 posts small blind (20)
rfireky posts big blind (40)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Acornmn [ Ks, Ad ]
quintee calls (40)
Rococo8200 folds
Sotha_Sil folds
Acornmn raises (200) to 200
reddevil339 folds
infamous6666 folds
afrim303 folds
Call_Any4 folds
Onego_66 calls (180)
rfireky folds
quintee calls (160)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ac, 9s, 9d ]
Onego_66 bets (560)
quintee folds
Acornmn calls (560)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ As ]
Onego_66 checks
Acornmn bets (240)
Onego_66 calls (240)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
Onego_66 checks
Acornmn bets (1000)
Acornmn is all-In.
Onego_66 calls (960)
Onego_66 is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $4160 with Onego_66
** Summary **
Main Pot: 4160
Board: [ Ac 9s 9d As 4h ]

What does onego_66 call me down with?

Ok,here's a quick one from the paper which brought a smile to my face...

A reader tells us he took his family for a special meal at a country-house hotel which had mounted stags' heads in the foyer. One of them had a couple of party hats hanging from its antlers.

Noticing his young daughter had stopped walking and was staring at the head, he told her that unfortunately some folk liked to hunt animals.

"But why did they have to shoot him on his birthday?" she wailed.

Back soon...