Brit Blogger Game Tonight

Until the clocks go forward next weekend the start time is actually 8pm Gmt.Hope to see you there...

Thanks to all who commented on my last post.I was tempted to take the redundancy offer, but in the end I've gambled on staying put for now.There's always the chance of being offered a lot less in future or being "performance managed" out, but that's just a chance I'll have to take.If I had a degree I'd have jumped at it and done a one year post grad teaching course.Maybe next time...

I've not played a lot of poker since my last post.The downswing continues whenever I do play and every time I tell myself that the next hand is a new one and cannot logically be affected by any perceived swings...I get screwed again.Every.Damn.Time!

This is post 997 and I intend to reward my dedicated readers with a self indulgent "reality of a downswing" post which I'm sure will provide a fascinating insight into running badly and may even help boost your poker roll!Ahh the excitement....( or should that be excrement?!)

I do often wonder if I come across as having quite a negative poker outlook.When running better/winning there often doesn't seem much to write about.There's no secret winning formula to witter on about.Big hands hold,more coin flips are won and the profits grow.

In truth I probably need to be more accepting of the fact that despite being a winning player,I can't win all the time and losing days/weeks and even months are all possible.I do worry that I end up making the same excuses to myself that losing players make.Nobody runs as badly as me,maybe it is rigged,it's impossible to beat donks calling with crap,the games are getting far tougher,I'm falling behind the curve blah blah blah.

Of course standing still is not an option and adjustments will always need to be made, but I wasn't kidding when I wrote previously that I actually found it reassuring to go through all my sng exit hands from March and find that it's mainly been the shitty side of variance which has cost me and not my own play.

Casinos and bookmakers have losing days,weeks and even months and I doubt they spend their time whining in blogs about it.Perhaps if I didn't blog I'd just get on with it a bit more rather than analysing every session as I do and feeling like every losing session is the end of the world. I think that comes from my poker ego which is desparate to win and absolutely hates losing!

Not going to moan any more in this post.Poker profits allowed me to eat out for most of last week,have recently paid for my car and are about to pay the whole years council tax upfront at the end of the month.I'd also need to look back to find my last losing month as I honestly couldn't say when it was.If dealing with running like crap over a few hundred ( please don't let it be another 1000 game downswing/break even stretch!)is the price I have to pay to win overall then so be it.Knowing that doesn't make me any more keen to fire up a game and get fcked again but it probably should!

Ok,enough! Thanks for reading.Back soon.Until then,give me Real Love....

Post A or Post B: Warning foul language!

Post A:Well fuck me gently with a pointy stick.You may experience a little variance as we pass over KK getting fucked by Ace rag all night long.At least I pulled last night though.Yes,the variance biatch slowly screwed me into the ground all night long and left me gasping for ...a fuckin break! I played 18 turbo's over the last 16 hours and after only a few, I felt like I was a magician.I only needed to think of the ridiculous 2 outer card which would help my opponent beat my monster hand ....and fuckin Bingo ,it would arrive!

I had bubbles more often than Michael fuckin' Jackson and suffered so many coolers I'm thinking if sitting my dairy products on top of my head instead of replacing my busted fridge freezer.But over the long term...Shut up,I want some fuckin' short-term luck for a change.The only heaters in my flat are stuck to the walls.If only I could run as good as I seem to run badly at times,I reckon I'd be a rich fuckin' Acorn.Stars $16/$27 turbos are soul sucking donk fests and if my luck doesn't change...there will be plenty more posts like this one!

Post B: Experienced a small downswing last night.I'm sure I'll bounce back.Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.....


I began writing Post A at about 4am last night after a very frustrating night.It was quite therapeutic and helped me get a fairly horrendous run out of my system.I did play 18 turbo's ( eight were $27 18 player and ten were $16) and I did lose $124, but in reality that is quite an acceptable loss over a small sample of 18 games.I felt I played quite well for the most part and the fact I suffered so many bad beats only strengthens that feeling.I play turbos with a very tight but very aggressive style and the only glaring error I feel I made was to treat the $27's with far too much respect initially.Doomswitch asked in a previous comment if I was on tilt as I'd raised to 500 chips preflop with 88 preflop quite early in an $16 game I'd posted about.The answer was a definite no because at some really fishy tables if you want to get a hand heads up or take the blinds ,massive overbetting is required to narrow the field.( in that example I was reraised all in by 55 who hit his 5!)

My mistake at the $27's was that, initially ,I calmed my 5-8bb preflop raises down to 3-4bb expecting a slightly higher standard of player.The bad news is that I was wrong to lower my preflop bet sizes, but the good news is that standard was no higher at $27 and in some games I checked on Sharkscope it was more like a $6 game than a $27.There were only 3-4 winners in many of the $27's I played in, with more fish and weak players than I could possibly have dreamed of.Perhaps that's why I did get so frustrated at one point because ( and hope this doesn't come across as big-headed)I felt I had such a big edge over so many of them,yet I was still getting screwed at every turn.

I did manage to win one $16 and come 2nd in one $27 and I have to realise I may well run even worse than last night over an 18 game sample size again at some point.In the cold light of day I'm almost ( not quite!) pleased that I ran so badly and managed to contain my losses reasonably well.I also kept my head and didn't tilt at all which is vital when mulit-tabling especially.

I finished my poker night with a quick half hour at a juicy $200nl 8 player Bet 365 table and won $30.I reckon Amatay is right re how fishy the higher limits can be, as there were guys calling off their $200 stacks with Ace high ( AK) on the turn when drawing totally dead.

The one good thing to come out of last night was that I'm in no way in fear of playing $27 turbos and my fear of $200nl is gradually fading too.Us poker players always seem to put the players playing at a level above us on some kind of pedestal as if they know secrets about poker us mere mortals can only guess at.Watching the training videos and having played a little higher ( when you smoke like I do yer always playing higher!) I can honestly say that for the most part there's not much to be afraid of apart from coping with even bigger swings due to the increased stakes.

Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment on Stars.I'm just gonna finish a spot of redecorating first...

Thankyou for completing our survey,now....

I filled out a wee customer survey at Ladbrokes last night ( to earn $10) and then they flicked my doomswitch!

It's not often that I lose $80 over a poker session and can't find a mistake or donkey move that contributed to the loss, but last night I just got plain old unlucky.

I began at a full ring $50 nl table at Laddies and lost $20 when I limped with QJ from the cut-off ( perhaps that was a donk move)and bet out when checked to me on a Q 6 9 Rainbow flop.The only plus point about this hand was that I controlled the betting ( power of position) and the villain only called my river bet with his Q6 and didn't reraise me.

Next up was a 6 max $50nl table where one donkey ( swede2000) was pushing all in on every single hand and rebuying when he lost.Here's a question for anyone reading.If you were in my position to the left of this nutter what would be your calling range?

I folded AQ before picking up AQ soooted about 5 minutes later and this time I called his usual all in shove.One of the other players who had previously called with QJsooted ( said in chatbox he was getting annoyed) and flopped a flush v the maniac even wished me luck, but the villain managed to hit a six with his A6 and that was $50 gone.

The maniac left a couple of hands later.Grrrr! The funny thing is that when the maniac was in a hand against anyone else I was cheering him on to suckout and win because a)he would stay longer b) he'd have more money for me to take c)it may tilt the losing player in the hand.


I mentioned a few things on the Raisetheriver forum that help prevent me tilting after coolers like the above hand and missed the most obvious...my bankroll.

Losing the $50 was a sickener with such a dominating hand, but my bankroll is there to absorb such beats and I soon moved on to a 'Stars to play a $16 turbo without dwelling on it too much.

Luck continued to desert me there,with a 6th place finish after running QQ into KK and AA.( the Aces held up).In true "it's not my night" fashion I actually had about 600 chips left and folded Q5 on the next hand only to see two villains go to war preflop with AK ( both had it) and the flop come with two Queens! Of course when I pushed my J9 on the next hand I ran into KK...

Back to my impending home move and just as soon as I buy a Microwave,carpets,blinds,wallpaper,paint, tumble dryer ,arrange to get my ex tennants gas and leccy payment card meters removed,get cable installed,chase Setanta for a refund and get the noisy toilet cistern sorted then I should be just about ready!

Thankfully my wonderful wee sister is on the case and has already arranged for someone to come out and measure up for new carpets and blinds.My head is spinning already with it all!

Ok,thanks for stopping by!