Friday Update...

I was going to write a post moaning about bad beats and how I've been rogered more times than a police radio at the virtual felt over the last week but I've managed to turn things round a bit and have made a little profit since my last post.It's also just stupid to write about poker being a long-term game and then start whining about short-term results.I've deleted a few of the runner runner seemingly improbable hands I was going to post as there's nothing more boring than reading about bad beats on a poker blog.

I did gain a wee shark next to my Stars name on Sharkscope before a few early exits in the $16's saw it swim off into the sunset.The $16 single table sng's do seem to be full of regs but when they're stacking off with 77 during level 1 and shoving over early position raises with 87s then perhaps the games aren't as tough as they seem.

I've stayed off the herbs again this week and when I do that my urge to play poker seems to waiver as smoking helps me brush off the beats and focus on my game.I rejected the chance to reduce my hours at work because they couldn't guarantee I'd ever be able to increase them again and that could affect future mortgage applications etc.I'm also off for the next two weeks,back for a week and then off for three more before going back to my old fulltime hours so I can't complain too much.

Last Sunday I enjoyed the worlds greatest sporting event.Oh and after the Old Firm game I also stayed up late and watched a bit of the Superbowl too! The Old Firm game was a letdown after we went 2-1 up,they had a man sent off and we then sat back in the second half, allowing them to equalise and take the cup game to a replay.For the first time ever we play them seven times in a season and I've a ticket for the league game at the Piggery,the League Cup final next month as well as the last league home game at Ibrox.

Over the last week I've also been out on a few more dates with the same woman.We went for dinner a couple of times and to the cinema to see the 3D film "Sanctum".We were due to go for dinner tonight but I sent her a text earlier today suggesting we leave things for now.She is nice enough but she wasn't much of a kisser and I just didn't feel any real chemistry between us.I also still really like the local girl I've mentioned before and although I gave her a run into town this morning and said she was having a quiet weekend I've no idea if she's still with her boyfriend or even the slightest bit interested in an old fart like me! I'll probably just try and enjoy my upcoming annual leave and throw myself back into the online dating thing when I go back to work.

Ok,just time to say that I've finally finished reading Dr Pauly's "Lost Vegas" book on my Kindle and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.The Doc paints a great picture with his words and there were plenty of genuine laugh out loud moments too.And when I say genuine I mean it and not in that fake forum speak crappy "I just spat my coffee out over my screen" way!

As I write this I've not smoked anything since Tuesday night and I only had one cig on Monday too.( hence the grumpy post probably!) I'm off work for two weeks from today so time to take Nacho out and skin up....

Live Game and PLO Donkery

22 players started the £22 ( 15 min blinds,10k starting stack) live turbo game at the Alea casino in Glasgow yesterday including my Mum and me.After folding a few hands I called a small raise with 88 from the small blind and was delighted to see a ragged Q 8 4 flop.It was checked to me and I checked too hoping to let the initial raiser catch something.

The turn card was a 9 and my wish was granted...The villain had 99 and only his stupidity prevented me from crashing out.I led out on the turn and after making what I thought was a value bet on the river he asked me if I had a 9 for a full house.The board wasn't even paired and he had 99 so who knows what he was thinking as he only called my bet with no raise.That left me with about 5k and thankfully I managed to double with AK v JJ a short time later to keep me in the running.

As we approached the final table bubble I had less than 10 big blinds and began shoving quite frequently at my 5 handed table to stay afloat and not lose my fold equity.After chipping up to 19k I took it easy for a few hands before looking down to AQ.The blinds were 1k/2k and as I'd shoved a few hands already I opted to shove again,hoping to look weak and get called by a worse Ace/KQ type hand.Of course the lady on my left woke up with AK,I didn't improve and bubbled the final table.

I hung around for a bit as Mother Acorn made the FT with a small stack and after an early double up she hit the rail when she ran her soooted A3 into JJ.

Back to the internet pokers and here's my sharky graph for my first 1k games at Party.Considering I was new to single table sng's and the stakes are a small step up from the $16's I suppose I should be reasonably happy.I also have the tourney numbers of 5 wins and 1 no cash which Sharky missed.I've just remembered too that Sharky only started covering Party sng's from last November so the stats are only from then and are more of a guide than a precise record.

Just over 1k games may seem a lot but in reality at least 2k would probably be a better sample size to draw conclusions from.



Stars stats...



I had a late dinner last night and only just remembered in time to register for Dr Pauly's PLO game.I've only ever played 10 PLO sngs ( Dec '08 was my last one) and a few of Dr Pauly's ( I even lucksacked my way to a win onetime) tourneys before and I really am a clueless fish when it comes to Pot Limit Omaha.I was nearly calling Dudley to ask if being double soooted is better than 2 pair preflop ( I assume it is) or if I should be playing hands like 910JQ hard as they must hit a lot of boards.Somehow I managed to make the final table and luckboxed my way to 6th from 48 starters.I really enjoyed the game but wish I knew the hand rankings as I hated feeling like an even bigger donkey than usual due to my lack of knowledge.Good times though!

I played some $22's and a $33 later and even managed to catch up with the Connecticut Cod ( aka Al Eleven,Miami Trout,San Jose Salmon) in the wee small hours.

Tonight I'm taking Step A home,picking up Nacho and will be playing the Stars Turbo Takedown and the RTR league game.The s-man is coming over too for a sesh.I seem to have a repuation as a nit/rock in the league games. ( doesn't stop 'em calling my raises with a4 and flopping straights!)

Here's one of my less nitty hands from a $22 bubble last night.The villains stats over 35 hands were 35% vpip /15% preflop raise and I suppose it was just one of those acting on instinct hands where I could easily have been looked up and made to look silly.( not that I'm bothered by that!)

The background was that we were the two shortish stacks on the bubble and her initial raise just felt like a cheap steal attempt.Her range certainly included weak Aces and her flop bet could have been a trap but it just felt weak and my plan was to bet the turn if she slowed down and checked to me.After she called my turn bet I put her on a pair ( 22-1010)and when she checked to me on the river I shoved all in hoping the added power of it being the bubble would get her to fold even a weak Ace if she had it.I was representing the Ace or even a 6 from the blinds and was happy to see her hand hit the muck.Nitty? Not always!



Just about done for today but had to post this clip from a pokernews interview with Italian pokerstar Dario Minieri .I know it did the rounds a while back ( there's still a thread on Pocket Fives somewhere) however it never fails to make me smile.

Back soon...

Monthly Stats

I may edit these later if I manage to squeeze in any games before the lads night planned for this evening.Ran like crap at the $24,45 player games last night and finished with a couple of horrible $33's on Party too.That's poker though and it's still been a decent month considering I've only played around 300 sngs.

There are a few minor differences to my actual totals.I only made $444 at Party for example because some of the profit shown on Sharky since Feb 1st was included in last months stats.This is mainly due to 5 hour time difference and games played on or around the monthly cut off point.I also made $$ from FT cash games at the beginning of the month and did a few transfers between Stars and FT to other players.( mainly to help those with no Stars funds be able to play the RTR forum game)



Pokerstars $1560( + $7 ),Party $2905 ( + $444),Full Tilt $503 ( + $336).

Total $5077.Monthly profit $787.

Sharky Curse...

I had been toodling along nicely at the Party $22's, with my roll there peaking at $2628 about a week or so ago.On checking my Stars sharkscope stats ( finally over the $9k profit mark) I noticed Party sng results are now covered.Sadly for my poker ego they begun coverage just as I hit that $2628 peak and have only recorded my swing down to $2200 and back to $2430.

My luck last night at the $22's reminded me of the 1000 game almost break even streak I suffered at Stars a couple of months back.Thankfully,having been through a streak like that,I've developed a far thicker poker skin and appreciate that nights as bad as last night are part of grinding turbos.Apart from a couple of hands, I felt I played well, which is all you can ever do when the 2 outers and lost flips are piling up.I even came back from 25 chips on one table only to bubble when my 22 fell to 86.

Tonight I'm off to Hampden to watch Rangers v Falkirk in the league cup semi-final.It's cold,wet and miserable here in Glasgow tonight and hopefully my team can rattle in a few goals.

I also intend to play some more live poker soon as I didn't play at a poker club or casino at all last year.In truth I always seem to feel like a total poker newbie whenever I've played live,never having a clue when it's my turn,what the stack sizes are or even who is supposed to turn over their cards first at showdown.I'm a lazy sod and having it all worked out online for me means I really don't pay any attention to the workings of the game.I do wish it was possible to smoke da herb during live games though! I rarely play online without a puff and find without it I get too keen to get involved,tilt more easily and generally find it tougher to tune into the flow of the game.

Righty,back soon..

A good bad night

Although the post title may not make much sense that's how last night at the virtual tables felt to me.

AA cracked by 99 flopping quads,by 56 rivering a straight and by QQ rivering a queen.
K10 beaten by 45
QQ beaten by A8
1010 beaten by AQ
JJ beaten by J10soooted on bubble
K9 beaten by 79
K5 beaten by Q10
10J beaten by 89
KK beaten by AQ.

Those were just some of the hands which had me cursing last night.The good news is that I still managed to make $124 from my 16 games and felt more comfortable with the pace when multi-tabling four tables at a time.I think perhaps playing six at a time the other night made four seem a lot easier to handle.It's like speeding up to 90mph on the motorway and then slowing down to 70.Suddenly 70mph seems like a slow Sunday stroll.

I've even managed to creep up another place on one of the Sharkscope leaderboards.



After my last tourney I hit up Bet 365 and two tabled cash tables for 1/2 hour.I lost $20 on a $200nl 6 max table and won $85 at $100 nl 6 max.If the time hadn't been edging towards 5.30am I would have stayed longer at that $100 table as I had a decent stack and felt I had the measure of the other players.( two really big fish were spewing chips too!)

It's currently half-time in the football and Rangers are drawing 0-0 with Hibs.Our rivals won yesterday after yet another poor refs decision.This time the ball went out of play before they scored, but somehow the match officials failed to notice and their winner stood.They say these things even out over a season.There would need to be another 38 games for that to even have a chance of being true after recent weeks.

Ok,I'm off to watch the second half and then take Nacho for a long walk.Don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment...

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...

Oops...

Yesterday I took Nacho a long walk,picked Step A up,hit the supermarket and had dinner with the ex and Step A before having a laugh looking up talking dogs on youtube with the wee one.




I may call her the "wee one" but she is growing up fast now and everything and everyone is currently gay and life is just so unfair.The ex and I also played her a wee clip of Harry Enfields "Kevin the teenager" as she seems to have turned into Kevina over the last few months...




I played the Bloggerment with a fairly carefree attitude this week as the Sun Million began half an hour into it and I wanted to give it as much focus and attention as possible.Congrats to Cogsgoine who won it from Juice in 2nd place.( I bubbled in 4th)

I arrived at my Sun Mill table and noticed one pro,Noah Boeken ( screenname:EXCLUSIVE)and decided I wouldn't be donking off my chips to him later...

My first hand under the gun ( first to act) was AK and I nearly shat a brick.I kept telling myself it had only cost me $2 to get into the game but the fact was that I had no idea of the kind of bet sizes etc to expect at that kind of level and had no real feel anyway for how to play the various stages of a big buy-in Mtt.I raised 4bb and they all folded.Ressssssult!

I then went completely card dead almost until the 1st break where I raised with KJ from mid to late and also raised AQ uncontested.I did play A5c from the blinds and was too scared to go with my instinct to check raise the pro who made a position bet when checked to him on an AQ10 board ( 2 hearts).I just didn't want to crash out with an Ace rag type hand!

After the break I wanted to use my tight (probably only one at table not to have seen a flop) image to my advantage and try and loosen myself and my game up a little.I was enjoying the buzz of playing in such a big game and was just hoping to actually catch a card or two to allow me to try and make an impact.

Finally I'm dealt 1010 in the big blind.It all seems a bit hazy now but I think there were a couple of limpers ( including the pro) and I made a decent sized bet.The newly arrived big stack at the table called and the pro made a big reraise.Now in my defence the pro had been very active at the table and had shown down 33 v a much higher pair earlier on but his limp/reraise screamed monster and yet a sudden rush of "newbie caught in the headlights" blood saw me call and crash out to his KK.I was hoping for 22-99 or at worst a flip with AJ-AK and instead was bounced out by someone who played me perfectly.Why would he limp and then reraise the tables tightest player? Doh!

It was good experience though and despite my poor showing I would certainly like another go at it at some point and have already checked out the satellites.

I wasn't in the greatest of moods afterwards and hit up the turbo's winning a wee $6 I played with Juice and crashing out of the other.Juice headed off and I decided to get back to my comfort zone and play some $16 turbs.

Something I picked up from a Jackal69 video on cardrunners is that when the blinds are med-high in turbo's ( and the table is not all donks calling with any two cards) I can steal blinds with marginal hands by making smaller bets and can still fold if someone comes over the top of my bet.At really fishy tables I'll stick to betting big to get the message across but I've found that 2-3 bb bet sizes ( and doing the same with monsters) can quite often get the job done.


Anyway,I had an awful start.After going out the Sun Mill with 1010 they seemed to haunt me.My KK was beaten by 1010 before I hit a 10 on the flop v KK ( I had the tens this time) ,only for a rivered K to knock me out of that one too.I couldn't win a race to save myself and was losing to such poor hands at times that the villains were discussing them in the chatboxes!

I should probably have gone to bed but I'm a stubborn git and knew I was just running badly and that if I kept making the right decisions I could at least recover some losses.I won a couple and scraped a 3rd and 4th before going to bed $175 up from 25 games.

Now it may not last, and it is only over 966 games, but I'm quite pleased that my sng expolits have finally earned me a wee shark symobol next to my name on Sharkscope.I've read that you need 2000-5000 games ( with 1k a min starting point) to have any real idea of a realistic roi figure and I expect if I keep 4 tabling the shark will go, but it's certainly a nice wee boost to my poker confidence.




I'm still feeling the last of that bug and have stayed off work today.Off to pick Nacho up just now and have a nice chilled day.

Oh and if you were the person who found my blog yesterday after googling "jokerstars repeated suckout bad beats" I hope your luck has turned.....

Supercaleygoballistic,celticareatrocious

Last night I ate a happy chicken for dinner and logged on ready for the Bloggerment at 9pm.Thanks to all 18 people who turned out for last nights game, and well done to Burnely Mik for taking it down.

I've been on a poor Bloggerment run recently and last night was no different.Amatay had raised ( again) and when Hammerheid reraised I didn't put him on a big hand ,as I thought he was probably taking a stand against Amatay.He was...with KK and my AK was no good.I only just avoided the monkey as I crashed out in 17th.

I played a short knockout mtt with Rosie on Full Tilt before returning to the $16,18 player turbos and some two tabling.It seemed like I couldn't win a hand and at one point I went 0/8 without cashing and attained "super tilt" status on Sharkscope.A sick part of me actually welcomes that kind of adversity.I've been playing long enough and have seen enough donkery in these games to stay on my game and keep plugging away until it comes good.

Whilst they were horrible to go through, I feel my previous runs of 0/13,0/20 etc ( without cashing in a sng) have helped me to deal with nights like last night.The good news is that I managed a win, a few more in the money finishes and my form is now "hot" on Sharky.

Met up with my sister tonight and hopefully I'm now just about sorted for Xmas presents.Xmas is coming early this year as Rosie arrives on Friday! I'm gambling on Mother Acorn doing the dishes when she's here for the new front door being fitted on Thursday, but I've still bit of work to do round the flat before the weekend.

Almost forgot to mention what a fine weekend it was for Rangers too,winning 2-1 at home to Hearts while celtc could only lose 3-2 to Inverness.This leaves us 2 points behind but with two games in hand.Long way to go yet but maybe,just maybe the league flag will be coming home this season.

Ok,the s-man is popping round shortly,Nacho needs a walk and I've not heated my dinner yet!

Back later in the week...

Behind the 8 ball..

I watched Rangers beat Kilmarnock 2-1 yesterday before settling down for some pokery fun later on.I have a decent sng record at 'Stars $16 ,18 player turbos, although I only ever usually play one at a time, which may be profitable, but at $2 per game is never going to build much of a roll.

Last night I decided on two tabling the sng's and tried starting two at once and also beginning a new game after I'd either reached the 3rd level ,( 15 mins ) or when I'd built a decent stack at the first game.

I racked up 35 games in total and the first thing I learned was nothing new and that is that variance is still a biatch! I took some terrible beats as game after game I got my money in the middle as favourite and game after game the turn or river delivered the seemingly odds on miracle card to knock me or or cripple my stack.That nasty poker nightmare of bad beats and losing every 50/50 race meant I had soon reduced my $570 Stars roll to a recent low of $243.

I must have gone 0/15 at least or maybe even 0/20 as far as in the money finishes and in truth my game was beginning to go downhill too as I began making poor decisions to go with the beats.I was close to giving up on the idea that I could ever two table these sng's as profitably as I play one table, when I finally picked up my first win.

I realised I'd been very unlucky but had also been pushing a little too hard to try and make things happen.I've played with some fine multi-tablers at Stars sngs and they often simply seem to be shoving with any pair or high Ace at anytime and I think I tried to hard to copy that rather than sticking to what works for me.

The bottom line is that I won a few ,came 2nd and 3rd a few times and finished only $15 down from my 35 games.Considering the mental angst I had been suffering after my 15-20 straight crash outs, I felt quite pleased with my resilience.I only subscribe to Sharkscopes 150 searches per day option, so I was also happy to have turned things around even without the use of my favourite sng tracker.Here's the updated graph of last nights shennanigans...





I do need to play more standard speed sngs/mtt's though, as the weakest part of my game is the stage in the where the blinds are not really worth stealing, but they are just big enough to hurt if I've not built a big stack.In the last couple of blogger tourneys I've found myself checking the lobby to see when the blinds go up only to discover there's another ten minutes remaining.The joys of being a turbo junkie I suppose!

Oh, I bubbled in Fridays Raise the river premier league game when I ran my 1010 into JJ.That result leaves me 2nd in the league after four games and I'm looking forward to playing in the Raisetheriver WSOP which starts tomorrow.I plan to play the Holdem events, although I may have to miss the Headsup game on Wednesday as the Rangers game is on.Follow the link on the right,sign up and play!

Before that though don't forget to register for tonights Britbloggerment game on Stars.See previous post for details and remember that although there are leagues running for the individuals and countries, these are only for a bit of fun and anyone is welcome to join the Bloggerment.( you don't have to have played before or commit to playing every week!).You will be made welcome!

Thanks Sharky

After a couple more out of the money Sng's it was a relief to finally come 2nd in an $16 turbo last night.This was after visiting my Mum and bubbling at a $6 turbo on her account.

I used Sharkscope to make one call with 1010 in a $15 game after I'd raised,two players called and the third went all in.The all in player was a complete fish on super tilt according to Sharkscope and that fact, combined with his bet looking like a squeeze bet persuaded me to call.The others folded,he showed AQ and my hand actually held up!


When the sng got heads up I felt I should have won but I blew it by trying to get too fancy.Once again I started the HU with the shortstack and once again I managed to get even mainly by aggressive play.There wasn't much limping by either of us so I decided to test the villain by limping in to see how he played it.He made a large reraise and I folded my Q9.

I planned to do the same when I actually had a hand but this time I would play it the same way and come back over the top.Instead I mistook KQ for a decent hand,limped as planned and once again he raised me.I dutifully went all in and then realised the story I had told was all wrong and that I was in effect trying to trap with a fairly weak hand.If I had a decent hand then my plan would have worked as the villain dutifully called with his monster A5 soooted and knocked me out.Hmmmm.

Ok,that's all for today.Don't forget to register for Britbloggerment 8 on Stars under private tourneys.9pm BST start time ( 4 pm est in Pokerstars lobby).Password is donkament and everyone who blogs or reads blogs is welcome to play....

Wed Update

After Sunday nights tiltorama fun I jumped back on the horse and played a few turbo (18 player)$15 sng's with Miami Mark on Monday night.The good news was that my poker mind had calmed down and my tilt monster seems to have retreated grumpily back to his lair.

The bad news was that I bubbled twice and came 6th in the last game.My first bubble came when my JJ was busted by A5.As the Ace fell on the turn I thought of Rosie the Rottie and her Ace rag donkey rants.

A wee "please kneecap" button on her site with a space to fill in the donkeys username may be the way forward.Yes, money is made against donkeys playing Ace rag like that, but it would be much more satisfying to know that Rosie and her sturdy mallet were paying the donkey a visit.

Knock,knock:

"Evening Sir,Called a raise with A5 for your full stack on the bubble did we?"

Swing mallet.....cue screams......



The next one was a close one as I was the smallest stack, pushed against a big winner with 33 and was eventually called after the clock had almost timed out by the villain and his AJ.( rivered his Ace).

It was an interesting one because I only pushed because the villain was a big winner and I didn't expect him to call me unless he really had a hand.I wonder if he had checked Sharkscope too, realised that I'm profitable overall at these sng's and that I may be pushing with a less than premium hand, because I knew he wouldn't play back at me without something.He had me covered and although I was annoyed to get rivered I could understand the call.

Of course I may be over thinking it and he just thought "awfuckit I'm calling"!!

After the sng's I moved to Laddys and got back on the cash game horse by two tabling $50nl full ring.The play was incredibly loose and juicy with high average pots and 6-7 players playing in raised pots.I kept it tight ,got into a few pots with speculative hands from late position and eventually won nearly a buy-in
when I raised with AK and flopped my Ace and the nut flush draw.The flush draw never came in and I didn't get to see what the villain had but I was happy to see the cash slide over to me.

Last night I read a few blogs whilst Mrs A took her bath and then watched my Mum bubble in a $1.50 turbo at 'Stars before switching off and watching Casino Royale with the Mrs.I didn't play any poker at all and my hands didn't start shaking and no cold sweats were detected!

Tonight I'm heading over to Mother Acorns for a while before picking up Step A heading home to chill....

Pick n Mix + Stats

I started my poker night last night ( inspired after reading Gcox's post) by winning a $24+$2 token at a FT $8.70 turbo sat.As usual the play was generally terrible and watching guys with huge stacks still pounding pots when the top 5 paid the ticket and they were almost guaranteed a seat was rather amusing.No plans for the ticket yet.I'd love to play in one of the US blogger games and test myself against some fine players but the 2-3am start times just don't work for me.

In no particular order I then won an $11 turbo at Full Tilt ,won $20 at Juices cash table with the hammer after raising it up preflop and hitting two lovely sevens on the flop,blew most of that at a 6 max $50 nl table and then decided to enter a Laddys 5 card draw $2 Pot Limit Turbo mtt with 22 players.

Yes this holdem only blogger who has no interest in omaha,razz or even fixed limit holdem ,spent 1 hour 15 mins playing a $2 5 card draw tourney.I've dabbled before at nl 5 card draw cash tables on 'Stars but never with any great success.I was chip leader for ages after everyone at the table went all in ( pot raise after pot raise) and my preflop trip sevens made the biggest boat and I knocked 'em all out.Once I'd stopped laughing I lasted another hour before going out.I also managed to crash out of Laddys late night crapshoot without ever really building my chipstack.

I headed back to Pokerstars and managed 2nd in another 18 player $15 turbo for a nice wee profit.I could complain that my A8 was miles ahead of the villians k8 before he flopped two Kings on the last hand when we both had even stacks but the truth is I got lucky against the same villian just on the bubble when my AJ made a straight v his AA so poker justice was probably done in the end.

I do at least have the temporary ( only 79 game sample) pleasure of having earned a wee shark fin next to my name ( zagga at 'Stars) according to Sharkscope.The problem is I rather like my wee fin and don't want to risk losing it by playing any more games at Stars!

I'm still keeping the roll I've built at 'Stars apart from my main poker bankroll that way if I bust it out I wont be too annoyed at myself.If it keeps heading in the right direction that may change.

I'm not long back from Ibrox where Rangers beat Falkirk 2-1 with goals from Boyd and Ferguson.I'm looking forward to Thursdays return Uefa Cup game.We are 2-1 down from the 1st leg and will hopefully do enough to make the next round.

Ok to the stats and it's been three weeks ( Jan 28th since last update).
Ladbrokes $1305, Pokerroom $861,Party $381 and Full Tilt $1020.Total $3567 ( + $359 since Jan 28th).