Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ain't going out like that...






Not even two minutes into the Germany v Croatia game and the commentator is talking about how it could have been England.STFU!!

After going to bed on Tuesday night feeling almost in shock from poker beats I didn't feel much like playing yesterday.I suppose I had trundled along at $50 and $100nl cash games for a few years and although I've always been a winner ,the profits were not that much to write home about and I never really had the confidence or desire to keep pushing myself,move up and consider playing as anything other than a hobby.

The turbo sngs have been a revelation for me in terms of profit and they seem to suit my game well too.I'd always reckoned that if my work offered me two years salary to leave I would probably knock it back, as in truth I'd probably struggle to get a job paying as much elsewhere.( unless I moved back to sales and I feel I've done that,got the t-shirt and don't fancy going back to it)

Over recent months I've been reconsidering that and thinking I'd like to have a go at the poker if my work was to offer such a leaving package.( unlikely but possible)
There are pro's making a living at $16/$27 level and with two years wages behind me I could certainly give it a go.It would give me the freedom to play from wherever in the world I choose and I'd get the chance to leave a job I don't particularly enjoy.

As per previous posts I reached number 4 on the Sharkscope leaderboard for average profit over last 500 games 2-3 tables at $6-$15 and was making more per game than guys I know play pro day and day out.The main difference was that I was only playing two,maybe three tables at a time and I knew I needed to step that up to at least 4-6 tables to make enough profit.( great roi but profits pay bills not roi!)

For anyone wondering why a hobby player was getting so upset over running badly I suppose it's because at the back of my mind I felt if I could make 4-6 tables work well for me then at the very least it gives me another option in life.In reality it's probably been good for me ( yes I did write that!) to experience such a hellish time at the tables.I don't know if it's over but regardless it will not break me and I will use it to help cope with similar runs in future.

I've also taken a wee step back and can see that I was taking it all too seriously and putting myself under extra unrequired pressure.I made $1200 last month and after a good start to this month ( up a couple of hundred) I felt running badly was making achieving that again harder and harder.I've always been a bit too results orientated and never have been the "bets on two flies going up a window" type of gambler.Oh I can tilt with the best of them, but I don't have the kind of risk taking ,spin it up mentality that the really great players seem to have a little of in them.

In terms of taking shots at $33/$55 games on Party I don't feel I'm out of my depth there.What does take some getting used to though ( and is probably why I never pushed myself at cash)is dealing with upping my pain threshold when it comes to losing.I'm still at the stage of thinking after losing say six $33's that instead of that being standard and getting on with ,it's nearly $200.That's still £100 and a lot of money to me!

Anyways for now I'm doing what I did last night and going back to playing 2-3 games at a time.I played two Stars $16 turbs and came 2nd in one of them.The only other game I played was The Mookie at Full Tilt.It didn't start until 3am and it was daylight by the time I crashed out 20th.Despite the late hour I did enjoy the game and it was nice to relax and play a more social game.

I was also listening to their Blogger radio station,Buddy Dank Radio and enjoying the excellent tunes and chat.Buddy mentioned people thinking about registering for a tourney but being unsure due to low numbers.It reminded me of the Euroblogger game last week.Buddys great idea was to register anyway and then pull out at the last minute if you're not happy with the number of entrants.Makes sense if everyone is waiting to see how many are in before registering themselves.Just do it!

I did look after Step A in the end last night after she changed her mind a couple of times! It was great to spend some proper time with her and she even enjoyed my daft stories and asked for more.The tale of going on holiday with a girlfriend at 16,having to sleep in a room with her Dad,arriving back steamin' drunk at 3am,sneaking quietly into my bed...and then jumping out of bed screaming in pain due to leg cramps ( causing her Dad to leap out of his bed himself what the fuss was about) seemed to amuse the wee one greatly!


Ok,wee tune that seemed appropriate before I go...

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Monday, May 05, 2008

Bloggerment win

Thanks to the 11 players who showed up for this weeks Britbloggerment on Stars.The numbers have been down over the last few weeks and I'm tempted to give the tourney a wee rest for a few weeks.Despite the low turnout I did quite enjoy the game though and that's what makes me think it should just keep running for now.If no more than 9 turn up any week then the games a bogey I think though!

Weegem was the bubble boy after my A8 decimated his AK shove when an 8 hit.He had been raising more frequently than usual and I didn't think he'd shove all in with as strong a hand as Big Slick.With my Bloggerment luck over the last year I'll take it though!

I knocked Rosie out in 3rd when my KK held v A10 and finished Quixote off headsup when I called his k6 shove with my A9.He hit a 6 on the flop and I rivered a 9 to win.Later I came 3rd in a 45 player,$6 game and took down a $16 inbetween a few standard crash outs.

It may not mean much in the grand pokery scheme of things but I was quite pleased to move up another few notches on the Sharkscope leaderboard and earn a wee gold star.

.



I'm still a donk though.I decided to play a $27 turb and reached the final table with about a 2.3k stack.It folded round to me ( two off the button) and I took a brain fart and shoved my Q8s.I think the blinds were about 500 in total and although it would have been nice to take it down,I had no need to push garbage at that stage and got my just deserts when AQ called and I didn't improve.It's always better to make an aggressive mistake rather than a passive one but that shove was just burning money.


After my tourney fun I decided to look around for a juicy cash table to hit before bedtime.It didn't take long to find one!



Chevy1961 had been raising almost every pot and had obviously got quite lucky as he was sitting on a $750 stack at the start of this hand.

** Game ID 978129928 starting - 2008-05-05 03:57:14
** Woking [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- norfolkk sitting in seat 1 with $108.37
- purpleSHEEP sitting in seat 2 with $74.06
- kalcapello sitting in seat 3 with $318.37
- ricmondo1 sitting in seat 4 with $158.75
- Acornman sitting in seat 5 with $193.00
- Badger1 sitting in seat 6 with $96.00
- dowson sitting in seat 7 with $261.26
- ALNASR sitting in seat 8 with $182.00 [Sitting out]
- CHEVY1961 sitting in seat 9 with $750.85 [Dealer]
- betyaskint sitting in seat 10 with $134.65

betyaskint posted the small blind - $1.00
norfolkk posted the big blind - $2.00

** Dealing card to Acornman: Jack of Spades, Ace of Spades
purpleSHEEP folded
kalcapello called - $2.00
ricmondo1 folded
Acornman called - $2.00>> I'd have considered a raise at a normal table.Here I limp,awaiting the standard preflop overbet by Chevy1961.
Badger1 folded
dowson called - $2.00
CHEVY1961 raised - $16.00>> 8bb lovely!
betyaskint folded
norfolkk folded
kalcapello folded
Acornman called - $16.00> tempted to 3 bet but I know I have no fold equity as Chevy doesn't have a fold button.
dowson folded

** Dealing the flop: 3 of Hearts, 4 of Hearts, Ace of Diamonds

Acornman checked>> I've hit my Ace.If it had been against any other player I'd be wary of AQ/AK hands which dominate me.Chevys preflop opening range is so wide that I'm fairly sure I'm ahead.

CHEVY1961 bet - $19.50>> weak c-bet from him.

Acornman called - $19.50>> I'm not too worried about any draws and happy to build the pot.

** Dealing the turn: Jack of Hearts

Acornman checked>> Hit my Jack kicker too and any worries of him having an A3/A4 type hand are gone.I'm almost certain he doesn't have flush either although I wouldn't be surprised to see him try and represent it.

CHEVY1961 bet - $78.00>>

Acornman raised - $156.00>> Time to go with my instincts that say I'm miles ahead.

CHEVY1961 called - $156.00

** Dealing the river: 8 of Diamonds
Acornman went all-in - $1.50
CHEVY1961 called - $1.50
Acornman shows: Jack of Spades, Ace of Spades
CHEVY1961 mucks:
Acornman wins $390.00 from the main pot >>Nice,I just wish I'd seen his mucked hand!


I think that AJ hand sent him over the edge! This hand was one of the funniest I've ever seen at the tables.It was obvious Chevvy was a marked man and people were doing anything to be in a pot with him.I'm guessing Purple sheep had a low pair and the turn and river were what beat him but I was cheering for tilty chevvy when his 9 high took down the $146 pot!


** Game ID 978130423 starting - 2008-05-05 04:01:27
** Woking [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- norfolkk sitting in seat 1 with $107.37
- purpleSHEEP sitting in seat 2 with $71.06 [Dealer]
- kalcapello sitting in seat 3 with $262.37
- ricmondo1 sitting in seat 4 with $196.00
- Acornman sitting in seat 5 with $390.00
- Badger1 sitting in seat 6 with $96.00
- dowson sitting in seat 7 with $340.76
- CHEVY1961 sitting in seat 9 with $529.35
- betyaskint sitting in seat 10 with $134.65

kalcapello posted the small blind - $1.00
ricmondo1 posted the big blind - $2.00

** Dealing card to Acornman: Ace of Hearts, 4 of Diamonds
Acornman folded
Badger1 folded
dowson raised - $4.00
CHEVY1961 raised - $50.00
betyaskint folded
norfolkk folded
purpleSHEEP called - $50.00
kalcapello folded
ricmondo1 folded
dowson folded

** Dealing the flop: Jack of Clubs, 5 of Clubs, 10 of Hearts
CHEVY1961 bet - $107.00
purpleSHEEP went all-in - $21.06

** Dealing the turn: 10 of Clubs

** Dealing the river: Jack of Hearts

CHEVY1961 shows: 9 of Spades, 2 of Diamonds >> vnh sir!
purpleSHEEP mucks:
CHEVY1961 wins $146.12 from the main pot


Chevy soon went broke and I hit the sack.Off today for the bank holiday.I've got Nacho until tomorrow so I'm just about to feed him and take him over to the local pitches for a walk.

Thanks for reading.Back later in the week...

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