Whammy Burgers

Not much to say today but if I'm going to post long whiney posts when I get scudded at the tables, I thought it would be nice to balance that up by posting when I've actually had a good night!

Oh I still took some silly beats, but overall I didn't run anywhere near as badly as I have for most of June.I went back to basics at Stars and played two tables at once which allowed me to focus more closely on the action and go with a few reads I picked up.I cashed in four out of the six games I played,winning two and coming 2nd in another.

I've achieved one of my June goals which was to break my Stars roll through the $7k barrier.( for now!)I'm also a step closer to hitting $8k profit on Sharkscope although I'm well aware there could be few swings yet before I do it.

I was still $200 down at Party for the month but managed to pull back a little after playing two $22's and winning one of them ( $100 for 1st).I should probably whisper this but I actually felt I got quite lucky to win the one I took down.I never got my money in as a huge underdog, but hands like QK beating A10 all in certainly helped.

My last stop before bed was a nostalgic visit to my old haunt,the Ladbrokes $50nl 6 max cash tables.Until about August/September last year I would have laughed at anyone suggesting I'd ever leave those juicy cash tables for the high variance world of turbo sng's.Sng's were for donks and cash games were where the real poker got played and proper money was made.That's probably true to some extent but having found my calling at the turbo's,I'm not sure I'll ever truly grind the cash games again.Anyway I was lucky enough double my $50 buy-in after gettting it in with KK v QQ on a 10 high board.Amazingly no Queen fell on the turn or river!

Ok,here's a couple of clips I love from the excellent "Falling Down"...

One time,just one time...

I'm not sure why I'm posting today as I have nothing to say really.Unless you fancy reading a whiney dirge of a post I'd suggest moving on to the fine links on the right.

My Gran is still very unwell in hospital,I've hardly slept all week and Pokerstars has continued to take the piss out of me.The phrase "running badly" ( -$126 from 18 games last night) doesn't begin to cover the shafting that site is dishing out to me just now.I've done quite well there and been profitable, but this current run of being sucked out on almost every single time has driven me close to just cashing the whole lot out and moving permanently to Party Poker.

I only played three games at Party last night at $22 level and took one down.Party turbos seem very soft indeed and although variance is still a bitch there,I'm not getting screwed over every single fuckin' time.If anyone wants to see just how badly, have a look for "zagga" on Stars one night and thank the poker gods you don't run like I am just now.I added the "just now" bit in the hope that surely,surely,surely this cannot go on and the variance will start to even out a little.Come and watch me run like a god and ask me what I'm making all this fuss about!If only...

Maybe I just brush all the variance crap out of my mind more easily when I'm not feeling so tired,low and hacked off with the world in general.Perhaps the real deal multi-tabling sng winners would laugh at this self-pitying poor me post, in the same way I look at people posting about 4-5 games of bad beats in a row and think "You've no idea what real variance is".

Maybe I had no idea and I'm only just finding out.I've read about runs of break even runs/downswings of hundreds of games.Perhaps this is mine.The only positive is that I know I'm getting my money in ahead and I know it's just variance.I'm clinging on the logical part of my thinking which says that continuing to make the right decisions will pay off, even although that seems like some mysterious myth at present.Right now on Stars I tell myself "it cannot go on,it cannot go on like this,oh it has...again".

I am only down about $25 on Stars since the 1st of June and I'm still up a couple of hundred over all sites.I just hate losing and I hate it even more when it feels like I'm playing well yet being continually thwarted.I'll never hate the fish though! I did almost ask Mr K8h ( he flopped a flush v my Aces) wtf he was doing calling my raise preflop, but even when running this poorly I know it's those calls and fishy plays which make me money over time.I would also never give any lucky fish the added pleasure of knowing they'd annoyed me with their luck.( and it's the fact they got lucky which annoys,not the fact they chose to call with a weak hand)Better to sook it up,stay on my game and annoy them by chipping back up and cashing.Profit before ego!

What a load of twaddle this post is! I could have posted about the email I got from a company asking why I didn't have their paid for advert on my blog anymore.I didn't realise I had an agreeement with said company and it looks like someone has sold ad space on my blog and pocketed the profits without my knowledge. I'm not the most organised person in the world but it looks like somebodys fuckin' at it.Donald Woulard III.Email:kangoboy81@hotmail.com is the scammer.I do have his website address too but won't be giving him a free link here.Please feel free to add his email addy to as many spam lists as possible!

Ok,on the good news front I'm off work next week and will be able to catch up a bit on last weeks lost sleep and that should help lift the dark mood I've been in recently.

Euro 2008 starts shortly and I'm looking forward to a fine feast of football over the next few weeks.It's just a shame Scotland didn't quite make it.If the Dutch were not in such a tough opening group I'd probably tip them.They are though, so I'm going with Spain or Germany to win it.

Ok,off to pick my boy up.Don't forget to register for tonights EuroBlogger game on Stars....

Here's another fine football chant which made me smile..."What a waste of council tax,We paid for your hats"..

Volume and clear head

No wonder Rangers fans sing "Fuck the SPL". ( Scottish Premier League)Making us play four games in eight days, including a Uefa Cup final caught up with us yesterday, as we could only draw 1-1 with Motherwell, and now look likely to lose the title on goal difference.The Russian FA gave Zenit St Petersburg a couple of weeks off before last weeks Uefa final but Rangers were forced to play on the Saturday.Hmmmmf!

To the poker and Friday night was a little mixed.I made $60 from eleven turbos,won $35 at a Ladbrokes $200nl table and blew a $100 buy-in at Bet365 on a hand I'm not sure I could have got away from.I had AhKs and got the money in on a QhKh10h flop ( I was aprox 60/40 underdog) thinking I was good.The villain had KK, I wasn't expecting that,and didn't improve.

Last night I hit the turbs and decided to try some more 4/6 tabling.I'm pleased to say I've mastered the technique required... and can now roll a smoke whilst four tabling! Six is still a bit tricky!

This one outer came quite early in the night and thankfully I was able to laugh it off and not begin to steam...

I read an excellent response from Jennifear to a question on Pocketfives asking how to deal with sng turbo variance.The answer? Volume and a clear head.Short,to the point and most importantly,as usual, she is bang on the money!

Keeping that clear head in the face of the inevitable beats is never easy.As I've probably mentioned before I use a couple of simple mental tricks that work for me most of the time.Imagining I really am playing at coin flips helps.We all know if we were to toss a coin a good few times, there will be occasions when it will land on the same side a seemingly improbable amount of times in a row.Likewise at the casino the roulette display boards will often show a streak of wins for red/black or for odd/even numbers.These runs may last for 10,15 or even 20 in a row but they will even out in the end.

Another thing I try not to do is to look ahead in the hand and imagine myself winning it as that can lead to tilt too.I don't get dealt Aces and look ahead to the big pot I must win as I've been dealt the best hand in poker.I think allowing your thoughts to race ahead to the reward you feel you are somehow due ( and nobody is due anything at poker)just increases the anger,frustration and chances of tilt when your hand doesn't hold up.

The same can be applied to football.I was obviously very disappointed that Rangers didn't win the Uefa cup last week.I have however felt much worse after other defeats, despite that being our biggest game for years and years.Possibly because I knew Zenit were a good side,I didn't look ahead and imagine us beating them.They won 2-0 with a goal at the end of each half.However,if Rangers had been 1-0 up until the last minute,Zenit has scored an injury time equaliser and had then gone on to score three more and win in extra-time ,I would have been inconsolable.The trophy may not be won until the final whistle blows but until that hypothetical injury time equaliser,it would have been nearly impossible not to imagine Rangers were going to win and to envisage the celebrations and partying that would have resulted.

Anyway the 4/6 tabling went well and I left Stars $285 up over the 24 turbs I played.By this time I fancied a change of scenery.I couldn't find a juicy cash table and decided to hit some $33 single table turbos on Party.I played two and managed a 3rd place in one of them to leave me about even.The play was dreadful and I fired up a couple more and ventured up to $55 sng turbo land too.The $55's were not full of sharks either and I didn't feel outplayed there at all.What I did notice was that after not making the money in a couple of $33's and $55's, suddenly I was down about $200.I had to remind myself that was only a few buy-ins at those levels and nothing to panic about.

By this time it was just after 4am and I was so tired/wasted that I was splashing water on my face to try and keep me awake.I fired up a a couple more $33's + $55's and tried to stay focused.Winning a nice pot at the $55 must have sent enough of a buzz around my head to spark something, as I ended up winning the $33 and coming 3rd at the $55 for a $45 overall profit.I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Looks like my cousin can't get any time off next month for our Amsterdam trip which is frustrating.Rosie is away that weekend or that would have been an even better option.I may do a Dr Pauly inspired trip on my own with just some good books and my laptop for company.Hmmm.

I'm only in work tomorrow before being off for the rest of the week.I'd booked it off a while ago as it looked like being the only time off available all summer until I managed to bag that week in June. I'm tempted to cancel it as Rosie is away anyway and I have no real plans.I'm now just looking forward to some long lie in's and no work!

Ok,Don't forget to register for tonights Bloggerment at 9pm bst on Stars.Pass:donkament. It's only rumours ( tenuous link to youtube video clip)but Dr Pauly is already registered and The Last King of Scotland ( until now known as Dudley/Res/dD)will hopefully show up too.Dr Pauly is based in New York but TLKOS is not so far away.( even more tenuous link to second youtube clip!)

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...

Acornman $6.50 turbo,9 player, poker video

I was bored last week when I was off sick and decided to make a poker video.Of course being a tight git I used free trial software so thankfully my attempt should self-destruct within 30-60 days!

Credentials: I don't claim to be a great turbo sng player but I do beat the $16 and under game.





Disclaimer:

1)This was a $6.50,9 player turbo on Full Tilt and is fairly standard stuff with nothing new for anybody but sng/turbo newbies so don't expect much! Maybe this is why I used the word "obviously" dozens of times.


2)I thought Buddhabob had raised when I had KK.He actually only limped!

3) Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.I'm aware for example that Sheets on pxf strongly advocates raising 3bb + 1 for any limpers in sngs, but I find at turbo donkfests below $16,I need to raise more to narrow the field.I didn't talk much about bet sizes but I do like to mix it up to keep the villains guessing.

4) I talk about not stealing because the blinds were not very high at one point and then steal on next hand.This was simply because I felt my image and the situation justified it.There's nothing set in stone in poker.

5) The betting isn't clear on the Jc10c hand I held because someone popped up on my IM and I had to edit that out! For the record I shoved and he called with his A9.


Ok,see it here or below.

The Long and short of it..

I've no problem with naming the donkey involved here as he had the good grace to give it the big FU in the chatbox after this suckout..

Short term variance:

PokerStars Game #14751779761: Tournament #74782866, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/01/22 - 19:21:57 (ET)
Table '74782866 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Chritan (3100 in chips)
Seat 2: headgame62 (1480 in chips)
Seat 3: joti 50 (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: kostas86 (1480 in chips)
Seat 6: WXLM1023 (1480 in chips)
Seat 7: zagga (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Jobber2001 (1480 in chips)
Seat 9: kevinlud (1500 in chips)
joti 50: posts small blind 10
kostas86: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to zagga [Ts 9h]
WXLM1023: raises 40 to 60
zagga: folds
Jobber2001: folds
kevinlud: folds
Chritan: raises 140 to 200
headgame62: calls 200
joti 50: raises 1280 to 1480 and is all-in
kostas86: folds
WXLM1023: calls 1420 and is all-in
Chritan: calls 1280
headgame62: calls 1280 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qd Qs 4h]
*** TURN *** [Qd Qs 4h] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Qd Qs 4h 8h] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
joti 50: shows [9s 9d] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
WXLM1023: shows [Kc Kh] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
Chritan: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
headgame62: shows [Qc 8c] (a full house, Queens full of Eights)
headgame62 collected 5940 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5940 | Rake 0
Board [Qd Qs 4h 8h Jh]
Seat 1: Chritan showed [Ac Ad] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 2: headgame62 (button) showed [Qc 8c] and won (5940) with a full house, Queens full of Eights
Seat 3: joti 50 (small blind) showed [9s 9d] and lost with two pair, Queens and Nines
Seat 5: kostas86 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: WXLM1023 showed [Kc Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 7: zagga folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Jobber2001 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: kevinlud folded before Flop (didn't bet)


The long run:

headgame62 1,081 -$4 $7 -47% -$3,996 Tilt

I didn't have much fun at the tables on Monday night.I managed to go 0/8 ( super tilt form according to sharkscope)and only one scraped second place finish meant it wasn't a total disaster.I won't bore you with the beats but they just came one after another and I felt as if my luck would never change.

I was determined to get back on the horse last night but seemed to run into the same wall of bad beats and better hands.I managed to run JJ into KK three times and into QQ once, before headgame62 ( huge donkey) beat my JJ yet again ,this time with his A2.

I was then looking good to win my next game when a shortstack got lucky about five times in a row and before I know it I'd crashed out horribly yet again.( scraped 4th at least to break my duck)

By this time I was extremely hacked off with my luck ,very tired and feeling like I would never win another hand.

My cousin popped over to pick up a ticket for tonights Rangers game and thankfully I managed to win my last game of the night.I actually got lucky after making a slightly tilty call.I'd raised with AQ soooted and a solid regular shoved.I'd just crashed out another game to a sick one and called off my stack with that AQc v the solid players QQ... and hit my flush.It felt like I was due that one but of course poker doesn't work that way.

Tonight I'm off to see Rangers play East Stirling in a league cup tie at Ibrox and will be heading over to look after Step A afterwards until the ex gets home from work around 12am.The ex does now have a net connection and I may get a wee game there, but a night off from the relentless nature of the turbs may be a better idea....

Friday at last....

Looking after Step A on Wed night brightened my mood as she was on good form.I managed to pick up a wireless signal on my old laptop and we had good laugh looks at clips of Glasgow neds on youtube.

Last night I ate my rather bland chicken fajita ready made meal and hit the turbo sng’s about 9.30.I can play four tables at a time but I’m far more comfortable with three and I managed to rattle through about 12 of them,managing three second places,a couple of thirds and a fourth in between the usual suckouts.

My perception is that I’ve had a terrible time at these turbos over the last month but according to Sharkscope I’ve actually made $666 over 117 games and have even earned a wee shark next to my name.( wee shark is only over the 117 games)

I’ve still only played 606 games in total and will need to have nearer 2000 under my belt before the stats can truly mean anything though.

I don’t have any specific goals for my fourth year of online poker but I have to decided to aim to at least double last years $4.7k profit and try and hit $10k if possible.I’ve played only 350 turbo sng’s over the last 6 months and I reckon if I can keep 3-4 tabling I’ll be able to increase my number of games played/profit quite dramatically over the next year.

My play is quite robotic in these games, although I still don’t have a set strategy for how I play each hand as it often depends on the villains I’m facing.

I now feel quite confident in my $16 turbo ,18 player tourney games and also at $50nl and $100nl cash games.The main areas for improvement are in standard speed sngs and Mtt's and in truth I'm too much of an action junkie to bother too much about them at the moment.Perhaps I'll take a shot at some bigger buy-in Mtt's as I just don't have the motivation to spend hours on $5-$10 games which can take hours for very little reward.

I took the bus in this morning as I have my work night out tonight.I must not do an Al Eleven ( aka San Jose Salmon,Miami Trout) and come home and play expensive drunken poker! I've not had a drink since our last home game at the s-mans and will probably be well steamin' early doors this evening.I've not got really drunk since I split from the ex and I just hope I don't go all emotional and do all that "texting the ex" stuff.

I may be home for 9-ish or I may take the night bus home.Taking the night bus from George square is an experience in it's own right.From guitar playing sing-a-longs to avoiding eye contact with the pished up neds ,it's all good fun...

Football tomorrow before picking Nacho up,coming home and hittin the tables....

How The West Was Won

I came 2nd in a Full Tilt $11 turbo last night before winning an 18 player $15 turbo at Stars, and
I had a rough plan to go through some key hands along the way in todays post.I'd requested a 'Stars tourney history email but unlike Party it only gives a dull stats summary so I'm screwed for content today! Here they are anyway for anyone seeking an insomnia cure...

109 hands played and saw flop: - 2 times out of 23 while in small blind (8%) - 8 times out of 24 while in big blind (33%) - 5 times out of 62 in other positions (8%) - a total of 15 times out of 109 (13%) Pots won at showdown - 6 out of 7 (85%) Pots won without showdown - 27

I think the number of pots won without showdown reflects the fact it was one of those dream sng's where I built a big lead at just the right time and then stole just enough to make that lead almost insurmountable.I say almost because I'm always wary that one steal gone wrong and a bad beat or two can soon cripple a big stack.

The Full Tilt sng 2nd place was fairly non eventful apart from the last two hands where I sucked out with 95 v AJ and then went out on the next hand when my AQ sooooted was busted by 107.The villian and I both managed a "lol" about that.Oh and I did catch him out when he limped for the first time in the whole game and gave me free cards until the turn.Something smelled shady and when I folded to his bet he showed KK.I think the reason I sussed him was that it's the kind of mixing it up play I make myself sometimes ,especially Heads-up where a bet usually only takes the blinds.

Setting up later plays by limping with rubbish and then folding to reraises from aggressive players before finally catching a hand and playing the same way ( apart from the folding part obv) is one way I'll sometimes play my monsters.

Mrs A is out tonight and we have the grandkids staying tomorrow night so there should be plenty of time to play.Dropped my car off this morning to get a repair quote due to the knocking noise when I turn left.£275 to fix it and she goes in next Friday.Cue the emptying of my paypal account to pay for it.Having paid a fortune to fix her up last September at the MOT I'm hoping this will be the last expense for a while.I reckon it's the speed bumps on our street which is causing most of the suspension/linkage type problems rather than it simply being down to the age of the car.

My car loan is up in July and my Dad reckons I should trade it in soon but it's the best car I've ever owned ( Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 v6) and I'm really hoping to get another year of motoring from her.

Thanks for reading.Back soon...