Woke up today and the whole world was covered in a layer of white, beautiful to the eye but not good news for the Green Submarine (my adored Peugeot 106). Decided to take the day off work and play some online poker with others that have given up the office to take on the poker world.
I started off brightly on 2 $2.50/5NL tables, winning about $300 with some solid poker and some good choice bluffing when it was needed. I then pick up 77 and decide on the turn that seat one's bet of $12 into the pot smells of weakness so I raise to $42. A sneaky chappy round the back decides to call the bet and the orginal bettor folds graciously. The river brings a flushing card....the next thing i know i have pushed my entire stack into the middle to be greeted by a LOL by the player to act then a half timer call with the A5c for the nuts. Marvellous....a $700 pot goes to a more deserving man than me.
I decide to reload for another £100 and am sitting on 2 tables now with $192 and $100 respectively. I pick up JTd on the $100 table and limp, everyone limps and the sb raises to $42....he only has another $70 or so left so I decide via tilt to move in hoping that i am a 50/50 shot against a small pair. He calls and the flop brings a KQ then a 9 on the turn and its all over, he shows 77 and leaves.
I continue playing quite loosely and pick up KJ which is worth a pot bet pre in this state of mind. A loose player calls next to me and the flop obliges with a J52 texture. I bet the pot, he calls, pot on the turn when another rag hits, again another call and then an all in on the river which is called...I am now fearing Jrag but i scoop the $440 pot.
I build my stacks on each table up to $600 and $700 when i pick up KK. I check raise for the pot to $55 which is caller by one player. Flop comes J89 with 2 diamonds. I check trying to slow this pot down as my opponent has $450 left in front of him which would cripple me. He moves in cold for the lot and I have to pass....I think i may be ahead but at best a 6-4 shot or maybe even a big dog against a made hand on the flop. Interesting hand this one, I dont think i played it correctly, maybe I should have bet the pot on the flop to see where i was, by checking i allowed the player to push against me with a flush draw, AK or something like AJ.
Anyway i build my stacks upto $800 and $700 when i manage to lose a monster pot on a board of 745 with 2 spades and I am holding the dreaded 77, I am up against A2s as it turns out, all the money manages to find its way into the middle on the flop and the Aces hits the turn and a spade on the river for a $900 pot. What can I do about these pocket sevens! The other week I lost a $2000 pot with 77 vs 76 on a flop of 74T turn 5 river 3, all in on turn. That was probably the most sickest pot i have ever come across and had the misfortune to be in.
After my latest beat with the 777, which indeed is the new devil hand in my book, i decided to cash off the roll on Betfair and keep the £230 profit for the day, which is an ok days work I guess but could have been another £500 better off had the black spade of justice not fallen on fifth street in my biggest pot of the day.
Credit card down to £1400 now, looking to get it under the grand mark in the next few weeks before my 3 day poker binge in mid February.
Adios Amigos
2/08/2007
2/06/2007
Rollercoaster
Ok so in the past week I have been on an online rollercoaster ride with the wheels quite literally coming off....and I still think that I can succeed in this game.
I have been playing 5/10 NL on Betfair and been playing a very loose aggressive game and being doing my pieces all over the place. I lost £1.1k on Friday night including last months rakeback, this was a sick result and i definitely tilted away over £500. Several ill timed bluffs like a re raise on the end of a board showing A58q6 with A2 against QQQ, the re raise was $373 more after he bet the pot (around $100), he called realtively quickly with only 3 hands beating him....first stupid move of the night.
Another hand that i can remember was me making a pot raise pre with k8o, getting 2 callers and the board coming down 873, me check raising the player all in for $400 more with top pair and him instaclling with 64 and hitting a 5 on the river after I turned what i thought was the miracle King.
The last hand was just one of those decisions in NL holdem that you get faced with all the time if you are playing against proper NL Holdem players, the all in or fold decision. These types of decisions can make heros out of us or leave us clinging on the hope of the 3 outer.
Basically it ran like this. I have $700 in front of me with KJo, guy bets the pot, I call the 35 then it gets raising the mandatory to 70 round the back, a strange move here on a 5/10NL table and it made me think a small pair or ak so i call for what i think may be a 3 outer.
Flop is perfect for me including a Jack and 2 small cards. Original bettor checks, i check and the raiser bets the pot for over $200. I have over $600 left in my stack and have a big decision here, either raise all in and be against AK, a bigger pair than jacks, or something else that i havent considered like small pp trips. So i decide to push the remaining $600 or so into the middle and hope my read on the pre flop raise is correct.
It isn't, he has the boots and calls swiftly, the turn immediately brings a rocket to leave me dead. Marvellous, how can I put him on AA with the min raise against 2 guys with over $700 each in their stacks....the play worked perfectly for him but surely you want to be commiting more pre flop with the aces in that spot, espescially when the stacks are deep at the table. Your thoughts on this will be appreciated.
I went to bed a very unhappy soul, knowing that i have tilted away a big chunk of roll and with nothing in the bank and lots on the credit card the future did not seem bright.
Next day i decided to go for broke and play fearless 5/10NL poker with an initial buy in of £250. I took it to £820 in half an hour so that eased the pain somewhat. The big lick 96 held in a pot for $1100 when the flop brought 87T, all the money went in at that point and the worse possible turn and river popped up - running JJ. So unless I was up against 2 pair I was dead or spilting at best.
I won the pot! couldnt begin to imagine what he had? maybe top 2 or something of that ilk, anyway that pot sent me on my way to nearly £600 profit for the session and a dent out of the nightmare the previous evening.
I think i will carry on playing 5/10NL tables because i do believe i can beat the game, we'll have to see in the weeks coming. These will be some of the most important weeks of my poker career to date, I have no roll and am literally going to go for broke on the whim that i believe i am good enough. Watch this space.
AB
I have been playing 5/10 NL on Betfair and been playing a very loose aggressive game and being doing my pieces all over the place. I lost £1.1k on Friday night including last months rakeback, this was a sick result and i definitely tilted away over £500. Several ill timed bluffs like a re raise on the end of a board showing A58q6 with A2 against QQQ, the re raise was $373 more after he bet the pot (around $100), he called realtively quickly with only 3 hands beating him....first stupid move of the night.
Another hand that i can remember was me making a pot raise pre with k8o, getting 2 callers and the board coming down 873, me check raising the player all in for $400 more with top pair and him instaclling with 64 and hitting a 5 on the river after I turned what i thought was the miracle King.
The last hand was just one of those decisions in NL holdem that you get faced with all the time if you are playing against proper NL Holdem players, the all in or fold decision. These types of decisions can make heros out of us or leave us clinging on the hope of the 3 outer.
Basically it ran like this. I have $700 in front of me with KJo, guy bets the pot, I call the 35 then it gets raising the mandatory to 70 round the back, a strange move here on a 5/10NL table and it made me think a small pair or ak so i call for what i think may be a 3 outer.
Flop is perfect for me including a Jack and 2 small cards. Original bettor checks, i check and the raiser bets the pot for over $200. I have over $600 left in my stack and have a big decision here, either raise all in and be against AK, a bigger pair than jacks, or something else that i havent considered like small pp trips. So i decide to push the remaining $600 or so into the middle and hope my read on the pre flop raise is correct.
It isn't, he has the boots and calls swiftly, the turn immediately brings a rocket to leave me dead. Marvellous, how can I put him on AA with the min raise against 2 guys with over $700 each in their stacks....the play worked perfectly for him but surely you want to be commiting more pre flop with the aces in that spot, espescially when the stacks are deep at the table. Your thoughts on this will be appreciated.
I went to bed a very unhappy soul, knowing that i have tilted away a big chunk of roll and with nothing in the bank and lots on the credit card the future did not seem bright.
Next day i decided to go for broke and play fearless 5/10NL poker with an initial buy in of £250. I took it to £820 in half an hour so that eased the pain somewhat. The big lick 96 held in a pot for $1100 when the flop brought 87T, all the money went in at that point and the worse possible turn and river popped up - running JJ. So unless I was up against 2 pair I was dead or spilting at best.
I won the pot! couldnt begin to imagine what he had? maybe top 2 or something of that ilk, anyway that pot sent me on my way to nearly £600 profit for the session and a dent out of the nightmare the previous evening.
I think i will carry on playing 5/10NL tables because i do believe i can beat the game, we'll have to see in the weeks coming. These will be some of the most important weeks of my poker career to date, I have no roll and am literally going to go for broke on the whim that i believe i am good enough. Watch this space.
AB
2/01/2007
Update
Right then thought it was time for another blog update, has been nearly a month since I have got my arse in gear enough to write an update in this rather flimsy lightweight blog account. I think the main reason is the fact that the poker has been terrible over the past month and this culminated with a £750 loss at Soverign Poker in North Camp on Sunday...was a £5 re buy tourney aswell....ended up doing my nuts in the £50NL cash game.
Played really well in the £5 re buy and only spent £5 total in that, every single time my money went into the middle I was a favourite to win the pot, JJ hit quads by the turn on one board and 88 beat off AQ and QJ AI pre in another. Eventually I lost a big race pre flop with a5 vs KQ after I decided to re raise a weak player that i belived to have a weak ace or kq, kj etc. He called and the flop obliged and duly brought a Q, another case of the flop gods defying pure mathematics (im sure there is a god of flops out there, we have gods for everything else.....so why not!).
I have taken my credit card from 1600 to about £400 then back to £1750 and now it sits on just over 1200. Really need to get this down before James gets here from Czech Rep towards the end of feb so we can play some good live action. Overdrawn in the Bank aswell now which isnt good considering I have just been paid, so will have to rely on the credit card from petrol and monthly expenses.
Out this weekend for a friend's birthday in Fleet, promises to be a night of much mirth and merriment. I enclose the invitation/itinery:
Team,
Most of you know already, but we can't do the do-nut thing anymore because the ski slopes are full. Tried over at Aldershot and Bracknell too but no luck. Therefore healthy physical will be replaced by drinking and watching others play sport.
So the new plan looks a little like this:
Saturday 3rd Feb 2007: Dave's Birthday 2007 - Drunken Sport-a-Thon & Fleet Pub Tour.
1:30pm Meet in the Links for some Lunfast(*1) and a few early afternoon pints / G&T's(*2).
2:30pm Retire back to Casa-de-Hayward(*3) to begin drunken sport-a-thon simal-cast(*5)(*7).
3:00pm Chelsea begin 4-2 loss(*4) to Charlton.(*6)
4:00pm England kick off their 6 nations campaign with an impressive performance from returning rugby superstars including number 10 Johnny Wilkinson, number 13 Mike Tindall and number 11 Jason Robinson who will lead England to a massive 140-7 victory(*4) over the Scotts majoritively made up of power house driving run's from Tindall, lightning speed breaks from Robinson and drop kicks from Sir Wilkinson.
5:15pm Arsenal begin 3-1 win(*4) over Middleborough
7:00pm Official end of drunken sport-a-thon. Music, drinking games and high sprits to commence.(*8)
8:00pm Fleet Pub Tour commences. Start at the Heron on the Lake. 8:00pm sharp. (1 pint, one shot)
8:30pm The Links (1 pint, one shot)9:00pm Emporium (1 pint, one shot)9:30pm Propaganda (1 pint, one shot)
10:00pm Arthur(1 pint, one shot)
10:30pm The Oatsheef (1 pint, one shot)
11:00pm Super Jaxx V3 (Many many many vodka's)
2:00am One happy drunken mess of a 23yr old Dave. Whoop Whoop.(*9)
3:00am Kebab from Tiger Woods
3:30am Cool down to evening, guests to either continue drinking or find corner to sleep in.
4:00am Dave's drunken birthday threesome TBC(*10)
(*1)lunfast is a cross between breakfast and lunch and is widely considered to be the new 'Brunch', only better and more fun.
(*2) Only seriously cool people can get away with drinking G&T in public (i.e. myself and Stephanie Udall). Just ordering a G&T, let alone consuming one, without being seriously cool first can lead to rapid loss of social value and could lead to a life time of loneliness a drug addiction. You have been warned.
(*3)Casa-de-Hayward also know as Big Dave's Love Shack, Super Dave's Super Sexy Palace of Fun and Good Times and as 9 Bramshott Place Fleet Road Fleet Hampshire GU51 4QF.
(*4) Scores provided for entertainment value only and should not be used for or considered to be a real prediction of the future. The management accept no responsibility for loss of revenue or personal belongings due to bets being places on these scores.
(*5) Sporting Simultaneous Broadcast where either by using the picture in picture or a second television we will be able to watch all of the days sporting events at the same time despite the Rugby clashing with the Footy.
(*6) Saturday Afternoon Games are not broadcast on Sky Sports, this event will either be pay per view or not broadcast at all. In these cases we will either pay for the game or switch to sky sports news centre for live updates. Other alternatives during this time are to display Sky Sports News on one tele and that mornings Soccer AM on the other.
(*7) You will need to provide your own beverages for the afternoon drunken sport-a-thon however snacks and party food will be provided.
(*8) Weather permitting other activities for the day to include garden rounder's, bike rack walking (lofty, sit this one out) and twister.
(*9) Happiness guaranteed. Dave being coherent or awake however cannot be guaranteed.
(*10) TBC = To be confirmed. Those wishing to take part please send height, weight, bra size and other vital measurements / statistics to ??@hotmail.co.uk. Winners will be notified in writing 24 hours before the event. Once an application is submitted this will be held as a legally binding contract of consent.
Kind Regards
Birthday Boy
p.s. I want balloons.
Promises to be a good night methinks.....
Until next time, AB
Played really well in the £5 re buy and only spent £5 total in that, every single time my money went into the middle I was a favourite to win the pot, JJ hit quads by the turn on one board and 88 beat off AQ and QJ AI pre in another. Eventually I lost a big race pre flop with a5 vs KQ after I decided to re raise a weak player that i belived to have a weak ace or kq, kj etc. He called and the flop obliged and duly brought a Q, another case of the flop gods defying pure mathematics (im sure there is a god of flops out there, we have gods for everything else.....so why not!).
I have taken my credit card from 1600 to about £400 then back to £1750 and now it sits on just over 1200. Really need to get this down before James gets here from Czech Rep towards the end of feb so we can play some good live action. Overdrawn in the Bank aswell now which isnt good considering I have just been paid, so will have to rely on the credit card from petrol and monthly expenses.
Out this weekend for a friend's birthday in Fleet, promises to be a night of much mirth and merriment. I enclose the invitation/itinery:
Team,
Most of you know already, but we can't do the do-nut thing anymore because the ski slopes are full. Tried over at Aldershot and Bracknell too but no luck. Therefore healthy physical will be replaced by drinking and watching others play sport.
So the new plan looks a little like this:
Saturday 3rd Feb 2007: Dave's Birthday 2007 - Drunken Sport-a-Thon & Fleet Pub Tour.
1:30pm Meet in the Links for some Lunfast(*1) and a few early afternoon pints / G&T's(*2).
2:30pm Retire back to Casa-de-Hayward(*3) to begin drunken sport-a-thon simal-cast(*5)(*7).
3:00pm Chelsea begin 4-2 loss(*4) to Charlton.(*6)
4:00pm England kick off their 6 nations campaign with an impressive performance from returning rugby superstars including number 10 Johnny Wilkinson, number 13 Mike Tindall and number 11 Jason Robinson who will lead England to a massive 140-7 victory(*4) over the Scotts majoritively made up of power house driving run's from Tindall, lightning speed breaks from Robinson and drop kicks from Sir Wilkinson.
5:15pm Arsenal begin 3-1 win(*4) over Middleborough
7:00pm Official end of drunken sport-a-thon. Music, drinking games and high sprits to commence.(*8)
8:00pm Fleet Pub Tour commences. Start at the Heron on the Lake. 8:00pm sharp. (1 pint, one shot)
8:30pm The Links (1 pint, one shot)9:00pm Emporium (1 pint, one shot)9:30pm Propaganda (1 pint, one shot)
10:00pm Arthur(1 pint, one shot)
10:30pm The Oatsheef (1 pint, one shot)
11:00pm Super Jaxx V3 (Many many many vodka's)
2:00am One happy drunken mess of a 23yr old Dave. Whoop Whoop.(*9)
3:00am Kebab from Tiger Woods
3:30am Cool down to evening, guests to either continue drinking or find corner to sleep in.
4:00am Dave's drunken birthday threesome TBC(*10)
(*1)lunfast is a cross between breakfast and lunch and is widely considered to be the new 'Brunch', only better and more fun.
(*2) Only seriously cool people can get away with drinking G&T in public (i.e. myself and Stephanie Udall). Just ordering a G&T, let alone consuming one, without being seriously cool first can lead to rapid loss of social value and could lead to a life time of loneliness a drug addiction. You have been warned.
(*3)Casa-de-Hayward also know as Big Dave's Love Shack, Super Dave's Super Sexy Palace of Fun and Good Times and as 9 Bramshott Place Fleet Road Fleet Hampshire GU51 4QF.
(*4) Scores provided for entertainment value only and should not be used for or considered to be a real prediction of the future. The management accept no responsibility for loss of revenue or personal belongings due to bets being places on these scores.
(*5) Sporting Simultaneous Broadcast where either by using the picture in picture or a second television we will be able to watch all of the days sporting events at the same time despite the Rugby clashing with the Footy.
(*6) Saturday Afternoon Games are not broadcast on Sky Sports, this event will either be pay per view or not broadcast at all. In these cases we will either pay for the game or switch to sky sports news centre for live updates. Other alternatives during this time are to display Sky Sports News on one tele and that mornings Soccer AM on the other.
(*7) You will need to provide your own beverages for the afternoon drunken sport-a-thon however snacks and party food will be provided.
(*8) Weather permitting other activities for the day to include garden rounder's, bike rack walking (lofty, sit this one out) and twister.
(*9) Happiness guaranteed. Dave being coherent or awake however cannot be guaranteed.
(*10) TBC = To be confirmed. Those wishing to take part please send height, weight, bra size and other vital measurements / statistics to ??@hotmail.co.uk. Winners will be notified in writing 24 hours before the event. Once an application is submitted this will be held as a legally binding contract of consent.
Kind Regards
Birthday Boy
p.s. I want balloons.
Promises to be a good night methinks.....
Until next time, AB
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