9/28/2007

Finally a small win!

This will be just a quick post. Played Betfair last night and managed to win $440, 2 tabling 2.5/5NL. I was in for £500 at one point and managed to have a big hold up when I limped on the cutoff with KK to see a raise of the pot by the button and a call in early. This is why i like the move of limping in virtually all positions with KK and AA because it is so hard for your opponent to put you on the correct holding when you make this play, especially in the late positions like here. I re raised the pot to $120 pre, and the button raiser thought for 2 secs befoe pushing AI for $350 more. Now i have a decision. 4 hands. AK, KK, AA or QQ. Only one of these I am in bad shape against so I call. He tables QQ and I see a flop of JKA then the irrelevant Queen on the river doesnt help him. That would have been a sick one without the King on the flop and would have definitely sent me on monkey tilt!

I have some big leaks that i need to iron out of my game that i am really trying to do. One is the calling raises with cards that will get me into trouble if i hit part of any flop against a big pair or something. Like, for instance, JT. A powerhouse hand in terms of its straightening opportunities but an average hand to hit top pair, decent kicker with. This happened last night against QQ on a dry Ten high flop. I check raise the pot AI and get insta called by the over pair which holds up for $500. These hands really do get me into trouble as I am always going to make the powerplay moves when I hit a flop against a pre flop raiser. My aim is to lead into the raiser in furture and then they have to be good to re raise the pot and i find out where i am (most the time) when they re raise with the big hand. I had JT later on last night and did exactly this and ended up winning that pot uncontested after the pre flop raise.

I am playing tonight with the boys from work in the £20 buy in STT with half price rebuys, will probably get rinsed for a oner or something stupid in that kind of school.

I play to play alot at weekend as usual and want to have a decent weekend for the first time in about a month! We'll see I guess. I will play the bloggerment on Sun and will definitely improve on my last place finish of last week!

Only 4 weeks now until the big home game at mine. Table looks full at the moment with PC, Jules, Hag, Big Adam, Pook, Grant, Glen, and the set all confirmed and others pending. Should be a cracking game and there will definitely be a report on this blog after it in Early Nov.

I am thinking that maybe we as bloggers should all get together soon for a live tournament or home game somewhere and maybe do one very 6 months or something....if you guys could send me your thoughts on this that would be great.

Good to see that Amatay is doing well on his poker pilgrimage and that Burnley Mik has had a decent break and will be firing bullets again soon. I have read Yorkshire Pudding's blog as well and really like this one so I have added it to my favourites on the right hand side. Bluescouse is blogging again more regularly which is always a good read!

9/27/2007

Jesus is dead!

So Jesus is officially dead. I really tried hard to do the Chris Ferguson bankroll 'challenge'. Indeed it was a challenge for me and it lasted the best part of 2 days grinding 0.25/0.50 on Stars before I took the $300 to 2 2-4 games and spun the lot up in anger. Winning pots of $2 are of no interest to me at all. I obvoiusly need some massive BRM advice but this really isnt the way to go for me. I dont have the time to devote to such low limits and am playing bad on them trying to create action for bigger pots and thus losing my money.

I ended up losing about £500 at the weekend. I lost prolly $4k in pots that were beats which would have taken me massively up if they had held up after the money went in.

I have decided to stick with Betfair for the 2.5/5NL games and Stars for the tourneys. My bankroll has been desimated so wont play any laddies cruise tourns as promised and you can forget the Jesus Challenge for now...maybe if i go to the edge of my credit card i might have to re think this strategy. I am still up about $15k for the year, which is nowhere near where I want to be but is still proof that I am a winning player.....I need proof sometimes after dry spells.

Will probably play some more over the weekend with whatever rakeback i get from Betfair, should be +£200 so that will be a start up roll on there. Will need all the luck in the world at this rate.

9/21/2007

Big Plans

Ok plans have been hatched and here is the unveiling.

Firstly some pointers that I have picked up over the past few weeks, but actually probably knew all along.



I obviously need to stay away from 5-10NL because the game is too high for me and I don't play at my best in it. I do not have the bankroll either for this kind of game and I only ever seem to play this and 10-20 when I am giddy and tilted. I think I have probably lost $20000 playing 5-10 this year and don't want to lose anymore.

I am playing far too loosely in the games, constantly calling raises with 58, 8T, J9 and JQ and often re raising with them pre flop (which is a better move I think than calling). I am also calling 3 barrels with mid pair a hell of a lot and becoming a pay off wizard to someone who has a bear top pair. I am always looking for the miracle or hero call rather than assessing the hand properly and finding a fold on the last bet.

I am playing well for only certain periods of play and trying to win too much too quickly. If I don't double my buy in after the first hour I am looking for ways to do so and going for pots that certainly aren't mine, thus losing stacks on many an occasion. I need to settle into longer games with no external pressures on me to hurry up.




So here is the plan:


I will deposit $1000 onto Betfair and play normally with that on the 2.5/5NL game and try to score a result there.

I will deposit $250 onto Ladbrokes - First deposit in years there! I will use this to try to qualify for the poker cruise in Jan - which according to friends that have been on it is brilliant fun, this is a prize that I have always fancied winning but have never actually set a plan around doing so. I will play mainly the Sats for the daily comp and then try to qualify for the weekly ticket comp on the Sunday.

I will deposit $500 onto Stars and adopt a very tight bankroll management strategy here a la Chris Jesus Ferguson. I will not buy in to a cash game for more than 5% of this roll and will not enter an MTT that costs more than 3% of that roll. So this means I will be playing probably at 0.25/0.50NL games buying in for $25 at a time and not buying in for more than $15 on an MTT. So the main tourneys of note on Stars will be the big ones with the big prize pools, ie the Sunday $150 Guaranteed etc. I will really try to grind the Stars account up and always use this guideline when playing and see where it gets me. I will need to double it to $1000 to be able to sit in the 0.50/1NL games with a $50 half stack. That will be my goal come the end of the year to be sitting in 0.50/1 and 1/2NL cash games using this BRM method. Just to prove to myself and the doubters out there that I can do it!



I have a lot of work to do this weekend because we are tiling the kitchen walls and still have to put the remaining spotlights in the spare room so that will keep us busy. I aim to make my debut in the bloggerment on Sunday night, congrats to Mik who won last weeks tourney :-)

Also have hired a personal trainer, a cage fighter from Basingstoke named Rocci....how qualify is that! Aim is to lose 10 kg before Christmas with sticking to a decent diet and training 3 times a week, one time will be flat out personal training and the others will be my own work concentrating on rowing, weights and uphill walking to start. Will keep the blog updated with details on the heath side as well as the poker from now on. Might even put a before and after piccy on if it goes well....then you'll all be in trouble....keep your girlfriends and daughters away....oh yeah and your mothers, anything goes at the moment :-)

I will update this on Sun night or Monday with weekend results, hope to see a lot of you on the bloggerment, Sun. Be lucky.

9/19/2007

Another Bad Loss!

Another day another K done! Marvellous.

Busted £1.2K last night on 5-10NL on Betfair. I really need to re think my game and my life!

Plans will be up here soon but definitely gonna stop playing 5-10 for a while and start grinding 2.50/5NL on Betfair and pull up a stack on Stars for smaller games and MTT's.

Watch this space for the full plans moving forward.

9/16/2007

In then out of trouble. Still down tho.

Since my last post i have had some massive swings...mainly this weekend. I would post the hands but the big loss of yesterday was at the Murg's, one of the first losses i have had on his aging Dell PC. I ended up doing $3k yesterday on firstly 2.50/5 then 5/10NLHU on Betfair. It seems that whenever I have a good run on Betfair i have set up situations where i cant help but get my money in and lose.

One of the many was QJ, call a riase flop j53 all hearts. I have no hearts and $300 left in a 5-10 game. He bets $100 and i move in for the rest, he calls and tables TT. Immediate Ten on the turn for one of his perfect two outs (as he hasnt even got the ten of hearts). I also make a $400 bluff when an ace hits the river of another pot after showing strength pre and on the flop and get called by 44 on a board that contains AJK!!! Sick. My ultimate tilt hand was a push for $500 after a guy had opened for $35 UTG. Getting calling round the back by no less than the bullets, which hold even though i hit a 4 on the flop giving me a shed of light.

Then today I start off with a £500 deposit rather than my usual £250/300. I go straight to 5/10 again. I am really determined to beat this game like i have been doing with the 2.50/5 game. I seem to have had no luck at this higher level over the past few years when trying to progress up to it. Consistantly picking the wrong spots to get my money in and not holding up in the big pots that matter.

I manage to lose another £1100 after several hours of play holding my own against some of the regulars on Betfair and had a very long HU game with NOLUBE which lasted several hours also and ended up with only really the rake as a winner after he had been +$1.5k at one point and I had been down to my last $400.

Then as NOLUBE's dinner breaks the game i decide to find another challenger at HU on 5/10NLHU. URSOBAD was itting with a full buy in on one so i decided to pull up just under half of my roll for the day of $500. I manage to then take this up to a $4.3k high point and end up quitting on about $3.5k after he takes me off a big pot that he been reraised pre and bet the pot on the flop for $180.

A couple of the bigger hands from the seesion with URSOBAD are below:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487725 Turn gives me lots of outs. I was actually winning!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487720 First big hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487713 Hated the turn here. Auto pay off on the river though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487718 I wonder what he had here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487735 If he three barrels here he takes it

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487742 Cant see how he can call here. Perfect River

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487744 I know my player by now....

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1487747 The biggest hand. Bit of a sick call??


So i hope you all enjoy the hands. It was definitely a rollercoaster session. I may play the Brit Bloggerment later, I dont know yet though because England are playing in the Twenty-20 World Cup and we are doing out the kitchen this weekend which has cost me £500 ontop of my poker losses. WE are getting under cupboard lights put in and controlled by the main switch....Looks well neat! Tiling the kitchen walls, and putting those funky spotlights in bathroom, kitchen and spare room. I will hopefully be able to post some pictures of the house soon as we have done loads to it in the first three months of being here.

Wardrobe and Bed Sofa will be here soon aswell for when the Hag gets here from the Czech Rep. Plans are still do do a mini poker tour, ending with a game at mine and a big reunion on the Saturday with old school friends courtesy of Facebook. Gold Curry and drinks are on the cards for the sat so that should be a wicked laugh.

Rumours about a trip to Vegas with work are gaining momentum at present and the likely destaination is said to be the Venecian which will be lovely. Alsoa work poker game has been scheduled for 2 weeks rime on Fri 28th to celebrate a good quarter of business. I should hit target this week and will try to push to 150% for the nice pay Oct pay, which will be nice because the Hag will be here. Check out this guys blog under a new link, very well written low stakes adventure. http://jacobhag.blogspot.com I cant be bothered to change the link of the right hand side!

9/10/2007

Weekend Woe

So as you can see by the title of today's blog that my proverbial conkers have been done this weekend. Just as I thought leading up to it. The weekend is always a make or break for me because this is where I play the most poker and the higher limit games.

So I did 250£ on betfair while watching the murg take down an Omaha MTT for just over a bag. Congrats btw to the murg who really has become a good tourney player in the last year or so with plenty of decent results live and online

Then we decided to go to the ever so average Pete's Palace in Camberley which resembles an old school canteen...but this canteen serves duck and sweet and sour and egg fried rice et al instead of the customary beans and chips of the afore mentioned eatery of yesteryear.

After Pete's palace we went to Pete's game in Bracknell which is a big juicy dealers choice game of mainly Irish and Omaha 4 card high. Before the cash was a little STT for £20 re buys. I get knocked out in great shape with AK all in vs. AJ. The murg promptly turned a jack first card out of the trap for my demise there. Shame because first prize was £260 and the game was weak. The only players were myself, Pete and Big Kev who made a televised final table several weeks before. Kev ended up carving the game in bits after my dismissal from the table.

So the cash started in earnest and the murg promptly got burned with AA53 in a 4 way pot for over £500. Flop 665 turn q and riv 5. Big Kev had called round the back for £65 pre with 5Q72 and then called Pete's £90 bet on the flop with that hand against Pete's rockets. So 2 players with the bullets and Arma with KK?? in the middle and Kev hits perfect perfect to take the full pot. A sick start.

I end up doing £500 in the game and leave at 3.30am. I have Q3c3Q and see a flop of 3cc. Big kev fold K5c?? and Gorby, a loose player, calls my AI with Ac7c9c? and manages to pull an unlikely club on the turn and it stays the nut hand on the river which duly brings a rag.

Saturday I don't play because my Nan come down to visit and we take her out to town then to bingo in the evening, some great prizes there. £1000 for some full houses and £100 per line etc. No joy for the binner crew though as we are also met by Michelle's brother and girlfriend and even they cant improve our fortunes.

Sun was a weird day. I start by winning £180 on BF in the cash games. I cash off and leave $11 for a 60 strong MTT that I end up winning for $200 which is always nice. Then I deposit onto Stars for the first time in 5 years and take $200 up to $550 start stacking a 2-4 and a 1-2 game then get bored and do the lot trying to bluff the bullets twice for my whole stack. I then move to betfair and pull up 3 times for £500 total and end with a £30 loss there after being £200 ahead at one point! :-(

I need to regain focus after a shocking weekend of action. I will redeposit onto Stars again and start playing the British Bloggerment on Sunday nights. I will use this account mainly for small sats and MTTs and aim to build slowly there. I will also be looking for a good sesh on BF, prolly on Tues night as I am busy for the rest of the week.

9/07/2007

Weekend...

Thoughts for the weekend.

Have my mum and dad coming to visit the new house and they are bringing nan down so i think a good plan will be to hit the Gala Bingo on Saturday night (my gambling never seems to escape me!) They do some great prizes there and if you get lucky and manage to scoop one you are looking to the thick end of a bag. That will always come in handy.

Dont know whether i mentioned it before but we bought a wardrobe from the Harvey's sale at the start of the week, i then went and won the £500 that it cost online in the 2.5/5 game which was a nice feeling!

I might be tempted by the £10 super add on rebuy at Reigate tonight. http://thefullhouse.co.uk. They usually get 70/80 runners so the top prizes are usually in the region of £1500.

Will definitely have a go online again tonight after a few days off. Hopefully I will manage to continue on the winning path, im sure we will see when i update the blog at the start of next week.

Plans to do the living room floor, and the garden as well as putting a big 6 foot fence up in the place of the little wire thing we have at the moment. We are looking to do all this come End October when both myself and Michelle should get decent pay packets from work. Michelle looks set to cap on her monthly target and I am in line to hit my quarterly one in my first quarter in the job.

9/04/2007

Marching....

So finally i think i have got my poker game together. I have been mainly playing 2.50/5NL on Betfair and doing pretty well (apart from a short blaze at 5/10NL which was a complete rollercoaster!)

I am up to about $20k profit for the year which is ok considering i have probably tilted more than that away - without monkey tilt I would probably be around $30k profit. I will attach some interesting hands at the bottom of this post so you can enjoy the 30min rush i had last night and the coolers and big decisions i was faced with aswell.

Work is going well at present and i still look like hitting target for this quarter, so am working very hard to make sure that happens which will give me a nice pay cheque for end October.

Ah the end of October...newsflash just in that the Hag is coming to visit from the Czech. We will have the sofa bed in the spare room set up by then and it will be nice for the hag to sleep on a bed rather than his usual couch option....well not really an option unless you include the hard floor in his choices of evening retirement. We will be holding the first game at my place on the Friday (2nd Nov) 1-2 Holdem NL with £50min/£200 max pull ups. Likely line up so far is Binner, Murg, Hag, Jules, Big Adam, Rivers, Wendy should be a great night of many laughs and hopefully some good poker along the way.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444643 The start of the rush, bit of a sick call off here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444740 I got the rest several hand later...dead

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444748 Part of the rush, another sick call off

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444752 Think i played this cooler perfectly, saved me money due to good turn play and the obv check call on the river

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444760 Another tester, must have been on good form to fold!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444766 A cooler for Totto, dont know how he doesnt do more here!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444770 Its easy to play the nuts!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444773 The turn to get me involved.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444780 Should I call here against a well respected player?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444819 Drawing very thin sir....

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1444853 The power of the draw! :-)



Hope you have enjoyed the hands. Lots of ups and downs as usual but i feel that i am definitely more in control of game at the moment than ever before....it's probably trying to prove to the hag and the murg that I am a successful mid-limits player with a future in the game.....

We will see.....