6/16/2008

Basingstoke Game Running Strong

Well haven't played much poker since the last time I posted. Probably had like 2 sessions, losing about $800 in total so not the greatest, although I did get $16 dollar of rake back on FTP so it wasn't all bad.

The Basingstoke game that myself and the Murg re introduced to the world of crazy live poker is now fully up and running and omg the plays have been shocking! All In's called by Q3 and A4 are standard cash game plays in Basingstoke and the game is quickly developing into a great hunting ground for those that know JTs is a favourite vs 22 AIPF.

Chaps at Raise the River, BM, Pud, Ama, let me know what your thoughts are of hosting a RTR game in the Basingstoke club, put a reply in and let em know of your interest. Would be great to get a blogging live tourney and cash games going like a couple of times a year....like a RTR World Series. We can cater for up to 80 runners with 10,000 starting stacks and long clocks...let me know your thoughts.

On the house front, work has started in earnest on the front driveway, fencing and back garden fencing and patio. Should be finished in 2 weeks all ready to dig the trench for the electric cable for the shed lights, get the new patio dining set out from the garage and get ready for BBQ's and Poker in the summer nights....what more can you ask for!

Work is going well at the moment. I have been in Dublin last week for 3 days and am off to Scotland this week to hopefully sign a couple of deals in Aberdeen. Spent this weekend in Wales with the missus running the race for life for cancer so have done all parts of the Britain in a week! Crazy tired though at the moment and looking forward to coming back and planning for next quarter, there are a couple of promotions floating around at the moment and I want to make sure my name is on them.

One last thing, isn't petrol shit at the moment, what the fuck is £1.20 a lire all about, thieving cunts....

6/02/2008

I'm back


Ok, Firstly sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been so hectic, what with Vegas, new year and territory at work, house stuff and setting up the Basingstoke game again.

So where shall I start....Maybe Vegas would be a good place. So 8 days of madness, started off in the Imperial dump then moved on to the fantastic Venetian a few doors down. I managed to see the Calzaghe/Hopkins weigh in...and managed to start a chant of 'You're supposed to be at home' to Hopkins which was backed by 8,000 Joe fans which was cool. Saw Sly Stallone (one of my hollywood heros) amongst a few famous faces there.

Poker was ok, not as loose as expected. I managed to play prolly 20 odd hours all trip and win about 2.5k there (although I went on to lose about 1.5k on Blackjack and roulette through the holiday) Played mainly at Ceasers but also at Planet Hollywood, Venetian, Imperial ( I think that was it).

Bought loads of cheap clothing, 4 pairs of trainers for like £18 each, Tim Boots for like £26, a wicked Jordan basketball top and some Tiffany for the missus from Ceasers.

Overall had a wicked time, met up with Smart money for some pokes and drinks in Ceasers (big shout out to him, a top guy and my thoughts are with you at this sad time).

Work ended up finishing well with me doing 199% for my years target and earning the most I have ever earnt in one year. I have started off this year well and in 2 months have had before tax earnings of +£15k so hopefully I can go over last years earnings...so I wont have to play much poker :-) I am really excited by the work challenge at the moment and am looking to further my sales skills in a hunt for promotion before this year is out, will keep you posted on that front. I am reading some great books at the moment and they are certainly helping my confidence and keeping my skills finely tuned in the sales world.

So I'm not really playing any poker at present. I had a bad run of about -$7k on FTP a little while ago and have now stopped and am enjoying my break. I must admit there are times when the lure of the online game gets to me and I feel compelled to chase the +EV dream, but a probably haven't played now in a month and that is the way I will continue until I feel comfortable again with a clear battle plan in mind.

Everything is good on the house front. We have a block paving company coming in at the start of next week to do our front and back gardens, aswell as new fencing etc, set us back a cool £6k but im sure it will be worth it, will post some before and after pictures when the work has been completed.

On the blog front i love bluescouse's last entry:

turned the £500 into £6750 last night, and got up to £15k-18k tonight during the peak of my final session today. then i lost it all within the next 45mins.

world class mate....sure he will be back firing soon, look forward to the next installment.

Amatay's ridik challenge looks like a beaut...I definitely wouldn't abck against that fish, when his mind is on the game fully there are few better at grinding it out.

Liking Yorkie Pud's new blog...well done mate, keep up the work.

Bring on the Murg I say...this fish has posted a few comments here and there and is a friend and the guy I run the Friday night game with. Bring on the blogging action big man.

The Hag, now back from another trip to the UK, bring on updatio Mcgratio mate....I know that roll is marching northwards....let us know the lastest dude.

Anonomous' everywhere....grow some real balls and stick your goings on in a blog and let us sit back and wtach your perils at 1p/2p blinds...getting 3 outers for 28p pots and the like. I think I speak for all the decent bloggers out there when I say this.

The basingstoke game is running well at the moment (Picture of last week's cash game at the top of the entry). We are doing a £30 min sit down cash game from 8.00pm every Friday at the moment until we can get the funds together to promote the tournament more heavily in the area. Friday was good. Had a grand on the table by 11pm and the big pots were getting shipped to all corners of the table. Amatay when you looking to grace us with your presense my good man, 24 hour drinking and loose cash games would suit you fine....bring some boys if you fancy. Let me know fishay :-)

Until next time

4/10/2008

Vegas....1 week and counting




Vegas is only a week away now and i'm fcuking mad for it, should be a right crack.

Get there next Thurs evening and staying until the following Friday. Already got our eyes on several tournies to pass the time, although when I get there will probably just want to play cash and drink ridik cocktails blah blah blah.

Am meeting up with several peeps whilst im over there, Have an old mate coming over from Oz on the Monday night, a local girl from me with Dr Singh's finest work on her chest, Smart Money and his crew (see link...cracking blog) amongst others....should be a right crack...well looking forward to it now.

The Basingstoke Poker Game is back up and running this week (will attach a couple of pics from the game last year that we ran). The room has had a complete refurb since last time with full air conditioning and new carpet and fully decorated. Am hoping for 30+ runners first week..... could be plans to hold a bloggers game there in the near future, watch this space on that one....any thoughts guys....might get intouch with Burnley Mik and get a RTR theme going on....would be fun.

My fooking fone is now bruk with the poxy screen cracking and now i cant see any piece of the screen....fooking rubbish, have looked at the Iphone so might invest in one of those this weekend.

Oh yeah, I have bought 2 brand new 22" widescreens for my Poker setup now for £100 each...Samsung ones aswell, got a decent price as they are usually £200 each so happy days imo, will get them set up asap after Vegas when I can sort out a bigger desk for my spare room.....

Haven't played much poker recently because of getting the game sorted out and been well busy at work with year end and everything. Things at work went well and I did 300% of quarter target which was nice and will furnish me with beer tokens for Vegas. Last game I played i won a quick 800 doll on PP at 1-2NL and am waiting for rakeback conf from FTP.

Anyway keep up the blogging chaps, GL

3/24/2008

More Action

As we near the end of the Bank Holiday 4 days off extravaganza I am actually looking forward to going back to work to finish off our financial year in style. I am at appoz 150% of target for this quarter and am the leading sales person in the team, have got a couple of deals that I am working on closing with could take me over 200%....nice with under 4 weeks to go till Vegas.

I have played different sites over the past 4 days, Stars, Party and Tilt and have had resonable results on each....I'll have to update Pokertracker to see how much I am up on each. I think I am about $1500 up for the weekend mainly due to a half decent run on Stars (which I only played because I couldn't get money on the other sites!) The mini roll stands just over $2k at the moment from $600 which is ok I guess. Below are some of the more interesting hands from this morning's session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320057

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320062

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320065 Sick flop here, neither player is going anywhere

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320069 Interesting play here with 44 :

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320071 I cant see what I am beating here, I obv think im ahead when I amke the bet, but when he insta calls???!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320072 Good job I didnt get fruity here....ah the old one outer....joy

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320074 Interesting hand with the boots, how does he make the call here?? Would you??

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320077 Perfect river for him, how can I put him on this? Why doesnt he raise??

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320081 How to lose the max with AAA

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320084 I cant beat anything here apart from JJ or TT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320085 Is this the same hand?? Surely not another Poker Stars setup?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2320091 Was actually shouting "NO QUEEN!!!"


Would like some opinions maybe on some of the last 2 sets of hand historys that I have posted, I know most of the hands play themselves but any feedback is good.

I had a day off poker yesterday as we drove to Wales to visit the parents, was v v relaxing, ate curry and roast dinner the next day, some shopping, Starbucks etc etc....V nice.

Right off to play the Murg again now at pool and hoping for a better show than the last two visits to the more frustrating green felt.

3/21/2008

Might be time to give up the game...




Pool that is.


Lost like 20-3 to a rampaging Murg on Thurs night, played pretty bad and the Murg ran hot for an hour to absolutely destroy me. We play at the snooker club where I used to run my Poker Game in Basingstoke and all the old crew were there again last night, Orlando - the owner, fit rock chick behind the bar, thick colin et al....proper little reunion.


Been well bored today staying in the house watching shit TV and playing a little online. I lost $800 on Party 5-10NL on Thursday night including an 800 doll pot with JJ ai pre vs AQ with the obv Ace on the river to drown me. Later I won $1000 back 8 tabling Party and Full Tilt finishing in the middle of the night Thurs.


Today I cant get anything onto Party because their gay cashier is fooked so I stuck $600 on Stars and that now sits on just a tad over $1000, 2-4 tabling NL200 there trying to get my Stars points up to 10k to get something decent from the shop.


Not really much planned for this BH weekend tbh, Super Sunday is in the diary, will be difficult at Old Trafford but i'm backing Torres to do damage ftw. I have picked Newcastle this week in the last man standing competition that i run at work (I chopped the first comp for £160 each) This time there are 40 runners for a nice £400 pot to shoot at.


Some of the bigger and more interesting hands of my last session are here:
















The 88 was a bit of a sick push in hindsight but I had such a loose image on the table i thought he was making a flop play against what he thought was Abig or something, Im hoping that if he does have 99, TT or maybe even JJ or QQ i can get him to fold out anticipating a better hand from me....what are your thoughts here?


Anyway off now to do some cooking for the missus, think lasagne and chips are on the menu at chez binner tonight.


On the blog front nice work Yorkie Pud for landing his Betfair blogging page, will enjoy reading about him making his $17 dollar scores etc..... Come on and tell us all whats going on in life Pud mate...we eagerly wait.


GL all

3/17/2008

OK

Had a half decent weekend.

Went to play pool on Friday night with the Murg and had my worse game ever, shitty loud music booming out and a table lean to boot helped me to a 6-2 loss to the gloating murg.

Decided to find a local game and rang round the usual suspects to find there was a 1-2PL holdem game running in Harrow way, Stanmore, so drove out there and sat in with £100. Average stack on the table was prolly £200 but there were a couple of guys with like £500-£800 in front of them so I pulled up another £300 after an hour or so to have over £500 infront of me just incase a pick up a monster against these boys (also to make them less happy about 3 betting me on the bluff). I hit a few hands and end up about £220, the Murg wins aswell for a £150 score and we drive home content with the night.

Online I had another 2 good sessions where I win $1000 then do $600 in a Sun night session (I Fcuking hate Sundays!!) I have top and bottom pair on the turn called by a bare flush draw that obv hit the river and several 2nd best hands aswell as a couple of Bluffy the Vampire Slayers caught for approx $300 total. So i end up cashing out a $400 profit online for the weekend and my rakeback for the month sits on about $200 at present on FTP.

I am playing a much better game online at present and have won approx $2.5k this month after 6k hands. My target on the month is to complete 10k hands min and make a $3k profit total...nice for part time work imo.

I also had the pleasure of watching Mattasow and Urindanger run Omaha flips for $2k each on FTP on Sunday, Mattasow is such a lucky fish, hit virtually everything and finished up nicely at $20k profit....Ben Grundy obv fancied himself in this game but as he sat down was very politely told to fcuk off by the guys and so he did with his tail firmly between his legs..... lolololol

Work is good at the moment, looking to do 150% of target this quarter for our year end so that means a decent pay packet at the end of April. We are doing up the whole outside of our house with that money and the money saved recently. We have about $10k to do the driveway, fencing, gates and patio so should be really nice soon....will prolly post some before and after pics to show the difference.

Vegas is fast approaching, countdown at the moment is approx 4 weeks, Imperial Palace then the Venician for a Thurs till the following Friday stint.....gonna wind the yanks right up on the tables....bet riase bet re raise, 'you call that a bet' etc etc etc.....hopefully amke some spends whilst over there and might buy another watch from the Uboat outlet in our hotel.

3/03/2008

****Edit*****

***EDIT ***Just finished a couple of hour session in 2 halves. Took my roll down to $300 at one point then decided to lump it all on a NL1000 HU match and took that $300 up to $2.4k.

This hand got me on my way nicely

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2206705

Thanks also goes out to this river of love...is this my best river ever I ask myself??

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2206715

This one then compounded his misery very next hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2206719

Now I am marching....this happens for the hat trick, I am now nearly $1300 profit in 3 hands

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2206726

I then proceed to donk off about $800 at 1/2NL until I cash out $1400 and leave myself $300 to take to a NL1000 HU game before bed.

In 44 hands I win another $741 profit from one very passive player, every time he trys a button steal I am 3 betting him and I am raising every button and really putting the pressure on.
So now the roll has just over $900 on it (with the $1400 safely cashed out to mcbank to ease the strain of the creditcard somewhat :-)

I am be trying to play alot of NL100 again for the rest of this week, trying to build on this roll and take it up to the $2k mark hopefully by this time next week.

I checked my PT info today and I have already played over 3k hands in March....my aim is to play over 10k hands in the month to build those FTP points and rakeback up.

GL to you guys. Binner

Big cash game and online nightmare


I have just come off the back of another poker filled weekend and managed to break even on the cyber felt after being up $800 at one point. Went back to 3 tables of NL200 6MAX and got run all over. Overpair vs Overpair, flush and straight draw vs Top pair, Top pair vs Overpair, Trips vs Trips....and good old mother Tilt for about 2 stacks. Marv. Roll down to where I started for the weekend. Managed to play my target of 1k hands (think i did about 2.5k) so the rakeback should be ok. Want to put in at least 10k hands this month at NL100 and NL200 FR and 6Max.

Everything has been booked for Vegas now. Imperial Palace for the first 4 nights then the Venitian for the second half of the trip, looking forward to catching up with a mate from OZ and playing alot of poker and winding the grinding yanks up at the tarbs....it's gonna be a cowboy hat and tequila sunrises for me all the way!

I played in a massive private cash game on Saturday night after being out drinking in town. They even sent a car 20 miles to pick us up and bring us to the game. Got there and there were the usual faces. The Wong, golf pro Jamie, Chinese Toni, the professor, Nikki the cnut, Big Chris etc and with all these regular faces came the regular chip stacks benith them. Prolly £13k on the table for a Dealers choice 3-3PL game with a £10 live blind from anywhere. Made for a massive game in which Iended up £100 down in the end. £60-£100 was a regular pre flop bet and pots were usually over £200...sick action all round, a great way to spead a Sun morning imo.

Work is going well and looking to do 150% this quarter which means more buckaroos towards the driveway and back garden, which I will spend about £2k on in May time, patio, lawn, shed, dining table etc....should be cool. Will post pictures as and when.

I feel a bit down atm about my poker after getting rinsed after a lot of hard work, will put some hours in this week and hopefully win a few buy ins back.

2/29/2008

Up a bit


So I have played a bit since my last post and have implemented my plan to play 4-8 games of FR at NL100 and NL200.

I am up a megre 4 buy ins so far after about 4 hours work in total over 2 nights.

I have mixed up my games a little bit and have been playing a couple of 6MAX games as well so I can get a bit more fruity with my foes.

I am looking forward to the weekends action and am in high hopes of a decent result, really aiming to put in 1k hands this weekend to build my PT database and push that 30% FTP rakeback up along the way :-) This weekend is crucial imo for my bankroll, if i can book a decent win then I will press up to NL200 for 6-8 tables rather than the majority being NL100 tables.

I look forward to an Amatay challenge when the fish is back from his hols, will be good to put in some HU action to mix things up a bit.

I bought a new watch the other day, UBOAT, Italian design, will be the next big thing in big faced watchs imo. Got it at a decent price £700 from a mate who is the watch manager for a big jewellers, gg sir.

Will post some hands tonight from the last few nights sessions.

2/27/2008

Weekend update and new approach

So the weekend came and went and so did another $600.

I basically had some unfortunate situations for full stacks on 1-2NL on Party. my K9 vs T9 on a Kt29 board, AI on turn with a miracle T hitting the river.
Then T8 vs KT on a 9J4 flop with a queen on the turn, Villian has bet pre and on the flop so it is hard to put him on KT here, all the money goes in and a $500 pot ships to him.
AJ vs AQ AI pre on a 5-10 6max game me obv with the AJ, not a good call here but the villian was loose aggro and i'd made the 3 bet with it then got shoved on for the last $250 so had to make the call just incase he had a small pait or a worse starting hand.

I was $1200 in at this point when I put on another $371 into a 5-10NL game and got dealt KT first up. Villian makes it $40 pre, i insta/tilt call see a flop on 9J5 he bets $60 i call. turn the golden Queen and proceed to mini bet into it and get raised all in for the rest, i duely call with the nuts and he is drawing dead with the boots. Took that $371 up to $900+ for a small loss for the weekend.

Anyway. I have been reading other grinders blogs, Amatay, Smart money et al and have seen them put in some great profitable performances playing like 6+ tables. I aim to do the same this weekend. I have got my PC set up with 2 LCD's so I will be ready to 6/8 table 50NL or 100NL. Might deposit on $1k and sit on 6 NL100 tarbs tbh. Will aim to get my VPIP down to around 30/35 from the 50 it is over the past 5k hands. I need to play alot more selectively and will play full ring rather than 6MAX, just to trial the system, I am a more skilled 6MAX player imo but want to improve my game and control my aggression on full ring, I think this will help.

Found a few tourns that I will play whilst in Vegas. Will prolly play the $125 freeze at the Mirage on Sun 17.00 and the $125 re buy at the Venetian at 20.00 in the week. Want to hit the Bellagio cardroom and Binions as well and also heard that the new Ceasers Palace CR is world class so will take a look in there aswell.

Amatay hasn't come back to me on the Heads Up challenge I set him, hopefully he will comment here and we can arrange something, would be interesting to see how good he is HU rather than waiting for the the Aces at FR :-)

On a bit of a fitness drive at the moment, been to the gym Mon and Tues this week and planning to go tonight, doing loads of boxing atm which should help the fitness greatly. Work is good, just closed a 50K deal which is my biggest of the year, looking forward to a decent chunk come the end of April.

GL all

2/21/2008

Vegas...Majorca....Basingstoke

So am just trying to finalise my flights and hotels for the trip to Vegas in April.

At the moment we are flying in at 9pm on Thurs 17th via Denver and leaving on 25th via San Fran. So i am obv looking for the best poker tourneys and cash games to play in, gonna need some help here....can anyone recommend a decent tourney with a decent amount of runners for the week?? All thoughts and recommendations would be much appreciated as this is my first time in Vegas.

Havent played any poker since my last post, I am still aiming to play just on Friday's and the weekends but I did stir things up on Amatays blog alittle with challenges going out to the pro himself and some of the the good folk I have had banter with before, stateofmind comes to mind! Come on guys.....The challenge is here in black and white. 21 games of HU NL Holdem STTs whatever the buy in. $5, $10, $20 prolly up to $50 as I am not hugely experienced in any tourns let alone HU ones. Winner is the first to 11 and we can even have a sidebet if you fancy on the overall outcome. Any takers.....?

Congrats to the hag for spinning up his freebie on PP to a decent amount, Party seems to be the sofest site in terms of low-mid limit cash games....it is also the place I have done the most money! Guess this is saying something.

Also booked an all inclusive holiday to Sa Coma in Majorca for the summer, a week away. Loads of sports and stuff going on in this resort so that should be cool.

Anyway just a quick update, will be a better post with HH's etc after this weekends action.

GL all

2/17/2008

Back...

Ok so I am back after a blogging sabatical. Happy belated new year to all and apologies for my lack of bloggage maintenance over the past few months. I really needed the break and was doing money left right and centre on the tarbs of cyberfelt. As all us aspiring world champions know though when that clock hits midnight on 31st December everything that has gone before, all the bad beats and poor bluffs, all those coin flips that have gone against you during the year justgoneth are forgotten and expelled to the very back of the memory banks. The new year brings a new slate, new promises, new opportunity in life and across the minefield that is the green felt.

So as far as poker goes I have done my pieces playing in the biggest games possible for my roll, anywhere up to 25/50NL with just over 2k. Here i got into a slightly favourable situation with QQ vs AK after it had gone blind, blind, call, raise then me to act with the bitches. In went the 2.3k, i had good fold equity here vs any hand that wasn't KK or AA. The raiser obv snap calls with AK but the EV of my play is positive because I am a slight favourite in the race plus I have the fold equity as there is $300 or so in the pot when I decide to jam. Anyway the flop comes AKJ and i dont improve. GG

So know I have decided to go back to grass roots poker playing 3/4 tarbs of 1/2NL, the odd game of 2/4NL and some more MTT's when I have the time. I have purchased the gold package of Cardrunners - what a site!! the best $100 i have ever spent imo. CTS' videos are genuine World class, I have definitely paid for the subscription by putting some of the plays into practise. I have also forked out the 50 doll for pokertracker, mainly to keep an eye on my ststs and records rather than to 'spy' on my opponents. I will prolly use it to build a database of my regular opponents soon but I find it quite a hard tool to use, lots of features etc....what do you guys use it for most? Any neat features that you recommend on there? Would be pleased to pick up some PT advice from anyone that is running it.....

I havent been pulling up any trees at 1-2 recently but have prolly won just over $1000 in a month of play, bearing in mind i am prolly playing about 8 hours a week just at weekends....so not too bad but i reallyt want to ramp this up by playing at least one day in the week aswell as the weekends.

I went to the full house in Reigate last saturday night for my first live game in about 3 months. Played in their £40 semi freeze and managed a final table before running a massive pre flop bluff and being called behind with AQ.....my 62o failed to improve and off to the cash table i headed. The owner of the club has seen me before around the home counties cash poker scene and warned the table before I sat down, cheers for the free publicity imo. Very first hand I re raise pre flop with q9 suited, get 2 callers and 3/4 bet the pot on a flop of J47, get two folds and show the play for even more publicity. Anyway from then on I am chased in every pot im in by all and sundry with people justed dying to iron me out. The murg busts his stack with KK all in on the flop which contains 2 clubs and no ace to AcQs when i comes running clubs, the murg has infact got the King of clubs aswell which makes this hand more sickening. I leave half an hour later with about £130 profit from the table and we make a tired trip back to Basingstoke.

I'm off to Vegas in April for the Calzaghe fight, should be a crack and will be my first time out there....any recommendations fellas?? Staying at the Venitian but will hopefully check out most of the card rooms during the stay.

On a bloggage note, great to see Amatay doing so well as a live fish, knew a player of his concentration and ability would do well. Good to see a friend of a friend Jonny Rutherford enter the scene...who used to come to the game I held in Basingstoke (and infact won a £1000+ first prize there) Link me up Jono and will have to arrange a trip back to the fullhouse for some felt sparring! Congrats to Yorkie and Burnley for prooving that they are men......

Good to be back, will post some recent hands soon aswell btw.

Binner