Any better 12 months on ... ?

I've been taking a break from Poker again and thinking about what I was doing differently from this time last year (and have I progressed?) ...

This time last year;

1) I was excited to be part of APAT and to be playing against guys I considered to be a class well above me in their Online Events and Live once a month in the APAT Regionals

2) I didn't have 'poker pals' like Derek, Joe, Jim etc. - guys who help me over-analyse hands and plays and listen to my success and bad-beat stories

3) I was enthusiastic about learning about NLHE knowing that I still had soooo much to learn

4 i) I was playing $0.25/$0.50 cash games on iPoker (overplaying and losing big pots with small hands mostly). I had taken a couple of shots at 50c/$1, had some short term success but ultimately failed and stepped back down shortly afterwards somewhat scared to go back

4 ii) I was playing $10 SnGs, STTs and MTTs on iPoker (with limited success)

5) The currency exchange rate was almost $2 : £1

6) I was depositing regularly with no concern for bankroll management. I could afford to dep around £30 once a month and have fun with it before the inevitable reload the next month

7) I wasn't as busy with work / life and it was fairly easy to find 2 or 3 hours at night to play to play for fun - no expectations, just high hopes of a modest return.

8) I had very little experience of Live Tournament Poker

Although I've recorded some very decent results and cashes since and feel I'm a better and more knowledgable player through my friendships with Derek, Joe etc., through being more involved in APAT and RTR, through reading strategy articles in PP / IP mags, 2+2 etc., from having played at higher levels Live in Edinburgh, Paris & Dublin and online as part of our deals / syndicates, I know I still have a long way to go - almost an unsurmountable way to go - if I'm to make it 'worthwhile'. By worthwhile, I mean to consistently grind up a bankroll from any future deposits, to study my past results closely enough to find a game and limit I feel most comfortable playing remembering that I should be playing in the hope that I can step up and back down when I need to. First off, I need to find the enthusiasm and the 'correct' mindset to make it an enjoyable hobby - the way I was enjoying my times at the tables on Oct 07. It's not going to be easy considering that I know, having written this, that I may not have realistically made any progress as a player over the past year as I haven't been able to grind the paltry deposits into a reasonable bankroll.

I know myself that I'm just not at 'that place' just now but it's with help from the exchange rate and with it being as poor as it is, that I'm able to refrain from re-depositing into my poker accounts. Online Poker and especially 'Losing Online Poker' has become so much more expensive recently.

I don't mean to bring anyone's mindset down to my level and this is far from a moan - more me just facing up to a bit of reality.

GL at the tables.

Lost Passion

I post this with as little passion for poker as I think I've ever had. It's basically just a copy > paste from two emails I've sent to Derek over the past week or so. It makes me feel happy that I'm so busy with work and I've hardly had a minute to myself (when I'd end up playing online).

(from Sun 19th Oct)

lol, (I laugh but could easily cry)

I've just played the £2.65 Sky Qualifier and come 8th of 10. With an M of 9 and with QQ I call from UTG (I've played KK and TT strongly so I'm mixing it up). SB makes it up and BB min-raises to 400. I pop it up now to 800, SB folds, BB calls. Flop comes AAA and SB checks it to me. With 1600 in the pot and with 2000 behind I'm shoving with my FH. BB calls with ATo - obviously! This is NOT a moan. I got them in bad, was outplayed by my opponent and was well and truly violated by Sky Poker but they were gettin shipped in here 100% of the time.

...

I'm keen to get back onto some proper felt but work is hectic and lack of free time / family time is annoying me. Life tilt in some ways I suppose.


(From email sent moments ago, Thurs 23rd Oct)

I don't know how you get HHs on Sky but I could give you a laugh if I can find out ...
I just played a £2 sat (5 players, 1 sat seat) ...

2nd Hand I'm dealt AA. All folds round to me on SB so I make it up. BB raises to 150, I reraise to 320, he shoves for 60BBs, I call (correct play? ;) ) and he has A8o. My As hold up and he's down to 80 chips.

Blinds 50/100, I'm dealt KTs on BB I call SBs raise to 300. Flop comes 47T and SB pushes for 2,200. I call and he shows 44 for trips. WHO PLAYS TRIPS THAT WAY??? If I can bring myself to ever take to a poker table again, I will!!

Last hand of my tourney, QQ with 2,700 behind. I raise UTG to 600, button shoves, I call. He flips over A6o. Board runs AK6 A x

No poker passion taken from that game at all. The guy behind me who had 80 chips after his donk-shove on 2nd hand was CL.

Ye just cannae buy entertainment like that!

I'm just bad!

Having withdrawn all but £16 of my roll from BetFair, I took to the 25c/50c tables to see if I could run it up - targetting the £30 mark. Through frustration, lack of patience and general bad play, I managed to get it up to £25 within 20 mins or so until the inevitable swing. Frustrated at one or two hands I played REAL badly, my play got even sillier and the patience went all together and took my £25 with it. I / no one should ever play when not in the mood. Unfortunately doing so has cost me a good bit of my roll over the past couple of weeks.

Since I returned from Glasgow at the weekend, where thankfully I didn't find a poker game, I decided to load my SkyPoker account with £25 and try to qualify for the SPUKT Leg 3 in Edinburgh on 31st January 2009. I played the first of my games last night (a £12 Semi) and was going great in the first hour. I made some great decisions against the right players at the right time and had one suckout - a gutshot straight (Q) hit him on the river after he bet all the way out of position with JTo on the K92 5 board with me flat-calling all the way with KJs - which knocked me from 8k to 3k.

Then, sitting 2nd in chips (12k) and with 18 left, I knew I just had to keep my head on a new table. With 5 seated and with TT in the hole, I raised pf, and faced my first re-raised of the game from the SB. I min-re-popped it up to 4k and was shoved on for his last 4k. For some dumb reason I called even tho I knew I had to be 54/46 at best and was left praying for a two outer against his KK which not surprisingly didn't arrive.

I have nothing to blame but myself and hope that I can put this behind me for the £2.65 Satellite to tonight's £12 game that kicks off in 10 mins.

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BetFair Challenge

A challenge on BetFair was brought to my attention by Mair. Sit n Go Leaderboards for three categories of player - Lightweight ($2 to $10 BuyIns), MiddleWeight ($10 to $99) and HeavyWeight ($100 +) - with those who finish in the top 20 of each being awarded a cash bonus at the end of each week.

So how hard could it be ... ? Having played SnGs and experiencing how little traffic there appears to be, top 20 might be quite straight forward. Not so! Traffic increased promptly and after a poor Day 1 I was sitting around 30th. After good Days on 2nd and 3rd, I was sitting 32nd. I knew I had to maintain some of the good form and play and I held my own during Days 4 and 5 but Day 6 was just plain grim - a suckout-tastic day where I just couldn't win a race and rather than tilting and blowing off more, I quit knowing my challenge was over for the first week.

After Day 4 and 100 games, I was sitting with a quite acceptable SharkScope chart; (a plus ROI etc.)



My chart now looks like this though;



My expenses were paid back into my BetFair Gaming account and I have now withdrawn them along with the remainder of my Annette winnings (as you'll see from above, about £100 down).

Where will I go from here ... ? Dunno really. I now have around $100 in my Stars account after staking Mary on BetFair (Stars transfer was easier) and breaking even staking Amatay (edited 19th Oct after his 3rd place for $840 in the 4k GTD). I'm considering doing the long haul games, $20 MTTs and the likes but will have to sit down and work out where and when I'll be able to do so.

I'm going on a Stag weekend in Glasgow tomorrow and Saturday during and will no doubt end up sat at a Cash Table in the early hours. I'm also considering debuting the OfficePoker game on Saturday afternoon rather than watching the Scotland game but I'm not totally sure yet.

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"Still Running goot!!"

The above is what Mary's WLM tag line reads. And thankfully it's still true. Having completed the last 10 games in profit she's generously given me 50% rather than the agreed 40% and is now using our equal shares in a new and longer 15 game stint with me now on 40%.

I got back into playing again recently and played well enough to turn £190 into £250 on BetFair's 25c/50c tables in a little over 3 hours of play. Variance popped it's ugly head up again though and with my AA losing to KTs on a KJrag board where he was happy to get his $90 in, he hit his T on the turn to wipe out a lot of my good work. That, with a poor and probably tilted call with ATs on a T high board into a pre-flop re-raiser with QQ, was enough to again leave me questioning my poker temperament and attitude I bring to the table.

So yesterday I hit the $10 SnGs and played a more patient game - something I've learnt from watchin Mary over the past week or so and something that was made a lot easier by having 3 tables open at once. I'm still generally nowhere near as tight as I probably need to be to achieve the results Mary has but in all honesty, I don't think I could / will ever be. When short stacked I very often think Mary is too tight in the closing levels but I would never suggest she change her ways - she's won far more than I have and I consider her to be a better NLHE player partly due to her superior patience. I try to play as all the training sites / books / pros tell you to - with an M of less than 5, push with any two rag and hopefully 'live' cards and hope for a 60/40 race. It's thanks to this tactic that I was able to bluff my way to two wins from my 4 SnGs last night but also why I bombed out just before the money in the other two. Some you win ... thankfully.

Amatay starts his 6 part-staked games tonight on Party (I think it's Party anyway - I must check).

28th Sunday $300k gtd - $215
28th Sunday 7pm - $109

29th Monday Super - $162
29th Monday 7pm - $109

30th Tuesday Super - $162
30th Tuesday 7pm - $109

GL Fella.

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Staking Mair38 / A piece of Amatay

Some of you will have seen this on Mair's Blog or on the RaiseTheRiver Forum ...

For those of you who haven't, RTR have a Staking Section where folk who want staked / have money to stake others can post their requests / proposals. On Tuesday with my Annette winnings safely in my BetFair account, I posted a proposal and Mary (Mair38) almost instantly applied. With a successful staking history with Mary and with her quite frankly 'awesome' recent results, I was obv happy to buy her into 8 x $5.50 SnGs on BetFair - where she's always wanted to have a bankroll.

In these 8 games she ran the $44 investment up to $85.64 with a remarkable three $22.50 wins and two $9 3rd places. So, in the hopes that I can further help her build a very decent bankroll from here, I have withdrawn $30 and re-invested the $27.50 winnings back into a new series of 10 x $5.50 SnGs of which I will receive 40% of all winnings.

I'll prob keep you updated on here but for regular updates on the new set of 10, see here


I've also taken a stake in Amatay from RTR in some higher buy in games. This fish has been runnin good recently on PartyPoker so I'm keen to see what kinda dough he can make for us lot. So far I've calculate that he's sold 27% of himself so with 50% up for grabs, there's plenty more to be got folks. C'mon over and join in the fun!

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How I stand in 2008 (so far)

I received a PM on the APAT website from Kenny 'THEGUY84' who had been reading this Blog. He made certain assumptions that I was 'in profit' from this year's poker exploits and I was happy to tell him;

In Online Poker / Poker Betting / RTR Staking I'm down for the year (not including the big win obv). Since January '08 I've had some turbulent times (like very recently) but none thankfully that I can't now afford. Online I've deposited £1,221, have withdrawn £1,000 and currently have £110 in play atm for a loss of £111. Given that I only play well above my bankroll and have had some serious brain-dead moments in cash games, I'm not too unhappy at this.

In Live poker, including the trips to Paris, the Edinburgh and Dublin Nationals with APAT, the APAT Regionals and my various home games, I'm down £250. The flights, accommodation, food etc. have come off my bankroll (Julia wouldn't let me take it out the joint bank account ;) ) so it's really not as severe as this.

I've almost always enjoyed spending the £400! Almost always ...

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Photos from Training Day

As title;

Me and Annette ...



Annette Dealing ...



If I get any more from the guys at BetFair I'll be sure to post them.

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Day at BetFair

Well ...

I started typing this when I returned home but due to some critisisms I have of BetFair I have delayed the publishing of this to make sure I'm not being unfair in all I'm going to say.

I have just arrived home from my day at BetFair offices for the Annette_15 Training day. For those of you who just want to know if it was a profitable trip, I'll start by telling you that I did cash in the $1,000 SnG after cutting a deal with winner Nick when I had 10.5k to his 15.5k - just one hand before I shoved with K4o with an M of 6. I brought home £170 and Nick (given the current exchange rate), took home £230 from the deal and the remaining £150 from the prize pool.

Right from the start and with Matt, Leo and Annette from BetFair all playing with Bounties on their heads, it was clear to see that each of the other 4 guys were gonna be happy to fold their way to the money. I had no intention of doing likewise so stepped it up even from my normal LAG game to something bordering on maniac / suicidal. I was showing T3o and Q6o type hands that I was raising from early positions to try to entice some action but still no one would play back at me. I took an early lead when I took Leo out with JTs UTG after he'd re-raised me pre-flop. The flop came a magical 789 and with 57o (yeah, seriously!) he shoved from the BB. Easy call and an easy bounty of a WSOPE BetFair ChipSet. It begs the question; Did having three players in the game who had nothing to lose ruin / lessen the experience a bit ... ? Somewhat, yes.

I continued to push my stack around and had a healthy lead by the time it got to push-fold poker and my card-dead period. Saif and Alan went out quite shortly after each other and by that time Matt sitting to my left, had started to push over my 3xBB raises forcing me to fold.

I was the best player of the five winners IMO and deserved to take it down but Nick, who took out Annette after she pushed with AQs and he woke up with QQ, and who doubled up through Steve (a Punter's Lounger) when he caught him making a play at the pot with a weak A2o type hand. To finish Steve off, Nick pushed OTT from the SB with K9o I think it was to force me and my 44 out. Only after a lengthy consideration I did reluctantly fold face up - you know that way when you just KNOW you're gonna hit??? And true to form, although folding was clearly the correct play, the 4 came on the turn - even without it I would have had Steve out and Nick crippled!

So that's the story of the cards ... now onto the trip as a whole ...

We were advised that InsidePoker may request a phone interview with us so I thought it would advantageous to get my thoughts down on screen first so that I don't miss anything.

Starting with the lack of contact from both BetFair / InsidePoker which I'm sure you're fed up reading about now, I and the others remained very unimpressed. And the same could be said for the hassles about the expenses situation that wasted hours of our days leading up to the day we were supposed to be looking forward to.

Please let me reference again how this Prize was advertised both in the magazine and in subsequent emails sent between 3rd and 15th September;

A VIP trip to London
including Travel and Accommodation (residents of UK and ROI only)
personal tuition from Annette
on STT and MTT strategies
in Annette's pre-WSOPE Training Camp
Collection from Novatel to BetFair offices
given a buffet lunch
then we'll play in an exclusive $1,000 SNG
be taken for drinks and meal at 'Fire Station'
and we would be 'well looked after' throughout


Right, I'll start at the start ...

'A VIP trip to London'
Budget Airline and underground (booked myself) and a 10 minute walk (no escort) to Novatel Hotel. I text Estelle from the Underground to ask if she would still be able to meet me at the station. Aparently they were short staffed so I had to make my own way there.

'including travel and accommodation'
BetFair's first email denied us this, then after each of us emailed Alun Bowden of IP, £50 per person was offered, more emails back and forth before my full £150 was eventually OK'd. Hotel couldn't confirm our reservation when we called on the night of 15th as it hadn't been booked until 16th - just 24 hours before.

'personal tuition from Annette'
'on STT and MTT strategies'
Our tuition took the form of a 5 man no-one-goes-out Sit'n'Go with Annette dealing. Our cards would be kept in front of us until each hand was finished and Annette would disect them and comment on our play. As each of the other winners appeared 'scared' to get their chips in - 88 was folded after a flat call, A8s was folded on the button after it had been checked round - it would be fair to say that such tight play didn't make me feel as if I learnt as much as I wanted or expected to.

'in Annette's pre-WSOPE Training Camp'
Erm ... this was a hallway in the BetFair offices

'collection from Novatel to BetFair offices'
A 10 minute walk for the three of us who met in the Hotel lobby with Leo the BetFair rep.

'a buffet lunch'
Laid out was a tray of sandwiches, 6 packs of crisps, a small selection of fruit, a dish of cold chips and some bottles of juice

'playing in an exclusive $1,000 Sit'n'Go'
Some of the guys had expected this to be a $1k Buy-In Event (a winner take all prize of $6k) given that 2nd to 9th places in the Freeroll got a $212 Token into Annette's 20k GTD Tourney. I read it corectly in that it would be a $1k prize but having re-read the adverts, I can see how they got confused. Some were MOST upset hearing this.

'Drinks and meal at Fire Station'
'we'd be well looked after throughout'
Fire Station was closed for refurbishment so 'Pizza Express' was booked. For someone who doesn't eat cheese, this was far from a welcomed change. Not being told about it until 90 seconds before we walked through PE's front door was pretty pish. I had taken the time to research the Fire Station online and knew that finding something without cheese wouldn't be a problem. Not so in a Pizza and Pasta only joint :( In fairness, the pasta dish that I had specially made was very acceptable and within the hour we were there, we each had about two drinks. With all that was going on with WSOPE and in the personal lives of Matt and Leo, they excused themselves from the rest of the night's action and said goodbye at 8:30pm after pointing us in the direction of a pub where we could watch the footy.

Annette herself was very pleasant and exactly as I had expected her to be. If you like her from what you know of her from TV / YouTube / PokerPlayer Mag whatever, it's fair to say that you would like her if you met her. If you're adverse to the various reported outbursts directed at Marc Goodwin, Isabelle Mercier etc., you probably wouldn't. I liked her and it had nothing to do with being invited to her 20th birthday party and being on the same guest list as Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Vicky Coren and Sorel Mizzi - she didn't mess about, took her role as trainer seriously enough in that she didn't suffer the idiotic plays of the BetFair staff lightly; "fuck off if you're not going to take this seriously" she told Matt during training when he decided to donk around. I think we all considered the invite a very kind gesture indeed seeing as we had only 'known her' for about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, as I had already booked my return flight etc., as the hotel was going to cost me £140 for the extra night and as Julia was having a rough Wednesday with HBOS announcing that they'd be axing 40,000 jobs, I quite happily returned home as planned.

It's now Saturday morning and I haven't received my £170 prize or £150 expenses in my BetFair account yet. All things considered, I suspect I'll be having to badger them for this pretty shortly. And when my BetFair WSOPE chips arrive, I'll give some of yez a shout for a home game to show them and my new skillz off.

Tuition from Annette_15

Having won the first of the six InsidePoker Freerolls back on January 10th and the prize of VIP Trip to London and personal Poker Training from Annette Oberstad in the WSOPE Training Camp, I have eventually received the phone calls and emails I've been long awaiting. After much to-ing and fro-ing and general stubbornness regarding my expenses (you can read all about it on RTR Forum here), I've managed to get them to agree to reimburse me for the full £132 flights.

So, if anyone is interested, my itinerary reads;

Wednesday 17th September 2008

Flight Glasgow leaving 11am > Heathrow arriving 12:25pm

Tube to Hammersmith where I'll be met by Estelle at Hammersmith Tube Station for the short walk to the BetFair offices.

Whenever I get there 'til 13:30 - An informal buffet lunch

13:30 til 18:00 - "Exclusive tuition for both Single and Multi Table Tournament strategy from the reigning WSOPE Champion herself" and "a Single Table Tournament along with the other five winners" ($1,000 Winner Takes All)

Wed Night - Dinner with Annette (she's been roped into this apparently as it's being billed as a dinner to celebrate her last full day as a teenager).

More drinks and a night out on "a substantial drinks allowance". I'll be quite happy if they want to live it up with the Pros in the WSOPE Lounge if such a place exists

One nights accommodation in the 4 star Novotel Hotel a short walk away.

Thursday 18th September 2008

Flight Heathrow leaving 13:05 to Glasgow arriving 14:35

Wish me luck! And if there's anything anyone would like me to ask / thinks I should ask the Norwegian Millionairess and current WSOPE Champ, feel free to post it on here.

4 Weeks Worth

pfffffffff ... where do I start ...

It has been a month since this poker blog was updated - sorry. And looking back I see that it was at the start of the $1k to $5k Challenge ... hmmm ... OK, there's lots to tell.

July Wk2 - having ramped my $500 deposit up to $830 in Wk1, my target was set at $1k for end of Wk2. Unfortunately, after some horrendous beats and equally horrendous plays at 50c/$1, I was back down at $500 after just two days and around 6 hours of play. Worse was to come though as I then managed to donk off another $300 over the next two days. With the $200 I had left, I decided that I needed to have a bit of a re-think and took to the tables with a tighter than normal approach to the game, only getting involved in good hands at good times but all that went to pot too and through yet more tough 50/50 type beats over the next two days, I went busto!

Obviously very disappointed, I was glad that I was going on holiday during Wk3 and Wk4. I would welcome the break but would also be working on my game by reading books and mags by the pool.

Wk3 /Wk4 - When on holiday I found a pub poker game running on the Sunday night. After dinner in the restaurant below, I signed up for it - a 20 Euro BuyIn with 1 R/A - and at the first break, with 4 guys from the original 15 out, I had 28k in chips. Without ReBuying or Adding On, I was 14k ahead of the next guy and 17k ahead of 3rd place (a good player from England).

To cut a long story short, English guy got uber-aggressive after the break making it very difficult to play directly behind and soon had a similar stack to me. He then claimed to catch a run of cards and was shoving / committing most of his 20k on almost every hand. He finished 5th and got his entry fee back. I then started to get busy with my shortish stack and managed to steal pots at good times to outlast a Dutch woman but after 30 mins of 3 handed play, I finished 3rd for 60 Euros. A decent profit all things considered.

August Wk1 - I've returned from holiday and before I take to the tables with half of our Challenge bankroll ($200), Derek and I meet up to discuss July's play. From the Cash Game sheets I provide and knowing that we're now SERIOUSLY short stacked, we change the strategy to one that will see us play the $20 Jackpot SnGs on Cardoza.

August Wk2 - I haven't managed to get going in the Jackpot SnGs so drop down to playing the $5 and $10 SnGs when my roll hits the $50 mark. Then with $24 left, I take one last chance at the $20 JSnG and bust out with a busted nut-flush draw leaving my SharkScope looking very poorly indeed ...




I'm now gonna be looking at my game and deciding where I go from here. I have around $75 rakeback coming from RaiseTheRiver but I'm thinking I might just withdraw it and spend it on a new pair of jeans or something. My passion for poker is gradually being sucked out of me and I don't know what I can / will do to get it back. Playing much less is something I'm definitely gonna try ...

Derek's having a rough time of it at the moment too. Despite being fairly steady in our Challenge, he's taken a big hit on the WillHill Cash Games and only come close to cashing in the GTD tourneys. Having been sent a few HHs for his JSnG games, I'd say he's been fairly unlucky not to be showing a profit but his head's not fully in it either.




A poor showing and a sad post. Sorry.

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$1k to $5k Challenge - Wk 1

What to do with my morning break ... Play Poker or Blog about the past 7 days play?? The latter has won and it's an easy decision, BELIEVE ME!

Regular readers (there are a few of you apparently) will know by now that Derek and I have decided to set ourselves a goal of turning $1k into $5k on the Cash Game tables. Cardoza on the iPoker network has been carefully selected for a number of reasons, all of which are based the deal we're getting by signing up through RaisetheRiver. For our initial deposits of $500 we're getting 200% bonus, 4 free books and 'Player Loyalty Payments' each month. Through another handy bit of software available from RTR, we're able to track our PLPs at all times - not just at the end of the month when the payments are made.

Derek (playing under the guise CardsHuh) started last Wednesday night on the 50c/$1 tables and after always being on the back foot, has reported a loss of around $100 for the first 1,000 hands or so. I on the other hand, started off on Thursday night and got off to a flyer with my bankroll peaking at $830 on Sunday morning. From the 22 tables (750-ish hands) I had played til that point, I had reported a loss on only two of those - I busted one $75 deposit and quit and logged off a table after 45 mins when my $75 depleted to $47.

Playing as 'calmasulike', I have been anything since Sunday morning. Having experienced 'variation' in it's extemities during the next 9 tables / 550 hands / 9 hours worth of play including twice being hit for all I have at the table when I've reeled opponents in well enough to get all their chips in behind only for them to hit their two outters on the River, I'm now back to my initial $500 bankroll.





The above and Cardoza's complete disregard for my drawing hands has really left me feeling as tilted as I ever have. Very rarely have I been in a position when I'm continuation betting out for something in the region of $30 with a very reasonable drawing hand, yet every time I've done so in the past 4 days I've been forced to lay it down or losing it and more to some sick cold decks.

I took yesterday off to take Julia, Scott and his pal Chrissy to the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. I enjoyed being away from the temptation of Online Poker but also felt anxious that I was leaving a pile of work behind too. Today the work will be attended to and I'll resist the temptation to play Poker during my lunch hour by taking a trip to the Driving Range.

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Weekend Play

Even my golf is turning very like my poker these days - steady, steady, donk moment, steady, steady, donk moment ...

On Saturday afternoon in the Medal I started 4,4 before an 11 at the 3rd. From the remaining 15 holes I posted 11 pars and a birdie 2 to shoot 84 (a nett 78)! A double bogey 5 at the par3 7th, a triple bogey 8 at the 8th and a double bogey at the 15th were mind-fuck blemishes on an otherwise very decent scorecard. Anyway, back to moaning about poker ... ;)

I've had another couple of decent results on the $10 SnGs so my SharkScope stats are back in the right direction again. I was home alone on Saturday night so was able to give 100% concentration to the 3 x two table sessions I played. From the 127 games I've played on BlueSq I now have an ROI of 23% and a total profit of $235. Hardly mind blowing I know but those stats were truly grim a month or so ago.

First up last night was the $10, $30k GTD R/A on BlueSq. Having re-bought on the first hand (when blinded 20 chips below the 1,500 starting stack) I managed to hold my own until the first break and end of the ReBuy period. First hand back though, and after establishing a tight table image, this donk calls my All-In ...


Hmmmfff! Not amused and it lead to me having to me 'hang about' long enough to make the money. From the 1,311 players that started, I exited 161st with top 150 getting paid.

On FT, I was in the $75, $17.5k GTD from 9pm. Playing well, stealing at all the right times and extracting maximum valyooo from many of my best hands, I managed to finish 12th of 556 for $422. Just five places higher and it'd have been a very, very nice pay day (in the region of $1,500). My exit hand was AJo into AQo on a A high non-flushing board. I shoved over the top on the flop at the wrong time obviously (not too bad a time in terms of strategy / blinds / money already in the pot) but I was playing to win and taking that hand down would have taken me to 2nd position. I have no complaints though as I played really well and it's my best MTT result in a while and I now have a 93% Rating on OPR, a 38% ROI and InTheMoney figures of 17/53 (32%). I just have to work on improving that Average Finish position in HoldEm NL games.

On the other tables, Derek was doing well too. He finished 11th in the $30k GTD as above and Mary managed 26th in the SHG on Stars. Congrats again to you both!

The $1k to $5k Challenge hasn't been brought up again yet. I think / hope we'll prob be ironing out the details later on this week / this weekend. Maybe Derek'll consider doing it on $10 R/A games now :)

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Before I knuckle down ...

... and commit myself to the $1k to $5k challenge with Zanshin, I'm gonna play 5 x $8 SnGs on FT (for $26 Tokens) for a 50/50 on profits deal with AceFilledDreams from RaiseTheRiver.

Having just railed him on the FT of his final attempt on a 'staked deal' he had with Cadmonkey, we got chatting on WLM and got onto his unanswered staking request for funding to play 10 of the above. As I now have $100 on FT from the Amatay 10k bet, investing $44 and three hours into something like seems worthwhile. I'm hoping that it'll teach me patience in the early stages of tourneys / SnGs as that's the key to these things.

See the RTR Forum post to keep up with our progress.

.

APAT in Dublin / SnGs

The APAT Event in Dublin was almost two weeks ago now and I haven't blogged anything about it - woops. It was fairly uneventful for me anyway ...

On a day when I simply wasn't getting cards, I resorted to stealing and playing aggressively with suited connector type hands just to keep myself above average in chips. It worked in that I didn't spend much time below 7k in chips (or above 12k in chips). With AJd in early position I raised it up only to fold to an All-In by a similar stack in a middle position. From a middle position with TT I raised it up and folded again when re-raised by the same player above and an All-In by the SB. My exit hand was AQ on the BB. I raise it up and get called by Luca in his pink Hulk t-shirt. I considered him to be the best and most aggressive player at the table and with my tight image pretty well cemented in most folks' heads, I check the 763 rainbow flop over to him. As expected, he fires out a 2.5k into a 3.2k pot and I decide that I do stand a chance of being able to steal it right there and then by shoving my remaining 7k in. I shove, he thinks for a minute or so, then decides that, with 18k or so behind, it's valuable enough to call me with his 88. The 8s hold up. WP Mate.

The rest of the weekend was most enjoyable - the APAT regulars are great craic and I enjoyed every minute of the weekend despite throwing Euros away left right and centre. I did make a small profit on Roulette and on Prob Bets (one was that I couldn't go 2.5 hours without peeing) so all was not lost.


Where are we going ... ?

Derek and I have agreed that we have to look at our poker 'careers' in more detail and work out how to bring our game on from recreational donking to semi-serious low stake grinding / luckboxing. Details will be available once funds have been deposited and the terms agreed but the main objective is to turn $1k into $5k ($500 to $2.5k each) by the end of 2008 without going broke. We've arranged to start in July which means we now have only a few days to change our mindsets in preperation.


$10 SnG Success

Over the past few weeks I've made more time for poker despite still being as busy as ever with work. To take some strain off myself, I've contracted in a PC repair guy and an experienced Web Developer / Coder and I'm enjoying work (the medium amount I've left myself) a lot more. I've taken two nights off this week, I managed to fit in 4 holes of golf on Monday afternoon, an hour at the driving range this afternoon and half an hour this afternoon to updated my Blog ;)

Having been denied the chance to play 10 x $10 SnGs staked games for cadmonkey on RaiseTheRiver, I set myself the goal of playing them for myself to see how I'd do. I had recently moved up to the $20 SnGs but after a bankroll demise, I have quite wisely stepped back down for the time being.

So, by firing up two 6 Max tables at a time (one turbo and one standard being my preferred option), I hoped that it would stop me getting as bored as easily and stop me playing marginal hands just to keep in the action. And, from the results below, it appears to have worked ...



$222 won for a $110 stake. I'm happy with that!!! Now if I could only stop donking it all away on the 50c/$1 tables ... ;)

.

Everest 20 WSOP ME Seats GTD - 40th :(

After reading an advert in PokerPlayer magazine where Everest Poker were offering new members a free entry into the $1,050 20 WSOP ME Seats GTD Event, Jim and I commenced battle against 300 others last night. 230 runners had reg'd through this promo and the other 72 players had satellited in / bought in directly for $1,050. And in the end my 40th place was actually quite fair. I was sooooo hoping for one of those $13k seats in the Main Event though - as everyone else was I'm sure.

As I'm going to be studying my HHs this week to find and plug leaks in my game ahead of Dublin this weekend, I post the following hands on here - the sickest ones of the night - just to keep it all fairly easy to find. Some of them are bad beats so, if that's not your thing, look away now!

------------

Starting game 3340631220.

the_jasper is at seat 3 with 3,749.
ganjou is at seat 8 with 8,572.

The dealer is seat 5.

the_jasper posts an ante of 25.
ganjou posts an ante of 25.

(ganjou is dealt 10s 10c.)

Pre-flop:

ganjou raises 500.
the_jasper calls for 800.

The flop comes
Kh Qd 8h.

ganjou bets 2,275.
the_jasper calls for 2,275.

The turn comes 9c.

ganjou goes all-in for 5,472.
the_jasper goes all-in for 649.
4,823 is pushed back to ganjou.

Showdown:

ganjou shows: 10s 10c
10s 10c Kh Qd 9c
A pair of Tens

the_jasper shows: Ad 9d
9c 9d Ad Kh Qd
A pair of Nines

The river comes 9h.

ganjou shows: 10s 10c
10s 10c 9c 9h Kh
Two Pair, Tens and Nines

the_jasper shows: Ad 9d
9c 9h 9d Ad Kh
Three Nines

the_jasper wins pot (8,123).

------------

Starting game 3340668013.

erica85 is at seat 0 with 8,247.
ajcairns is at seat 2 with 1,564.
the_jasper is at seat 3 with 9,423.
Nevertheless is at seat 4 with 1,935.
BERCETO is at seat 5 with 8,575.
PASTAFLY is at seat 6 with 1,842.
ashhen is at seat 7 with 8,457.
ganjou is at seat 8 with 6,423.
_Av_It_ is at seat 9 with 10,388.

The dealer is seat 5.

the_jasper posts an ante of 25.

BERCETO posts an ante of 25.

ganjou posts an ante of 25.

(ganjou is dealt Jd Jh.)

Pre-flop:

ganjou raises 500.
the_jasper calls for 800.
BERCETO raises 3,075.
ganjou calls for 3,075.
the_jasper folds.

The flop comes
7c 3h As.

ganjou goes all-in for 2,523.
BERCETO calls for 2,523.

Showdown:

ganjou shows: Jd Jh
Jd Jh As 7c 3h
A pair of Jacks

BERCETO shows: Kc Ks
Kc Ks As 7c 3h
A pair of Kings

The turn comes 10d.
The river comes Js.

ganjou shows: Jd Jh
Js Jd Jh As 10d
Three Jacks

BERCETO shows: Kc Ks
Kc Ks As Js 10d
A pair of Kings

ganjou wins pot (14,271).

THIS TOOK ME TO 4th / 71 left.

--------------

I just know I'm ahead here ...

Starting game 3340741115.

erica85 is at seat 0 with 7,072.
ganjou is at seat 8 with 12,421.

The dealer is seat 6.

ashhen posts a blind of 300.
ganjou posts a blind of 600.
erica85 posts an ante of 75.

(ganjou is dealt Qc Qs.)

Pre-flop:

erica85 goes all-in for 6,997.

ganjou calls for 6,397.

Showdown:

ganjou shows: Qc Qs

erica85 shows: Ah Js

The flop comes
10d 10h Kh.
The turn comes Ac.
The river comes 5d.

erica85 shows: Ah Js
Ac Ah 10d 10h Kh
Two Pair, Aces and Tens

ganjou shows: Qc Qs
Qc Qs 10d 10h Ac
Two Pair, Queens and Tens

erica85 wins pot (14,969).

------------

Starting game 3340792134.

oceans007 is at seat 0 with 11,168.
Ragearama is at seat 1 with 6,295.
fradge26 is at seat 2 with 28,595.
the_jasper is at seat 3 with 3,873.
TG73 is at seat 4 with 5,890.
BERCETO is at seat 5 with 21,137.
PASTAFLY is at seat 6 with 2,093.
ashhen is at seat 7 with 6,257.
ganjou is at seat 8 with 4,524.
_Av_It_ is at seat 9 with 4,996.

The dealer is seat 0.

Ragearama posts a blind of 300.
fradge26 posts a blind of 600.
oceans007 posts an ante of 75.
Ragearama posts an ante of 75.
fradge26 posts an ante of 75.
the_jasper posts an ante of 75.
TG73 posts an ante of 75.
BERCETO posts an ante of 75.
PASTAFLY posts an ante of 75.
ashhen posts an ante of 75.
ganjou posts an ante of 75.
_Av_It_ posts an ante of 75.

(ganjou is dealt Kc Kh.)

Pre-flop:

BERCETO raises 2,250.

ganjou goes all-in for 4,449.
oceans007 goes all-in for 11,093.
Ragearama goes all-in for 5,920.

BERCETO folds.
4,873 is pushed back to oceans007.

Showdown:

Ragearama shows: Ks Kd

ganjou shows: Kc Kh

oceans007 shows: Jd Ad

The flop comes
6c Qc 9h.
The turn comes Qd.
The river comes 9c.

oceans007 shows: Jd Ad
Qc Qd 9h 9c Ad
Two Pair, Queens and Nines

Ragearama shows: Ks Kd
Ks Kd Qc Qd 9h
Two Pair, Kings and Queens

ganjou shows: Kc Kh
Kc Kh Qc Qd 9h
Two Pair, Kings and Queens

Ragearama splits pot (8,774 of 17,547).
ganjou splits pot (8,773 of 17,547).
Ragearama wins pot (3,542).


----------


The RTR post reporting my exit hand was;

Out in 40th. When I got kicked off my Hand History option was taken away from me.

BERC (who's KK I had beaten with JJ earlier) was raising every hand and was the table captain and bully. With an M of less than 4 and AdJc I shoved over his $2,600 raise. He took the full time to call and showed Ah5c.

Flop came three hearts, another heart on the turn and another on the river. I know I'm lucky to have got that far but I'm GUTTED nonetheless!


I had also played in a $75 Tourney on FT but with ATs got aggressive into a Q44 flop when he'd flopped the Full House. He slow-played me with QQ and hooked me in - eeesh.

MSOP Event # 7 / Will Hill, minus £60

Having swept work aside on Wednesday night to settle into some much missed poker time, I played in Event # 7 of the MSOP (Full Tilt's Mini Series of Poker). Having originally planned to spend some time with Julia I was delighted to hear that she had stuff to do in the office. Not only did this then mean that I was allowed to play, I was being actively encouraged to! So, after agreeing to both help her fulfill a wedding favour order and on a 50/50 split of any winnings with Mary, I took to the tables.

Having played as well as she did the night before when Mik and I staked her in a $26 MTT, Mary crashed out a hundred or so before the money. Me on the other hand, I was hitting rivers with monotonous regularity - sometimes from way behind. Examples will be posted shortly but I'm just not in the mood at the mo. To keep it brief, I finished 23rd of 2,056 for $123 and pennies. In many ways I'm glad to have had a fix and some MTT practice for APAT Irish Open next weekend. This and a quick blast through Harrington On HoldEm this week and hopefully I'll be OK.

And so, with £45 in Cash Game winnings from a Home Game last night, I've taken to the tables again this afternoon, depositing £50 onto WillHill to take advantage of their £25 / month Bonus. But it hasn't gone well. I joined a 6 max 50c/$1 table with $60 and managed to peak at $105 before a series of misreads and loose play on the following hand;

Game #7355498004: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2008/06/07 - 11:09:24 (UK)
Table "Lethai" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1: Jimmmy001 ($106.95 in chips)
Seat 2: Lukybugur ($73.35 in chips)
Seat 3: Yax2323 ($49.36 in chips)
Seat 4: Miha30113 ($120.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Juli06039 ($125 in chips)
Seat 6: Mamaggie ($65.08 in chips)
Yax2323: posts small blind $0.50
Miha30113: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Lukybugur [Kc As]
Juli06039: raises to $4
Mamaggie: calls $4
Jimmmy001: folds
Lukybugur: raises to $8 (I had actually slid the slider up to $12 but I must have slid it down again before pressing 'Raise')
Yax2323: folds
Miha30113: folds
Juli06039: calls $4
Mamaggie: calls $4
----- FLOP ----- [Kd 9s 3s]
Juli06039: checks
Mamaggie: bets $57.08 and is all-in
Lukybugur: raises to $65.35 and is all-in
Juli06039: folds
Returned uncalled bets $8.27 to Lukybugur
----- TURN ----- [Kd 9s 3s][4c]
----- RIVER ----- [Kd 9s 3s 4c][5s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Lukybugur: shows [Kc As] (A Pair of Kings, Ace high)
Mamaggie: shows [7s 6s] (A Flush, Nine high)
Mamaggie collected $136.66 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $139.66 Main pot $136.66 Rake $3
Board [Kd 9s 3s 4c 5s]
Seat 1: Jimmmy001 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Lukybugur (button) showed [Kc As] and lost with A Pair of Kings, Ace high
Seat 3: Yax2323 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Miha30113 (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Juli06039 folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Mamaggie showed [7s 6s] and won ($136.66) with A Flush, Nine high


So in true chasing my losses form but with a calm head (I did take a breather and composed myself - honest!) I re-deposit £10 and sit down at a 10 man 50c/$1 table with that and my $10 gift for about $29. After two hours (£10 more in Bonus) and after having run my stack up to $90 the following happens;

Game #7358263184: Hold'em NL ($0.50/$1) - 2008/06/07 - 16:40:07 (UK)
Table "Angelica" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 2: Le_boom ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 4: johan13 ($134.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Lukybugur ($84.70 in chips)
Seat 6: poonjoe ($102.50 in chips)
Seat 7: Str8Edge ($146.60 in chips)
Seat 8: bonospoke ($66.43 in chips)
Seat 9: Delut0501 ($20 in chips)
Seat 10: Joche0907 sits out
Lukybugur: posts small blind $0.50
poonjoe: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Lukybugur [Kc Ks]
Str8Edge: folds
bonospoke: folds
Delut0501: folds
Le_boom: calls $1
johan13: calls $1
Lukybugur: raises to $4
poonjoe: folds
Le_boom: calls $3
johan13: calls $3
----- FLOP ----- [6s 7d 8h]
Lukybugur: bets $8
Le_boom: calls $8
johan13: raises to $25
Lukybugur: raises to $80.70 and is all-in
Le_boom: folds
johan13: calls $55.70
----- TURN ----- [6s 7d 8h][Jc]
----- RIVER ----- [6s 7d 8h Jc][Qd]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Lukybugur: shows [Kc Ks] (A Pair of Kings, Queen high)
johan13: shows [5d 4d] (A Straight, Eight high)
johan13 collected $179.40 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $182.40 Main pot $179.40 Rake $3
Board [6s 7d 8h Jc Qd]
Seat 2: Le_boom folded on the Flop
Seat 4: johan13 (button) showed [5d 4d] and won ($179.40) with A Straight, Eight high
Seat 5: Lukybugur (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and lost with A Pair of Kings, Queen high
Seat 6: poonjoe (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Str8Edge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: bonospoke folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Delut0501 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

So felted again, I sit here happy to be reporting on it than being back on chasing losses. I have a couple of games on tomorrow night that I can now look forward to - one a 230 runner Freeroll on Everest Poker with 20 Guaranteed WSOP Packages up for grabs! It should be a good one! And I'll maybe I'll get around to having a bash at a $75 Tourney on FT.

Real Poker Training - My Thoughts

Keen to try a Poker Training site, I signed up for the Newsletter at RealPokerTraining.com. After about three months of just reading the stuff they emailed me, I was offered 6 months free if I signed up for and generated just $1 of rake on Duplicate Poker.

My rake was met from having played just four or five $3 (+30c) tourneys on there and yesterday (three weeks after emailing RPT asking for an account to be activated) I started my 6 month Access All Areas Membership. I watched a couple of vids on there last night - three by David Williams, a Ryan Fisler one and a couple of Amateur Player Critique ones - and well, I'd give the ones I've seen so far about 6/10.

Having seen a couple of Cardrunner samples, it's nothing like that (but that's not to say CR are better or worse). Firstly each just runs as if these guys are playing live - there's no skipping to particular hands. David Williams admits 'that he still needs to get a feel for this' and during the 'dead time' does tell some pretty decent stories about some of the Pros he plays with regularly and some of the strange and interesting hands he's played in against them. When he gets side-tracked by the hand in play, which can easily happen three times in one story, they become hard to follow. I don't have the best memory and I'm not the most patient person in the world so I found my concentration wandering to the other screens I have open (RTR and APAT Forums mainly).

For $1 rake on Duplicate the 6 month Membership is a steal. Duplicate itself though is pretty grim (grim = different and complicated if you've never played this format before and don't fully understand what to expect).

Week Off / Staking

Having had almost a full week away from Poker due to work commitments and preparing for and playing in a local golf tournament, I hope to be able to get back into it over the weekend. I'm considering finding something to use my $75 FullTilt Tokens on.

As $75 would see me playing out-with my recommended Bankroll, if anyone else is in a similar situation and would be interested in playing in the same or a similar $75 tourney - on FT or otherwise - for an agreed % share of each other's winnings, please let me know.

Over the past few weeks, I've been getting involved in staking others in tourneys I can't afford to play in. Last week Kennl from RaiseTheRiver returned 1.5x my stake in him in the $535 FTOPS Main Event and I have re-invested that in him in the $640 PartyPoker $1Million GTD Event on Sat 31st May along with MANY other RTRers - Mary and Derek included. With a $1,400+ Bankroll that I'm not currently making the most of, I'm happy to make it available to fellow APATers and RTRers initially, part-staking them into tourneys higher than they might normally consider. Initially I'm looking to invest up to $40 in any one Online Tourney if you're injecting a similar or greater amount. If interested, leave a comment.

APAT Regional Qualifier

I played in the APAT Regional Qualifier in Edinburgh yesterday and finished 6th of 23 with the top 3 getting paid and qualifying for a Seat in the APAT Irish Amateur Poker Championship in Dublin on 14th & 15th June 2008. On my final hand I had raised from UTG with A8o and was re-raised by Paul Scholes lookalike Steven McLeod whose aggression at the final table would put Gus Hansen to shame. He was raising almost every pot and admitted to me at the break that he doesn't play 'conventional poker'. Anyway, I called, he sucked air in through his teeth signaling to me that he didn't want a call, then flipped over T7o. The horrid 7 on the turn put me out in 6th :(

Congrats to BillyHo for winning it from a very short stack after a Final Table run-in with QQ against Scholesy's All-In re-raise with 86o which flopped two pair and rivered a Full House, and to David Blacklaw and Johnny Gibb who cashed for £150 and £120.

'Twas a strange day ... I cracked AA twice, the second time against Richard Gould with Q6o. A 6 flopped and I called his 1/2 pot bet and then his insta-push when another 6 fell on 4th street.

I'll be interested to see how many play in tonight's Qualifiers on BlueSquare after almost all Regionals reported a less than normal attendance yesterday.

.

7 Card Straight Flush

pfffffffffffff ...

And here's me thinking this was a good fold ... ;)



.

Back in the Black!

Having just taken down a $20 10 man and $20 6 man Sit'n'Go for $100 and $84 respectively on Big Slick (after having made my initial deposit of £100 on Tuesday morning), my 2008 Online Bankroll is now £46.60 in the black!

Again, not including 'the big win', this is calculated from;

18 deposits totalling : £656.50
Current Bankroll 'In Play' : £503.10
Withdrawls from BlueSq : £200 (for my mates to 'live bet' on The Masters)

I realise a degree of poor Bankroll Management is to blame for some of the 18 deposits and this is something I plan to work on. In all fairness though, 11 of those have been for less than £30 - piddly amounts that let me play in RTR's $3 Knockout Challenge on FT and their League games on Virgin. It also incorporates the occasional £10 & £25 PaySafeCards I use to re-deposit on Stars to beat Jim in the Sunday Hundred Grand and to transfer to the Syndicate to play the Sunday Million.

I read on RTR earlier today that most of us have our Bankrolls spread over a number of poker sites - I've money on accounts with 7 providers including Big Slick and BlueSq and have over $200 in Tourney Tokens on FT (they count!)

Anyway, just a short brag whilst I can as no doubt someone at iPoker will be reading this and is getting ready to cold-deck me as soon as I hit their tables again.

Bankroll Hit (-$138 in 45 mins)

OK, I still need to learn a bit about Bankroll Management.

The $238 that I reported having In BlueSq this morning has this afternoon been knocked back down to $100 on a 6 seater 50c/$1 Cash game. The three killer hands for me were;

- Q5o on a Q42 board from the BB. It's raised only 2xBB from a middle position and I call. Flop comes Q high which I check raise to find out where I am, he thinks for a bit, then calls. The turn is a 3 giving me the open ended straight draw which I check to him, he checks. I bet out at the blank river and I'm priced into calling his min-raise - nearly $30 donked off as he flips AQ.

- KcKh v AsJs on a AcTc5c flop. With the 50/50 chance at hitting the nut flush draw I re-raise, setting my opponent All-In, he called. Turn and River are red so I'm relieved of another $25.

- Raising and re-raising from the button with AJo pre-flop to define the very active and ultra-aggressive Big Blind's hand, who's pocket Kings zero'd me for over $40. This was a hand I shouldn't have been involved in but following the two hands above, I suspect I was steaming.

If I had been sticking to the recommended limits on my currently deposited Bankroll, I wouldn't have been in there with $88 and a $50 reload chasing my losses. Then again, I wouldn't have been at the 50c/$1 where I do now feel comfortable.

Hmmffffff ...

My Bankroll Strategy

Having discussed bankroll with Derek on the way home from the Scottish National Event last Saturday, it occurred to me that I have no real strategy set out for increasing mine. So, first thing on Sunday morning, and without having to go back to Edinburgh for Day 2 :( I set about identifying the games that I currently make the most money from and which I'd be best sticking to if I wanted to see my Bankroll grow consistently. Surely a plan like this would get rid of the recreational player thoughts I have and regularly fall into when I join the $5 push-fests just looking for a 'fix'.

With most of my currently deposited money within BlueSq ($150), I decide it will be best to stick to the $20 6 and 12 Man SnGs and the 50c/$1 tables.

With $30 and a $75 Tournament token on Full Tilt from a $60 deposit in April, I noticed that I have enjoyed most success in turning $8 into $26 Tourney Tokens then those into $75 Tourney Tokens via the 18 Man SnGs in which you only have to finish in the top 5 to claim the top prize.

Until the SHG last night where I cashed for $40 on Stars, the above games are what I've pretty much stuck to for the past 7 days and I can report that the $255 BlueSq and FT bankroll now stands at $463 with $238 on BlueSq and $225 (3 x $75 Tournament Tokens) on Full Tilt.

Most importantly, only once have I slipped up and gone looking for a recreational game - I'm currently on a $2 Sat to SHG on Stars and yes, I do feel ashamed.
.

Derek (Oenone) in SHG

Right, first things first this morning, where did Derek end up in the SHG ... ?

11th? WOW! $466 added to the bankroll.

And I've just seen a email sent at 02:51 saying;


So close to the final table but it was not to be.

Feeling drained and gutted but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Final hand


*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Oenone [Ah Ts]

Kurt_Jara: raises 420000 to 630000

Oenone: raises 1348262 to 1978262 and is all-in

oop64AA: folds

Einnebson: folds

river_jackq: folds

Kurt_Jara: calls 1348262

*** FLOP *** [5c Qd 2d]

*** TURN *** [5c Qd 2d] [6s]

*** RIVER *** [5c Qd 2d 6s] [7c]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Kurt_Jara: shows [Jh As] (high card Ace)

Oenone: shows [Ah Ts] (high card Ace - lower kicker)


Well played again Mate. If only your prize was more indicative of you having beaten 20,245 others ... :(

Weekend Play (including SHG)

Alan, the fourth member of our syndicate took a bash at the Sunday Million tonight and has just exited in 1912th for $0. His play was too tight in my opinion - whether he wasn't confident enough playing with other folk's money, I'm not sure. I just felt that he was leaving his opponents open to catch their cards and wasn't betting out enough when he had position and / or premium hands.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 163 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 18 times while in big blind (16%)
- 4 out of 18 times while in small blind (22%)
- 11 out of 127 times in other positions (8%)
- a total of 18 out of 163 (11%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 4 (50%)

I played the Sunday Hundred Grand for the first time in a while and came 1085th for $40. I felt I played very well and again, on the last hand, had my chips in with the best of it (All In pre-flop then he hits a three-outer on the flop) ...


With blinds at 2k/4k and with Antes, I've raised to 10k leaving myself 20k behind. The Big Blind with 38k pushes in and I'm auto-calling. I have to admit I didn't expect to see him flip over A2 and I obv didn't want to see a 2 on the flop. But, it did ... :(

More about this in the morning. I'm off to concentrate on railing Derek (Oenone) who is on 273k and in 90th position of 195 remaining.

Today's Cash & Tourney play

Having ramped up my $60 cash deposit to $225 in Tournament tokens on FT (which I plan to use in bigger GTD tourneys in the future), I'm back at BlueSq on the 50c/$1 cash tables.

I played a couple of hours earlier today whilst installing Windows XP SP3 onto two PCs (lots of sitting waiting) but finished around $40 down. So I decided to register for a $24 / 12 Man SnG instead. I got to heads up for either a $120 or $60 payout and we got them All-In pre-flop on the second to last hand ...


$60 is still a good return for 40 mins but hmmm ... I've had lots of cashes recently, some like this, quite significant in relation to my $200 bankroll on BlueSq, but I can't help feeling I'm due something ... more substantial. Like y'all, I continue on in hope.

ALWAYS on the River ... ! Greensteined!

I'm gettin really f*ckin sick of this ... in Online tourneys / SnGs, any time I'm risking my tournament life and get them All-In, 90% of the time it's with the best of it ... !



I know it was a 'loose' call but I fancy my chances against a big stack who could be bullying with something in the 77, AQo and AJs range. It just ALWAYS seems to come on the river.

It brought a pretty good run to an end ...



Anyone reading this is due at least a pint from me. I make it about 6 Bad Beat posts at 50p each ... sorry! Let me know who you are by leaving a comment ...

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APAT Scottish National

I lost my APAT National virginity at the weekend when I joined the field of 130 in the APAT Scottish Amateur Championships. It was every bit as good as I had expected - if I had gone just that little bit further I'm sure it would have been even more enjoyable.

For the majority of my tournament I was sat at table 6, a very tight table generally. Our dealer breathed a sigh of relief and gasped in disbelief when after 1h 35 mins we had our first re-raise.

I started well enough when, with TT on a KQrag 9 3 board, I called a 3/4 pot bet by BB, his half pot bet on the turn and his weak river bet only for him to insta-muck. That took me from 8.5k to 12.5k.

I found myself back down at around 8k shortly after the first break then look down to see 88 (the hand that cost me the most money in Paris!). I raise from the Small Blind and I'm called by BB and a mid position limper. Flop comes down 4h4s5h. I continuation bet for half the pot and I'm called by BB, mid position folds. Turn is 6s which I check to him thinking that, if he checks behind, he's called my flop bet with AQ, AK or a flush draw. He bets out 2k and now I know he has a decent hand (he's hit either the 4, trip5s or the 6, 88, 99, TT or JJ) so I start to replay the hand back to myself.

- With a check>raise now I can probably successfully represent a high over-pair and if he has a flush draw, he'll suspect he enough outs to catch on the River to warrant the call. If he has an over-pair though, with almost half his stack invested already, he's priced into the call and I'm in bad shape to all but 77 and the other 88.

- My check on the turn might have him thinking that I'm on a AJs, AQ, AK or flushing hand and he may only have bet out 40% of pot to get me off the hand if he's holding 2 pair (maybe a suited 4 or suited 6 from the BB).

I shove and after thinking for 30 seconds (which makes me think he maybe does only have a suited 6, 77, the other 88 or 99), he calls and flips over 99 leaving me just 6 outs on the river - two 8s and four 7s. I congratulate him on a good call only to look round with some disbelief when I hear that a 7 has fell on the river. GG, WP and let me buy that man a drink to apologise. As he took off quite quickly after I didn't get a chance to do so, so, if you're reading this, see me next weekend at the Edinburgh Regional - your first one's on me.

I got to the second break with 10.5k when the average stack was 14k or so. I had been playing aggressively enough to feel like the table donk so knew I either had to tighten up a bit or go after the blinds even more aggressively. I did both, identifying a couple of guys I felt were 'desperate' to survive until Day 2 and who would fold marginal hands if they weren't first into the pot. I ramped my 10.5k up to 22.5k without even seeing more than a couple of flops. I did voluntarily show a couple of hands - TT twice and 77 within 10 hands or so - to show I wasn't raising with junk but I also remember raising from early and middle positions with Q2o, 97o and 34s just because I 'felt' I could get them through.

Then, after about 20 mins of having a full table again, I look down at AQspades UTG. With Blinds at 800/1600 I raise to 4000. It folds around to the Button (another Edinburgh Regional regular) who shoves for 10k. With all the chip leaders at the other tables and with 6k to call to win 16k (taking me to almost 36k and more able to bully the table), I feel that now could be a good time to gamble. He has shoved 3 times in the past 15 or so hands so I have his range from ATsooted. He flips over AKo and I don't improve.

Me and my 10k are immediately moved to a table of healthy stacks. I'm immediately placed on the BB and fold my J3o to a raise from mid-position. On SB I fold my K2o to a raise from UTG. From mid-position I shove with J9hearts and I'm called by Mal666's JTo. I fail to hit and I'm out in 49th (I think).

I join the £1/£1 cash game where straddles are hitting £32. My £100 lasts me around 90 mins (there's a lot of hilarity from Zanshin (Derek), Sticky and Scouse3465 delaying hands). On the penultimate hand I flop two pair with T3o on 5T3 flop. Phil Starr bets £15, I call and the Aberdonian calls. Turn is a 4, Phil bets £15, I push for £40, Aberdonian folds, Phil calls and turns over 62o for a straight! You've gotta be f*ckin kiddin me!!!

After finding £10 in another pocket I buy in for the last hand that many agree is going to have a £10 straddle. With J6o I catch a J on the turn to beat Aberdeen's flopped T so I leave with £50 (£60 down).

Congrats to all those who made it to Day 2 and to BillyHo (a Blog reader :) ) who fell late on Day 1 in 25th position after having established himself as one of the most fearless players at out table IMO. It was great to meet so many familiar faces, the many APATers that I converse with on the Forum and the APAT Staff that I speak to quite regularly on the phone but hadn't met until Saturday.

After the 60 minute journey home with Derek discussing hands from the day, bankroll and the best online games, you can expect a Blog post on strategy very soon.

L8R!

A great flop, but ... !

Having not been too successful in SnGs this afternoon I went on to make up some of my BuyIns on the 25c/50c Cash Games on BlueSq. I bought in for $34 and I had just passed my first target of $50 after 18 hands when this happens ...



I know it's not a bad beat and this is not meant as a whine - it's just such a sick flop for my hard-earned £25!! He flat calls my re-raise on the flop so I'm thinking he's likely to call a big bet with AQ, QJ, JT and such hands. AK? Oh ur feckin jokin me! AR$E! GG WP

APAT Scottish National - Preperation

I sit here at 2pm having nearly finished work for the week (hopefully) reading up on more Poker Strategy on the Bluff Magazine website, watching some Cardrunners vids and playing some SNGs in the hope that it will help me in this weekend's APAT Scottish National.

A good few of the Regulars from the Edinburgh Regionals will be within the field of 130 with many others making the trip from all over the UK, Ireland and even Italy so I'm looking forward to catching up with those I know and meeting those I don't, yet!

Updates will be posted on the APAT Forum ( Day 1 | Day 2 ) and I'm obviously hoping my play features in both. With 10,000 chips and 40 minute blinds not many Alternates get to play in APAT Nationals. I just hope I'm not one of the ones who makes way for one! As usual, I don't have a strategy going into it, I'm going to play the cards and the people at the table and enjoy the atmosphere I've been assured is 'quite special'.

As always, I'll post my results and any stories on here.

GL to All playing (unless we're in a big pot together!)

Cercle Wagram - Paris Trip Day 2

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Day 2 began at around 08:30 for me and around 08:40 for Blair who was still air-tight in his camp bed!

Having found a pharmacy for plasters and vaginal cream minty enough to brush your teeth with, we headed out to find breakfast. Here's one for you ... why MUST the French give you cheese on your Baguette? Despite explaining that I was happy to pay full price for a Baguette they could 'forget' to put cheese into, my request was refused and we take to the roads again, me starving!

As the Casino doesn't open until 3pm, we decide to do some sight-seeing. (See post "To Jim, Derek ... etc. below)

We arrive back in Cercle Wagram at around 3:30 and it appears quieter today with only 5 tables running - 50 folk is still a good turn out though! We change our money to chips, we register upstairs and then head back downstairs to the bar to wait to be called and seated.



Paul and I are called to start a new E2/E2 table and I'm pretty pleased to see that with 10 players seated the average age is about 30 and average chip stack is about 150Euros (I have bought in for E120). Play is tame and quite controlled in comparison to Friday but it's still not a table Paul or I feel can be bluffed so it's looking like we'll sitting tight again and getting ultra-aggressive with big hands. That's exactly what I have planned anyway when, around 45 hands in, I'm dealt AA UTG ...

I raise to E8 and, having played very few hands up until now, can only pray someone else has another premium enough hand to be willing to play. The button raises it up to E20 and I'm happy to call it to see a flop hoping to avoid only a draw-heavy board. 9K4 (2 spades) so I bet out E24. Button re-raises to E50 and I insta-shove for around E70 more not concerned how strong or weak I look - he's pot committed. He insta-calls and, not before time, I'm curious about what he could have. Why I didn't take my time to think the following through though is beyond me; (I can just remember being pretty over-excited with AA in a game bigger than my usual stakes)

He knows: I've played about 4 hands in 45, I've only ever shown down good hands, I've shown I can fold 88 pre-flop (I did so face-up when Jim - who joined our table on hand 25 or so - showed me AA) and, with 110Euros, I have enough to cripple him although not bust him out.

I know (when I think about it after): He hasn't been the aggressor very often pre-flop but has called pre-flop raises in position and shown down marginal hands like KJ on J high boards regularly enough for me to think that he does have a reasonable enough hand this time around. He has more chips than me (around E140 at a glance) and that he has position on me.

Getting back to the hand, I'm All-In with AsAc on a 9sKs4d board and I have been re-raised and called. WOOPS! Before we can flip over the cards, the turn and river have been dealt (no spades, no King, no cards making a straight so two safe cards for me ... I think). Not so as he turns over 99 for the flopped trips!

Oh, ARSE!

I reload with another 50Euros I scaj from Paul and sit even tighter than before for another 10 hands or so with noticably the smallest stack. Until I'm dealt TT. I raise it up to 12 from mid-position after 2 limp in before me. I get three callers including Paul with around E60. The Flop comes QJ9 (2 spades) and SB bets out E16, BB calls and I work out that, with the T spades for a straight, possible flush draw and possible straight flush draw, and decent implied odds, it's time to push and hope. I'm quite happy to be called by a flush draw, KQ, QJ and even 99, QQ or JJ and two of the callers have two of those hands. It's the limper UTG who takes it down though with KTo (a flopped straight) after the turn and river come out 7 J.

I hit the rail this time, my suspicions 'of it taking you to sit down with a bankroll of at least E400 (200 Big Blinds) to beat this game consistently' confirmed in my mind.

Alas, 5 of the 6 of us were in the losing boat with only Derek, who managed to find a fish big enough to donate E80 to him when pushing with 67o when he held QQ being the only one to turn a E120 loss from Day 1 to a profit on Day 2. Well done that man!

At E510 down I was one of the worst off from Poker - E280 down on Day 1 and E210 down from Day 2. The experience I have gained from playing in a foreign country (at a table where I CAN'T get involved in the conversations), playing at stakes higher than my bankroll, and with guys so loose-aggressive it makes Gus Hansen's play look like Chris Ferguson's, I'm back home a wiser and hopefully better cash game player.

Now, back to my 25c/50c game on BlueSq with all those loose idiot Frenchies!!!

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ACF - Closed for Refurbishment!

Friday

4am-ish: Get up and get ready for 2 days playing Poker in Aviation Club de Paris, Paris.

10:30/11am-ish: Lunch, then a walk up to Champs de Elysse, a quick swatch the Arch de Triompe then it's down to the ACF.

12noon: Into the ACF to register for the 2pm Tourney. Stopped at reception only to be told that each of us MUST sign up for the 100 Euro Annual Membership. Hmmm ... OK, we're obviously not delighted about this but erm, OK. Apparently this is standard legislation now throughout Paris from March '08 and the guy at Reception is not even slightly amused by our attempts to reduce the cost. Can Jim (a member already) sign 5 guests in? NON! Can we buy just a weekend pass? NON! Can we get a Group Discount? NON! 500Euros down as a group and we've yet to see a card, not good!

12:30: So, we're in and we follow the Oak corridor through to the 'Tournie' sign only to see 'Tournie Room' in a state of disrepair. Hmmm. As ACF is hosting the EPT and a number of other equally as exclusive events in the near future, they've decided to decimate half the place to make improvements to the extent that no tournies are being run in March or April 2008.

1pm: Having politely explained our situation to the Manager (the money we've outlaid already , the distance we've traveled and asked about their inability to keep their website updated) our Membership Fee is refunded to us and we're out on the street with some serious decisions to make.

2pm: We find another Poker Club around the corner (hopefully Jim can remind me of it's name) but we suspect that it's owned or affiliated with ACF. 100Euro Membership again but this time with three choices of Tournament Buy-Ins - E60 for 600 chips, E90 for 900 chips and E120 for 1,200 chips - and there are 5 seats available (great, there's 6 of us!)

2:15pm: We're on the street again (in a English Pub actually) contemplating our next move when we realise that we may have passed a Poker Club en-route to ACF. We retrace our steps back and end up at Cercle Wagram just before doors open at 3pm. No tourneys here either, cash games are E2/E2 blinds but more importantly there's no Membership Fee. Our hosts would appear to be Russian and only ask that we leave our passports at reception whilst we play.

3pm: We find a bar up the road a bit (across from a Quick Fast Food place), sit down outside and order 5 beers and a Diet Coke. The bill comes in at E47 making this one of the most expensive places we'll drink!

4pm: We're back in Cercle Wagram for the E2/E2 games and trying to be clear that we don't want to be sat at the same tables as each other.

My 150Euros and I are shouted to join Table 2 where no surprise, it's all French players and it's only French that's being spoken. There are a few decent stacks at the table (average 220 maybe), not much banter / chat and the bets and raises are flying in. I'm amazed at how loose these guys value their chips so I start to play like each of them have multiple re-loads in them and are here for the day knowing that with E150 I'm likely to be the one sent walking first unless I get lucky.

1st Hand: I donk off around 30Euros with 88 on my first hand when the flop comes down Q high giving me second top pair. I Check > He Bets > I Call. K on turn, I check, he shoves All-In for 40 Euros and I get the hell away.

8th Hand (approx): 88 again. I raise to 8 only to be re-raised to 22 by Button. I call. Flop comes TJK and I check. He throws out a bet of around E40 and again, I'm done with the hand.

15th hand (approx): on SB I look down at pocket 5s. After 3 limpers help make this a pot worth stealing, a late position player who's been showing down a huge range of suited hands raises to 14. I call as does one of the mid-position limpers so it's three to the flop which comes 5K4 (two spades). I bet out $14 confident of getting at least one call, mid position limper calls, late position raises to E40. Mid-position player's body language tells me that he has decided to fold so, with late player pot-committed I'm happy to push my remaining E50 in. I'm called and he turns over K5 clubs for 2 pair. A 4 hits the turn meaning I've made a Full House and I need to avoid only a K. I do and take down a pot that takes me to around 190Euros.

The Betting gets pretty stupid / obscene for the next 60 minutes and with a bad run of cards and after some loose calls in late positions with loadsa value, my stack dwindles down to around E130. I now struggle to get involved in any pots in the knowledge that each WILL end up at around the E70 mark - more than 1/2 my stack.

Hand 45ish: After almost two rounds of having played only my blinds, I call a E20 raise from the relatively loose BB with T9 suited. The Flop comes 9d7d4s and I'm relatively happy to have hit top pair. He with E170 or so in chips bets out E40 and I think about it for a bit before calling (a push would have been better here, I now realise). I have E60 left behind now and I'm pushing if a 9, 10 or diamond hits - on more careful examination the push would have been best on Flop to have any chance of getting him to fold. A third diamond arrives on the turn and he checks it to me. I push with my last E60 and he insta-calls with QQ (one of them a diamond giving him the Q high flush draw too). The Kd on the river and sends me to the rail to think about how I may have missed an opportunity with an average hand and limited funds.

Table 10

I have a break, a steak (again) and another bottle of water whilst sitting with Joe and Paul at the bar, and then make a call home. After all that I feel refreshed enough to get back to the felt and I'm ushered to the table Derek's at. I play OK and build a good enough read and feel of these less aggressive players but I'm still down to around E80 from E130 when I'm dealt AQ suited on SB. With 3 limpers I raise it to 16Euros and I'm re-raised by BB to 40. Given that the only play that scares this guy off is an All-In (and it has been done regularly) , I push for 40Euros more. He turns KK (OMG, he has a hand this time!) , I fail to improve and I'm back on the rail again watching Joe and Paul playing le MultiColour.