I am an eejit

I did a very stupid thing, one thing I said I wouldn't do. I logged on to Ultimate bet while drunk, and threw away 2 buy in's. Not as large as it could have been, but I have been disappointed with myself and I had banned myself from playing, I am just about to play. Wish me luck.

First of 2009

Well, Happy new year people! Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New year, I certainly did. I obviously haven't been updating the blog, but this time I actually haven't played any poker either, been busy with festive things and such like. Other news I am going to play snooker for the first time in a few years, looking forward to it as I am playing a mate I haven't seen in a while, should be good, if not to embarrassing on the snooker front :D

Well i have played my first session of 2009, well 20 hands. The player was hugely over aggressive and paid the price. Double up
He then re-loaded for $20, played one $1 odd pot, which I won, then he left. He is definitely added to my buddy list!
Not much to report just thought I would let ALL of my avid readers, which I am sure there are many, that I am still alive :D

Also, become a follower of my blog on the left hand side!

P.S Before the xmas period I played in one of the $5.50 GGE games with Annie Duke playing, unfortunatly nothing happened. I went to the bathroom, as I was finishing up this conversation occoured...
Girlfriend: You have a hand in the poker babe!
Me: What is it?
G/f: a Jack and a ten
Me: What colour? (Easier than what suit to her)
-Short pause-
I came through from the bathroom.
Me: what suit is it?
I looked at the PC and she had thought I had told her to call when I said colour. So she had dumped most of my chips in a raised pot with JTo. Was pretty much the end of me. Think I will sit out next time I need a whizz!

HU quest rules

I thought I better lay some actual rules for my HU play or it will just be madness!

1. Sessions will be 150 hands MAXIMUM
2. A maximum of 4 sessions a day, as I feel after thet I will not be concentrating properly
3. 20 Buy ins to step up (100 BB's)
4. Dropping below 15 Buy-ins will force me to step down
5. 1 table at a time and no sneaky MTT's SNG's at the same time, I must fully concentrate as I want to get really good at this
6. Double my money, I really should leave
7. When I feel like stopping I STOP!
8. Have fun and makes some monies!
The next is a hope/ semi-rule
9. Post a graph and my thoughts after every 2.5k hands ish

I realise at UB you can buy in for 200BB, but I don't think I will, I shall always stick to the 100BB buy in.

Thought I would make a table of values for moving up/down.

Level-----Step up to----------Step Down from
NL10------Starting------------Starting
NL 25-----$500----------------$375
NL50------$1000---------------$750
NL100-----$2000---------------$1500
NL200-----$4000---------------$3000
NL400-----$8000---------------$6000
NL600-----$12000--------------$9000

I think that is far enough for now :D
The hardest part of this IMO is the begining as I am starting with like 5 buy-ins and it could go wrong all so very fast.
I took a slight hit last night after taking near a buy in off somebody I lost it and my original buy in to someone else. One bonus is that I should be getting rakeback, well when rakeback.com start getting rake reports from the network again, god damnit hurry up!

Christmas is coming!

As christmas was coming up I decided I had to scrape all "spare" money together to buy some people some things for christmas, so I made a few withdrawals from poker sites. Normally I wouldn't mind, but its not for me :( I am not really that selfish... honest :D
I had not realised that I had left Ultimate bet untouched with $45 in it, yes its ultimate bet & Absolute now so I am two times as likely to be cheated. But honestly I am only going to be playing small so will it really matter? I am not a fan of UB tourneys because generally the small buy ins are sats or re-buys, and I'm not generally a fan of those. So I decided that I would play cash with my little find, not FR, or 6-max but heads up! Yes on CEREUS the cereal killer of online poker there are NL 10 HU games. I have a massive 4.5 buy-ins behind me what could posibly go wrong. I mean I never really knew the money was there in the first place, FREEROLLLLLLL HOLLA!
Taking a kind of challange approach(but not really as I am not setting any timeframe to this whatsoever) I will obviously just step up to the next level when I have 15 buyins, and back down when I hit 10. These rules may change, I may wish to make the move up number 20 buyins, I was also considering forcing myself to play 10K hands at each level, which isn't actually that much HU IMO so I think it would be a good move.
I should really be playing something silly like 0.1/0.2 HU but I can't see that being a great game. I bet NL 10 will even have its moments. Hopefully I will remember to come on and blog now and again.
The main thing about this is that I don't really know how to play HU cash, so I am going to be learning as I go so any help from my readers would be great. I will probably post hands on some forums and post feedback on here if it is useful so maybe we can all learn something.

So far I have played circa. 400 hands and I am up woohoo! Bankroll currently sitting at $69.89.
I had a look at my Holdem manager and my bb/100 was something crazy like 69, if only it worked out that way all the time. I may come back later with a few hands, but more likely I am going to fire up a table instead. GL

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 843249

Some non-poker ramblings

If you are only here for my sub-par poker performance and review this post sadly isn't for you.
I haven't been playing much poker recently due to other commitments and quite frankly not having the passion to play unfortunately. From a very young age I have always been confident in the fact that I will be successful at something, what that something is, to this day I am unsure. I feel that my people skills are extremely good and that my mood can very much be infectious to those around me, I have used these things to my advantage on numerous occasions. The problem comes is where I am unsure what I can do to take advantage of my natural skills, and deciding what would be the best thing for me personally. Many people have said things to me like "you definitely have the power in yourself to make yourself rich, if you wanted it" Well I want it and I'm not rich, that is for sure! I am never sure what they mean, is it a complement on my being and overall aura or is it an insult at my laziness/procrastination? At the current moment in time I am happy studying Civil Engineering and can half see a career in it, but will it make the most of my assets or give me the financial satisfaction I could attain elsewhere? Obviously I am still at an age where my next career may not be my last, in fact its rather unlikely that it is.

I am most definitely not the type of person that believes that money = happiness, but having money definitely helps life run more smoothly. In life I would like to be able to do what I like not have money as a restriction, I am sure many others are of the same thinking, and most will never achieve it. I don't want to be part of that group, I was never one of the many, but a leader of the few. There are things I would like to do, things that everyone dreams of, like being a high stakes poker player funding my life off the next poker bozo that comes along, or be a pop star, I have a good voice and I am able to entertain people singing, but I feel getting a record deal is a step to far.

I recently have decided to cut out shit things in my life that I can go without, lets be honest life is hard enough these days without outside situations/people making more shit. I have basiclly decided to cut a person in my family out of my life because I felt some extra shit previously and at the centre of it was this person. Many people are saying I should talk to them again, forgive and forget you are family etc. Am I wrong to not want bad influences/energy in my life, no matter who the person is?

Thanks for reading, the comments feature is there, please use it :)

First Step of a Month Long Journey

Well this is the outcome of the first tournament in my little challenge, I will probably blog the latter tournaments in less detail as it wares off, but bare with me through this report. Obviously comments suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tournament 1: 103650909
Buy-in:$3+ 0.30
Runners: 1392
Finish:91st
Payout: $6.69
+/- = +$3.39
Places Paid: 243
Top 3: $783.01, 474.82, 275,62

I was placed on table 27, it was playing loose, players calling flop/turn bets with AQ high and no draws. Levels 1 and 2 were uneventful, I limped and folded to raise and re-raises a couple times. In level 3 I play the first hand, I open raise from Hi-jack +1 with AdKd, and Laggy on the button re-raises all-in for 993, I of course call expecting to be ahead and he shows KcJc. The board missed us all so I take down the 2k pot.
Just before the end of level 3 I was still on the same table, there were two tight players both of them were playing less than 10% of hands, both directly to my right. I could not believe the way one of them played KK, then made a set on the flop then proceeded to get the minimum possible, can anyone explain this play?

Poker Stars, $3 + $0.30 NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
[url=http://www.leggopoker.com]LeggoPoker.com[/url] - [url=http://www.leggopoker.com/hh]Hand History Converter[/url]

CO: 2,136
BTN: 2,365
SB: 4,275
BB: 1,685
UTG: 2,702
Hero (UTG+1): 2,293
UTG+2: 2,523
MP1: 2,585
MP2: 2,150

[b]Pre-Flop:[/b] (75) 7:diamond: T:heart: dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG calls 50, 2 folds, MP1 calls 50, MP2 calls 50, 2 folds, SB calls 25, BB checks

[b]Flop:[/b] (250) 4:diamond: 7:spade: K:club: (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks

[b]Turn:[/b] (250) 9:heart: (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, [color=red]MP1 bets 50[/color], 2 folds, BB calls 50, UTG calls 50

[b]River:[/b] (400) A:heart: (3 Players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks

[b]Results:[/b] 400 Pot
[i]BB showed T:spade: Q:diamond: (high card Ace) and LOST (-100 NET)[/i]
[i]UTG showed K:spade: K:diamond: (three of a kind, Kings) and WON 400 (+300 NET)[/i]
[i]MP1 mucked 5:diamond: 5:club: and LOST (-100 NET)[/i]

I was then moved to table 1, I hoped this was a good omen. At the beginning of level 4, blinds 50/100 I had 2,433 chips. I would like to have had a few more situations that I could have got involved, but I am still in the game and hoping to get a few hands to play.

I had made the first break with almost doubling my starting stack, 2743 chips with the blinds going up to 75/150 immediately after the break. I like the stars 15 minute blind structures, especially in the guaranteed tournaments where you start with 3k chips, so this was slightly faster than what I had been playing recently. Same situation as 15 minutes before, still alright stack-wise, but would definitely like some hands/situations to help build my stack soon. I was currently 301st with 520 players remaining.

The second table seemed to be of the same make-up of the first however it began to tighten up dramatically, especially after the first break. I did try to take advantage of this, but every time I made a move someone either had a hand or was just playing me. Then came a hand of small bets and calls that I never really understood the involvement of one of the players.

Poker Stars, $3 + $0.30 NL Hold'em Tournament, 75/150 Blinds, 8 Players
[url=http://www.leggopoker.com]LeggoPoker.com[/url] - [url=http://www.leggopoker.com/hh]Hand History Converter[/url]

BTN: 5,975
SB: 962
BB: 1,950
UTG: 3,785
UTG+1: 5,045
MP1: 3,065
Hero (MP2): 2,293
CO: 4,130

[b]Pre-Flop:[/b] (225) J:spade: 3:club: dealt to Hero (MP2)
3 folds, MP1 calls 150, 2 folds, [color=red]BTN raises to 300[/color], 2 folds, MP1 calls 150

[b]Flop:[/b] (825) 3:heart: K:club: K:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
MP1 checks, [color=red]BTN bets 300[/color], MP1 calls 300

[b]Turn:[/b] (1,425) 5:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
MP1 checks, [color=red]BTN bets 150[/color], MP1 calls 150

[b]River:[/b] (1,725) 2:club: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
[color=red]MP1 bets 150[/color], BTN calls 150

[b]Results:[/b] 2,025 Pot
[i]BTN mucked 7:heart: A:heart: and LOST (-900 NET)[/i]
[i]MP1 showed 9:club: 9:heart: (two pair, Kings and Nines) and WON 2,025 (+1,125 NET)[/i]

The highlight of my level 5 was recieving a walk, seriously. The blinds were now 100/200 and I was floundering on 2143. The 10 BB push/fold situation is upon me. I got two Pushes through. Then The limits went up to 175/250/25 ante, I was REALLY strugling now with 2445. I was sitting 265th out of 306 remaining. I could play to scrape the money, but I don't really want to play that way, my range will be oppened and I will be pushing, hopefully with a chance of doubling up. There is a player on this table "trusty1" who runs the clock down EVERY decision, and accepts timebank as soon as he is offered, sometimes he uses it sometimes he doesn't. I would say it was because we were nearing the bubble, but he has been doing it since I sat at the table. It didn't annoy me personally, but I'm sure it aggitated some, plus it used his timebank on straightforrward decisions, seemed stange to me. It got folded to me on Hi-Jack +1, so I pushed with 54o, everyone folded, I had TT the next two hands in a row, the first everyone folded. The second hand I was called by a short stack all-in with JQs, the three hands gave me some breathing room and put me on 5111.

The tournament moved onto level 8 with blinds 150/300/25 ante with sat just a smidge over 5k and 158th out of 253, so I really should cash as long as I don't do something silly. I understand people want to avoid missing the cash this close and that is why they use their timebank, but what happens if they survive and are put to a real decision later on which is worth a lot more money. By all means time out, but why waste your 60 second timebank?

And the bubble has burst, less than a minute before the second break. Due to the payout structure I have decided to get really LAGGY and try and either get competitive chip wise or leave with a small profit. To get double 243rd prize you have to come 63rd, so there is no point, in my opinion playing around for a couple of dollars. I now have a smidgen of 4000 with the blinds at 200/400/50 ante, so again it is push or fold stage. With 1050 in the pot before any action has taken place it makes it most definitely worth stealing! I had pushed 3 hands, the I pushed KK under the gun, and was called by QQ and I caught the Full house, which put me over 10k. I was comfortable stack wise, but I still wanted to push on fast or go out, purely because of the structure.

Level 9 was upon us with 300/600/50 ante with me just a shade under 10k, the second hand of the level I was dealt KK again, unfortunatly it was folded round, but I was happy to pick up the 1350. The game is becoming very repetitive, which is as to be expected with the high blinds.
With the blinds at 400/800/50 I got involved with AQ against a big stacks AK and went out, it was unfortunate, but I am glad to get off to a small but winning start.

(Insert witty title here)

To be honest I got a bit bored of playing STT's, this may have been down to the fact of me not winning enough to show anything or losing enough for it to hurt. After a few small couple hundred buck wins I decided to withdraw from stars and enjoy my poker winnings, something I believe everyone should do, it feels great, even if it is just a meal out with the bird or a night out on the razz.

I love setting goals for myself, so I am going to set one for the month september 2008.

***Increase my Pokerstars account balance from circa $150 to $1000 by Midnight Wednesday 1st October, playing MTT's and MTT SNG's (especially the 180 man SNG's)***

This will probably seem like a really easy goal for some, but I find it hard to get that consistancy, and I want to make that $1000 and buy me a new PC, Laptop or XBOX 360 Elite. I do however find setting Monetary goals for poker winnings a little strange, as I am unsure of the pressures it puts you under. I am not, hopefully, going to play cash with on stars in the next month, and play realistic sized tournaments, probably will be a 5% job. As I said before I think i will also avoid STT's due to them becoming a bit stale for me, I did enjoy playing them for a while but after 50 I got REALLY bored. I do have a problem of cashing but not getting deep in tournaments, which I hope to rectify. I have been given confidence by attaining a 1st and 2nd in consecutive 180-man SNG's, hopefully I can achieve that in a bigger field very soon. The one bonus to my STT challange, was that I seem to have lost the fish on my sharkscope, was finding it hard to shake off my learning/gash play.

I always say this but I will TRY update this blog a couple times a week, I will be placing a notepad next to me to note things throughout the month and update here periodically. I will need to get a few wins on the board fast so I can play the $11 $30K guarenteed on stars again, as I have cashed a few times, but the all to familiar story for me of getting 2-4 times my buy-in back. If I cam top 3 or four in this I would complete my challange in a oner :D.

I am still playing on Full Tilt, rakeback rules, there SNG's not so much. As I mentioned in a previous post there levels are quicker, but there are smaller jumps, I wasn't sure which structure is better suited for me. No I believe stars is much slower, therefore suits me better, Full Tilt's structure just jumps a little to rapidly, even with the extra levels.


EDIT: The challenge has just got a little more interesting, my good friend Pizzi will be joining me in "The Race To A Grand" You can follow his exploits on his blog, there is a link on the left, if he ever updates!

The bugger is back

I haven't played much poker at all for a long time now, I'm not sure why, a number of reasons I guess. The main ones were probably just the fact I had completely lost interested in the game, not even wanting to read Pokerplayer mag, which I used to rip open as soon as it came through my door. Also the fact that the small stakes wins just weren't rewarding enough.

So now I want to get back into the game again, so I have decided to go back to my poker beginnings, 9-handed SNG's. I am just going to play a bundle(not sure how many yet)of $5 SNG's on Stars and FT. I am also interested to see how the two sites compare, as stars have longer levels, but FT have more levels stuck in there. The issue of no rake back on Stars is an issue as I am unsure how much I can gain from their benefit program only getting 3 FPP a game. I will, in the main be playing 2 games at a time which I hope will keep me busy but also allow me to get a little thinking time and get to know the players.

Well I have played 8 so far, with a small profit, bubbling 3 with 3 ITM finishes also, nothing to write home about. I will make an update when I have a slightly larger amount of games.

Spunkmonkeys!

Yes again, I haven't updated in a while. Well anyway lets get down to the nitty gritty! I have been playing NL10 (6-max) on stars with some success, with over 6k hands I was running at over 7 bb/100 hands. But then I went on a 5+buy-in downswing, which doesn't sound like much but Fu*k me it hurts. Its not the monetary value I just hate losing to be honest. I am 99% sure some of it could have been prevented but I did have a few runner runner pots lost, which put me on tilt, the shame! So now my 7.5k+ sample (ok its small) is running over 3BB/100 hands, which just sucks. I also made a small move onto Full tilt to eventually try the software and get some rake back, I wasn't successful or unsuccessful, has been uneventful. I think I will move back to SNG's for a couple days just to steady myself again, I'm not sure about anyone else but I find in SNG's there are a lot more clear cut decisions and easier decisions than on the ring games. I want to get 30k hands logged in my PokerTracker so I really need to keep my cool. I will happily play the 30k all at NL10, but if I make enough money I will probably move up. So far in my PT I have noticed that I play more than anywhere else, in middle position, I think I can justify some of that by wanting to be first to act(i.e first to bet wins) I also discovered I am a losing player from the button, not quite sure why as yet, but I will be investigating!

Check the downswing! Definatly needing rectified ASAP!

Not much else to note, I did play my first Cards chat game on stars which I came 2nd in, which is obviously nice. In the past month I also came third in a HORSE MTT on stars, I only decided to play because I have really got into Razz and the low SNGs aren't very play friendly! When I get my bankroll a little more swollen I will definatly be hitting the Razz Cash!

Change of pace

I have been playing mostly cash for the recent history, and fancy a little change, so while I am continuing my micro cash challenge, I will have a little run at $4 180-man SNG's. These games seem pretty soft, at this moments in time I have just passed the bubble and I am sitting 10th out of 18 remaining in my first of this challenge. Hopefully I will make something decent out of it. To be honest I am extremly happy that I have cashed at all, as tonight I was staying up to finish coursework, due in but a few hours, yes I am a shoddy excuse for astudent, well I suppose we all do this sort of thing... I think! I have around 20 BB's and I am card dead, its really tempting to just pull some moves, purely because of sickness I am whitnessing at the table, but I am managingish to keep my calm, just now.

Finaly we reach the final table, I am sitting a long way back in 7th, however I still have 20 BB. I managed to float around that level, then this hand happened:
Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 8 Players

LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

UTG: 50,599
UTG+1: 11,023
MP1: 52,558
MP2: 59,476
CO: 40,224
BTN: 17,854
Hero (SB): 16,321
BB: 6,745

Pre-Flop: (2,400) Js Jh dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 4,000, 5 folds, Hero raises to 16,221 and is All-In, BB folds, UTG+1 calls 6,923 and is All-In

Flop: (23,746) As 2s Kc (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

Turn: (23,746) 9d (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

River: (23,746) Tc (2 Players - 2 are All-In)

Results: 23,746 Pot
UTG+1 showed 5s 5c (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-11,023 NET)
Hero showed Js Jh (a pair of Jacks) and WON 23,746 (+12,723 NET)

Im pretty sure the push pre-flop was the right move, obviously the right result! Another interesting hand:

Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 600/1,200 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 85,398
SB: 10,058
BB: 69,625
UTG: 49,420
Hero (MP): 23,444
CO: 24,255

Pre-Flop: (2,675) As Qd dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to 2,400, Hero calls 2,400, 5 folds

Flop: (7,475) Qs 5h Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero bets 3,600, UTG calls 3,600

Turn: (14,675) 2d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (14,675) Jd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Results: 14,675 Pot
UTG showed 7h 7c (two pair, Jacks and Sevens) and LOST (-6,125 NET)
Hero showed As Qd (two pair, Queens and Jacks) and WON 14,675 (+8,550 NET)

I know it was SUPER weak checking down but I really felt I could have been beat. The thing you don't see here is the Insta-check/call, and after the min-raise preflop, it just stank of a big hand, bigger than mine. Not much happened from then on in until:

Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 122,494
SB: 14,932
BB: 117,596
Hero (UTG): 14,978

Pre-Flop: (3,800) 8s Ts dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 14,778 and is All-In, BTN folds, SB calls 13,732 and is All-In, BB folds

Flop: (32,264) 2d 9d 2s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (32,264) Jh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (32,264) 4c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 32,264 Pot
SB showed As Qs (a pair of Deuces) and WON 32,264 (+17,332 NET)
Hero showed 8s Ts (a pair of Deuces) and LOST (-14,932 NET)

I had to push soon and I thought, no time like the present.... It backfired.
But never the less 4th is a nice way to start off!

Poker

Its a wonderful and frustrating game isn't it? I still wouldn't change it for the world, even when things do go horribly wrong. As I stated in my last post I have started a bankroll cash challenge type thing, boy its tough to stick too! I was running pretty bad and I did decide to play a couple tourneys to get my confidence back, which was going to plan, until I decided to re-raise a maniac all in on the bubble with TT, his AK hit on the flop and never looked back. Even though looking back it was a brave and probably the correct move, it shattered my confidence to tiny almost invisible shards. At this point I decided t stop playing for a few days, and found a copy of Risk II and attempted to take over the world. *Cue Pinky and the Brain Theme tune*

I eventually turned back to poker and began to assess the damage, the outlook was bleak. I had lost nearly 7 buy-ins with no return, yes at $5 PL THE SHAME! In the cold light of day I had made some amazingly stupid plays at the wrong time, but I did have various set over set and even a house over house situation, what made the house over house situation worse was that I held the baninizer, and lost. Not only had I lost my dignity, self-confidence, but my all important confidence in the Bani. Things did not look good. Where could I go from here? Well here it is where the most amazing thing that has ever happened. I played like a self-confessed complete and utter donkey and WON! There I was playing away and I was dealt QQ, I'll just post the history, I still laugh at how I played it, and even more-so that I won.

Bakti [Hold 'em] (0.02|0.05 Pot Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- yanne72 sitting in seat 1 with $0.88
- bvp sitting in seat 2 with $6.97 [Dealer]
- UKPP sitting in seat 3 with $6.75
- LittleMage sitting in seat 4 with $11.85
- ujoty sitting in seat 5 with $5.00
- lioz sitting in seat 6 with $1.83

UKPP posted the small blind - $0.02
LittleMage posted the big blind - $0.05
** Dealing card to UKPP: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds
ujoty folded
lioz folded
yanne72 called - $0.05
bvp called - $0.05
UKPP raised - $0.25
LittleMage called - $0.25
yanne72 called - $0.25
bvp folded

** Dealing the flop: 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds, 8 of Spades
UKPP bet - $0.50
LittleMage raised - $2.30
yanne72 folded
UKPP called - $2.30

** Dealing the turn: 4 of Hearts
UKPP checked
LittleMage bet - $2.70
UKPP called - $2.70

** Dealing the river: 3 of Diamonds
UKPP went all-in - $1.52
LittleMage called - $1.52
UKPP shows: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds
LittleMage mucks:
UKPP wins $13.15 from the main pot

I mean come on! What did they put me on that they could beat. And the same goes for me WTF was I thinking? I have played a little with LittleMage (no pun intended) and they are an extremely loose and aggressive player, but not even that excuses that shocker IMO. I am however glad this happened, as it has pushed me somewhat in the right direction, long may it continue!

Update

No updates for a while since I have been busay with uni as well as the obligitory christmas gash you have to do, so here goes.
Well I played that £30 game at circus whatever date it was, was a good day out, met a couple people from THMF, including Rob who was a godsend in a self-deal tourny! The very first hand I looked down at TT in middle position I raised to four times the big blind and recieved one caller from late position. The flop came KxT (excuse me for being vague on details it was a while ago) I checked-raised a fair chunk on the flop and was called, the turn brought a K to complete my full house, I think it went check check, and then the Ace on the river where I bet out and was re-raised all in and insta-called(I couldnt have really folded, so unsure why he re-raised). anyway I took that pot down and that was it for me on the winning front tbh. I had AQ and made a straight and got the guy all-in too, he turned over AQ. Later on I was dealt QQ and managed to raise enough to get the short-stack to push, he turned over QQ also. I think on another day I would have been at the final table with a cigar in my mouth (despite the fact I don't smoke)
Online I have decided to test my ability to stick to propper bankroll management and I am starting on 2c/5c PL Holdem 6max. I have made a few wanders up cash tables before but always under rolled and thats when varience comes and bites you on the testicles. I am sticking to 20-max buy-ins to play a level, and 30 to two-table it, hopefully these will stop me from losing all my cash! I have been up down and all around, but currently I am up, which is a bonus. I am going to be making a few videos and shoving them on pokertube, nothing too serious of course, more just to entertain and hopefully I can look back on them when I am sitting on $200/400 tables!
My username is hutchylad on there, but here is a link to one vid I have already made, enjoy!
http://www.pokertube.com/ShowMovie.aspx?MovieID=9a2ba442-b634-44d7-a413-37f99c1f8640

Also I hope everyone has a great Christmas and An even better new year!

MTT Final table

Well I haven't played much poker at all, but I did play a $5 MTT last night, im sure you have guessed I Final tabled which is always nice. I had played pretty well all night tbh got unlucky, but I got REALLY lucky once as well. Not long after the bubble had burst, there was a small EP raise and a call from two loosey goosey short-medium stackers, for some strange reason I re-raised them all-in with Tens, my thinking at the time was I can either take it down or isolate. They BOTH called and turned over AA and QQ, so I was in for halfish my stack with roughly a 16% chance to win, thankfully I was smiled upon and granted a ten on the flop, sick but it was nice. At the final table I was up and down like a yo-yo with the high blinds and being outdrawn by short stack allins. I eventually went out in 7th for $64, pleased I made it but still disappointed it never went further. I am unsure of my play that chucked me out, I had roughly 12 BB's and with antes my M was pretty low, so I had decided to push in a position. I was on the button it was folded round to me with 78off (yes, I instantly thought Baninize, which probably didn't help) so I pushed my stack in only to get called by the Big blind with AQ. I hit a 7 on the flop, but unfortunately there was a Queen as well, and thats all she wrote. The play has been annoying me, but I am pretty sure it was right to do, because how often will the blinds have anything? I also picked up a small cash in the $3 $1.5K Guaranteed as well, which was 6-max so I was even more pleased with that. However this time I don't think my exit was my fault at all. An extremely loose aggressive Lithuanian (Not that this had anything to do with it, just at the time I wondered if he was a hearts FC fan) had raised UTG his standard 4 times the BB, I re raised all in for roughly 18 BB's from SB with AQ suited and he insta-called and showed A5, YES! The flop came 233, I was nervous now, and rightfully so because a 4 came on the turn and I was dead. But as I say I cashed, which was really good as I never seem to do as well in shorthanded MTT's or even when you are down to the last two tables waiting for one or two to get knocked out for the final, hopefully I have fixed or at least part-fixed my errors.
Well I hope to be playing the officepoker.net £30 freeze on Saturday at circus in Edinburgh, come along if you can. I think if I play the way I have been I am looking good for a result.

Regulation not prohibition

I think it's time the UK Government stepped in and helped out the online poker industry. The Absolute poker fiasco was a big bombshell to drop on the whole community, if you don't know what I mean read here (UKPL) I obviously wouldn't be one necessarily in favour of the taxation of poker winnings, but if it stops the online game from becoming completely corrupt then I would opt in. All in all I would say the large majority of online players are not cheats, even though with the piles of chips in front of them it looks like it, this sort of thing enrages me to be honest. I play for fun and to try and pick up a little bit of money, being a student it always helps, but imagine if you relied on your poker winnings and some *insert appropriate word here* was using his "account 363" to take away my livelihood I would be extremely annoyed. Less than a couple weeks after the absolute poker scandal, Betfair have sent emails telling certain users that they have lost money to a cheat and will be refunded the total am mounts, however details of this scandal have been kept under wraps "due to legal reasons" In other words, they would be embarrassed if the truth were to come out in my opinion. The UK government will most definitely need to have some sort of discussions on the matter, I can only hope they decide to go with the side of regulation, rather than the seemingly insane step of the American government to fully ban online poker.

Neglect

Yes, my blog is suffering severely from it, but so has my poker for the past month or so. This has purely been down to the fact that I have been busy with other things in my life, starting University for instance (BSC Civil Engineering, just for those who are slightly interested, and it's going well :D) The little bit of poker I have played is on gutshot where I started with my $1.50 I won from everyone's a winner( A piss-poor performance in the Sunday game prevented me from winning anymore) I have managed to build up to just above $20 with a mixture of a small MTT cash and Turbo(have stayed away from super turbo) 5-seater SNG's, mainly down to my time constraints. Even though the way the cards fall in these play a MASSIVE part I'm pretty sure if you pick your spots and play pretty much push/fold strategy you can make a small profit, and profit is what this game is about. I wouldn't call this a Jesus challenge because I have definitely not been sticking to any sort of bankroll management, nor have I set any goals. It would just be nice to build a little bankroll for myself and have the satisfaction of watching it grow. I have also been trying to get out and play some live poker but things keep popping up, like manflu, I really wanted to play but I knew if I played and made some silly mistake due to my ill state of mind I would have really been annoyed at myself. Still not figured out if my inability to accept mediocrity in myself is a flaw or not. Oh well, onwards and upwards, hope to be on the felt soon.

P.S the manflu is fading away

Bodog's Players Choice

I fancied a tournament and there one of these sats going for 100 Player PTS in 10 minutes so up I joined. There were 212 runners which meant 12 people got the 29 tournament credits to enter a Quarter final satellite. Thankfully my first level was extremely uneventful. Halfway through the second level I doubled up through an AQ vs. QJ confrontation with a loose donk-like character, I was never behind.
With half an hour gone I had only played that one above hand, I was receiving semi-playable hands, but out of position, or in position but acting after a raise, it was somewhat frustrating. After forty minutes of play I play my second hand, Ace seven suited, I make a four times the big blind raise after one limper and the blinds plus the original under the gun limper. The board does not look good with the straight draw and a possibility of a made flush, I had to surrender. Do in position raises not mean anything anymore? I am most definitely moving over over to the school of thought which believes that “Under the gun is the new button.” Nobody respects a late position raise anymore, which is a real shame in my opinion as I feel this takes away a large part of strategic play, late position steals. However just because late position steals are heading towards being out of the question, Early steals are becoming run of the mill in games everywhere.
I lost around 1K chips in a pot where a short stack pushed on a board of Q44, with AQ I was happy to call. He turned over QJ, and the turn came J, so he made a better two pair. Within a few hands I was back in the action with KT, I managed to catch a full house when my opponent caught Broadway and picked up a 2K pot. The poker gods rewarded my play the very next hand with AK, I hit a king on the flop and never looked back, I eventually hit trips and knocked out a short stack. The pot took me to a shade below 5K. I was dealt pocket 9’s in middle position, so I put in a tester raise, two called, the flop came ten high, which is a pretty good flop for 9’s. The worrying thing was that the one player at the table who had me covered decided to bet half the pot, I thought and elected to call. The turn brought a and he repeated his half pot bet, this time I decided to re-raise to find out where I was, and he folded, there’s my answer. Pocket Kings were my next port of call, however I only picked up a small pot. It was then time for the first break, I was sitting pretty with 6.4K with the average was 3.5K and blinds at 50/100. Only 89 players remained from the original 212. The first half hour after the break was horrific, I had absolutely nothing, a few well timed steals maintained my stack around 6.5K. The most frustrating thing was continually being moved tables (the downside to MTT’s) From 45 minutes of boredom to sheer madness, My Jacks held up against a loose big stack nine ten, and stealing a lot of pots put me on 16.7K at the second break. Thirty Three runners remain, blinds will be 200/400/50, placing over one thousand chips in the middle before the cards are dealt. The tables went crazy, all-ins all over the place. My mindset going into this crucial period was all wrong, I began to remember bad times of the bubble period. I am a strong believer that half of the battle is in the mind, so there goes half the battle. After a long struggle I was eliminated in 18th place. This was so frustrating as my bad bubble period run continues. Anyway I will be playing again soon, I will try and sort this run!

Whats going on

Well starting off with the tournament at circus on Saturday, it was a good day. There were 69 runners with top ten being paid. We kicked off about quater past two, had our first casulty within a ten minutes, thankfully wasn't me. Nothing too eventfull happened before the first break (2 and a half hours) I won quite a few pots, without showdowns, standard hands like AQ AJ etc. I ended up at the break with more than double starting stack of 7K and 5K above average. I was extremly happy with my play up to that point, hadn't put a foot wrong, took my oppertunities, I couldn't really have asked for anything else.
I was moved tables shortly after the break, I had pushed my stack up to around 23K and was a little upset about having to move because I felt I had the number of a few players and could have built my stack a bit more. I was sat across from a lady who had probably about 60K chips and a man to my left who had around 30K, the rest of the table were feeling the pinch with the rising blinds and now added pressure of antes. I tried to get involved once or twice with standard raises, hands like KQ AJ but was strongly re-raised on both occasions, but decided to fold. I played a hand against a shortish stack woman, who had me really woried about my top and third pair, but I had to call. which virtually eliminated her. She only had second pair, but I seriously thought I was beat. Then I was dealt KK in the cutoff, it was raised from early position, I decided to re-raise all in for another 12K, which was insta-called, I was covered just. Fortunatly my opponent turned over Queens and my Kings held up. I was then up to around 45K with the blinds 1500/3000 300 ante, I was moved back to my original table with a few new faces obviously as the field was thining fast.
There was a drunk guy at my table, giving a lot of chat and banter, and I watched him single handedly demolish one persons stack, who must have been among the chip leads in two decisive hands. I wasn't sure he was as drunk as he made out, definatly one to be avoided. We were fast aproaching the final table, with my tight image I was able to steal pots that I had no right being in at all in all honesty and I was managing to stay above 40K.
It was bubble time, eleven players left, and I was moved tables again and sat between two ladies each with big stacks. Every time I caught a semi raisable hand one of these two got in first, and the hands were definatly not re-raising material. Now with the blinds at 2000/4000 and 400 ante I was strugling, but there were a few worse off than me. But I had decided today I would comit poker suicide. I was in the big blind with KQsuited and there was a raise from a player who had been entering a lot of pots, it was folded to me, so I pushed over the top all in, She virtually had to call for her last 18K and did and turned over a A9off, niether hand improved and I was crippled. That was virtually the end of the tournament for me, I went out in 11th on the bubble. I was just more gutted that I had played for near seven hours then blow it on KQ, I hope to play these office poker tournaments again in the near future as I definatly can see myself winning one.

Since then I have had a few online sessions and have ran into a rough period playing 5-max cash games I ran into set over set and then my full house beaten by quads. And totally lost my attitude So I have decided to take a break and haven't played for a day or so.

anyway I hope to be back at the tables feeling good very soon

Saturday 28th July

Well as I previously mentioned I am playing in a charity £30 Freeze at Circus Edinburgh for Cancer Research UK on Saturday (28th July '07) and there are still a few places left, there are 64 registered so far so be quick. Goto www.officepoker.net for more details.

Bodog $2500 Guarenteed

As I said In the previous post I am feeling good right now about my poker so I entered this $10 Freeze. There are 214 runners which gives a small overlay of $360. In the first few hands I picked up AQ of clubs and I re-raised a small raise and a call to a pot sized bet and received 3 callers, the flop came 3Q6 rainbow and I was first to act so I put out a small 1/4 pot bet, unfortunately nobody called so I picked up the 600 pot right there.
We are now just over halfway through level 2 and I am chip lead on my table with 2,470 chips after picking up a small pot with the rivered nut flush, my opponent let me in extremely cheap and I was glad to hit it against what I believed to be flopped trip tens. Shortly before the end of level 2 I limped in late position with T7 of spades, the flop came 8c 9s Qs, a pot sized bet of 100 was made by a loosey goosey player and with one other caller I also called. The turn brought 6d giving me a straight, but obviously not the best one. This is where the pot got interesting, the third player in the pot bet 250, to find out where I am I decided to re-raise to 650(pot size) the loosey goosey player calls and the third player re-raises only another 150, leaving himself 700ish chips. This bet had me a little confused, but I decided if he had the better straight good luck to him, I obviously had the re-draw to the flush, so rightly or wrongly I pushed all in(an extra 1000ish) the loosey goosey player calls for her remaining 555 chips and the third player folds (WTF?!?!) My opponent turns over Q8 for two pair and is drawing virtually dead. The river is Jd giving me the Queen high Straight and a 3.8K pot, this lifted me just above the 5K chips mark. Obviously I am not complaining however that play by the third player confused me, he was eliminated shortly afterwards.
The blinds have just been raised to 30/60 for the last level before the first break, I am sitting with 4.9K chips and have just been moved tables where I am second in chip behind what seems to be a fairly loose player who has just doubled up with 43 suited hitting a straight against trip 6's. My observations of the player were correct as he was eliminated a few minutes later after losing 2 hands which were all in pre-flop where he lost with AToff against JJ then with QdTd against AK.
It is just after the break, there are 103 remaining from the original 214 and I have just picked up a 2k pot with AA and I am now sitting with 7.8K chips with the average around 3.5K. I made a pot sized bet with AK and I was re-raised all in by a short stack, I called and he turned over 77 and I failed to improve and lost about 1.6K on that hand.
I was dealt KsQs in middle position with no action before me and then Shortstack to my left re-raised me all-in just about double and a bit my original bet, I reluctantly call. My opponent turns over AcKc and we both hit the King on the flop so I lose due to my kicker problems. The very next hand I was dealt AA there were 4 limpers so I decide to put a pot sized bet out there then somebody made the insta-all-in move and I rejoiced! I made the call (obviously) and he turns over AK and again I rejoice, neither hand improved and the pocket rockets stood up! This is the unbelievable part, the very next hand (seriously) I was dealt KK, yet again, there were limpers, and again I made that pot sized raise. This time it was a delayed all-in however, made me think of Aces, but I couldn't possibly fold my Kings. Thankfully there was no Ace from space to save his miserable looking AQoff and I was up above 13K chips which put me right up near the top of the leaderboard.
I was then moved twice in two minutes and took two big blinds one after the other, which I was not best pleased about. However I saved my tournament life in the next hand, I was dealt KK and there was a short stack all in (2.6K) and a call from the only guy at the table who had me covered, so I decided to just call. The flop came 6 A 8, yes the dreaded Ace from Space, the other guy bet out 1K, which seemed a bit strange considering the pot was already 7K+, so I reluctantly folded my Kings. The short stack all in turned over pocket tens, but Waters the table leader had pocket Aces! So I had infact dodged an early exit, which would have been amazingly disapointing. A few hands later I was dealt AcTc and made a pre-flop raise, which was re-raised all-in by a medium stack, and swiftly called by the table leader again, I passed my AT and thank goodness for that, Waters caught trip Queens with Ace Queen, and I would have been out of the tournament again. I was begining to feel like a cat with 9 lives, I may have lost a few thousand chips but its a lot better than it could/should have been. I was moved tables twice again, which is getting slightly frustrating, I was sitting on 9.5K chips with the blinds at 200/400 and an ante of 50 I was begining to feel the heat.
We are now on the second break with 33 runners left, 27 of which get paid. I am really looking for back to back cashes here, I feel I deserve it also. The blinds have just be raised to 300/600/75, which puts 1,500 chips in the middle before any action happens, I am starting to feel the heat with 8.3K to my name, but thankfully there are a quite a few shorter stacks around. Finally the bubble burst and it was on my table, AQ getting out flopped by QJ which hit broadway. I really need a double up or two fast if I am to make it any further in this tourney, however hands like 48off are unlikley to help in that respect. I was dealt 99 on the button and UTG raised to 2k, I was pushing my 6K in whatever happened. He showed me Q8, and then proceded to flop two pair then the house came with the queen on the turn. I am pleased with the fact that I cashed, and dodged some big bullets there just prior to the bubble, which really pleased me. However I am still baffled as to what I need to do to get that big win.
Hopefully it will come on Saturday as I am playing a £30 charity freezeout for cancer research at the new Circus casino in Edinburgh. Should be good, hopefully I can come up with the goods also!