OMG has it been this long since the last post?

OMG - Can't believe it's been so long since I last posted anything on here..... As you know I have peaks and troughs of enthusiasm for poker and right now I'm peaking!

I recently managed to win a poker experience weekend with Ladbrokes where I had a great time, learned a lot and meet some lovely people. My road to the Poker Experience weekend started with a satellite which led to a monthly final. Only one other enetered the satellite and after 5 re-buys (only one from me), my opponent gave in graciously and there I was in the monthly final.

There were 26 people in this final which was $80 with a half price re-buy/add-on. It was the tightest tourney I've ever played and really showed that everyone wanted to win their place. I had more than average chips at the break and added on because the rest of the table were.

I managed to lose with aces all-in to AKo which almost put me on tilt till a realised the next hand was KK which then tied with someone else's KK.... typical!

So after being short stacked for so long I went on a spree and moved onto the final table. The bubble play for the prize seemed to go on for ages before I won with a straight when another player slow played their QQ.

So off to the Hilton, Canary Wharf, I went and what a great weekend. Sessions of training interspersed with open handed play and tourneys. Casper Berry and Jon Kalmar were there too.

I got wiped out in the first tourney when I over-valued AQs but made up for it by coming 4th in the Saturday tourney to win a bottle of champagne! In the Sunday tag-team tourney I teamed up with Ray "Razork8" Kerney and we came 4th out of 26 eventually being blinded out and pushing only to find that we were dominated. I must take note of this as I did it again yesterday at the casino.

Casino: 20/11/08:

What a result. Both myself and Claire made it onto the final table. Claire was about 7th in chips and I was 9th. I didn't really wake up with many hands and ended up going all-in with A8o as with two callers and one all-in, with a very low M, there were a lot of chips on offer. It was borderline though as I didn't feel that it would be quite good enough. When my opponent turned over A9o I knew my time had come.

Claire turned into a cardrack as she got Kings when another player had Queens and then took out one of the big stack with Aces when he had Kings. Claire always say Ladbrokes is fixed when this happens so it's good for her to see that it also happens live.

She went on catching cards and building up chips and then they were in the final three. She blew her chances of winning just before heads up when the other big stack went all-in to isloate the small stack and Claire read him as being weak and called with ATs. She lost around 50k in that hand and the tourney ended a few hands later when the winner moved in on a flush draw and Claire had an open ended straight draw but didn't realise that half her outs were really there as the completed his flush draw. There wasn't any tension as a heart appeared on the turn but any sadness that Claire had soon disappeared when she realised that the prize for 2nd place was £340....... !!!!!!

Claire has now amassed £635 (£340, £160, £135) from the Casino. I'm miles behind with £290 (£210, £50, £30). Maybe we should have a 50/50 agreement?

$4 High Stack NLHE Freezeout

Played online on Friday for the first time in ages and Claire and I played in this tournament together, as she now has her own Ladbrokes acount.

I started card dead and wasn't really interested in the tournament after about 40 mins of not playing any hands and just getting blinded away but then I picked up AKo and re-raised all in and got 2 callers. The ace hit in the flop and I managed to almost triple up on that one hand.

From there it went from strength to strength as I kept picking my moments to steal and the good hands held up. About half-way into the tournament I'd aready made enough chips to get to the final table so I only played the best starting hands and eventually got to the final table with about 360k. Over twice as much as the 2nd place player.

I then hit a tricky period as with 6 players left I picked up KQ and a short stack went all in with around 27k. I called as did the player to my left. The flop came giving me top pair and the player to my left 2nd pair. I bet the flop and he called and a deuce came on the turn. He then made a defensive bet and I realised that I was ahead and he wanted to see the river cheaply. I therefore went all in which meant that he would have to commit the rest of his 170k chips to his draw if he wanted to see the river.

I thought he would fold but he proved me wrong by calling and then hitting two pair on the river to beat me. A shockingly bad call in my eyes and this crippled me into 5th position with 70k chips but I managed to bully the next couple of hands with the blinds at 10k/20k and within 10 hands I was the chip leader again and had knocked out the guy that had outdrawn me only a few hands before.

Once we got to three-handed I knew I would win as the short stack was trying to get into 2nd by not playing any hands and it was easy to steal his blinds. As we got to heads up play I had about 800k chips and a 4-1 chip lead. I seemed to be able to read my opponent well to steal his big blind while avoiding his good hands until the final hand came.

My opponent picked up pocket kings and raised to 60k. I called with 46o, hoping to catch two pairs or a big draw, and picked up a pair of fours on the flop. I checked and he checked too, hoping to set a trap for later on and double up. The turn arrived to give me trip fours and again I checked. He checked behind me and the river came up a jack. At this point all I knew was that he had a big hand before the flop and I was pretty sure that I was ahead with all the cards out. I put in a pot sized bet which would look weak because it didn't put my opponent all-in and I had been firing bets in to steal pots in the past. He went all-in! He was just waiting to get another bet out of me before going over the top and winning the pot (in his mind). I called....... well I had to didn't I and the tournament was over. 5.5 hours for $284.96. Not bad I'd say.

This brings me back into the black in online play and nearly £400 up overall when you count live play as well. The pick of the results since April has been a 3rd place finish at the Maxims Casino in Reading where I won £210. We also played a home game for Drew's birthday where 16 people played and the winner would get £100. I managed to win that game too!

Best To Come Second?

Friday was Claire's night out so once I'd settled the little one I sat down to play some poker tournaments.

I the first one I got knocked out after about an hour when my QQ came up against AA. The guy had shoved all his chips in, which would have suggested anything but Aces. I couldn't put the Queens down so called. A possible straight threatened to say me but never appeared so I was out.

Never mind I thought. There's another tournament starting soon so I joined a $5 2nd chance turbo tournament. I normally don't like this very much due to the faster action but I started off well and got a good start in chips and was in the top five at the break.

With the blind escalating people dropped like a whore's drawers and pretty soon there were only a few tables left. I found myself in a bad situation. The blinds were $10k/$20k and I had $24k after posting the small blind with 75o. One guy went all in with less chips than me and I bravely called from the small blind and the big blind checked. A five hit on the flop and I went all-in pushing the BB to fold and going head ups against the all-in guy. This meant that I had a few chips returned and had won some from the BB. Unfortunately the guy had a pocket pair of nines but I got lucky on the river with a 5 for a set to take a big pot and leave me looking good for the final table.

I lot a chunk just before the FT started as I was in the blinds and on the BB had a good hand but 2 people went all-in before me so I backed out knowing that the FT would be starting the very next hand.

I started the final table with $55k chips and was immediately rewarded with pocket Kings to win the blinds. A few hands later I got them again and doubled up on chips. With most people desperate I waited out the hands I didn't need to play and people got knocked out very quickly and soon I'd got into heads up. Unfortunately the cards dried up and against an aggressive player I surrendered my blinds on a number of occasions. Although I managed to be chip leader at one point the end came when I called an all-in with Q9 only to see K4 prevail when we both missed the board.

So second place was rewarded with $352.62 and I immediately took out £100 from the ladbrokes account. Before this tournament a lot of the good work I had done was spoilt by losing it all. Currently I'm £40 down overall, including the spend on poker books but not the laptop.

Christmas is here now so hopefully I'll get some more opportunities to play some Poker and win some more!!

Moving Between The Levels

Hi All,

It's been quite some time since I last blogged and in that time I've only played a limited amount of poker. On the cash games I had lost more than won partly due to not being able to devote any time to playing. I had been playing on the 25c/50c tables but after getting wiped out and having to reload my account I have moved back down to the 10c/20c tables where I have been successful again. I've been up in 2 of my last 3 sessions and my last session I left with $100 after buying in for $20.

I'll describe one of the hands from yesterday as I got a load of abuse from the guy on this. I'm in the BB and the UTG raises 8xBB to $1.60......everyone else folded so I was left with $1.40 to call to see a flop. I had 2-2 and I was pretty sure that UTG had a premium pocket pair. It felt like a beginners raise to me. I know nobody likes losing with queens, kings or aces but to win any money you need to be called and you also need to disguise your hand. The raise was just too much so my thinking was call to see the flop and if I get a set then I can take all his money.

So I call and the flop comes Q-2-Q. What a flop! Now I need to make the most of it and take his cash. So I check and he bets big to drive me out. I call the bet and the turn comes out with a low card. I then go all-in as I don't have too much left. At this point I think he makes a mistake of thinking that he has to win...... I found out later that he had pocket Kings here. Now if he had pocket kings then what would I be betting strongly here with? Aces, Ace Queen, Kings.... So calling my all in here means losing surely? Anyway he did call and I won the pot. Then a load of abuse comes my way for calling his bet with 2-2. lol. As I said to him.... the most I can lose is $1.40 and if I hit a 2 then I can win all his money. Which I did. He wasn't happy though. :-)

I also managed to get an evening to myself one night when Claire went out for a girls night. I entered two tournaments and cashed in both of them which was pleasing. I could have won a substancial amount in one of them as I was in a commanding position with only 18 players left but took a couple of beats which changed the situation and had me on the back foot and i went out soon after trying to double up.

Anyway hopefully this is the start of a revival and back to black for the account balance. I really want to start making a profit and build a bankroll. Reading up other poker players they have taken ages to get anywhere and then suddenly everything has just clicked into place. Hopefully that will happen to me too.

See you at the tables!

Claire's A Winner!!

So last night we went to the Reading Sporting Club Casino and tried our luck at the Beginners Night £10 re-buy. I didn't get on very well as I only got 3 decent hands all night and the one time that I get aces I come up against someone else with aces and split the pot!

Claire managed to get through to the final table with a large stck of chips but found that a lot of them drifted away but not before a few fallers. In the end she came 6th to win £135 which combined with Sophie's roulette winnings meant that they took away about £250 from the place!! I left about £60 down... :-(

WELL DONE CLAIRE.... :-)

Back again!

Hi All,

I've been very busy lately and haven't played much poker since Claire came back from holiday. The balance was very healthy when she came back, mostly due to the 2nd place finsh in a tournie. Since then I've managed to waste the majority of it away before I cracked down on the problem.

The cause of the problem turned out the be a lack of time. I'm only only to catch an hour here or 20 mins there. Due to this I'm tending to play more hands than I would normally, when playing at my optimum level. As I'm playing more hands I'm losing more on marginal hands and that's why I also spent my "free" money.

I finally figured this out about a week ago with the account balance at $87. I then played ultra tight, apart from one hand, and now have $296. A great turnaround and all goes into my experience so that I play better in the future.

One particular style of play that I like, but others find offensive, is playing a raised multiway pot with suited connectors in the hope of hitting a monster hand and winning a big pot. I'll give you an example.

Begin Hand Number 846800550 at 09:30:41 on table Ganton

Stakes: 0.50 / 1.00

Total Pot: $107.08

Rake: $3.00

Win Amount: $104.08

ngnator has the dealer button

magicmoses posts small blind ($0.25)

Hobbo2006 posts big blind ($0.50)

sssbat raises for $1.00 (could be anything... I didn't bother too much about this)

KingTenClubs raises for $3.00 (this has to be a big hand)

pazza07 folds

ngnator folds

magicmoses calls for $2.75 (this now gives me good odds (just over 3-1) to call to flop a monster......)

Hobbo2006 calls for $2.50 (I'm hoping that sssbat is going to call rather than make another raise)

sssbat calls for $2.00 (phew!! if he raises here I have to fold)

Dealing Flop 8d, 8h, 7s (I can't hit the check button quick enough...... lol)

magicmoses checks

Hobbo2006 checks

sssbat bets $6.00 (could be a continuation bet with AK ish)

KingTenClubs raises for $12.00 (this has to be a premium pair and difficult to lay down for anyone)

magicmoses folds

Hobbo2006 calls for $12.00 (call as if I'm chasing a hand like a straight)

sssbat folds (this guy is disciplined....)

Dealing Turn 4h (this card makes no difference but gives a possible flush draw)

Hobbo2006 checks (trying to lure him into another bet.... big pair has to play this aggressively)

KingTenClubs bets $10.50 (great!!)

Hobbo2006 raises for $21.00 (Now is the time to make a raise... loads in the pot so he has to call this minimum raise)

KingTenClubs calls for $10.50

Dealing River 2h

Hobbo2006 went all-in for $11.54 (he has to call as he's getting 10-1 even though he's beat)

KingTenClubs calls for $11.54 (lovely)

Hobbo2006 shows cards

KingTenClubs mucks cards
Hobbo2006 shows Fullhouse Eights full of Sevens, winning $104.08

Hand Ended at 09:32:09 - Elapsed Time: 88 seconds

Cue a load of abuse about how I could call a re-raise with 78clubs. I don't think it's a bad move. If you only hit a pair and drawn into playing it then that would be bad play but if you know that you are looking to flop two pair, a straight or a flush, and would fold otherwise, then how can that be a bad play?

At this end of a hand the bets are small but play it this way and it can mean taking all of someone's chips, like I've done in the hand shown.

Any comments on this please share......

Cashback...... KerrrrrrChing!!

So after all the play in July I have managed to build up an impressive 10,799 player points. :-) This entitles me to a 25% cashback payment on my rake payment. I've therefore generated Ladbrokes a total of $539.95 in July and I'll get paid $134.99. What a great incentive!

It also makes the account look very healthy.

Check out the figures!!