The Poker Rollercoaster

OMG has it been this long since the last post?

2008-11-21T16:57:00.002Z

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

2008-07-21T14:17:00.003+01:00

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?

2007-12-24T08:58:00.000Z

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

2007-12-12T09:19:00.000Z

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!!

2007-10-12T09:18:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-10-10T14:24:00.001+01:00

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!!

2007-08-06T11:53:00.000+01:00

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!!

First and Last....... and second too!!

2007-07-31T02:15:00.000+01:00

Hi Guys,

Been a while since the last blog but I've been on holiday playing poker at home. It's been a fantastic experience.... much better than the last time when the world cup was on...... I didn't play that well back then and it bit me in the arse.......

Well the first day of the holiday I've been trying to cling on to the money in the account. You may remember that I withdrew £151.71 which evened up the expenditure and meant that the money in the account was "profit" after the expenses of books and the flat screen had been taken off. This left me with just under $300 which I gambled away...... The last few days have been spent at the lower stakes tables trying to turn the corner but it hasn't been going well.

Tonight, the last day of my holiday, I fancied playing a tournie and decided on the $5 2nd chance with $2500 guaranteed. (Top prize $740 ish) I bought in with virtually my last money and saved a re-buy just in case. I got to the last 5mins before the break and gambled on A7 thinking I'll double up or re-buy and start again..... I hit trip 7's, settled down and soon built up a nice stack.

In fact for the best part of an hour I was the chip leader with circa 60k of chips. The money started at 40th place and playing cautiously I sat back a bit too much and started losing ground. In fact as the final table approached my M (ratio of chips to blinds)was 5 and I was using the all-in move 6-8 times to get my chips in and win the blinds.

I crept onto the final table, my M still very low (7-8) and expecting to be knocked out first. Knowing that I hadn't had to showdown any cards I made my hand requirements high and managed to double up a couple of times and become the chip leader again! the final 5 players took ages..... the blinds had to increase to make them desperate.

Once heads up began I felt confident. He was a good player and didn't fall for my limp with AK but I was steadily winning chips until the point where I had him covered by a very small margin. At this point I got AJo....... :-) Unfortunately he got AK. His all-in move was called by myself and I groaned when the cards turned over. I didn't improve and he won the first prize and I took $460 for 2nd place...... A great nights work and thoroughly enjoyable.... In fact I'm so excited that I can't slept hence the late night blogging!!

So after all that check out the figures at the top...... It's attractive viewing. I'm going to use this to build a bankroll and I'm gonna be sooooo protective of this to ensure it doesn't slip away....

Until the night time GL at the tables!!

Sound the Fanfare!! I'm earning from Poker!

2007-07-25T02:09:00.000+01:00

Well day 1 of the poker holiday and what an evening.....

I started playing some low stake tournies and came 8th in the first one and got robbed in my second one with my AJ losing to K7 after I'd re-raised him all-in.... not quite sure why he called but there you go.

Anyway I managed to freeroll some of the tournies by playing a cash table on the side but I found it quite hard to switch between types of game and got bored with the tournies.

After about an hours break I went back to it and played 2 tables of the 25c/50c stakes..... before too long I was doing really well..... some good play and some muppet opponents helped. :-)

I'm now off to bed and have just transferred another £151.71 from my ladbrokes account back to my current account.... :-) Take a look at the figures and see what that does... :-)

NIL EXPENDITURE & I'M IN THE BLACK!!

GET IN!!

Another £50 Closer!!

2007-07-23T09:26:00.001+01:00

Overall a good weekend of poker with some online wins continuing the good run. In fact I got to $400 in the account and have therefore taken out another £50. Take a look at the figures.... It's getting very close to that break even point! I need to have a think about how I'm going to proceed once I get to break even.... My first thoughts are to keep withdrawing until the expenditure read zero. This will mean I have "free" money in the account and I can then start building a bankroll for bigger games/tournies. Exciting times ahead!

I also played a home game at the weekend which didn't go very well at all..... Being a totally different standard it tends to be "best hand wins" so I don't tend to bluff very often.

In the main event (£5 freezout....winner takes all) I lost half my stack to quad 9's when I had a full house.... I was behind from the flop and thought that Sarah's call on the river would be for a split pot. Was very surprised when she turned over Q9 for quads.

The end for me (and first out from the game) came when I got JTs...... an early raise meant there were good odds and the flop came low. Sophie bet and I called..... the turn came a T and Sophie bet out 500 chips. I thought she had a piece of the flop and didn't put her on still being on a draw so I went all-in for 1585. I thought she would fold and I'd take the pot.

I was very surprised when Sophie turns over JQo which gives her nothing but an open ended straight draw. My Tens were good and I was 70/30 favourite to win and be a contender in the game.

Unfortunately for me an 8 came on the river to complete Sophie's straight and knock me out of the game... :-(. . . . . Looking back I don't think there's anything I cuold have done about this hand. The only other play would have been to fold the hand before the flop...

My evening got worse........ after sitting there watching the whole of the first game I then went out first from the second game!!!!!

I made a loose call with 78o but after a late raise and 3 calls I then had good odds to call and see the flop. The flop gave me a gutshot straight draw and I called a low bet to see my 5 come on the river to give me a straight...... Unfortunately it also gave Tim Kirk a Full House and much to everyone's amusement I was out again!!

What makes these nights even worse is that I sat there and watched people calling to the river with ace-rag... not hitting anything and then taking down big pots with nothing..... whereas I had a full house and a straight and still got muffed....... It's a cruel game sometimes.

Another Peak.....

2007-07-20T11:10:00.001+01:00

Hi All,

More poker yesterday as Claire was out on a freebie trip going horseriding.. :-)

After the loses of the day before I decided to take the evening a bit slower. I had dinner and watched the final part of the days cricket at Lords... then I headed into the other room and started the poker. The emphasis was going to be on playing good poker. Good notes, good reads and playing the table as well as the cards. I only played two tables because of this and it proved to be very successful.

I left table 1 with $185 and broke even on table 2. I broke even purely because of one hand where I flopped a straight and got my money in and the other guy drew runner runner to get a royal flush on the river!! It didn't wipe me out but I did manage to claw my way back to evens.

Anyway the figures should be updated.

Should have a live game of poker on sunday with friends and then a visit to the Casino on Thursday night if possible.

How Frustrating Is Poker

2007-07-19T09:13:00.001+01:00

Being a golfer I know about frustration..... Trying to hit a ball that, is very small, exactly where you want it is hugely difficult. I'm lucky enough to be good at Golf and not to feel the frustration that some people do but even so my frustration will still be there over smaller details.....

However poker is something completely different..... you reach a level that you feel happy with and you start to believe that you can make money at and just when you reach that point to get hit back down by a bad run...... I've won money recently and am now taking a hit.

Recently I've been looking at how my state of mind and other personal factors affect my game and being tired makes a massive difference. You want to get on and start winning and end up being aggressive to the point of stupidity, which then sets you on tilt and a losing streak.....

One such hand happened to me yesterday. I'd just joined the table after being at work all day. I'd gone to bed about 4am the night before as I was playing poker and listening to the WSOP final table at the same time.

I started off well and got some great hands in succession. Pairs of 9's and 6's etc and then I get AKo. It's a good hand and one that I want to be aggressive with before the flop (as so often afterward it's worth f*ck all!). Obviously I have no player notes at this stage and just the stack sizes to go by.

I bet $2.50.... another guy raises again to $5.25 and the guy immediately to my right raises to $10..... at this stage I've only put in $2.50 and I can duck out now and wait for the next hand. The GAP concept says that you need a stronger hand to call a raise then you would to lead out with a bet. So in this case UTG (me) has lead out with a big raise, which should indicate great strength..... mid position has then re-raised..... maybe with AK or AQ or a high pocket pair. Once that's happen the guy in late position has come over the top and put in a 2x raise to make it a huge pre-flop pot.

So what could he possibly have?

I would have to assume that this guy knows what he's doing.... I haven't had enough information to prove the opposite so for now he's labelled as a good player. Therefore the only conclusion is that he has a premium pocket pair. AA, KK or QQ. So my decision now and I'm looking at his stack and he only has $13.50 more but the other guy has $40 ish. Even so I only have AK which is totally dominated by kings or aces and is only 55/45 against a pair of queens.

So what did I do..... unbelievably I raised the raiser all-in. The middle guy dropped out and we go heads up and his AA holds up to win the pot and there I am now with $30 and feeling like an idiot..........

In my head I knew I needed a break and should go watch the TV for a bit but I carried on playing and ended up losing $140 in the session.

NOT GOOD..... I've updated the figures.

WSOP night

2007-07-18T11:21:00.001+01:00

So last night was the final table of the WSOP 2007. In fact they're still going even now, down to the last 2 players out of the 6500 that entered.

I played a long session of poker last night and played in a couple of tournaments but didn't do so well...... I made the break after the first hour in good shape but a little fragile..... I then made a call with a mediocre hand but with very good pot odds and missed it completely... this left me with just over 2500 chips. I then limped from the blind with K8 and hit top pari only to run into kings up from another caller. My hand improved to kings up but it still wasn't good enough to win and out I went.

I also played cash games whilst this was happening and managed to make some good money there.

In total I finished about $40 up and I have ammended the figures on the site.....

Reload....!!!!

2007-07-13T17:23:00.001+01:00

What a nightmare....... had to re-load the account with another £50.

No soon had the money clearde in my account and here I am again putting half of it back.... not quite sure what going wrong but will keep plugging away.

The Dan Harrington book I'm reading is very, very good and it's going to improve my game no end. Just a small thing to improve is the size of my continuation bets. According to the book I should be varying this between 40%-75% whereas I've been putting in nearer to 100%. This means that I'm putting in too much and making it a losing play in the long run. Putting in less will have the same effect but save me more when I get called.

I'll have finsihed this volume soon and then move on to v2 the endgame.

Rises and Falls; Swings and Roundabouts

2007-07-12T13:33:00.000+01:00

However you want to say it nowhere do these phrases make more sense than in the poker world. No sooner are you coming down from your latest win to find that you go into a decline and start losing......

Why is that? I wish I knew. Maybe people play looser and so therefore make more calls than they were before. Maybe it really is just luck. Apart from a couple of decisions I don't feel that I've been playing very differently but I've managed to dwindle the account down to $20 ish and am in danger of losing all the good work I've done by having to re-load the account.

I think a lot has to do with my chosen times of playing. Since the weekend I've only been able to catch 5-10 mins here and there and haven't been able to dedicate the time to be able to analyse the table.......

All this means I'm learning all the time..... maybe I need to allocate specific poker playing times?

Oh well.... that's the update.

Not very good I admit but if it was easy then it wouldn't be a roller-coaster would it?

3's a Crowd!!

2007-07-10T10:15:00.000+01:00

Well what a good poker weekend for me it was! I managed to get 4-5 hours to try out the new, more aggressive style. I also practised multitabling with 3 screens open all the time.

So putting $50 in each of those tables was a bit of a gamble as previously I have found that I play too loose and call too many bets when I'm rushed. This time however it was different and I had time to make my decisions and also make my notes on other players. It wasn't too long before each table has over $100 on it!

I'm finding that my note taking has improved considerably and this has had an effect on my game to mean that I'm winning more and punishing the bad players.

After the first 2 hours I had lost $20 in total, due to me handing money across to Raybox111. It was an incredible run of cards...... my AJ against his KK, twice within about 15 hands.

The first time we both raised and I called eventually and the flop came out T, K, A.... I fired in a bet which he raised and then I made the mistake of raising all-in...... He thought about it for ages and then called to take the pot with trip Kings.... ahhhhhh.... gutted....

A few hands later, with the same pocket cards. I bet 4x BB, he raises 3x and I call..... The flop give me a Jack to give me top pair with top kicker. At this point I should have bet the pot.... waited to see if he raised.... then folded when he did. Unfortunately I threw all my chips in the middle........ He calls and wins the pot again!!!.... aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh.... I punched the seat in anger......

It wasn't all bad though. I took a break and came back to it, after labelling Raybox111 as red and "avoid at all costs". When I came back I bossed the table and starting winning regularly. When I'd finished I'd even won some of the money back from Raybox111 and had $180 on one table and $160 on the other!

After closing the tables I visited the cashier to see over $400 in the account!!.... wooo hoooo.....

Another "sensible moment" then took hold of me and I remembered my promise to myself to keep the account under $300 for now. So I took out £100 to leave me with $202.02 in the account. Check out the figures they make good reading. So overall I'm only $50 down at present and surging towards the break even point. Once I get there I have to re-evaluate the goals. I think I want a laptop.... to play from Claire's house and also a bigger screen for my PC so that I can fit more tables on it..... for now though I'm just really pleased and want to make sure that I don't get carried away with this success.

GL at the tables!

Live Poker At The Casino....

2007-07-06T09:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I played Poker at the Stanley Casino in Reading. It's the first time I've been back since my birthday when I manage to reach the final table and win £50. Although slightly soured by twisting my ankle on the way back and I'm still having treatment for it.

Thursdays nights is labelled as a beginners night and is a $10 rebuy tournament with 90 mins allowed plus an add-on at the break. We all started with 1000 chips and within the first 3 hands I had won about 800. From that point on I either played nervously with hands that I should have raised with or didn't get many hands. On the few hands I got I either missed the flop or put in a post flop raise to see everyone drop out.

I got to the last 3 hands before the break with about 1400 and thought I may as well take the opportunity to double up whilst I can still rebuy. I got AT in late and raised the so far unraised pot. A bald guy in seat 2 then made another minimum raise and I put him on a mid pair so I came over the top all-in. He thought about it for a bit which gave me some confidence and then called.......

Over the cards went and he has pocket tens........ not the worst thing that could happen for me as he only has 1 out and if I catch an ace I'll win. I think the odds are about 70/30 in the tens favour and no ace came out so I lost and had to rebuy.

Meanwhile on table 7 Claire was going well with about 1800 chips and she then got pocket tens and hit a set on the flop. With a multiway pot she made a raise which covered the stacks of a couple of people. Unfortunately one of those hit a straight on the river and took the pot which left Claire with 1000 going into the break.

I added on but Claire didn't.

When play resumed Claire lost her chips, mainly because she needed to get back to collect Bethany from the babysitter and she then waited for me to finish. I'd managed to steal some blinds but had under 2000.

I wasn't getting anywhere fast so, with JT spades, when the guy on my left agonises over his bet I then went all-in and got 2 callers. When they flipped the cards I was behind to pocket aces and A9. Still in with a 20% chance though, which is better than Mr A9....... unfortunately the board was all clubs and Mr A9 scooped the pot and left me to get my coat.

Was a fun evening though and I'll have to go again soon. I've got the bug for it and need to get the nervousness out of my live game. I also need to work on my mental arithmetic as I couldn't figure out the numbers at all!!.... Might have to get a DS light and that Brain training game....

His and Hers Profits!!

2007-07-05T11:06:00.000+01:00

So the rakeback for June came through and boosted my account by $74 which is just as well because it was looking pretty sorry and might have needed another top up. I've been reading up with Dan Harrington and v1:strategic play and been using the help of John from Laddies who has been a real star helping me to improve. He's answered so many questions and given me hand examples which have given me more on an insight into what top level poker players are thinking.

Last night proved to be a profitable session of poker once I'd settled down onto the 25c/50c 6-seater cash table.

I did some good work identifying the types of players that were playing, which is my latest focus and one which I wanted some improvement on. I managed to double up without taking any risks and attacking the agressive players at the right times. Then this had came along:

Begin Hand Number 783917792 at 09:46:10 on table Pipeline

Table Type: Normal (Non-Tournament)

Game Name: Texas Hold'em

Stakes: 0.50 / 1.00 Real Money

Active Players: 6

Total Pot: $133.77

Rake: $3.00

Win Amount: $130.77

moody2blue has the dealer button

Hobbo2006 posts small blind ($0.25)

Lisa_the_pro posts big blind ($0.50)

vitargo calls for $0.50

chancher raises for $1.00 (with 96o??)

Inexplicable folds

moody2blue raises for $2.23 with AA

Hobbo2006 raises for $3.21 with QQ

Lisa_the_pro folds

vitargo folds

chancher calls for $2.46

moody2blue raises for $7.38

(at this point I put him on a better hand than me AA, KK, QQ (unlikely), JJ or AK as when I'd re-raised him before he either folded or called.)

Hobbo2006 calls for $6.15........ (I called thinking about folding if I didn't get a set.)

chancher calls for $6.15

Dealing Flop Qc,Kc,6s......( bargain....... little bit worried about that K)

Hobbo2006 bets $7.45....... (quarter of the pot to encourage a raise)

chancher went all-in for $11.30....... (not sure about this move but not worried about him at all.)

moody2blue calls for $11.30..........( i'm sure here that if he'd had pocket Kings he'd have moved all in here and I was thinking that him only calling is him backing off the hand or looking to get his set with AA)

Hobbo2006 calls for $3.85

Dealing Turn Td

Hobbo2006 bets $63.73......( i'm thinking that I must be ahead and moody definately has a hand and it's unlikely to beat mine..... he certainly doesn't have AJ in his hand.)

moody2blue went all-in for $35.02

Hobbo2006 receives returned betting money ($28.71)

Dealing River 9d

moody2blue shows cards pair of Aces

Hobbo2006 shows cards 3 of a kind queens

chancher shows cards two pair 9's and 6's...?????????? lol

Hobbo2006 shows Three of a Kind, winning $130.77

Hand Ended at 09:48:17 - Elapsed Time: 127 seconds

So all happy there.... ended up with just over $200 on the table. Claire played a 10c/20c table whilst I was playing and after a shaky start managed to leave with $80. So overall profit for the night was $190 or £95......

I've been sensible and taken out £50 from the account to bring down the expenditure so check out the updated figures!!

OMG Laddies Hates Me.

2007-06-29T13:28:00.000+01:00

Again...... KK versus AA.....

This time lady luck was with me:

Begin Hand Number 780181323 at 12:59:31 on table Granite

Table Type: Normal (Non-Tournament)

Game Name: Texas Hold'emStakes: 0.50 / 1.00 Real Money

Active Players: 9

Total Pot: $74.08

Rake: $3.00

Win Amount: $71.08
greven20 has the dealer button

Slavo posts small blind ($0.25)

homerjey posts big blind ($0.50)

MrJaws foldshapiguy calls for $0.50

Tuomo_S folds

Cam-On folds

Hobbo2006 raises for $1.00

nelsonak1 folds

greven20 folds

Slavo calls for $0.75

homerjey raises for $3.00

hapiguy folds

Hobbo2006 calls for $2.50

Slavo folds

Dealing Flop T hearts, T Diamonds, T Spades

homerjey checks

Hobbo2006 bets $4.05

homerjey raises for $8.10

Hobbo2006 went all-in for $55.33

homerjey went all-in for $24.69

Hobbo2006 receives returned betting money ($26.59)

Dealing Turn T Clubs

Dealing River A Clubs

homerjey shows cards

Hobbo2006 shows cards

Hobbo2006 shows Four of a Kind, winning $35.54

homerjey shows Four of a Kind, winning $35.54

Hand Ended at 01:00:59 - Elapsed Time: 88 seconds

How about that then? Incredible. I'm gonna take JT's advice and give up for one day. Otherwise I'll be folding KK all the time.

Bugger!! Muffed Again!

2007-06-29T12:33:00.000+01:00

My KK against AA again!!

Can't believe it!..... It wasn't so obvious this time..... the other guy played it well but six handed how unlucky is that to get dealt AA and KK in the same round twice in 2 days!

Gutted...... Have had to re-load the account with another £50 so that's gonna hit the net figure.... :-(

Here's the hand:

Begin Hand Number 780164709 at 12:18:22 on table Garrison Library

Table Type: Normal (Non-Tournament)

Game Name: Texas Hold'emStakes: 0.30 / 0.60 Real MoneyActive

Players: 6

Total Pot: $66.07

Rake: $3.00

Win Amount: $63.07
Hobbo2006 has the dealer button

PD posts small blind ($0.15)

hawkwind123 posts big blind ($0.30)

headhunter78 raises for $0.60

Sammalaynadd calls for $0.60

Lossen18 folds

Hobbo2006 raises for $0.90

PD folds

hawkwind123 folds

headhunter78 raises for $2.40

Sammalaynadd folds

Hobbo2006 raises for $4.20

headhunter78 calls for $2.10

Dealing Flop 7h, 2h, 9c

headhunter78 checks

Hobbo2006 bets $5.35

headhunter78 calls for $5.35

Dealing Turn 3c

headhunter78 checks

Hobbo2006 went all-in for $22.06

headhunter78 calls for $22.06

Dealing River Tc

Hobbo2006 shows cards Kd, Kc; Tc; 9c;7h

headhunter78 shows cards Ah, Ac, Tc; 9c;7h
headhunter78 shows One Pair, winning $63.07
Hand Ended at 12:19:31 - Elapsed Time: 69 seconds

I also lost on another hand that was very unlucky to be outdrawn after being in front on the flop. My QT hearts came up again AK and I saw the flop cheaply which came up T K T...... I go all in with three of a kind against his two pair and then a King comes on the turn to give him the nuts.

I wasn't quite expecting so many dips this early!!

I Got Muffed!!!

2007-06-29T09:03:00.001+01:00

AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Got muffed last night..... had that sinking feeling when you feel you're behind in the hand but your cards are good and you know you're gonna call........

I got dealt KK, the second best starting hand in poker. Unfortunately second best means winning f*ck all and probably means you're gonna lose your stack.

There started off with 4 people in the hand and myself and the guy to my right were raising each other at every opportunity before the flop. He was a decent player and I knew this so when he re-raised all in for $92 I instinctively knew he had the aces. There I am though looking at the cowboys and no cards on the table and only a 0.5% chance that he has been dealt AA. Well statistically there's a 0.5% chance but from all the raising that's gone on I know that there's probably an 80% chance that he has the aces.....

Still I couldn't stop myself from calling... not with this hand..... I've managed to fold big hands before in this kind of situation. I could have folded and walked away from the hand having only lost about $10 which is about as good a loss as possible in this situation.

Unfortunately I played it like an idiot... called... and lost to his aces..... Until then I'd been doing well and had $80 after starting with $50.

This puts me on $44.83 in the account which means the net total is £-229.71.

Errrrrrrrr aren't you supposed to be getting nearer to break even?.... errrrrrr yeah...... f*ck off!

Tomorrow's another day and a valuable lesson has been learnt. Listen to your poker brain!... If you get that sinking feeling before you're hitting the call button then don't... save it, walk away and return for the next hand instead.

Get Nothing For Free In This Game!

2007-06-28T14:12:00.000+01:00

So an evening of Poker looked on the cards.... sorry pardon the cheap pun..... so I thought I'd enter the $1000 freeroll and the $20 rebuy which had $3000 guaranteed prize fund.

To be honest I didn't start well in either tournie and was out first of the $20 rebuy. I made the break after an hour, with only 1500 chips and rejected the offer to add on..... I was miles behind and on the verge of going out but managed to double up through AQo being called by someone with ace-rag. So now with just under 3000 I was UTG with A9s and called.... the dealer comes in with a big raise and I made the mistake of calling only to see his AQ turn over. Neither of us hit anything and so I was out. Bit of a crap performance as I always find that I need to get off to a good start by winning the first hand I play in.

In the freeroll I got KK early on and so put all my chips in the middle only to see 4 people call the all-in...... what a joke..... I know it's only a freeroll but even so why don't people play properly? When the cards went over I felt good as JJ was the only decent hand out there. No one hit anything until the river when another J hits the board and he took the pot leaving me with 480 chips!

Then my fortunes changed and I got a few hands with only single callers and managed to double up a few times. On 5500 I managed to get called by bcliche and won that to get to over 11k chips.

By this time Claire was eager to get to ASDA and Bethany was sitting over my shoulder watching me play. I picked up A9s on the button and made a raise which got called by one other and the flop gave me two pair. I checked and the other guy slammed his chips in and I brought home that pot..... didn't even need the second pair as he'd called with A6o? Not a very clever move.

So with approx 24k chips and down to the last 270 out of 5500 I knew it would be my turn when QQ came and the pot had already been raised and called when it came round to me. I called the first guy all-in as he didn't have many left and the 2nd guy called..... The flop came all low cards so I knew I must be ahead. I put in a pot sized bet which got called immediately and then the turn came up low too to give 3 hearts on the board. With still an over pair to the board I fired in the rest of my chips which was still about 8k. The other guy thought for a bit then called and turned over KJo with the king of hearts. Mr all-in turns over two aces but I'm still happy as currently I have still doubled through because the other guy is way behind. Unfortunately for me another heart arrives on the river and the Mr KJ win our side pot and Mr Aces wins the rest.

I've heard loads of comments on the laddies forum about the RNG (random number generator) being a bit biased toward the underdog but it does come up so often that there must be something to it...... Anyway I got knocked out and then had to walk round ASDA's instead... :-(

The Story So far.....

2007-06-27T14:20:00.000+01:00

Hello fellow bloggers,

Forgive me father for I have sinned.... It's been 9 months since my last blog.... :-) (but what a blog.......).

Well I'm back.... and Poker is the subject.

I've been playing since March 2006 on Ladbrokes and recently decided to find out how much Poker had cost me. Everyone always asks.... "so how much have you lost?" and then they always say...."really?" as if they think you're lying......

Anyway Ladbrokes allows you to research trasnactions back to the beginning of 2006 and since I started playing in March my whole poker career is logged on their site.

So off I went and got the figures:

31/05/2007 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£44.11
06/05/2007 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£10.00
24/04/2007 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£60.00
24/04/2007 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £56.70
13/04/2007 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £25.26
13/04/2007 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £10.10
20/03/2007 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £10.29
17/03/2007 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£100.00
11/03/2007 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
22/12/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
08/12/2006 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £49.06
21/11/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
26/10/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£40.00
24/10/2006 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £52.37
24/10/2006 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £40.17
23/10/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
17/08/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
04/07/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£100.00
03/07/2006 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £403.55
13/05/2006 Transfer : Cash in poker chips £5.29
04/05/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
02/04/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£50.00
17/03/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£20.00
12/03/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£20.00
12/03/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£20.00
06/03/2006 Transfer : Purchase poker chips -£20.00

So net total so far is -£131.32

During this time I have also bought a few books to read on the subject to improve my standard of play and potentially make more money. These include:

The Theory Of Poker - David Sklansky
Small Stakes Hold'Em: Winning Big with Expert Play
Texas Hold'Em Odds
Winning Low-Limit Hold'em
Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold'em
Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent's Guide to Decoding Poker Tells
Texas Hold'em: Begin and Win
The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker
Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Strategic Play v. 1
Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: The Endgame
Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments: Workbook v. 3

Total Amount spent on poker books is £120.39

My current balance in my ladbrokes account is $111 or £55. So Currently the expenditure is £251.71 with $111 in the account giving a net total of £-196.21

I'll be looking to get this sorted as soon as possible by withdrawing some money from the account as and when I double up, with the aim of being in the black within a few months.

So there ends the story so far.... lots of experience gained at a cost of £200 over a period of 15 months. I feel like I am a much better player than I was at the start and can certainly do well out of poker in the months to come. Hopefully there'll be some amusing stories along the way.

Anyway hope you like it!!