Back on the Market

It's been a while since I've been single (sorry ladies!!), but I guess it's a similar thing being out of work. Attended my first interview today for over 3 years, and although I think it's a very good job, I'm a little bit underqualified so really only went for the practice. Had to sit infont of 3 people, very official and all propely structured questions. Fortunatley, I've hired-and-fired myself, so I knew them all - ha ha!

I had to do a presentation for 15 mins using my laptop along the lines of how I would increase their busines and what I would bring to the party, so to speak. So I fired up my laptop and up pops a picture of Mia, and as one of the interviewers had a 1 year old himself, this broke the ice and realxed me a bit. It went really well, much better than I expected, so we'll wait and see early next week.

Back to the tables, switched some money around and re-activated my Ladbrokes account after Rosie's message and went looking for her table, but she seemed to be on a SNG every time I looked, so that's obviously going well for her. I've not been back to ladbrokes for a while as, quite simply, I just don't like it.

Not sure why. Well, actually, I know damn well why. I don't win there.

With all long standing poker accounts (brief spell at Party excluded), I've never lost money in the last 6 months at any of them, apart from laddies. I can't explain what it is, or why. Is the standard higher and I'm not good enough? Do I play differently there? Is the card dealing system different?

The only reason I mentioned the last comment, is because looking at my hand history stats, there's a massive difference between the amount of hands that hit at the different sites. I know variance plays a part here as the Poker Room stats make up the most of my hand history, but even so, some pretty interesting stuff:

I'm 47% more likely to hit a flush at Poker Room than any other site; I lose with more flopped straights at Laddies than any other site; trips/sets lose more at Poker Stars than any other. Sorry I'm waffling a bit, but I thought I would share this trivia with you.

Anyway, back to the tables and how's my poker day been? A bit mixed to be honest. Poker Stars account progressing nicely thanks to a spell at a NL table where I hit a couple of big hands in my favour, as well as a erratic player who tried to bluff my raises too often. Cut my winnings and left 50$ richer. Ultimate Bet broke even and opened up at the Gaming Club to build a bonus there and running slightly up on the cash tables.

Tried my hand at a few 5-seater 5$ SNG's and won two, runner up 2 and 2 early exits at GC - so about 30$ profit here. Played 3 at Laddies and lost with AQ v A3 first hand with an A on the flop, he hit 3 on river after calling my all in, then almost the same in then second where my AQ ran in to two players with A7, again an A on the flop and a 7 on the river knocked me out. The third I was out in 5th after my flopped two pair lost to a clown with an underpair who called my raise and hit a set on the turn. This leaves me about 30$ down at Laddies, so I'm off to hit the cash tables now to see if I can get this back :-)

Had a good run around the garden in the bright sunshine with Mia this afternoon, after checking the weather forecast for the area last night and saw 'rain all day' type thing.
And this got me thinking. How the heck can weathermen and their like predict the earth's temperature in 50 years time (global warming etc) - but can't get it right tomorrow?

Answers on a postcard please........

I'm in Charge Here Mr!

Always remember the Sigmund Curve. When you're on an upward spiral, you get to a point where you can't keep going any higher, and the inevitable happens. Think of the 100m runner. Surely they must get to a point soon where it is physically impossible for a human being to run any faster.

Lady luck reminded me of this in 2 ways, and exactly who is in charge of my poker life last night.

Headed to Poker Stars and sat down at a 1$ NL table and transferred 40$ of my remaining 100$. Watched a few hands and instantly noticed the table's calling station and compulsive raiser, and other players seemed to have noticed also. He had re-loaded twice before I played a hand.
After a few hands of nothing, it was folded to me and my A 10s. Only the SB and BB to play so raised to 5$. SB folds and our calling station is on the BB and he calls.
Flop is a rainbow A 10 8. I put in a 10$ bet which is instantly called. Turn is a 2, so I go all in with my remaining 25$, which our friend calls. He turns over Q 8 and the river turns an 8.
Just to make me feel worse, another player then commented on the fact he had folded A 8 - so there was only one 8 left in the deck. Expensive bit of misfortune.

So I reload 40$ and sit back down. A few hands later, dealt AK and all fold to my 5$ raise, except our friend above. Flop is A 10 7 - so I bet 10$, which is called. Turn shows a 5 - so I move all in, again our firend calls instantly and turns over Q 10.
Uh oh, been here before methinks, and sure enough, the river throws him his 10 to take the pot.
Feeling incredibly depressed, checked my account to find it down to 11$. Went to see if there was a tourny I could play, but there were only SNG's so I signed up to 10+1, thus emptying my account. Fortunately, I won it - so my account is back up to 45$, so I shut up for the night. Logged on this morning for a quick session, and came second in another 10+1 so have built my stack back up to 75$.

Ultimate is still proving very fruitful, so I cashed out my initial investment of 180$ and still show $120 in the account - hope I don't hit the 'cash-out' curse now I've done that! Sticking to the 50c and 1$ limit tables, and seem to be playing well. Did try a NL game but didn't hit the same, so will stay at the limit games until they stop being so fruitful.

Luck also hit me hard in my work life. The company I work for has been making redundancies due to poor results in their retail shops. Depsite the call centre I run being 67% up on last year, it wasn't enough and we are being closed down with the inevitable consequences. Fortunately, I put a 3-month notice period in my contract, so I have 3 months to find a new job. Playing with the idea of setting up my own business, as I have a few good accounts that will follow me - but with a young family to support, not sure how long I will last without regular money coming in. Have put the feelers out, so fingers crossed for me please.

Spent the afternoon with Mia in the park and up to the post office to send out a few CV's and it was good to take my mind off things for a few hours. The weather was kind and bright sunshine seemed to follow us around as Mia threw herself into her latest hobby - collecting twigs, sticks and leaves. Aren't little girls supposed to do tea parties with their dollys?

Time to get the tea ready now, so the next time you hit a streak of I-can-do-no-wrong, rememebr that curve goes in two directions!

It's A Grand Life If You Don't Weaken

My Grandad always used to say that to us right up to his last days. He's been gone for about 12 years now, but I found myself remembering this last night as I sat at a poker table.

My Poker Stars account had peaked over the 300$ mark, before slipping back to about $280 - so I decided to cash out 180$ back to my account, a healthy profit from my short time there. They were running a 1billionth hand promo - and on 3 occasions, I was less than 10 hands away from winning a few grand (one hand ended 00002 and one 00004 - how close!!), but alas, you get nowt for being close in this life :-(

Having an incredible run at Ultimate Bet. Not sure if my refocusing and re-reading of my poker books are working, or I'm more sensitive to what other people might be holding after my bad week recently. I'm only hitting the 50c and 1$ limit tables but am returning a healthy profit as well as enjoying my play. Account currently at $294 (from a 180$ start) so will try the NL / PL games there and see if my play is good enough at that level.

Anyway, back to the point, the reason for the blog was after a discussion with Cathy last night, after I had cashed-out from Poker Stars. She said 'So what's made the difference this year, you never used to cash out this much?' And it got me thinking, just what has made the difference?

Last year, was my first year of playing and cash out's were very rare. This year I've cashed out quite a lot, paying for a bit around the house, which has pleased Cathy no end. So what am I doing now that I wasn't last year?

Well, I've read a fewpoker books, so I've picked up some useful information from Lee Jones et al.
If I'm playing someone who looks very good, I leave and find someone crap!
I have a huge amount of 'hand experience' and seen many things as I play more hands
I've learnt how to win pots with nothing, and to fold very good hands when I know I'm beat
Sometimes I have to play the players, not the cards
Raise more!
Knowing which hands not to call raises with - 'But they were suited.....' Yes I used to be a newbie once!
Think more about what your opponent might have, if he calls your big raise, or re-raises
Stepping up from Limit to NL/PL
Playing with and against some good players, and trying to learn from them and what they do
Improved my knowledge of odds (pot, implied etc)
Don't give free cards! If I have a hand, I bet it!
Take an incredible amount of notes on opposition players - this has come in soooooo handy in future games
And, the most important, I fish where the fish are biting!

These are just a few off the top of my head, maybe you could add a few more if you thought about it longer. Think my Grandad might have been on to something.

Happy Poker-ing all :-)

Bring me Sunshine

Firstly, big up Rosie - well played.

Thanks for coming back, had a bit of a rest from poker these last few days and played about 10% of what I have been playing. Therefore, I've not had much to write about.

It was the missus' birthday weekend (closer to 40 than 35 now, you know!), so we went out for a meal with a bunch of friends on Friday night and caught a late night showing of Da Vinci Code. Not the best thing to do after a good few pints, and how I stayed awake through the 2 and a half hours, I'll never know. The film was long, pretty much to the book, and Tom Hanks was totally mis-cast in my view. I've read the book, which I enjoyed without the over-praising that many have done, and it's rare for a film to live up to the book (One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest an exception?). Still, good food, good company and plenty of beer made for an enjoyable evening overall.
Got home about 3am and then had to get up with Mia at 8am, so pretty tired by the time we headed to her family for a birthday afternoon with the in-laws and sister's family.

No poker for 3 days, so was straining at the leash to play last night! Headed for Poker Stars where I am steadily making back the losses of my Party experience. I put 100$ in my account, and after a session Wednesday night and last night (and my bonus), this now sits at 248$.
I've Headed back to the 50c and 1$ limit tables, as I was hitting a lot of bad beats and wanted to re-focus my tight play. Some of the hands were incredible, you forget that, at this level, almost everyone is a calling station, and it's hard to put anyone on any cards - but play the strong hands strongly and when you hit, punish the calling stations to the max - and I was on a roll.
Also played in 4 SNG's and managed to finish 3rd, 3rd, 2nd and 9th - so showed a profit from these as well.
Then I signed up to Ultimate Bet as they have a 100% bonus, which is paid out as you play, and not massive targets to reach. Had a good start to play and my 180$ is now 214$ with the first chunk of my bonus almost reached.

The only negative to the post is the not-so-great British weather. I work in the Travel Trade, so lots of rain is great for our business, but it is very hard with a 2 year old. We've taken her to the 'Tumble Tots' type thing to expend the energy, but she does love the outdoors, like her daddy.
The cycle trek took place Thursday night - and boy are my legs just recovering! Tore some ligaments playing football in September, so I've not done that much activity this year, so taking a group of 11-14 year olds was a mistake for me! We managed about 15 miles, and were lucky with the weather - so overall, a good time was had by all, even if it will take me a week to recover!

So, as Eric and Ernie were always singing - bring me sunshine.......