Friday, August 11, 2006


Maybe Acorn deal's with these kind of complaints. I found this quite funny.

How's tricks guys? Hope the poker gods are shining on you, coz they ain't shining on me. Well, only the Inter poker gods aren't shining on me and I just cannot work out what is happening with my play there. We all go through bad runs. I know and accept that and AA is never gonna stand up against the muppet calls with K 4 every time. They get the luck they need sometimes. Overall, it's why I win at Poker, rather than lose - generally. But things are getting silly.

So, I have taken the course of action of removing all bar 50$ at Inter (thus resigning officially from the Inter Challenge) and am gonna try some Bonus Whoring at various sites (that aren't affiliated with a site I already play at) for a few weeks and see how it goes. Last night was the final straw for me, and I'm keeping some there as I enjoy the SNG's at Inter and the banter with the gang, so it's worth keeping a bit there for that reason alone. For the record, my 50$ investment saw me show a profit of $229, so no complaints overall, but when you consider I did break the 600$ mark at one point - there's a hell of a lot of bad beats there the last 6 weeks, and too much for me to take any more.

I know, I'm a big girl's blouse. But I bet I'll be richer for it.

So, I have opened up an account at Bodog Poker, and will play there for a week or two and see how things go, until I clear my bonus and then I'll move on. A bit like the littlest hobo, I suppose. Maybe tomorrow I'll wanna settle down, until tomorow I'll just keep moving on.
Had a nice start and have turned my 100$ investment into $118 in my first session, so we'll see how that progresses.

Anyway, off to CD for tonight's 5$, $3500 guaranteed, and I hope the poker gods are smiling on me :-)

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Sit and Go Stats

Thanks to the wonderful tools available on the internet these days, had a look at my Inter SNG stats today and think it makes for a good read. Having subscribed to Sharkscope for a couple of months now, it gives you access to stats on yourself as well as your opponents. I've still not got my head around why some people still play this game looking at their losses, and was amazed when looking at a player earlier and saw his losses at over $12,500, beating the previous record or $10,500 a few nights earlier.

My stats at Inter look quite healthy over all, and probably the reason my Inter challenge was doing so well. It built me a great platform and confidence that spilled over to my cash games.

Overall, since the challenge started, I have played in 133 SNG's. I have won 25 of these, come second in 21 and 3rd in 18. What pleased me most I think, was that I have finished in 1st place more than I have finished in any other position in SNG's. The next most popular position I finish is 2nd (21 times) , and the next 3rd (18). Overall, that's 65 'in the money' finishes, pretty much 50%, and profit tonight went through the $300 mark since I started at Inter.

My finishes go down the graph with 11 4th places, 12 5th, 8 6th, 11 7th, 8 8th, 7 9th and finally 10 10th place finishes - which bizarrely adds up to 138, even though Sharky shows 133 games - maybe the graph isn't displayed quite so accurate.

Patience plays a big role in SNG's and I have learnt to play less hands, wait for the stronger hands (invariably they do come) and never try to force cards. The downside to playing against the fish that seem to accumulate in 5$ SNG's is that it is hard to force them out of a pot. They have top or second pair with any kind of kicker, and they'll usually call you to the river. They'll rarely fold a flush or str8 draw irrespective of the size of your bet, many timesI've moved all in with 2 pair or a set and got called by a gutshot or flush draw, and then it's a case of who's luck is in and you double up or leave.
A good example of this is a hand I just lost. SNG in it's 3rd hand and from the big blind I check K8. Flop is K 8 9. I move all in and get 2 callers. Yes that's right, 2 callers on the 3rd hand of the tourny. One turns over 10 J and the other pocket 7s. A 7 hit's the turn and I'm out in 10th place. How they do it I just don't know, but this guy was $2k down so I guess he's lost a helluva lot of those and has never learnt from it.

Just decided to play a £10 SNG at Inter, having won 2 of my last 3 SNG's there, to see what the standard is like at this level. 44 hands have been played, (AA came out in the first 2 hands!) 2 had gone out already and I've had to fold every hand so far bar two - the same hand both times but one crippled me and the other saw me off. AK. One hit nothing and my opponent turned over A10 having hit the only card in the deck I had to avoid. Then, on a flop of AK2, he had pocket deuces. Almost every hand was raised, and I just never got any hands to call with. Maybe I was too patient, but hard to call when you don't have any cards to call with.

So heading off to the $3500 guaranteed at CD, and see how my luck is tonight.

Enjoy what remains of the weekend, and see y'all soon.