To Rant Or Not To Rant

That is the question. William Shakespeare was massively misquoted.

You have AA and make the 10 x bb raise. Your opponent re-raises you, putting all his chips in. You obviously call, you'd be mad not to. He turns over 89. Not even sooted - 8c 9h. You have 20$ of your hard won money in the pot, maybe more. You may have been playing for over an hour to build that up.
The flop is 6 7 K rainbow. Uh oh. You have a premonition, you know he will get his str8, and sure enough, out falls the 10 on the river and you lose. How do you re-act to this?
This formed the basis of an interesting conversation between Acorn and Rottie, and I joined in when I'd finished my dinner.

A rant at your opponent sure makes you feel better - get that anger and frustration out of your system - as long as it doesn't go on too long and you go a bit tilty.
Maybe you type in 'How the f**k can you put all your money in a pot with 89os?', Did my re-raise not indicate my strength' 'Is this your first day?'
Or maybe just the simple, yet adequately effective 'you f**king idiot'.
Does this make him think 'hmmmm, best not do that again, I got lucky' and he tightens his game up? Do other players at the table start to think that too? Are you better just shutting up so he doesn't re-evaluate his play?

Maybe you thank him for calling? Take's a pretty restrained player to do that immediately I think, but after all, if players didn't make these kind of calls, you'd hardly win anything would you? If the stongest hand pre-flop always won, there would be a lot less players online than there are now. The game would be dull and uninteresting.

In my view, the above player is convinced he made the right decision and will now carry on calling with similar hands, never realising how lucky he was, and that the luck was the only reason he won. He'll confuse this luck with skill on his part and carry on making those mistakes until his credit card is maxed out and he can't get more. I do not use the words 'loses his bankroll' in this, as he probably doesn't even know what one is, or gives this any consideration. He fills his account back up when it's empty, and tells all his friends that he wins at poker online, and can beat AA with 89.

So how do you react? I'm a combination of the above, but I guess it depends on the situation. If the above happens for the 4th or 5th time - I'm the screamer. If it happens for the first time - I usually ask the player if he's staying for a while, because I know where his money will be before too long. In someone elses pot, and I hope it's mine.

Now, let's take the above situtation (which was real btw) with the following that happened about 30 minutes later. I have AA and raise to 12xbb, again the above player re-raises me, moving all-in. I call and he turns over Q9 sooted.
The flop showed a 9, there was a moment of 'uh oh, here we go again', but sure enough, he'd used his luck up already and I took the pot. I typed in 'unlucky' and you know what his reply was?

'They were suited, I had more outs than you'

And that, my friends, sums up the mentality of a fish. I was surprised he even considered 'outs' or 'odds' but apparantly he does, and thinks he has enough to put 20$ of his money on! Long may they continue to hit their unlikely hands as the odds state, so you gotta ride with the 2 out of 10 times they hit, knowing that the 8 out 10 times will make you much, much richer.

For sure, it's great to have a rant and release a bit of aggression - I do it often enough myself - and I'm not saying there is a right or wrong way to react. Only that, if they didn't hit from time to time, I wouldn't have had the loft done, Mia's bedroom decorated and the car's £500 repair bill paid as quickly as they were.

Good luck at the tables and enjoy the bank holiday weekend.

Well, looks like the summer is well and truly over. Certainly is where I live in the leafy suburbs of Cheshire, where we went 2 months with virtually no rain, followed by about 2 weeks (so far) of constant rain. Imagin how confusing life would be if you were a plant in someone's back garden. You don't get a drink for 2 months, then you're swimming in the stuff.

Tough life being a plant I guess. Could be worse, could be a daddy. Or a poker player.

Speaking of weather, the call centre I work in had amazing views of a storm yesterday. I sit in a corner, so have views from 2 sides, and the thunder was crashing down and the lighting was crackling around in the air - very spectacular to watch.
One of the girls was pretty scared of the thunder, so I provided a consoling shoulder for her to lean on to help her through this difficult experience. Some people are scraed of heights. Some of Spiders. She was scared of thunder.
I was quite happy to give her a cuddle for a short while, eventually having to let go an hour or so later, purely for her motivational reason's of course, but will probably receive a solicitors letter anyday now for inappropiate behaviour or sexual harrasment in the workplace. Still, I enjoyed it whilst it lasted.

Had a mixed few nights on the tables the last couple of days, though I seem to be so knackered lately, I don't seem to be able to stay up as late as I used to. CD Poker see's me almost back to where I was a week ago after a horrendous night's play where I dropped a 100$. Lose small and win big is the way to do things, but I haven't quite got the hang of this just yet.

I've now racked up 14 hours of play at Poker4Ever and still have yet to have a winning session there. AA v KK, AQ v Ax - no matter what I seem to hold, just cannot stand up. I win the odd hand, for sure, but can't seem to get a run going. Hence, my 100$ is now down to 32$ so the question is, do I bank the 32$ before it all goes, or be positive and believe that this can't go on much longer and stay so I can ride my lucky wave when it hit's and build it back up to the starting amount. Reckon I've got one session left here if I don't have a winning run, and I'll be at the 'all in or bust' stage, and anytime can happen then. Ces't la vie, onwards and upwards.

Fortunately, Bodog is proving to be fruitful, even after a couple of nights away from this site, I've added another 30$ to my BR and a few more points towards my bonus. I mistakenly thought I had hit my bonus last week and cashed out 200$, but received an e-mail telling me I was still 60 points short, so will have to play a few nights here to build this up to the required level. Neteller is proving to be a great way of transferring the money around, seems to clear within 24 hours and none of the messing about proving ID etc.

Great to see the footy season has well and truly started and really enjoyed a couple of games already, especially the first half of Man U v Fulham, great to watch. My local team Altrincham FC started well, winning their first game of the season, but then losing the next two. They've played two of the top teams already, so no shame in losing to those, and they've played well, so the signs are good for the season ahead.

Finally, had a great interview to actually work for a recruitment compnay, and run their North West office. The guy used a real novel approach to interviewing, started off by telling us what he was like, and that if anyone had a problem with that, they should leave now. Then, the final assesment we were given a brief about a guy and you had to sell him a car. He was a wealthy bloke and the car I had to sell him was Del Trotter's Robin Reliant. We had to call a guy within the company who had some testing comments to challenge us, and he told me afterwards that I was the only person who had gone through the 4 minute telephone conversation and never once used the words 'Robin Reliant'. All good fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hours there.

Anway, got the in-laws round tonight and we're having a take-away to save me cooking, so I'm off to the Indian for a Chicken Madras.

Enjoy your poker and spare a thought for me in the morning!

Find a Penny, Pick it up

Then all day you'll have some luck. Or so they say.

So imagine my feelings when I was out with Mia earlier today and found one on the floor right by her favourite slide. Of course, I picked it up and put it in my pocket. And it's funny, because parts of my poker life at the moment could do with some sunshine - yet others are very bright.

I was feeling a bit poker-exhausted earlier in the week, so much so that, after writing my blog last Sunday, I switched off the laptop and didn't turn it back on again till Wedensday night - missing 3 nights on the run - and also had Friday off, a total of 4 nights off from poker in one week. Cathy thought I was seriously ill and kept asking me if there was something I wasn't telling her. Incurable disease or have you lost the lot? I just fancied a break, that's all. I play way too much sometimes.

Anyway, I'll start with the good, Bodog is running very well, and my initial 100$ investment is now worth 317$ as I have just cleared my 100$ bonus. Not bad for a weeks work, huh? I have cashed out 200$, so banking a 100$ profit and still got 117$ to play with. The 10% reload bonus means I may withdraw the 117$ also, and re-deposit in a couple of days to get my 10% extra! I'm a whore to that bonus!
To say this place is a fish fest, is a bit like saying Posh Spice doesn't mind the odd photo in the tabloids. It's full of them, in both senses. A raise here is very, very rarely uncalled and the standard isn't great. Sure, they get lucky sometimes like everyone does, including the best players. But it is the total lack of understanding of the game and how to play that makes me smile. They are 'play 'em if they're sooted' players, and I see J2 and 46 type hands calling 6 or 10 x bb raises with the 'it's only 2$' mentality. They also call if they only hit one more of their suits, hoping for the runner runner hands, which astounds as well as delights me. Calling with overcards and pocket pairs is a given, irrespective of the flop texture and no thought given to what their opponents may be holding.
As Tony the Tiger says, It's Grrrrrrreat.

An almost identical site (in fishy standards) is Poker4ever, The Rottie's 'favourite site' as she says on her blog. And you can read the above for this site too. Only I'm not having the 'luck' here. My premium hands are just not standing up at all.
E.G. Holding AA on a 10/20c NL table and raise to 1.60$, one caller. Flop as all low but 2 hearts - I bet 17$ and he calls. Turn nothing, so I put the guy all in for his last 17$ and he called, turning over 2 hearts, with no other match or draw on the table. Despite the ridiculous bet's he called to get there, putting his whole BR on a heart hitting - he was happy to do it. Even more so when his heart came on the river. Nothing I can do to prevent a 36$ loss apart from question his decision making skills, which he thinks are now perfect.
Same thing happened later when my AA ran into a Q 7 3 flop, this time my opponent again called my high bets and turned over K3 - and hit another 3 on the river.
I can hear Acorn saying 'that's what you want, they just got lucky this time' which is half true, but not if they take your BR before you've had chance to win it back. So here, my 100$ is now worth 56$ - including a 40$ bonus (otherwise I'd be out of there).
I'm gonna hang in and see if I can rebuild back to 100$ then decide from there.

CD was pretty bad too, normally a good place for me, but I have to take the rough with the smooth, and did get 28th in the 3k rebuy, so netted a 30$ profit for my 3.5 hours play. Still not decided on whether this is a good or bad way to spend my time on the tables.

Anway, I'm off to see what I can see more of - Posh Spice in the tabloids, or fish at Bodog.

PS. No, I'm not on commission.