Monthly Update

A good night on the tables yesterday after my recent frustrations, and I'm gonna try and keep better track of how I do at each poker room - especially as I am moving about so much.
I had a good August, and using a Neteller account gives me a much better accountancy of money going in and out, but each week/month I'm going to post an update - more for my own records to be honest, but also to help me see and understand better the swings of the game.

I currently have the following accounts and balances:

USA Poker: Opening Balance: $100, Current Balance $201 - up $101
Hollywood Poker*: Opening Balance $100, Closing Balance $62 - down $38
Gaming Club: Starting Balance: $100, Current Balance $131 - up $31$
Absolute Poker: Starting Balance $200, Current Balance $298 - up $98

* I had so many connection problems at Hollywood (which I have not had at any of the above sites), so decided to shut this down and move away.

So September so far is showing a profit of $192. I pleased with this so far, especially as the last few days have been pretty harsh with the bad beats. Most sessions that have been losing have been relatively smaller amounts, and my winning sessions have been a good increase.
One of the troubles with a bad run, is that you fear your opponent has the only two cards you can lose to every time, and maybe bet smaller or check and therefore don't get maximum value from your opponent when you have the best hand.
When you find that your opponent does have those dreaded two cards more often than usual, my tendancy to play cautious has protected myself from further losses. Great for helping you limit your losses, but not maximise your winnings.

You've got to try and stay positive and not let recent bad runs affect your future play. That's easier said than done when you raise big with KK, get one caller and see the A on the flop - your opponent doesn't ALWAYS have the Ace. Had an example of this last night and checked the flop and saw another A on the turn. I bet at this, representing the A, he called, which made me suspect he didn't have another as surely he would raise. A bigger bet on the river was called, and he turned over QQ and I took a nice pot.

Anyway, Cathy has headed off early this morning to Leeds, to see Robbie Williams in concert tonight. They did Knebworth a 3 years ago, got there real early and were right at the front in the best possible positon. She was on the telly loads - which was kind of bizarre seeing your missus on TV so much! They are hoping to do the same today, and will probably be front of the Q when the gates open later. Long day, but she enjoys the concert and thinks it is worth the long periods of boredom.

So it's a Daddy day today, the weather forecast is good and we're off to the park for some fun!
Ciao.

Predict A Card Game Show!!

Roll up, roll up. Great idea for a new TV show. It’s called ‘Predict A Card’ and it’s a game anyone can play. It works like this:

Max 6 or 10 players are dealt 2 cards each face down, and only they can see them.

3 cards are dealt face up on the table for all players to see. The idea is to try and make a good hand by matching your two cards to the 3 on the table, hoping to make a stronger hand than your opponents.

OK, so you’ve made a strong hand – this is where you predict what your opponents are holding by looking at the 4^th and 5^th cards that face up on the table.

It’s a winner – last night I had a 67% success rate.

The formula is very simple. Look at your hand. Then think of the only 2 cards that you could lose to.

Ta Daaaaa – these are the 2 cards your opponent has. It’s magic. It even works with the most bizarre and unlikely scenarios.

I have AK on a AK2 flop and make a big bet. Opponent goes all in over me. I call.

Turn is a J, river is a J. I predict he is holding JJ. He is – I win!

The formula works consistently, see example number 2.

I have QJ on a QJ7 flop and bet it hard. One caller. Turn is a 2. I bet it hard and again one caller. Turn is a 7. Fortunately, I check here and save myself a re-raise. I guess at K7. He had A7 so I still score for the 7. He called all those big bets with lowest pair.

Unfortunately, unlike most game shows, I don’t win anything. Quite the opposite in fact.

I hate this game sometimes.

Making a Mess

I'm sat on the couch with laptop on knee, watching Bear in The Big Blue House as Mia is fed her spaghetti bolognese by mummy. It's a mess and I'm staying well clear. At least she doesn't have a white top on. And that's because I'm not feeding her - I've never been forgiven by mummy for ruining a really cute kitten T shirt by allowing Mia to eat with it on.

Anyone with kids will understand. Takes them about 28 years to learn how to eat properly, by which stage they have children of their own and the circle starts all over again. Wouldn't change a thing though, there's something pretty sweet when I see Mia with tomato sauce all over her face - reminds me of a video I saw once with the child covered with chocolate and mummy asks 'what have you been eating' and the little one replied 'I haven't touched your cake mummy'.

Life on the tables is equally messy and nowhere near as cute. Had a rough few days that seems to mirror a few other players’ blogs I've been reading. Must be something in the water at the moment.

The worse was the $3500 guaranteed - down to the last 80 and I'm joint chip leader with Mr X - miles away from 3rd place and I have the final table in my sights. I'm folding everything except the bestest hands to make sure I get that high place finish On the button with AA - Mr X raises to 5 x BB, I re-raise another 5 x his bet and he moves all in. I have to call, and do so.
He turns over KK and I instantly get that feeling in my gut. I actually typed in 'K on the river' - so sure was I of what was about to happen. Flop and turn are good, and then the K falls out and I'm out. He finishes 2nd and wins 600$, and this is a game of skill? Sure, I only lost my 5$ buy in - but I can't help but see it as losing a final table place and a three-figure payout. Cest la vie I suppose.

Cash table play was the same, AA losing 6 times on the run to lower pockets and my QQ raise called by 75os (he flopped a set of 7's) are just the hands that stand out coz they cost me the most. What can you do? None of those hands I could have done a thing about, unless I just don't raise or I fold - and that is a world of trouble. AK and AQ - don't get me started.

Briefly opened up at Hollywood Poker and had so much trouble with their connection and the constant jamming that I have already closed it and withdrawn my money. Cost me 40$ too, as I didn't get chance to recover from some horrific beats there too. Flopped a full house with my first hand and lost to 4 of a kind on the river and never really recovered.
Fortunately, USA Poker is proving equally fruitful as CD Poker (same network) and I am working towards my bonus there and sitting at 110$ up despite more horrific bad beats I've been getting. Did briefly hit a 180$ profit before the bad run, so hoping to get back to those levels quick.

Spent a while searching a few sites to see where my next Bonus target is, and have just opened up at Absolute Poker. Seems like a relatively easy target to hit for 100% bonus, so have put 200$ rather than my usual 100, and will see how things go here.

Daren't play with the charity money at the moment - if I stopped now, I would be donating 92$ from the 60$ start - not huge I know, but better than I had. Gonna wait till the wind changes and then start this back up again.

OK, I gotta clean up my little daughter and make her look cute again. Look's like I might need a blowtorch and industrial strength sand-paper to be honest - but I don't really mind - bath times with Daddy are one of the week's highlights and we both have some fun splashing around.

Good luck at the tables and enjoy your weekend, it's nearly upon us!

Poker 4 Over

Last night at the tables at Poker 4 Ever, I questioned a players call after he hit his two outer on the river, and called some big bets to get there.
He reacted quite bad to this and began to get very abusive. I'm not bothered about things like this, and after he started to get personal, I asked him to stop, as I was critical of his play, not of him as a person.

'I'll bet you're black as well' was his reply.
'Would that make any difference at all' I replied.
'Yes it would you........' and so began a dicitionary of words used to described black people, and I don't remember one being complementary.

I clicked open an e-mail to Poker 4 Ever to ask them to remove this guy from their poker site. As per their conditions of use, any player using racist (or just offensive) language will be removed from playing.

Now I don't wish to be a killjoy here, and I have only ever reported one person before, and he said things about my daughter, even when I pointed out she was only 2. But this guy used almost every racially offensive word you can think of, and probably some you can't.

You know what Poker 4 Ever's response was? Nothing. The player was at the site earlier, and he hasn't even had his chat suspended! I e-mailed them and asked them why. They replied that they felt it just warranted a warning.

I told them I don't do warnings and to check my account in 30 minutes and see my reaction.

Maybe I am over reacting, maybe this is the way the world is these days. But I feel like making a stand, and whilst it doesn't add up to a hill of beans, I feel pretty strong about it.

Sex It Up, Baby!

After a chat with Juice, The Edge et al last night, apparantly I can make my blog caught by more visitors who use search engines. All I have to do is make more sexual references in my blog, and this will get picked up by anyone searching for those words. Sounds like a load of bollocks to me, and I'm not sure what words people use in their searches, but we'll give it a try and see if someone looking for 'hot, hard and hungry' accidentally stumbles on my page. Just imagine their dissapointment when they realise there are no pictures of girl's getting done in various positions that are only usually seen in the Kama Sutra. Apologies to any readers if they are offended by my crude words - I need the traffic!

Ok, let's start with the fun bit before I get to the point. Before a recent football match between Argentina and Brazil, an Argentinean condom company came up with this ad to show the Brazilians what they were going to do to them. Penis, bottoms and tits - all in one picture!

Things didn't go to plan, Brazil won the match so their football organization replied to the ad with the following:

Pretty good huh? I have acceptable pictures of a penis - gotta get loads of hits, or should that be tits, on this!

Anyway, September has started good and bad. Opened up at Sun Poke Her, hit some humping bad beats in my first two hours play and after seeing 50$ go up the shitter, recognised the 'Inter' scenario again, so shut down and took my money to USA Poker, which is on the same system as CD Poker, so I can play against the same players i usually do and work towards a bonus at the same time!

Had a good start there and have built my starting stack of 100$ up to $184 thanks to a sexy 15th place in a 5$ tourny and some orgasmic cash table play.

Had two massive hands at Poker 4 Ever that have catapulted me into a 230$ bankroll. I doubt Debbie Does Dallas would be more exciting than this.

Dealt 55 and a 4 x bb raise before me. I call along with one other player and see a flop of AK5. First player checks, so I bet 2$ 2nd player calls, and initial raiser put's it up another 5$. Already being hit twice with my set beaten by a higher set, I call as does player 3.

Turn is a J. 10$ raise which I call as does player 3 putting him all in. There is now a str8 to worry about also. The river is a 2, player one moves all in with his remaining stack and I call. Player one has AK, player two has AJ and my set of 5's takes an 80$ pot.

A short while later, I'm on the button with AQs so raise it to 4 x BB and get 2 callers. Flop is K J 10, just about the best I could have expected. I check and player 2 puts a 7$ bet in which is called by player 2 and me (want to build the pot here). My check on the turn see's a 10$ bet called, so I raise it up, putting the other 2 players all in. Both call!

Imagine your feelings here, and savour them, as this doesn't happen that often. You have the nuts, (you get that - the nuts are in your hand) and as the river falls and there is no full house or flush possible and you have 2 callers raising you when you bet big! The worse case scenario is that someone else has AQ and you have to share. Player 1 turns over K 10, player two has Q 9, and my hand takes a 3 figure pot.

A lot of luck involved here, that I attract 2 players with strong hands when I have the best, or close to the best, hand possible. Not sure how the Q9 hand or the AK hand can get away from their calls, though the AK hand should have slowed down a bit when the str8 draw was there. Should AJ be calling big bets on a AK5 flop, in a 3 handed game? He'll feel his call was justified when the J hit the turn, though calling a 5 x bb raise before him - what would you put your opponent on? Maybe he deserved to get fucked on the table for not thinking a bit more about this rather than his nice pair?

The great thing about a floppy set is that it is so well disguised. Mr AK will think he is so far ahead, hoping I have AQ or AJ, so I don't think anyone would play that hand any different except maybe Mr AJ folding to the big one on the flop - though can you blame a call?

The second hand, once you flop a str8, you'd want to get your money in quickly, stop a two pair turning into a full house maybe - but why he called a 5 x bb raise with Q9 is another question, pretty anal, so maybe he got what he deserved? Again, Mr K10 - maybe not the worse call as a lot of players like this hand, but flopping 2 pair on a board with a str8 has gotta make you cautious. Maybe he was hoping for the full house, and implied odds? He gotta bit vocal after the hand, gave me a bit of mouth action, but I reminded him who was the favourite pre-flop, and that hand won. Still, must've been a hell of a blow for them.

If I smoked, I would be rolling a fag with the best shag I could find, but I don't so I'll have to do with a mug of coffee. Anway, another good night on the tables and a good start to the month.

Keep it real guys :-)