Aledan the Flop Dodger

2006-09-26T21:37:00.000+01:00

Still no poker to report on I’m afraid. This poker blog is currently pokerless.

I had a visit to the workshop from my brother, his girl friend and Poxy Roxy. While walking around the town afterwards his girlfriend commented that she could see why I have moved here…”You’re like the George Clooney of Kings Lynn, everyone else here looks like they have just f****d their cousin!”

2006-09-25T22:44:00.000+01:00

This weekend I moved the workshop to its new location. Well when I say ‘I’ I mean me and various others who I hardly knew but were willing to give up their Sunday and help. Health and safety would have raised a few eyebrows had they seen the way a ton of safe was moved on top of a trolley hanging from the crane that was passing through the shop doorway while a couple of us tried to keep it from wreaking the joint risking our own limbs. It was ‘interesting’ shall we say. Hopefully tomorrow will be my first day working there. Its always weird for the first couple of weeks in a new workshop as everything is in the wrong place!!

Obviously I still have not played any poker from the flat!! Too much to do in such little time. Maybe tomorrow.

Last night I met my brother for a drink as he is on holiday up here. Being Essex boys we are used to Sunday nights being heaving in places like Romford where the slappers are out in force wearing nothing much puking in the gutter because they have drunk too many alcho pops even though they have school in the morning. Not in Kings Lynn though, apart from the obvious inbreeds it was dead.
Highlight of the night was my brother commenting that he wondered what that weird looking cross-thingy in the drip tray was. He knew damn well what it was and he also knew that as I’m such an inquisitive sod I’d lean over the bar and press it to find out. The jet of water hit the ceiling and fanned out soaking us leaving me with tears of laughter. I can’t believe no-one noticed and was expecting to get kicked out. I guess they need the custom though, especially from people that aren’t inbred.

See you at the tables…………soon.

2006-09-25T22:43:00.000+01:00

2006-09-25T22:19:00.000+01:00

Back in the Saddle

2006-09-21T20:19:00.000+01:00

I finally got my Internet connection yesterday! Yey!
A lot has happened since my last update, and to be honest I wasn’t even sure if I was going to bother with this blog anymore but if you are reading this it looks like I am (for now).

So….2 weeks without the internet. Did I miss it? Not as much as I thought I would. Haven’t a clue what’s happening in Rockstar though as I also don’t have Sky!! L Having moved out of the house and into the flat I seem to have less time now anyway, plus what little I have left of my brain does seem even more fried than usual so poker is probably a bad idea at the moment as tilt could be just a bad beat away.
Being unable to play has made me question why do I play? Is it just for the money? I’ve also questioned the whole on-line ‘friends’ concept. I mean how geeky is that! Don’t get me wrong, there are some people who I have met and made friends with that I wouldn’t have without this poxy grey plastic box, they know who they are and I think we would have been friends had we met in any circumstances. But counting people who I have never met as friends is just weird, we can all be who ever we want online and give out the impression we want, or even the wrong impression. Someone who had been reading my posts lately at various forums told me I’m a perv! I tried to defend myself but after re-reading them I have to agree! Hahaha…must sort that out!!

This weekend the workshop is being ‘moved’. It’s the last part of me moving out and will be more than a little weird. I know that some of you are worried about me but don’t be, there are 2 little dudes out there that need you more than I do.

I’ll be back on the tables next week, too much to sort out this week like a bloody washing machine that really doesn’t want to be plumbed in (I’m taking it personally…bastard machine!)…And tonight I have a bucket load of lasagne to cook before watching Extras.

See you around.

2006-09-07T17:09:00.001+01:00

This might be my last update for a while. Tomorrow I get the keys to the flat and I really don’t know how long it will be before I’m online again. Damn I might even have to watch Eastenders!!!!

This week before I moved I wanted to do the £50 bonus at Will Hills but the poker gods had other ideas and wouldn’t let me log on to the poxy site. Gits. Tonight I’m going to empty all my accounts before I change all the email and address details (probably unnecessary I know but I’ve been much about by poker sites enough in the past to be more than a little sceptical over their confidence in handling such a basic request). Then I’ll redeposit and become a poker millionaire by this time next year. (easy eh?) failing that I’ll be exchanging the JD for meths.

See you at the tables………soon……ish.

2006-09-07T17:09:00.000+01:00

2006-09-05T12:28:00.000+01:00

So……

I haven’t played much since my last update, just the odd SnG as my brain hasn’t been right to play cash. But it is right enough to know I’ll be getting my 5 table hour’s worth at Will Hill’s for £50! I will have to do it this week though as I’m not too sure how much time at the computer I’m going to get this month.

…………..

Friday morning I pick up the keys to my flat. Well it’s not mine actually as I’m renting it but you know what I mean. So Friday evening I’m hoping to show it to the boys and get a pizza so all 4 of us can sit on the floor and have dinner before I move in properly on Saturday. Damn.
Once I am in properly I need to sort out the phones and internet. I haven’t got a clue how long it takes for BT to connect me so September may be a quiet month poker wise and well in every way I suppose.

Sorry its short, but hey whatever.

2006-08-31T19:12:00.000+01:00

I finally got onto a couple of 2/4 tables at crypto and cleared the bonus. Yey! After 30 hands I was up $60 and running hot, the luck bank was finally paying out for me. YEY! Then the wife came out to have a little chat about stuff…….I was thinking at the time that I should sit out, but no said the devil on my shoulder, you are on a hot streak don’t end it!! That was a highly poo decision. 15 minutes later I have had a $90 turn around and end up having to leave the table due to non-poker reasons $30 down. I would have lost some money anyway but due to not paying attention to hands like when my AQs hit both cards and me only playing the cards and not the hand thus failing to recognise I was up against trip Aces cost me dearly. It’s a lesson I’ve paid for time and time again, one day I’ll remember it!!!

……………

I was going to tell you about the off-white carpet and my youngest son having a sudden attack of diarrhoea but I realise that some of you read this at lunchtime so I’ll leave it.

I’m now getting back used to posting and hopefully some fun stuff will follow soon to add to the poker whinging.

See you at the tables……..

2006-08-29T20:39:00.000+01:00

So….
Last night while trying to clear this poxy crypto bonus (that I know I will do again and again and moan every month about) I couldn’t get on any 2/4 tables! Maybe its just my impatience as I can’t be arsed to join a cue with 4 people infront of me, so I always end up playing the ½ game which after 3 years of playing I still have a red number by my total profits for!
Despite that I finish the session up on 2 very VERY tight tables. Why is it that at this site the players collectively seem to play quite well pre-flop but post flop are absolutely terrible? Shouldn’t moan I know and I still haven’t cleared the bloody bonus as the ½ tables are so slow at clearing but I will finish tonight…..I hope.

………….

I hardly got any work done today but a lot of progress was made in other areas. I found myself a flat to rent (although it won’t be ready for 2 weeks) and also finalised some of the finer details on the workshop I’ll be renting which is within walking distance from the flat! Now things are starting to happen the mash is starting to clear and hopefully we can all make the best of the situation and move on. To all those concerned I’m really sorry.

Its been a while......

2006-08-25T18:45:00.000+01:00

OK...last night I played a proper session for the first time in ages. I 3-tabled the 2/4 games at crypto trying to clear the bonus and had my arse handed to me on a plate! Not through bad play but just bad luck only getting good cards in bad positions and having Aces cracked 4 times. Maybe it was the poker gods punishing me for being away for so long? Whatever I don't mind as I now must have a healthy balance in the 'luck' bank just waiting for me to collect!

................

Now the reason for my recent absence..........
I'm not even sure that I should be doing this on here, some of you out there already know whats been going on and others don't. Actualy thinking about it I'll leave it for now.

Sorry

See you a the tables sometime soon........

Eric the Viking aka the Clammy Clamster

2006-08-07T19:49:00.000+01:00

Hey you.

This weekend I found out my sister also reads this crap, hahaha I’m going to have to be careful what I say in future now that there are so many that read this who… well you know!
So my little sister stayed over as she was doing a sky dive the next morning and we watched the video of her 30th birthday (am I allowed to say that Eric?….hahaha damn, do I now have to explain why we call her Eric?…oh and Phoebe as her personality is just like the character from Friends) and put it on disc. A couple of things stuck out from the film (apart from a personal note not to do karaoke again). The first is why do her friends call her the “Clammy Clamster”…or is it best not to ask!
The other is a note for my dad. If you are filming your daughters work mates on the bouncy castle don’t make comments on if you think they are wearing any ‘knickers’…. the camera picks it up! Also if you are knocking back shots of Sambucca turn the camera off and take it away from your eye!! Hahahaha
I could carry on but that’s enough trouble I’ve got myself into for now…but if they are going to read this stuff then that makes them fair game imho!

………….

Ok so I played no poker of the online kind this weekend but I was lucky enough to play in a great home game. It was a great day/night with lots of banter that started off in the pub and ended with some great poker. TBH I don’t know how I did exactly due to the lateness and the drink (I know, I know…. bad isn’t it) but I must have won something as I was only £30 down for the whole weekend including my room and beers etc. The stakes were quite high (not saying how high) but there still wasn’t a tense atmosphere and it was quite relaxed. Thanks guys (not that they read this).

…………..

I’ve put a new link on for a blog I like. Its Guns on Film and is written by a fellow Academy member. If you like blogs that are about more than just poker but also an insight into other peoples life then I highly recommend it. There you go Jab, you know where to send the fiver ;-)

See you at the tables……..

Snap out of it!

2006-08-03T21:14:00.000+01:00

The poker last night was slow (up $8.50 hahahaha ). I did have trouble finding good tables but to be honest I didn’t really try that hard, I’m just not getting motivated to play at the moment. I sit at the computer wanting to play; I mean it has to be better than just blobbing out in front of the TV watching the crap that’s thrown at you. But as soon as I start to look for tables I just can’t be bothered, particularly this week. Hey its just a phase, next week will be fine!!! (I keep telling myself)

Having said all that I’m now going to go and play some tables and not worry too much if they are ‘good’ or not, I need to force my way through this!!
I doubt I’ll be able to update how much I lose tonight so this will be the last until Monday. My sister is staying over tomorrow as she is doing a sky dive at the weekend not too far from here. This is the same girl that trekked the artic and there are rumours of a trek in the Sahara (or some other hot sandy place lol). What a boring life she lives, perhaps I should introduce her to the thrills of limit poker!

I’m also playing in a home game on Saturday. It will be some of the highest stakes I’ve ever played (don’t worry, I’m only using my winnings) and I’m really looking forward to it. It will be awesome if a little nerve-wracking at first! Haha hope I don’t disappoint them and end up winning!

Have a great weekend! I know I will. :-)

4 tabling madness

2006-08-02T18:32:00.001+01:00

Last night I had real trouble finding any good tables at crypto (surprise) in the 2/4 limit games. One table had a player/flop of 30% but had 14 players waiting for a seat…wtf!! Anyhow I ended up playing the ½ games (eugh) and soon got bored playing 2 tables so added another, got a little more bored and added another. Haha so I’m now 4 tabling the ½ games for an hour and I made the massive sum of $9.50 profit!! (I know I shouldn’t be results based…well that’s what I read…but ffs it is the results we are after isn’t it?) One problem I had was the over tight players seemed to have some kind of collective ESP thing going on last night. I’d raise my KK, AK and AA hands only to pick up the blinds regardless from which position I raised. Then, for example, it would be folded to me in the cut off holding T9s. Oh I think I’ll have these blinds too. Oh no you don’t! Button, SB and BB would call! Would miss the flop and then face bets from either SB or BB or both. Typical eh?

I’m also not going to bother with the ½ tables from now on (haha yeah right, heard that before!). They are just too tight and not many pots get raked. After 4 tabling for an hour I only cleared another 11% of my bonus, it’s just not worth the hassle.

…………..

I think I may be getting over this poker bug I caught some time ago. I used to walk around rerunning hands through my head beating myself up over my bad plays or patting myself on the back for being the best player ever to log in. Now I have other stuff in my head that’s pushed the poker out. Work for one is mad now, and I for the other am also mad. The rest is just….well you know.

……………

The wife and kids are back tomorrow so I’d better get the bloody Hoover out!! Ah well the peacefulness was nice when I wasn’t rocking out pretending to be…. younger. Now whom can I blame all the missing drink on? Best not mention the contreau eh? ;-)

See you at the tables…………

2006-08-02T18:32:00.000+01:00

2006-08-01T18:32:00.000+01:00

Ok I’m half way through my 4 days of peace and the beer has gone. The only wine that’s left is the expensive stuff; drink that on my own at my own risk!! The other night I was playing poker while chatting to a friend on msn (see I’m a social drinker) when the wine somehow emptied its self, don’t know how but it did. There was no JD in the house and the only drink I could find that didn’t need a mixer (no coke or lemonade either!) was Contreau. OUCH! You should see what that stuff had done to the glass the next morning, and I’d put that crap in my belly!!!

…………

The poker has been going well really. No vast profits being made but I feel I’m playing well and keeping my head above water through some barren patches of missing lots of draws. Haha I’ve currently been sucked into playing at crypto again for the $100 bonus plus rakeback…how many times have I said I’m not playing there again? It just proves that the bonuses work against some suckers. I will play some decent sized sessions tonight, empty house and no other distractions (some distractions are nice though) so I have no excuse. I also promise to update tomorrow, I’ve been neglecting this lately but haven’t had that much that’s interesting to say. Well I have but I’m not telling you lot!
See you at the tables……….

2006-07-28T12:23:00.000+01:00

Hey….sorry for the absence. I’ve been too busy to even think of what to post and by the time the evening comes I just want to play! (Poker that is)

I’ve been playing the ring games again, mainly at crypto just to clear the bonus and as I always seem to do ok there and the tables are nice and slow I thought it would be a good place to gently get back in to playing ring before I dived in to the aquarium at Syndicate and Paradise.
I must be getting back used to it though as last night I ended up 3 tabling ½ and 2/4 for an hour. I did really well and made a total profit of $2!!!!!! Haha I know, a wins a win plus I cleared a good chunk of the bonus and got rakeback so overall that $2 might be worth $4!

…………..

Has anyone been watching Rockstar?? I know Grinder also goes on about this program but if you like live rock you really should check it out. The house band is awesome.

So the weekend is here already, the wife is going away with the kids on Sunday for 4 days and I will be stranded here with just the inbreeds down the local pub for company; but there is beer in the beer fridge (plus one bottle of white) and 6 bottles of red on the rack. Sounds like hell ;-)

Have a great weekend......

2006-07-21T12:45:00.000+01:00

So…….
There is a chance that BT will charge me for my tree bringing down all the phone lines! (Apparently it’s an Ash tree…I feel so thick sometimes as I know I should know this). If they don’t this time they promise to the next so I’ve had to get a tree surgeon out to chop it back. Its now going to cost me a couple of hundred quid to get a tree cut down that I didn’t know I owned! Btw…when did a pikey with a chainsaw get promoted to being called a surgeon??

………….

Got back on the limit tables last night after an absence of about a month! I 2 tabled the 2/4 games at crypto and after being down some $60 for a while (and holding my hand in my heads thinking why am I doing this?) I finished the session up $70 and cleared a good 10% of the bonus with rakeback. Not great but I’ll take it thank you.
I then got seduced into playing a $20 SnG by someone and became the bubble boy. D’oh!
Now I’m back on the tables I’ll hopefully get some serious poker in this weekend, if the boys let me that is….just remembered I’m looking after them. Sod it I’ll put Batman on the DVD, that will give me a couple of hours! (only joking….haha you never know who’s reading this crap)

See you at the tables…….

edit......why does my weather pixie think its raining? The stupid cow should take a look out of the window its unbelivably hot. Wish it would rain. Humbug.

2006-07-17T17:42:00.000+01:00

Ok…where was I?

The reason for the delay in posts was due to me having no telephone, and also no Internet, since Friday afternoon. I felt like a limb had been amputated, how sad am I? BT tell us they can’t fix it until Monday which I think sucks the big one. I spend the weekend cursing their incompetence until the engineer finally turns up today and blames it on a tree that has also somehow knocked out the lines for 5 other houses. Bloody tree, show me where it is and I’ll have a word with the owner.
Oh…that tree!
Opps…….that tree’s mine (sorry).

…………

So……..
I was rambling about why do I play poker and what do I want from poker. I’ve come to the conclusion that the kind of concentration needed for ring games is similar to that needed for my work. I may not work with numbers but when juggling several jobs at once it feels like I’m using the same part of my brain as when 2 tabling and concentrating on others actions. So perhaps I’m just burned out. The wife kind of suggested that I should leave the computer off for a week, the apparent look of horror on my face may be the reason I’ll never make it as a live player, my face always lets me down and shows the truth!!
I’ve also started to enjoy the social aspect more, be it on MSN while playing a tourney or live. As long as the chat is good I haven’t cared about the result. (haha…cue all the invites to some live games now you can smell the easy money)

I also questioned why do I feel the need to step up limits? At first, once I had the bankroll, I thought I’d be avoiding some of the bad play you see at the micro limits. I was wrong, and from what others have said it’s just as bad at 5/10! I think for now, if I do play ring, I will stick with 2/4 and 3/6, I know that if I step down I’ll take it even less seriously than I currently do. But maybe I should step right down to the 0.10/0.20 limits and play nearly every hand and genuinely play for fun? But for now I’ll stick with tourneys, sometimes they are boring but they take up less headspace (and I don’t have that much spare).

Its been a bit rambling again, sorry but that’s my head at the moment.

See you at the tables!
(Where is the next live game anyway? ;-) )

2006-07-13T12:22:00.000+01:00

OK ok I’ve been away for a while.
Well, I haven’t been away; I just have nothing to talk about (nice eh?).

After getting back from my holiday I’ve been playing catch-up at work. My mind is in no condition to sit down and 2-table ring at the moment, I know I will lose. I ‘sit down’ at a table and keep asking myself if I can be bothered. Its also been nice not having the self imposed pressure of earning x amount of dollars a week.

I have been playing some SnG’s though. For some reason I find that these take up less brain-space than ring and I’ve been doing quite well. First I ‘had’ to play 10 £1 games for a challenge at the Academy. These games are where I started off and it was weird going back, I hated it. I did see one player who I played regularly at the same tables 3 years ago. I was surprised to see him still there but when I mentioned it he said why move up? He can play a few £1 games every night with no pressure to play a certain way and no pressure to win. If he has a disastrous week the most he can lose is 20 odd quid, even if he stepped up to the £3 games it starts to potentially become an expensive hobby for him.
This made me question the reasons I play poker. The winnings are nice but so far its all in various accounts and Neteller, I haven’t actually treated myself to anything from the profits and all they let me do is play at a higher limit. Thinking about it now, what would I buy with it anyway? I’m lucky enough that if there is something I want I’ll buy it anyway and the profits aren’t big enough yet for that sports car! So perhaps I also am just playing entirely for fun, the money is my current score and by moving up limits I can achieve a higher score quicker. Ha ha look at that, I just find something to talk about and I realise I’ve been here too long already and work is dragging me away!

I’ll post this unfinished crap anyway and maybe continue with it later……………

See you erm….around.

2006-07-04T12:26:00.000+01:00

Hey I’m back.
Refreshed? Yes, despite the best efforts of a bored 4 year old on the homeward journey! (Note to self. never tell kids that umpa-lompas are behind the screens at the check-in putting the cases onto the plane, they are liable to try to climb through to see!)

Even though I missed the World Cup, France was great. And the lack of poker meant I could seriously concentrate on the wine! Hell, I think I even spoke to the wife…just the once though ;-)

Embarrassing/proud moment…as the plane is approaching to land and the plane had an uneasy quietness my 2 boys decided to treat everyone to an out of tune top of the voice rendition of ‘I’m forever blowing bubbles’…3 times!!

……………..

So…
The only poker I have to report on was that which was played last night at the Gutshot with fellow Internet players from the forums. Its was great to meet you all and put your ugly mugs to your online personalities (except Mrs. J and AJ….no ugly mugs there……oh and I already knew Hof had an ugly mug). So cheers AJ, Defman, DarkPlay, Hofinger, Mr & Mrs. Jester and Zonetrap (Nicholas Cage??)….I hope we can do it again soon so I can stay the night this time and win my money back!!……..and carry on that ninja porn conversation ;-)

See you at the tables!

2006-06-23T12:54:00.000+01:00

I had a great night of poker last night! I played in the PokerStars 180 man SnG just to have a break from ring (I was going to play once I was knocked out) and only went and won the bloody thing!! Its during these games you can get the full benefit of being a member of The Poker Academy………thanks for the support guys!!!
P.S. Don’t tell the wife it was $216…she will want me to bankroll her again!!

So tomorrow morning I’m off on my holiday, no TV, no football, no computer and so no poker. How will I survive??…Maybe I won’t! Then when (or if) I do get back next weekend I might be in London on the Monday meeting some likeminded poker players (haha…. if you knew some of them, likeminded would scare you too) so my next post may not be until Tuesday 4th! x
I’m also going to be missing the trip to Ascot on Saturday for my sisters 30th (is it me or has this birthday been the longest in history?). Good luck with the horses, and Claire…. that JP’s a nice bloke eh? ;-)

So that’s all I have to say really, I look forward to drowning in wine for the next week and coming back totally refreshed and ready to grind out some long sessions at the tables.

See you at the bar!

2006-06-22T12:28:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, a combination of to much work to do before I go away and a lack of internet connection through the day for some reason have seen to this.

I haven’t been playing much this week either, except for a few low priced SnG’s and just the odd session of ring. My brain has been feeling a bit fuzzy lately and I know that my game will suffer. Still, a week away from poker should help me come back refreshed and ready to go!

I did play a little last night but what with trying to follow the chat on msn with 5 people (I find talking to just one a challenge sometimes) and the wife asking my thoughts on the important subject of what shopping to buy for the villa while my pre-flop raises with AK on one table and AJ on the other have both been x called by numerous players, the K and the J have hit but I’m facing a bet on one table and a bet and a raise on the other and she’s saying “well?…….well?………well?….are you ignoring me!!” from behind does not lead to the best poker I feel!

See you at the tables (if I have a connection)

Oops.......

2006-06-19T12:20:00.000+01:00

D’oh! I forgot it was Fathers day, which was pointed out to me as I opened the cards from my boys! Sorry Dad! (That’s is really bad I know) Still, I phoned him up only to find out I had already been grassed up, I was thinking I might get away with it! At least I wasn’t the only one, my sister also forgot so it was just my arse-lick brother that remembered ;-)

Pokerwise I’ve been playing more tourneys lately probably due to me being over fussy about which x cash tables to join. Although I’ve been doing well its clear that I can make more money playing ring (but its not about the money….honestJ ). With this week being the last before my hols I think I need to start being less choosy.

Sorry to Defman who organised a freeroll for Sherbet Dip, I genuinely fell asleep, first at the computer (always a good sign) and then in front of the tele. By the way…. have you seen what they broadcast at 3am! I thought you had to pay for those channels!!!!

See you at the tables.

She wasn't drunk!

2006-06-15T12:10:00.000+01:00

First things first……………had a call from my Mum and she claims she wasn’t drunk (why the face paint then?) and its not binge, just social. Yeah right! She also claims she will get me back but I think the ‘DT’s will prevent her from using a computer anytime soon.

Sorry for the lack of updates (like you was bothered!) I just haven’t had much in my head lately and can be put on here! I also have been playing less lately, partly due to being choosier about the tables I join and partly due to other ‘stuff’. But when I have played I’ve won so perhaps I’m getting the balance right.

My holiday in France is getting nearer and for some reason I’ve been thinking about it a lot today (picture is above). We will be staying about 25kms south of Bergerac right in the vineyards, wish you was coming! ;-)

See you at the tables....

Oh dear!!!

2006-06-12T16:55:00.000+01:00

Its too hot to think and too hot to post anything interesting, especially as I have played no poker since my last update.

So instead I’ve put up this photo of my Mum……….drunk again. Notice that she is the only one with face paint at a party with no children!!
Why have I posted it?
Because she said I wouldn’t!

Hopefully a proper post tomorrow if I get inspired ;-)

See you at the tables!

Come on England!

2006-06-09T12:03:00.000+01:00

The last couple of days have been bad for me at the tables getting involved in many draws and hitting hardly any resulting in a total loss of $115. But its only money!!

I will play not much poker this weekend. It’s my sisters’ birthday and she is having a party!! We are all getting there early to watch the England match on one of those big screens they have in pubs (haven’t a clue how she got hold of that!) then its barbeque and party time! She is also getting in a bouncy castle!! Alcohol + me + bouncy castle = potential disaster!! (I have been called ‘accident prone’ in the past)…should be interesting. All this means is that I won’t get back until Sunday evening, which might not be such a bad thing as I feel I could benefit from a short break away from poker. But I’ll miss all the other stuff to do with my computer ;-)

The world cup is about to start, the sun is out and I plan to get pissed.

Have a great weekend!!

Having fun in the Jacuzzi ;-)

2006-06-07T12:34:00.000+01:00

Last night I donked of another $40 while playing a NL MTT as well as my full ring limit game before I got knocked out of the tourney and recovered nearly all of my loses. What was I thinking! Crazy fool.

Week after week we play tight and hopefully winning poker against the loose fish. But what’s bothering me is we see the same fish week after week, month after month. Do they have an endless bankroll or are some of these players actually making money? Last night for example there was one particular player sitting at my 2/4 game with $250. He was playing every hand, raised or not, and was winning by superior post flop play. By the time I left the table he had $350 compared to the $40 I’d made from my conservative play. Have we all got it wrong? Is it more +EV for a very good player to play loose pre-flop and know they can out play the table post flop? Maybe not at the micro levels but what about at 2/4, 3/6 and 5/10 where you do occasionally see players that can fold! Most of the forums talk about these players with distain and recommend a tight aggressive game. Are there forums out there that cater for these fish and laugh at our tight play? We call places like Paradise an aquarium full of fish for the taking. Do they regard it more of a Jacuzzi to splash about in and have fun….until a shark gets in and spoils the fun!
Still, it don’t explain where they get all their money from.

See you at the tables.

Monkey nuts!

2006-06-06T12:31:00.000+01:00

Playing at Paradise last night I soon found myself down $60 when 2 particular fish kept on hitting their hands. So I then went and did what I know was a bad idea and opened a third table. Luckily this worked out ok for me and I finished the session up $19, not a bad turn around! I think I’ll try to 3-table more often as I have stated to let my mind wander while only playing the 2 but the main problem is this poxy computer screen, I already have bad over-lap with 2 tables.

The hands I was losing to were unbelievable. For a start, who has recently said AA should be just cold called pre-flop (like against my QQ last night) and then just check/called down to showdown? I keep coming against this more and more often lately. Then when I held JJ, the board is a rainbow full of rags and I have bet on every street and then get raised on the river, Hmm, what’s he got? I doubt it’s a higher pair; surely I would have been reraised at some point? A set maybe? Oh he could have completed his straight on the river if he is holding 8 5 but that would be stupid. I call and he turns over 8 5o!! I ‘lol’ and get the response ‘why are you laughing, I had the nuts’ yeah I’m thinking, monkeynuts!!

Scary thought…this weekend is my baby sisters 30th birthday!!!!!!!

See you at the tables.

2006-06-05T12:22:00.000+01:00

ARGH!! What shall I write about! Having just read Grinders road trip blog I know whatever I have to say will be insignificant in comparison. My mind is blank! (Well, I have lots on my mind, but nothing I can share on here!).

Poker…………hmmm poker. I was having a good weekend regarding poker, until last night. Finished the night $61 down mainly due to good cards not holding up and draws not hitting. Still up overall for the weekend though, but........
What I do find frustrating was that I was up $24 at one point but the tables just didn’t ‘feel good’. They both had a good 35% plus seeing the flop with large pots, but my gut instinct was suggesting I should leave and it turns out my gut was correct! Does anyone else ever feel this or am I the only head-case here?

Tomorrow I’ll try to have more to say,hopefully I’ll be inspired ;-)

See you at the tables.

June already!

2006-06-02T11:59:00.000+01:00

Since my last update I’ve lost $80 on Wednesday but won $93 yesterday.

Wednesday was all due to bad luck (I sound like Hellmouth now!). Holding on to winning hands was like holding water in a colander. My set of Queens lost to trip Aces, my nut Full House got rivered by a Straight Flush (that one hurt) and every AK, AQ and AJ hand missed the board with multiple callers. Sometimes this game is impossible!

Thursday was the flip side to that, it seemed that nearly every board fitted my hand and when I was losing with good cards I managed to get away from them cheaply. This game is so easy! Lol

May is over (already!) and I have realised I don’t know exactly how well I’ve done. I know I’ve had a good month but I don’t have an exact BB/100 figure. This is because the sites I have been mainly playing at do not support Poker Tracker, and I’m lazy at keeping notes. I’m actually starting to prefer not to rely on PT with GT+ for my reads and I think as a result I’m currently playing better than ever using instinct instead of hard numbers for my opinion on opponents play.
………………………..

I haven’t been feeling too good lately; I think I’m coming down with that bird flu. I’ve started talking crap, wearing make-up and I can’t park the car. But at least I’m now an expert in everything and I’m never wrong!

Have a great weekend.

Ghost town

2006-05-31T12:25:00.000+01:00

I have been experiencing a week of weirdness at the poker sites. They seem busy but the only action at the limit tables is from the tumble weed blowing across vacant tables. I haven’t played at The Syndicate all week due to the lack of tables, I haven’t even seen PISDITZ there.
Is this the start of the decline of online poker or just a blip that gives an insight to what the future holds? Slowly the limit players either run out of money or get better and tighter, or start to play NL. I sure hope this is not the case and hopefully there are still plenty of fish out there who are yet to discover this great way to get rid of their money.

One saving grace has been Paradise, though it has also been quiet at times. Finished up $91 on Monday night and up another $33 last night before the tables broke up leaving me up over $300 for the week at that site alone. Because of this I’m going to forget abut the cryptos for now, I may get rakeback and bonuses there but the tables are too tight to make a better profit than I can at other sites. Plus I don’t like having to cue just to join a 25% table!

See you at the tables…..

Strange dreams.......

2006-05-29T20:20:00.000+01:00

What a weekend. The combination of visitors and power cuts led to hardly an time at the tables this weekend, and when I did finally get the chance to log on the combination of a lack of table action and too much wine meant I spent the evening in front of the tele watching the UFC instead. Never mind, there is always tomorrow.

Strange dream…………
Last night I just couldn’t get to sleep, too much brain activity. Then, when I did finally drop off I had the following dream………….

I looked out of the window and saw Grinder pulling up in his car, except he was Earl from ‘My name is Earl’. He knocks at my door….
“Hey Grinder”
“Hey Ale”……………….he even sounds like Earl.
He walks in and sits down and starts to watch TV.
Aledan: “What are you doing here?”
Grinder/Earl: “ I’m on my great American road trip”
Aledan: “But this is England”
Grinder/Earl “I took a wrong turn”
Aledan: “What?”
Grinder/Earl: “Sometimes in life you take a wrong turn and its up to you if you try to get back to where you were going or just carry on in the new direction and see where it takes you.”
He then takes a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket, nods to himself with a satisfied grin and crosses something off his list.

At that point I was woke up by my son!! What’s that all about and why am I dreaming of fellow bloggers!!! This is surely a sign of being really sad with a capital ‘S’

Anyway, back to the tables tonight (if the electric holds out)

Greed is good?

2006-05-25T12:17:00.000+01:00

“Money it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash”. ………Pink Floyd.

After last nights session I got ‘chatting’ to someone on MSN and commented that I had only made $40 tonight.
“$40, that’s ok!” was their response, and this got me thinking…. WHATS WRONG WITH ME!

I remember back to when I first started playing poker. I played at Betfair simply because I already had money there. Having only ever watched poker on telly I had never actually played the game or read any books on the subject. The cheapest cash games at the time were ½ limit and I did ok although looking back I was playing way out of my bankroll.
I soon moved over to playing the £1 STT’s and did quite well. I gave myself a weekly allowance of £20 and slowly built up the bankroll as I learnt the game. Then when I had enough I moved up to the £3 STT’s and went on a 10 game losing run. I remember this clearly as I started to doubt my ability and thought I should just stay at the £1 level, I mean this was serious as I was down £33!!!! Now playing 2 tables of 2/4 or 3/6 I can easily be down that much after a couple of hands and I look back and chuckle at my nervousness.
Shortly after this was when I first joined The Poker Academy. I was beating the £3 STT’s and knew all there was to know about poker. I gave fellow members the benefit of my expertise and the only difference between people playing the bigger games and myself was simply a matter of bankroll. What an egotistical arsehole, I’d hate to see some of my earlier posts on there!! I now know better, I now know that I know nothing.

So what’s the point of all this rambling? Well I’m just trying to ground myself and not forget where I started. I’m trying to remember that poker was just a fun hobby that I hoped to break even at. I’m trying not to turn into a prat that moans about only making $40 doing something that’s fun. That’s the main point, remember that it is about the fun really and the money is just a nice bonus. A bloody nice bonus!

See you at the tables.

Syndicate abusers

2006-05-24T12:21:00.000+01:00

The Poker Syndicate.

This site is a great place to play with some of the softest games to be found anywhere. Last night for example I played on 2 3/6 limit tables with a flop % of 40+ and a NL ring game with 80% seeing the flop!!
On the 3/6 tables I was totally card dead, until I got KK and inevitably found myself up against AA. Only finished down $12 though which is not bad considering.

Now for the bad part.
There is one major flaw at Syndicate if you play Limit poker, and that is the all-in abuse. You get one all-in protection every 24 hrs (you don’t at NL or PL), which kicks in if you get timed out instead of folding your hand. Last night I witnessed 5 cases of abuse, twice in hands I was involved in. Both times the villain was on an open ended straight draw and they both let the all-in come into effect rather than call my $6 bet. This is just plainly cheating and needs to be stopped. I’m not the only one who feels this way, Grinder is having major issues with them about this and I know Michael won’t play there any more until it’s sorted. If you do play there, email them and lets try to get this sorted. I’m currently undecided whether to continue playing there, as the games are so soft.

On a side note, I did end up with an open draw against the villains and considered using the same tactic as it was against them but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But I did end up winning a hand against them which was sweet as I had nothing but they both didn’t have the balls to call my river bet (I was slightly angry with them by now and probably slightly tilting)

The chat after went like this……….(bad language ahead)

Me………. “whats up, can’t play now you’ve used your all-in protect you cheat”
Bad guy….. “Fuck you”
Me………… “ok but first I’m going to fuck you now bend over”

They’ll probably ban my chat now!!!lol

See you at the tables.

2006-05-23T12:39:00.000+01:00

Played at Paradise last night for the first time in weeks and ran really hot. I was dealt pocket pairs far more than I deserve and half of these made their set on the flop. Was dealt AA for 2 hands in succession, first hand took down a $55 pot when it hit its set and the 2nd lost a $30 pot when a 2nd Queen hit the river. One thing I did notice was the monkeys just wouldn’t let go of a hand leading to big pots where $50+ was the norm in a 2/4 game. Tried some ore 3/6 at Syndicate but I was totally card dead on a hyper aggressive table which was really frustrating and finished down $20 there, but the $167 I finished up at Paradise more than made up for it!!!

I see at the moment you can get a 600-euro bonus at some B2B sites that clears at x5. I’m thinking of doing some of these…anyone got any experience of the sites etc??

------------------

I got a text from my mate this morning who I haven’t spoken to since camping a few weeks ago….
‘I’m in Bangkok, why are western women so fat?’
lol, doesn’t that raise more questions than answers!!!! What do you think?
I did give him my reply but I’m not going to repeat it on here, but he did say I was ‘harsh but fair, but very very harsh.’

See you at the tables.

Poison attempt.............FAILED

2006-05-22T20:12:00.000+01:00

I didn’t get to play much this weekend due to working on Sunday (boring) and other commitments on Saturday. I did actually play a little 3/6 at the syndicate and finished up by a mere $12, better than losing though. Good news is that I think the wife is getting bored of poker and if she cuts down or stops playing altogether I’ll have more computer time!! You may know that we do have 2 computers but when I’m playing in the same room as her she puts me on tilt!!!

On Saturday my attempted poisoning of the wife failed miserably. The prawns were cooked to perfection, the sauce was spot-on and the spaghetti was al dente. Must remember not to cook the prawns next time. As the wife doesn’t drink I did make a chocolate moose and put a little bit extra cointreau in it. Tasted good but failed to have the desired effect!;-)

See you at the tables.

2006-05-19T18:34:00.000+01:00

My head is empty of ideas to write about, what a dull life I must live.

Poker is going well for me at the moment. I haven’t played that much since my last update (sounds like a confession) and only made $85 but I know I’m playing well and I’m considering trying my hand at the 3/6 tables. I have the bankroll, just need to develop the balls. My favourite hand this week was when my straight flush got re-raised on the river at the Syndicate. Got to love those LAGS sometimes.

Not sure how much poker I’m going to be able to play this weekend. I’m working on Sunday (he gambles, drinks and works on the Sabbath, his place in hell is surely booked) and on Saturday I’m attempting to poison the wife with my cooking so tomorrow night will be either spent in the cells if I’m successful or in casualty if she survives. Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend.

2006-05-17T19:15:00.000+01:00

I went to London today and I’m knackered!! I had forgot what a drag the trains are and how miserable everyone looks. Hmmm......I think that is enough of a reason to open a bottle of wine tonight. Some of the ‘sites’ look nice though ;-)

Last night ended up quite a good night, poker wise. At first I thought it was going to be ‘one of those nights’ when after 5 hands I was down $30 from bloody good hands (2 pair, Aces & Kings) suffering unlucky beats (turn Queen, River Queen). My patience paid off though and I started to finally win some hands and finished the session up $80.70.
One area I think I can improve on is value betting the river. I always seem to get this wrong. For example I’m holding top pair weak kicker and I’m acting last against one player. They check/call on both the flop and turn, and then check the river. I have been just checking behind here thinking that only a better hand would call me. But at The Syndicate they are more likely to call you down with 2nd pair, so am I missing out here?

Not much else to add really, quite a boring entry I’m afraid. Will try harder tomorrow.

2006-05-15T12:54:00.000+01:00

Had all the best intentions of playing this weekend, but circumstances put paid to that.

Friday. Headache
Saturday. FA Cup
Sunday. I’m an all-in abuser!

Friday.
After finishing work the house was empty so I sat down to play a little before everyone got home and madness returned. Apparently I need 47 more to complete the $100 bonus at Syndicate (47 what????) so I decided to play there. As there were no 2-4 tables running (this has been the case lately, I wonder why?) I 2 tabled the 1-2 games and finished up $25 after an hour when the hoards returned from wherever they had been.
Once the kids are in bed, I sit and watch telly for a while with the wife. I was taking some tablets at the time as I had this bad chest/cold that’s going around. On the packet it says ‘AVOID ALCOHOL’. I’ve seen tablets where it says do not take with alcohol but ‘avoid alcohol’ does not seem so bad. Its like ‘avoid playing golf in a thunderstorm’, not recommended but sometimes it couldn’t be helped.
So I drank a bottle of wine. I had to, the wife don’t drink!

Once she had gone to bed I sat down for my poker session and suddenly I feel like an axe has been parked in my skull. I turn off the computer and flop down in front of the telly and pass out. I wake up at 2am with a split lip. Who punched me?!?!

Saturday.
Took my 4 year old son for his first golf lesson, how cool is that!!! He was by far the youngest there but nowhere near the worst. He was just told to try and hit the ball as hard as he can and he obliged. Its amazing how kids pick stuff up so easily.

Then it was the FA Cup Final.
One of the best finals ever and we was robbed!!! West Ham was wining 3-2 and Liverpool equalised in the 90th minute and then went on to beat us on penalties after we had hit the post in the last minute of extra time. At least we gave a good account of ourselves, but I’m gutted.

Played a little poker in the evening but due to the alcohol consumed during the match I only played one table of NL with Markelby. As he left the table I said I’d double up once he had gone, and I nearly did with my pocket 8’s in a 3 way pot.

Sunday.
I’m an all-in abuser!
Logged on to 2 tables at the syndicate a 2-4 and a 1-2.
On the 2-4 table I was dealt K5s in the BB. I go to open a bottle of wine and check the ‘check’ box. I had meant to check the ‘check/fold’, honest!
When I get back to the computer I see the timer ticking down on me…..someone had raised! I try to get to the keyboard in time but I don’t make it and I’m put all-in. I win the hand with a flush. Sorry! I have now lost all-in protection’ until the 24th. I don’t want it back no one should have it!!!

Later last night I played a SnG at Full Tilt with a fellow member of The Poker Academy. I came 2nd but it took 1 hour and 20 minutes!! Remind me not to do that again!

See you at the tables

Come On You Irons!!!!!!

2006-05-12T12:51:00.000+01:00

Since my last post I’ve played 2 HU matches in the Poker Academy vs PokerPlasm series and lost them both. Stupid bloody game. What’s the point of heads-up anyway? Seems like too much of a lottery to me…except when I win of course as that is down to pure skill.

At the tables playing the proper game I’ve been treading water. Played a couple of hours at The Syndicate last night and finished up $20 after being up $60 at one point. Just one lucky fish can change the whole nights texture, if you know what I mean. After getting beat in last nights HU game, and pouting about it, AJ from the Academy talked me into playing a $50 NL cash game, something I haven’t done in a while now. After 3 hands I had doubled up when my J2s(I was big blind…..honest) went up against the nut flush. Thank you very much!!!

The standard of play in the NL games looks like it could be even worse than in the Limit games. We were on a $50 NL game with 40% of players seeing the flop. Most of the bets were mini-bets, they are too lazy to use the slider, and I have never seen so many hands go to showdown in a NL game. If bluffing is a major part of your NL game this place isn’t for you. But if you are a nut peddler…………………………

Good luck to all the West Ham fans going to Cardiff.
Win or lose Saturday is going to be great!!

COME ON YOU IRONS!!!!!!

Have a great weekend.

2006-05-10T12:36:00.000+01:00

Played 305 hands at crypto last night for a total loss of $21. I quite enjoyed using moves that are just redundant at The Poker Syndicate and, although I finished the session down, I feel that I played quite well using aggression when necessary to take pots I would have lost at other sites. Overall my negative finish was due to 2 hands, my JJ up against AA on a Ten high board and my set of 9’s losing when opponent with 2 pair rivers his Full House. It’s just the way it goes sometimes

I’m not sure I’m getting the most out of the nut hands when I have them. For example I raise KK UTG and get 2 callers (both tight/passive)
Flop is A K 7.
I’m first to act and bet, both call.
Turn is K…. what now?

In the hand I bet and both fold. Should I have checked hoping they would bet? It’s easy to say yes but at crypto if they suspect you have a King they are likely to check behind you.

See you at the tables.

2006-05-09T20:02:00.000+01:00

A parcel arrived from my brother today containing the West Ham flag you see above for my boys. There aren’t many ‘hammers’ where we live so we have put it up to celebrate reaching the FA Cup Final against Liverpool, also my neighbour is a Liverpool fan so he will have to look at it every day when he leaves for work. I just hope we win!!

Due to going camping with the boys I played no poker all weekend. I actually enjoyed not feeling like I had to play for a change but now I’m back I find myself unsure of which game to play. Sometimes I think I think too much!
Camping was an experience. It was on one of those large caravan sites where the same people go week after week because, despite only earning 20 grand a year, they have spent 25 grand on a glorified tin box that’s called a caravan but it has no wheels. In the evenings everyone goes down to the clubhouse to display their pot-bellies and tattoos with some kind of smug pride in being a chav. The men are no better either.
To be honest I had a great time though drinking in the dark with my best friend once the kids had finally gone to sleep. I took some cards but we couldn’t see them so we would find ourselves reminiscing over past times before kids.

So….finally back to poker tonight!

See you at the tables.

Heads-up camping raisins

2006-05-05T12:46:00.000+01:00

Played a great Heads-up match with Zonetrap last night. It was part of the Poker Academy vs Poker Plasm matches and I was fortunate enough to win. Heads-up no-limit is a weak part of my game so I’m hoping this series of matches will make me stronger as there are some great players involved. If you always play weaker opponents its hard to improve, losing can be +EV in the long run.
Thanks for all the support during the match (you know who you are) and I can’t wait for the next one.

I’m camping this weekend with my boys so it will be a total poker free couple of days. I will take the poker chips though because you never know!! There is so much gear to take, we have this new tent that is way too big and I’m not sure we are all going to fit in the car. I’m sure I’ll fit the wine in though.;-)

A thought for the weekend…………..

Why do people put raisins and pineapple in curry??
(this was going to be the main topic today but I’ve run out of time!…..maybe next week…….along with the herbs)

Have a great weekend.

Village Idiot

2006-05-03T16:29:00.000+01:00

My brain hurts. I just can’t find any thing that’s interesting to tell you guys. I played some poker and I won some money. And that’s about it.

Had an interesting weekend (bloody hell its Wednesday already!). Found a nice bar in the clubhouse of the local golf club. I have played there a few times and always finished with a drink (you have to) but I’d always drank in the spike bar. This time I had my 2 boys with me so I went around the side to the other entrance. The bar is great! They have a full size snooker table right in front of the bar and the kids were made to feel really welcome even though it’s not a ‘family’ bar. The boys spent the whole time wide-eyed watching the games of snooker, I think they were amazed at the size of the table. I’ll be going back, shame its just too far to walk.

We also popped down to the village hall where they were running games for the kids at 1p a go. This bloke brings over a game ‘he made’ where who ever rolls a penny nearest to the edge wins. So my 6 year old gets out a penny from the bag (he has saved them for this) and has a go. This bloke (who’s in his 40’s) then rolls his coin and obviously wins. He quickly leans over and grabs my sons penny before he can pick it up ‘I won!’ he calls. What a smeg. After winning a couple on the trot I can see my boy is starting to get a bit upset by this. “hey pal, how about me and you do this for pound coins?” I ask……………..”oh no, it’s only meant to be for fun”
I then tell my son to carry on playing, but for every penny he losses I’ll give him 2. He leaves the place with a big smile on his face and 5p in profit (all won, not a penny of it was mine), you see, gambling is easy with no pressure.
I’m still annoyed about that arsehole though.

I’ve had an idea, and yes it does hurt, I might soon run a private table with a piece of silverware for first place (probably a poker drinks coaster). Will keep you informed.

See you at the tables.

2006-04-28T12:29:00.000+01:00

Not much action going on here as I've not had much to write about. The poker has been the usual roller coaster, lose $100, win $80, win $60 and then lose $20. Nothing out of the ordinary really (except when I get re-raised pre-flop by someone holding K7s at The Poker Syndicate still feels extraordinary but for that place its totaly ordinary).

Yesterday I realised I had yet to do the Will Hill £25 bonus. I alsways seem to lose when clearing that one so I decided to 3 table and clear it in one hit. I lost $24 at the tables but cleared the £25 which shows as a profit of £12. Not bad but nothing to write about...............so why am I!?!
Well its the first time I've 3-tabled for any significant amount of time and I actualy found it easier than I thought. As the tables at the Syndicate are slow I think I will be doing more of this and be thinking of the extra equity I'll be earning!! I still can't fathom how these guys play 8 tables at a time, perhaps I'm just not a 'natural' at it.

Its a bank holiday so I'm not sure how much poker I'm going to get,have a good weekend
See you at the tables.

We're in the Final!!!!!

2006-04-25T12:11:00.000+01:00

Wow we did it. I asked for Liverpool vs West Ham in the FA Cup final (for you from the US this is our Superbowl) and I got it, was I clever enough to bet on it…………..don’t be daft! It has been 26 years since we (West Ham) were last in the final and we will be major underdogs this year, just like in 1980. Win or lose its been a great season.

________________

It was bad night on the tables last night for me. I played at Paradise and hit most of my hands which then went on to lose on either the Turn or River, overall I finished down $120!!!!!!!
This hand is typical of the kind of thing I was up against…………..
Dealt to Aledan [ Ad ]
Dealt to Aledan [ Jh ]
blacknapkins: Call ($2)
angel127: Check
jacobshu: Fold
Aledan : Call ($2)
~Nash~ : Fold
orphie1 : Call ($2)
WORFIE : Call ($2)
slapdash: Call ($1)
TheOJD : Check
*** FLOP *** : [ Qh Tc Kh ]
slapdash: Bet ($2)
TheOJD : Fold
blacknapkins: Call ($2)
angel127: Call ($2)
Aledan : Raise ($4)
orphie1 : Call ($4)
WORFIE : Call ($4)
slapdash: Raise ($4)
blacknapkins: Fold
angel127: Call ($4)
Aledan : Raise ($4)
orphie1 : Fold
WORFIE : Call ($4)
slapdash: Call ($2)
angel127: Call ($2)
*** TURN *** : [ Qh Tc Kh ] [ Kd ]
slapdash: Bet ($4)
angel127: Fold
Aledan : Raise ($8)
WORFIE : Call ($8)
slapdash: Call ($4)
*** RIVER *** : [ Qh Tc Kh Kd ] [ 5h ]
slapdash: Bet ($4)
Aledan : Call ($4)
WORFIE : Call ($4)
*** SUMMARY ***Pot: $85 Rake: $3Board: [ Qh Tc Kh Kd 5h ]
Aledan lost $22 [ Ad Jh ] (a straight, ten to ace)
WORFIE lost $22 [ Qs Jc ] (two pair, kings and queens)
slapdash bet $22, collected $85, net +$63 (showed hand) [ Ks 5d ] (a full house, kings full of fives)

After the hand slapdash asked if I had flopped the straight, when I answered that I had he replied ‘thought so’!!!!
WFT is he doing reraising the flop with a paired King with a 5 kicker for then????

The mind boggles.
My Paradise account is now at its lowest ever (my own thought for withdrawing profit last month – one for the conspiracy therorists out there) and I can’t really open up 2 tables of 2/4 there with my usual $150 at each………….I may have to play some ½ because I’m too stubborn/proud to reload!!!!

See you at the tables.

2006-04-21T17:15:00.000+01:00

This weekend is the semi-finals of the FA cup and we play Middlesbourgh. As usual we are the underdogs but we are used to that so bring it on!!
To be honest this will be a tough match, hopefully the beers I consume during the game will help numb any pain if we lose.
The other semi is between Chelsea and Liverpool. Come-on Liverpool!!! If West Ham are lucky enough to get to the final I'd rather play Liverpool than Chelsea. Why??
Because I can stomach losing to Liverpool but to lose to the most class-less team in the country who have just bought success with the Russians money will be too much! But then I supose victory will be even sweeter, if unlikely.

___________________

Last night I played at Crypto as I realised the month is drawing to an end and I haven't cleared any of my bonus. Didn't play for long but I finished up $59. I did fold some winning hands though which is the one thing that can seriously get me tilting.
I then went over to my 'prefered' sites and only won $5 between them.
Perhaps I'm just better at tight tables.

___________________

Last weekend my brother was Best-man at his mates wedding.
Its a tradition among his friends that the bestman has the first dance, which he duely does.
He then stays up for the second dance, which the groom finds annoying.
He also has the third and then, as he starts the fourth dance, the groom rushes onto the dance floor and kicks the bride right between the legs.
A riot breaks out and before long the police turn up and arrest those involved.
The case ends up in court and my brother is questioned about the events that night........
"and then as the 4th dance started the groom kicked the bride between the legs your honour" he explaines to the Judge...
"That must have hurt" he comments
"Too right it did" replys my brother "it broke three of my fingers"

2006-04-19T19:14:00.000+01:00

Wow I have a confession to make to the poker gods, its been 6 days since my last update on here. (Thats about the most religious I'm ever likely to get..........until I die).

I've obviously been away which meant 5 days of no poker. Not only no poker but also no contact with a computer. When I do get back and log-on I see that the forums where you'd normaly find me have loads of posts that I just can't be arsed to read, it would just take too long. Then open up on of the sites I play at, and after sitting for 15 minutes waiting for a space at a table, I realise that I havn't missed playing as much as I thought I would and I pull the plug and watch Battleship instead. I did manage to play some later (about 100 hands for $3 profit) but I didn't feel the 'need' to play. I have been feeling a bit down and lethargic the last couple of days, perhaps its something to do it. Or maybe not working for 4 days in a row has put my body in shock. Tonight I will force myself to put in a couple of hours and break through this.

An amazing thing happened last night at The PokerSyndicate/Imperial Poker.
I was dealt AKs in the BB and while I'm getting ready to raise or reraise I notice the pot is being pushed my way. Thats right......everybody folded pre-flop which is a minor miracle at that place! Anyone not playing there yet should be, you are missing out I tell ya!

_________________________________

Grinder was talking about which nation are the worst players are online. Basicaly he was saying it was the Europeans.
This gets me thinking..............(dangerous I know)
Being from the US he considers European players as a singular bunch of players. Where-as I think of the on-line Europeans as mainly Scandinavian (gamblers), Irish (can be tricky/good or tricky/bad) or from the UK (obviously damn good). Then you get the eastern Europeans who are generally bad but there are always exceptions.
I, being from the UK, on the otherhand am guilty of painting all US players with the same brush. But as America is such a large continent ther must be big differences between East coast and West coast players etc.etc.
Anyhow I'm rambling like a madman now so I'll be off.

See you at the tables.

2006-04-13T12:29:00.000+01:00

The last few days have been down, then up and then somewhere inbetween. Its been a roller coaster and I'm down overall, but not enough to make it a big deal. Infact I'm down so far for the whole of this month, again not by mush but it is not going to plan. Getting beat by too many idiots, hmmmm......who's the idiot then?
Played at Paradise last night after a little absence. I had forgot how many table coaches that place had and how bad they were. Must remember not to neglect that place again.

I'm away visiting friends for easter so tonight will be my last game until Monday, what a bummer. I think I'll become a recluse and just play poker in my spare time. Hold on, thats what I already do!

Have a good weekend.

Olympics - Round 2

2006-04-11T17:24:00.000+01:00

Not much pokering going on since Friday as the weekend was taken up by my sons birthday and I couldn't be arsed on Monday.
I did manage to play in the 'olympics of poker' thats run by pokerplasm. This weeks game was Limit 7-card Stud, a game I'm shamed to admit that I have never played before. I had planned to read up on it during the week but like all the best made plans I never got the chance. So I sat down at the table learning as I went. 7 players turned up for the game of which 5 were from the U.S. so my fellow brit, the Jester, and I had it all to do espiecially as he had not played the damn game either! I probably played badly without realising why but tried to play a good tight game and finished in 3rd place with the Jester coming 2nd!
So far after 2 events, with only 2 members of the UK in each, we are matching the yanks in the 'medal' tables!!! BRING IT ON!!!

The result of this game got me thinking. The edge that a good player has over a total novice in a tourney set-up is actually not that great. The cards really do matter when lucks against you or on the other side. I think I'll rip up all my books and start again, it sure was fun not knowing what I was doing and imagine the joy of not knowing a bad-beat from a suck-out. Poker is great to play, but I don't remember getting pissed off in the early days. Ignorance is bliss.

2006-04-07T12:16:00.000+01:00

Played my first game on tele last night! (kind of)
I decided to play a couple of $10 SnG's at Imperial Poker/ Poker Syndicate and one of them was a 'TV' game. Here in the UK we have a couple of TV stations that are just about poker. They often show 'live' online poker with all the hole cards shown and with pros doing a 'live' commentry on the play. Obviously its not quiet live as we would all cheat! Well I wouldn't but I know you would.
The play on these games was just as bad as the rest of the site and I came second in both. Yep, I still can't win a bloody heads-up at the moment!!
Overall it was a brak even night winning $21 in 2/4 and $38 in the SnG's but then losing $50 at Paradise.

This Sunday is the second event of the Poker Olympics arranged by PokerPlasm. Its a 7-card Stud limit tourney..............help!!!!(I've never played this game, advice needed!)

____________________

My son has been pestering me for ages to take him to the zoo. Personaly I find looking at sad animals in cages boring but he kept on and on so I finally relented and took him out.
When we got back home the wife asked him if he had a good time.
'Yes' he says, 'and so did Dad because one of the animals came in at 30-1!'

Have a good weekend.

2006-04-06T12:17:00.000+01:00

"The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet" - Bill Cosby

The wife came back last night, but she forgot to bring the kids. Instead she arrived with 2 Jedi Knights who since their arrival have been chasing each other through the with light sabres held high. Last night while watching tele I was victim of a sneak attack and was whacked across the head with one of the plastic weapons, but don't worry Dad, its not a real one! (the force is strong in that one)
Then later on there the play fighting got real when Obe-One wanted to be Anakin but Anakin wasn't having any of it. Then there is a big crash followed by screams.
Hmmmm...............sounds like Anakin won that one.
Two things are now becoming apparent.........
1. I can't belive I'm actualy starting to miss the 'Telly Tubbie' period.
2. I'm glad they have not seen Kill Bill!!!!

______________________

You may have noticed the link to PokerStars. This is one of my favorite sites to play, espiecally the tourneys. Nearly every other month ther is a reload bonus, usually 20% up to $120. This bonus is great for tourney players as you are getting 100% of your fees back! For evey $1 of fees paid you clear $1 of the bonus. If you are just a casual tourney player, playing just 2 $10+1 tourneys a night, you could be playing fee-free month after month.
I had heard romours that Stars was full of good players, but so far I'm yet to see this and as they have one of, if not the, biggest player bases there are plenty of fish for us all to share! Try it out.

See you at the tables

Reasonable

2006-04-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

Pokerwise I had a reasonable night. All my hands were holding up at Imperial Poker (even my unimproved pocket Tens in a five way pot!) and I had made over $90 in less than 30 minutes. Then I lost a couple of hands and started to feel that my luck was changing so I promptly left the table with $75 profit. What a wimp eh! I Know I should have stayed at a good table and its one continuous game yadda yadda yadda and I did question myself over this afterwards. Probably was a mistake.

After that I played about 40 hands of NL 6max. When I don't have much time and just fancy a relaxing game with lots of action this is my game of choice. I don't know why but when I 2 table it I always play crap so I normaly only play the one table and get busy. The players here seem to be weak against any show of strenght and then they hold on to their pocket pairs when its obvious that they are beat. Finished making $16 on that table so ended up with $91 for the night. Reasonable, but not good.( need to make >$100 to be good)

I woke up last night with what I thought was a runny nose, looked at my pillow and saw that I had a nose bleed!
Brain tumour????????

See you at the tables

Home alone

2006-04-04T17:09:00.000+01:00

At the moment I'm home alone (ah) and this house is soooo quiet when empty, but also noisy.
It was windy last night so the noise of the house was like I was onboard an old wooden boat. Even listening to The Darkness couldn't shut out the wind or disguise the emptyness as I sat playing poker in the only room with any lights on. As we live in a little village and are set back from the road the night time here is pitch black, unlike the 'orange' sky you get in the cities at night time.
The house is over 200 years old an consists of 2 farmhouses knocked into one. Nearly every night at about 1:10 am there is a large 'knock' from one of the staircases that can be heard from the other side of the house. It is nearly midnight and I decide to go to bed. As I leave the bathroom I can hear the fireplace in my oldest sons bedroom humming from the wind (no wonder we have to leave the light on for him!). Then just as I'm walking past the staircase.......
BANG!
I had forgotten that now the clocks have gone forward it happens at just gone midnight!! I havn't jumped like that since I was a kid! I didn't scream but I did shout out the 'f'' word, what a sissy!!!

__________________

I'm starting to like The Poker Syndicate more and more the more I play there (too many mores??). The play is real loose but from what I've seen not loose/aggressive, just loose/bad. I finished down last night, mainly down to bad beats. One inparticular was when I hit my set on the flop with JJ and my opponent was holding AA (I 'knew' he had this or KK from how he played it). Lots of re-raising only for him to hit his Ace on the river. Not to worry, I'll get him next time (hopefully tonight!)

See you at the tables

The Poker Syndicate/ Imperial Poker

2006-04-03T18:42:00.000+01:00

The forums are hot with talk about The Poker Syndicate and with good reason.
Unlike any other site they are going to give back 50% of all the rake you pay in 'equity'. Then when the site goes public you will be repaid with shares in the site, the more equity you have the more shares you get.
It is a fairly small site but it is growing fast so its better to get on board early to maximise your potential equity. The games are very soft with flops of 40-55% at the 2/4 limit games. Poker Tracker does not work there (yet) and this is keeping alot of the tight multi-tabling bonus whores away.

There is a x10 $100 sign-on bonus but I believe this is under review and will be reduced to $50 so sign up sooner instead of later!!

I have never pushed a site like this on here before and this is the first site I have become an affliate for. At the moment it is still running under the branding of Imperial Poker but it will soon change under its new owners who are all poker players themselfs. Here is some info from the site...................

The 50% Equity Reward
Let's cut to the chase. For every dollar in fees that you pay on Poker Syndicate tables, you'll receive 50 cents worth of equity in the Poker Syndicate company. This applies to rake in cash games, and also to tournament fees - 50% of all rake and fees will be returned to you in the form of equity.

The Benefits Of Equity
How do you make money from this equity?
Firstly, you will receive quarterly divident payments. We will pay our first dividend on September 30th, 2006 - the end of the third fiscal quarter. The dividend payout will be a minimum of 50% of all profits derived by the Poker Syndicate. You will receive a percentage of that sum based on the amount of equity you have accumulated, so if you have accumulated 1% of the total equity, you will receive 1% of the total divident payout - or a minimum of 0.5% of the total profits generated by the site!

Secondly, we intend to seek a public listing by securing a qualified Investment Banking Firm to implement an Initial Public Offering on behalf of the Syndicate in the next two years. If we acheive our goal, it is highly likely that Syndicate players who have accumulated sufficient equity will become millionaires overnight.

In the event that we do not achieve our targeted growth objective, it is our intent to implement a share purchase plan whereby our shareholders can sell their shares back to the company and obtain liquidity if they so desire. We will also implement an internal market for shares, allowing Syndicate members to buy or sell shares between themselves. Whatever the future brings, there will be means for you to make significant profits from your equity.

The other benefit of equity, of course, is that it's yours to keep. Equity does not expire. Even if you stop playing on the Poker Syndicate, you will retain your equity, and continue to receive quarterly dividends from the site. And even if you only play for a week, and then never return, you will own shares in the Poker Syndicate when the company floats on the stock market.

I do actualy know one of the new owners. I have only meet him face to face on one occasion (a home game at his place) and have had many discussions with him online. All I can say is that I trust him and he seems a genuine bloke.

2006-03-31T17:40:00.000+01:00

My brithers girl-friend has been in a coma for about 6 months now.
We were visiting her in yesterday and the nurse told my brother that when she was bathing her, her nipples stiffened. This is seen as an involuntery responce to arousal and the nurse thinks that further stimulation could be a great help.
She suggested that we left my brother on his own for a while to 'stimulate' his girl-friend.
About 15 minutes later she taps on the door and asks hows it going? He replys thats he is getting some response, but nothing great. So the nurse suggests that he tries oral sex!
A couple of minutes later all the alarms for her room are buzzing and the monitors show she is flat-lining.
We rush to the room...
'Whats happened!' the nurse cries
My brother shouts 'I think she is choking!'

Have a good weekend.

Demon Alcohol

2006-03-30T22:26:00.000+01:00

I must stop drinking so much at the trade 'functions'.
I had to go and see a 'new' customer today and he was telling someone else that he had known me for 2 years now after meeting me at one of these gatherings. I just sat there nodding my head in agreement thinking 'Ah thats how you got my number' and that I know I was there but I can't remember meeting you! Anyhow I must have made a good impression because I still got the order :-)

If you click on my brothers site TSM there is a great picture of my (well they are kinda partly mine.....I must remember that he reads this now) silver shot-glasses with the 4 suits enamelled on them. Who knows if they don't sell they could be the first prize in a MTT, obviously invite only!

_________________________

So I have finally managed to finish the SnG's at Stars!
I had said that I needed a strong finish and thats exactly what happen. I was ITM in 4 of the last 5 games, the only problem was that there were no 1st places just 2 seconds and 2 thirds. This means that after 20 games I only have a profit of $5 lol!

Played....... 20
ITM........... 45% (9)
ROI............ 2.27% lol
P/L............$5!!!!

What did become apparent quiet quickly on starting these games was how much my SnG game had suffered through not playing them for about a year. I had played the odd private game with the Academy but I hadn't really focused on them like I used to.
Out of 20 games I finished in the top four 14 times which is quiet resonable. But I actualy finished 4th five times (most of which were in my first 10 games) so I have to improve my bubble play.
I only came first in one game but finished 2nd in 4. I need to improve my heads-up.
I also came 3rd four times, I think I might be playing over aggressive when down to 3 so I might need to slow down a little (not much though) as with the generous chips in play at Stars combined with the low blinds there really is not the same urgency you need at Crypto for example.

Its been fun but I now need to get back to the 2/4 limit games to get some money!!
It has been a very unproductive month really. Not including bonuses and rakeback Im down $94 at crypto (I'm really starting to get bored of the over-tight games there), and up $135 at Paradise. Luckily this is not my 9-5 job!!

Oh yeah........I'm also up $5 at PokerStars :-)

See you at the tables.

2006-03-29T17:52:00.000+01:00

No poker last night, I watched Battleship and then had a bit of a headache (I hadn't had a drink you see) so decided to not play any poker and watched the Alien vs Predator film (total crap so don't bother). From experience though it is sometimes better to take a break than to play on when your not totally up for it. I didn't realise at the time but Man Utd vs West Ham is on the tele tonight so I might not get any pokering done, that will be 2 nights in a row. That can't be healthy!!

____________________________

Since my last update I have played 4 more SnG's at Stars. I finished 6th, 4th, 1st and 4th. Not very profitable!! I continue to lose nearly every race I get involved in when there are 4 remaining. Those two 4th's were result of my AT losing to KT and my pocket 9's losing to AJ. Can't complain about the last one but I'm yet to win a race when my pocket pair is up against over-cards in this recent run of games. I have 5 games remaining to play, hopefully all the luck is waiting for me in those as I need a strong finish.

So far..........................
Played................... 15
ITM....................... 33.33%
ROI........................ -18.18%
P/L........................ -$30

I can see these games being profitable long term, I just don't know how people manage to 4 table them let alone play 8 at once!. Having said that I have never tried so once I have completed my 20 games at $10+1 I think I'll experiment with some of Stars cheapest SnG's and see how I go.

_____________________________

The PokerPlasm olympics start on Sunday at Full Tilt, join up if you havn't already!

See you at the tables.

Oops

2006-03-27T17:42:00.000+01:00

Not alot to report.........except I found out that members of my family have been reading this lately. If you read my last entry you'll know an 'OOPS' is required!
I'm now going to have to rethink what I say about people in this very public arena.
____________________________

Damn poker, don't you just hate this game we love at times. I managed to play 4 SnG's at Stars on Saturday evening, played well in them all, and finished out of the money in them all due to some fishy suck-outs.. GGrrrrrrrrr. Then last night I only played 2 after a 'little' drink. Didn't play well, I took far too many risks, and finished 2nd in them both! In the last of these I had an epic of heads-up battles that lasted about 25 minutes due to the Stars blind structure. I should have won it but for an unlucky river card, but then again I was lucky to get it down to two players considering my earlier play.

So far.....................
Played ................11
ITM....................36%
ROI.................. -25%
P/L................... -$31

See you at the tables.

2006-03-24T12:23:00.000Z

Hiya,

Played some more SnG's at Stars, only 4 more as they seem to take ages over there. So far I've been 3rd twice and 4th twice which means I'm down overall. The game I came 6th I was really unlucky when a bad call by my opponent sucked out his flush card on the river. Also in both the 3rd place games and one of the 4th place ones my chips have been in as favorite but the board has been unkind. So overall I'm quiet happy with my play, give me those situations every day and I'll win loads....just not this week.

So far...........
Played.......... 5
ITM ..............2
P/L................ -$19

Was hoping to get some Limit play in aswell but time just ran away with me, I'm only 2-tabling these tourneys and sometimes thats a bit hectic for me. I have a little bit of overlap but how these guys play more than 4 at once is beyond me.

_______________________

There won't be much poker for me this weekend, I've got a 'family function' to attend. Not looking forward to it really but I might run a book on how many times someone remarks how I've changed or 'grown up'. They are a slightly religious bunch so I can't wait to tell them about the joys of poker, I might even take a pack of cards with me. If any of them asks how work is I'm definatly going to tell them I'm now working in the 'adult' industry, I'll have to make sure my Mum ain't around or I'll get a clip around the ear!!!

_____________________

I was walking along by the ponds the otherday when I saw 3 ducks just sitting there. 2 were really happy but the third looked real sad.
"Hello" I said to the first duck, "Whats your name?"
"Flappy" said the duck.
"What are you so happy about?" I ask
"I've had a great day, in and out of puddles all day. In and out of puddles, in and out of puddles, its been great!" says the duck.
"What about you, whats you name?"
"My names Beaky and I've also been in and out of puddles. In and out of puddles, in and out of puddles, its been fantastic!"
So I turn to the sad duck
"Whats up with you? Whats your name?" I ask
"I'm Puddles"

2006-03-23T12:42:00.000Z

Finally joined PokerStars last night, I won't report on the site as I'm probably the last poker player around to join!
I'm going to scale down the 50 SnG's to 20 mainly due to time constrants. As I didn't start until late, and i only wanted to single-table my first game to get used to the blind structure etc, I only had time for just the one game.
Its a nice and slow increase in blinds and with a starting stack of $1500 the game took longer than I expected. I played ok and finished in 3rd.
Thats 100% ITM!!!!

______________________________

Over at PokerPlasm they are holding a 'Poker Olympics' starting on April 2nd at Full Tilt. Its looking good with the UK being very strongly represented by the Poker Academy but we could do with some more joining up.........Markelby???
I see that Grinder is on the U.S. team, I look forward to locking horns with him in the Limit tourney!

One problem I have is we will be playing games I have little or no experience of like Omagha Hi/Lo, Stud and Razz (I'm sure Razz is a porno mag). I had better get reading up, fast!

Indecision clouds my vision.

2006-03-22T12:13:00.000Z

I see that Liverpool got a lucky 7-0 win in their semi, bring them on!!!
(I should be careful for what I wish, it may happen!)

_______________________________

Last night I realised I couldn't clear the Pokerstars $50 bonus by playing 50 $10 SnG's, I would need to play 100! So I didn't do it. I will join soon but I was realy up for this challenge so I put it on hold as the thought of extending it to 100 games is a little daunting.
Instead I played a little at Paradise and a little at Crypto, finished up at Paradise and down at crypto. What a surprise.
After that I went onto the wifes Bodog account, where she is clearing a sign-up bonus, and played a SnG there, of which 100% of the fee counts toward the bonus. Its an interesting site where you can play 3 tables without the need to change your screen resolution and there is a continous 10% reload bonus It is fairly quiet, with a mainly American player base, but the play is very loose from what I've seen of the SnG's. This place could be a little gold mine.

Tonight I may still sign up at Stars and clear the bonus using SnG's and cash games. I'm so indecisive its a wonder I ever manage to run my own business or make any kind of decision at the table. Perhaps I'm not really. But I probably am. I think.

We're in the Semi-Finals!

2006-03-21T17:25:00.000Z

So the tele continues to work its magic and West Ham beat Man City 2-1 and are trough to the semi-finals of the FA cup! (for the benefit of you Americans this is our SuperBowl). Can we go one step further and get to the final? I doubt it, but I can dream.

_________________________

Poker.......not much going on really. I've just not felt motivated and have only played short sessions of about 100 hands each. This always happens to me and I start to get bored of a certain game and loose focus (this is why I set myself challenges). So tonight I'm going to join PokerStars and I'm going to clear the $50 bonus playing 50 $10+1 SnG's. I will keep track of my progress on here. After this my mind should be ready to get back into the 2/4 limit game or I might step up to 3/6, it depends how hard my bankroll is hit by the SnG challenge!

See you at the tables.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

2006-03-17T17:45:00.000Z

The new tele did its magic and West Ham won! I knew it would ;-)
Through to the quater finals now with an easy *cough* away match at Man City.

_______________________

Inter have decided to give me my money, how reasonable of them that it only took ten phone calls plus countless emails until they saw sense. After some further 'debate' they are still going to let the wife play in the $100,000 MTT she qualified for on Sunday which means my birthday will be a bit boring (unless she wins) but you can't ignore these opportunities when they come around.

________________________

Poker last night was sooo boring! For some reason I tried 3 tabling at crypto and still found the lack of action depressing. Then I went over to my 'other' site and spent an hour of folding.

I'm thinking of opening 2 new accounts, one at Poker Stars and the other at Party. With Party I think I should stop being stuburn and get over there to cash in on the reload bonuses they do.
First I'll start with Pokerstars though. I can get a $50 deposit bonus there and this can be cleared by playing tourneys, infact it works out to be 100% rakeback of tourney fees if you clear it in this way. I fancy a challenge so I'm considering the idea of playing 50 $10+1 SnG's to clear the $50. (It will be a nice break from Limit, I think crypto has fried my brain).

Have a good weekend....I know I'm going too ;-)

COME ON YOU IRONS!

2006-03-15T12:28:00.000Z

The new tele has arrived!
Just in time for the football tonight. Hopefully West Ham can reverse the 4-1 drubbing Bolton gave them at the weekend. The goals are bigger on the new tele so hopefully this will help!!
The screen is a LCD so this means I can now plug the computer into it and play loads of tables with surround sound, just the way its meant to be. Well thats what I think, but guess who disagrees. Bloody woman.

__________________________

Last night I played 2 sessions of poker, one at crypto and the other at another site that I'm not going to mention by name anymore, that fish tank is full!
Why did I play crypto?
Well, because I get rakeback and so far I havn't got much for this current month. So I think I'll go and play, win some and get some of that rake.
I play about 160 of the slowest hands imaginable while 2 tabling. The problem here is the tables are way too tight. At one point there were only 2 players whos username were displayed green using Poker Tracker (meaning they are in profit) and this was because they had only played 5 hands between them, each winning in one of those. Basicaly we were losing to the rake. Lots of small pots and every so often an average one. Drawing hands were un-drawable, you never had the odds to call, it was a case of fit-or-fold poker.
So after 160 hands I finished up $6 plus the little bit of rakeback I earned. YIPEE!

Then I went to the 'other' site.
Played about 100 hands and finished up $85.
Enough said.

See you at the tables.

COME ON YOU IRONS!

Grinding

2006-03-13T19:29:00.000Z

The grind continues.
Playing limit hold'em for profit is often reffered to as 'grinding' which, to me, sounds quite derogatory. In the past, when I only played NL, I also wondered why these limit 'grinders' do it. To me it was a derogatory term, where was the fun for thse guys?
Sure there are some sites out there, where you can get lots of bonuses plus a rakeback deal, that are full of bonus whores. From my experience at these sites the game can feel like a grind, chasing the next $10 of your bonus. Hey, you had better play tight if that bonus is to count for anything! It can be quite a souless experience where you are sitting there wondering if there is anything on the tele that you could be watching instead.
Thankfully that is not the whole picture though. We have sites like Paradise where there is no rakeback, hardly any bonuses, but the tables are full of loose gamblers that make 'grinding' a real pleasure (until next week where I lose and come on here slagging of limit poker and how I'm now going to play Blackjack!)

________________________________

The farce with Interpoker and Ecash continues. I won't go into detail now, I'll give them the chance to redeem themselfs before I go and slag them off publicly, but so far they have been pretty damn poor at sorting out the current mess I find myself in with them. To tell the truth I doubt that they are that bothered, I'm only one customer in a pool of thousands.

Frigging week.

2006-03-10T19:04:00.000Z

Frigging Tele!
Frigging Shops!
Frigging Internet Shopping!
Frigging E-Cash!

What a week! Its been a while since my last update and I can't belive its Friday already. Last Saturday the tele died. An engineer came around (and proceeded to ruin our new off-white carpet with his heavliy polished black shoes) and told us it was totaly dead, we need a new one.

After some research we find the one we want, a 32" LCD screen. The local well known electrical retailer are doing this for the same price you can get it online so off we go down the shops. I look the screen over, just to double check it is the one I want, and agree with myself that we need this tele. I try to buy it, cash.
Sorry we don't have that item in stock sir. What!
It will be here in 2 weeks sir.
I explain that they moan about losing custom to online sales and the only advantage they have is that someone can walk out with their purchase on the day they buy it.

We go home tele-less. Look on the internet and find the same screen, in stock, with a 2 day delivery. Great!
On the day of said delivery we get an email.
'Sorry but the delivery of your item has been delayed.................................................for 2 f***ing weeks!'
It turns out they didn't have it in stock after all the bloody crooks.

After making a couple of deposits and a couple of withdrawals, ECash have decided that they shouldn't have let my wife open her poker account afterall and have frozen her Interpoker account. Fan-f***ing-tastic.

________________________________________

The poker has been more of the same old story, except for a major losing day yesterday trying out someone who will remain nameless starting hands. Probably just bad luck though so I'll jump back on and continue.

Have a good weekend.

2006-03-06T19:11:00.000Z

We have finaly got access to the internet for the other computer. This weekend we both sat down and played poker 'together' in the study. It gave the room a real gambling atmosphere, the sounds of chips being bet and the dealers 'voice' "dealing turn" was the main noise, apart from the odd curse of a lost hand and the even rarer sound of "yes" followed by a punch in the air as a hand was won. We had no music on, there was no need, the sound of virtual chips being pushed across virtual tables and the sound of a more than real rake being taken made its own kind of music. It reminded me of the intro to Pink Floyds 'Money' but instead of tills ringing it was chips riffling.
One thing I did find was it amplified your emotions. Just like the difference in watching a comedy at the cinema or the same film at home, its never the same on your own. We laughed together when some fish would pay either of us off, but we would both curse at the others bad luck, or was it bad play? Tilt can be catching you know.
So what was once an antisocial guilt ridden past-time is now a thing we do together, she plays at 'her' site and I play at mine, but we do it together.

2006-03-02T21:40:00.000Z

Had new carpets fitted today in the Living Room and my eldest sons bedroom. I've never seen a 6 year old get so exited about a new carpet! You'd think he was a deprived child with no toys and the highlight of his week is a new bloody carpet. I'm sure I couldn't care nonetheless about such mundane things when I was that age. The wife thinks its his feminine side. His what!!!!!!!

_______________________________________

So far tonight the poker has been ok.
Who am I kidding, its been great.
So far I've played 180 hands at crypto 6max and full ring and I'm up $153.43. Its been one of those nights where every desision is correct and you even win on the bad decisions. I decided to try a couple of ideas out on these over-tight tables and so far its working for me. Early days yet and I'm sure to get my arse kicked at the weekend.

I also won my biggest pot so far in 2/4. (I havn't played much)
I must admit I was chatting to the wife at the time (she is trying to get the other computer to work via wireless internet........................the air is blue) and was reraising the turn when I realise I was beat and had just one out (thats when I just called).
Guess what..........
I only bloody hit it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heres the hand below.......................

CryptologicLimit Holdem Ring gameLimit: $2/$46 playersConverter

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with :qh :qc
UTG folds, Hero raises, CO calls, 2 folds, BB 3-bets, Hero Caps, CO calls, BB calls.

Flop: :2c :qs :3s (12.5SB, 3 players)BB bets, Hero raises, CO folds, BB calls.

Turn: :5d (8.25BB, 2 players)BB bets, Hero raises, BB re-raises, Hero re-raises, BB re-raises, Hero calls.

River: :qd (18.25BB, 2 players)BB bets, Hero raises, BB re-raises, Hero re-raises, BB re-raises, Hero re-raises, BB calls all-in $5.93, Hero calls.

Results:Final pot: 31.22BB

BB held As 4c

A thankyou very much!

2006-02-28T12:30:00.000Z

Only played about 120 hands on Monday but finished uo $64, I should have a whinge about losng at Paradise more often! Was quiet pleased with that as I did lose two large pots when my Aces got rivered by a flush and another when my set of Kings lost to a full house on the river.

I have never come across so many players limping Aces pre-flop as I have at Paradise. The annoying thing is I always seem to be holding Jacks or Queens when this happens but last night I got payback when my pocket 4's made a set on the Flop and improved to a full house on the Turn with this muppet reraising me at every chance he got. My play was screaming that I had at least a set and from what I have experienced at crypto I think the players there would have picked up on this and slowed down.

As for last night, I got my arse kicked in 2/4 6max games at crypto, again!! Well when I say kicked it wasn't that bad, only down $20 over 2 sessions, but its so frustrating as I know there is money to be made there. Despite this I think I'll stay away from those for a while and concentrate on full ring.

____________________________________________

We will soon be going wireless at home which is great news. It means I will now be able to play poker on the other computer on nights its the wifes 'turn'. So that means poker every night!!! Until I get a lap-top this means I'll be sittng in the same room as her which is real bad for my game. When she raises pre-flop from early position with A3s I find it hard to bite my tongue and we end up bickering and I go on tilt!!!!!

Not much else to talk about, other than pancakes, so I'll go back to work and try to think of something interesting to say for a change.

See you at the tables.

2006-02-27T15:58:00.000Z

Not much pokering going on here over the weekend. Played a little, and lost. I don't know what it is about Paradise at the moment, there are loads of bad players there who are kicking my arse. So what does that say about me?!?! I'm actualy in negative territory at that site at the moment and I don't like it. I do alot better at the tight crypto tables plus I get rakeback. Still, I guess its just running bad and I'm expecting a huge upswing any moment at Paradise!

Last night I was not sure what to play so I opened up a single NL 6max cash table and sat there with my wine and played poker. I didn't bother starting up Gametime+ and just tried to read the players myself, a skill I'm afraid we could neglect if we always rely on software add-ons. The game was good and I actualy realy enjoyed it, not making rushed decisions and playing the players based on my reads and not some numbers churned out by some program. I'm glad I finished in profit though, otherwise Gametime could have become a bigger crutch!.
________________________________________

The wifes hot run continued, won another $100 and then entered a satelite to the $100,000 tourney in March. She easily qualified and I must admit that from what I saw she did play well. The bad news is the final is on my birthday so it don't look like we will be going out now. Well, I might on my own!

See you at the tables.

You don't know what ya doing!!!

2006-02-23T23:33:00.000Z

I've mentioned the wife before on here, and how she can play poker but is not interested in the mundane stuff like pot odds and position! Well, I finaly imported some of her hands into my Poker Tracker. I have only got 842 hands from 19 Feb as I deleated the rest of the computer.
She told me she was doing well at the moment so I thought I'd take a look and see, PT never lies.
Luckily she is in bed because if she sees these results she'll think she is playing correctly and as I've been treading water lately she will start to tell me how to play!
Heres her stats....(some are for 6max so I wont bother with VPIP etc. but according to PT she is a calling station)
Sessions....................27
Winning Sessions....23
Profit.........................$420
BB/100......................10.76

Yikes! Talk about running hot! The way she plays is if she is up approx $30 at a table she will leave it no matter how good it is (this is Limit so its not like she is protecting her stack) If she is down she waits until she is about break even and then leaves(somehow she nearly always manages to get it back up) This means she has alot of short profitable sessions, there is only one thats over 100 hands.
I think ther is going to be some gloating in this house.
Bugger.

________________________________________

After getting frustrated at work and then poker I kind of went on tilt when after waiting 30 hands for a playable hand I get KK and raise preflop, no-one reraises but one guy calls.
Flop AK3
Loads of betting and the rest of the hand is insignificant, no flush and no straight possibilities and only one hand could beat me, and it did, Ace f***ing Ace.

After that I thought I'd try out the Paradise NL cash games, its been a while so I thought I'd stick to the $25 buy-in. Jeeze those games are slow! I win what I think is a large pot when I slow pay my flopped straight to find its only $7! lol I need to step up a level or two if I'm to play that again. I finished the session $5 up, what a waste of time.

As you can see not much to talk about, its either work or poker so I'll stop rambling now.

The February Effect.

2006-02-21T23:20:00.000Z

No poker played yesterday, well not by my, it was the wifes turn :-(
Sometimes I wish I had never introduced her to poker as it would give me so much more time on the computer. But I also think that if she didn't 'get' poker then she wouldn't be so understanding about me playing at the stakes I do. I can imagine the conversation....'You are playing 2 tables with $160 on each! Thats $320!!! YOU COULD LOSE IT ALL!!!!!!!' Mind you, I think she would calm down when I explain that its only dollars and not real money.

_______________________________________

I have been playing tonight though. You know if you read something it can kinda come true, well after reading Grinders comments about the 'February effect' and how its normaly his worst month results wise, February has been real slow for me ever since!! I can't wait for him to tell me about the 'March madness'.
I keep getting suck-out after suck-out at Paradise. I know I should be happy with all this loose calling but not when they keep hitting their 2pair/set/gutshot/flush/full house on the bloody river every bloody time! I know have $10 left to clear of the bonus (which I'll do after writing this pile of crap) and if I was to take the bonus from my account my actual poker profit at Paradise is the grand total of $1.25!!

When I opened the Absolute account to play in the free-roll at the weekend I noticed the 100% bonus up to $300, so I chucked the $300 in there and thought I'd give it a go. What a tight site! they make the crypto bunch look like your average Essex girl......loose! Firstly, there is hardly any ring game traffic, there are usualy only 1, maybe 2, 2/4 full ring tables running at the most but tonight there were none! So I manage to get on two 1/2 tables after joining the waiting lists. Secondly, there are only nine players at full ring, well I do supose the dealer needs a chair!
These tables were so tight I got bored and opened up a 3rd table. I managed to play with severe overlap and made $20. UGH I only cleared $10 of bonus and have another $290 to go, I'm not sure if I'm going to bother. Does anyone out there who is not a bonus whore play there??
If I do stay there I fear that I am becoming a whore and that is definatly not what I originaly set out to do when playing poker, I want to play poker and not nut crunch!

_______________________________________

I've mentioned the 24hr session to the wife (poker session that is, you dirty sods). Not sure how I'm going to get rid of the kids yet. Could ask my Mum to have them.........'Mum, can you have the kids over the weekend so I can play poker all day?' Hmmmm.......going to have to work on that.

Have a good session! ;-)

Remember....piranha are fish too!

2006-02-20T18:46:00.000Z

Hope you all had a good weekend.
Just typed that and I realise I'm in a good mood, don't know how that happened! Had a pretty shitty day at work and bodged up a couple of jobs and I walk into the house with a smile. I'm actualy amused that a couple of people are going to be pissed with me tomorrow!

____________________________________________

Played loads of poker this weekend and made the grand total of.................er.....................$50! It was the night of the fish (good name for a new hammer horror). So many bad calls and so many suckouts. Too many to pick just one but the play was scary and at one point I was down $100 but managed to get 80 of that back. Perhaps I should stop playing late at the weekends, there are too many fish calling. A couple on a table is fine but when you raise UTG with AKo in a 2/4 game and get 6 callers you know you are in trouble. The guy that won that hand held 86o by the way, which was typical for that session.

Also played in a MTT freeroll organised by The Poker Plasm. Had 110 entrants and paid out 9 places. It was no surprise when I came 10th then! I must admit to not playing well in the middle of it and also not getting much in the way of cards so 10th is reasonable. Thanks to those who organised it and stumped up the cash.

Heard from my sister, its -13 degrees out there with a wind chill of -15. Makes me feel like a right lazy bugger. Has got me thinking though. What can I do to raise money for charity? How about a 24 hour poker session? The rules would be that I must have at all times at least one table running (I can sit out for toilet breaks) but I can play any game I chose except micro limits (that would be cheating). It would have to be when the kids aren't around and if the wifes about she could play the odd hand if I'm on the loo. I'll have to give this more thought. I could then give 50% of all profits to charity (or is that not enough?.... thoughts please...). A friend of mine used to give 50% of his gambling winnings to charity and would not give you a tip unless you agreed to do the same. He did quiet well so it must be a karma kind of thing going on there!

See you at the tables......................

This must be just like living in Paradise

2006-02-17T12:32:00.000Z

and I don't want to go home.........................

Played at Paradise for the first time last night and I was quite impressed at how bad some of the play was. I was playing 2/4 limit and for some unknown reason I expected the players at this level to have some clue about how to play. Of course this does not apply to all the players but at each table there was a couple of players who gave the impression it was the first time they had played. This does of course lead to some annoying suckouts but the pots are nice and juicy when you do win.
One hand inparticular stood out for me. I had raised with AKs and had 4 callers. Flop comes down King high and I'm betting out of position. My bet gets raised so I proceed with caution and the turn is a Queen. I bet again (probably a mistake) which gets raised and called, the pot is so big now that I know I'm beat but call. River is junk and I check, aggresive player bets and after some head scratching I call expecting to lose the $53 pot. But no!!!!! The bad guy here is holding K7o and I take the pot with my Ace kicker!

Also I have never played at a site with so many table coaches, bloody amazing some of the mud slinging I saw last night from some poor players. Mind you I did play a little at crypto and it was much the same there, it must have been something in the air.

_________________________________________

Good luck to my little sister. This weekend, along with 2 friends, she is flying out to Norway to spend a week in the snow. Each of them will have their own sledge and each will be incharge of their own pack of dogs and will be spending the nights sleeping in log cabins and tents. The people who run this excursion say it is the toughest one they do. Between the 3 of them they have so far raised £23,000 for charity so if you are reading this 'Eric' good luck!!! See you when you get back.

2006-02-16T12:33:00.000Z

I'm back. Had a great couple of days in London doing a whole lot of nothing and basicaly chilling. I must have been chilled as I spent £50 on a bottle of champagne without a second thought (and I wasn't even on a promise!! ;-) ). Quote of the day came from the wife while we were discussing what to do that night......
Me..."What about a comedy club, do you fancy that?"
Her..."Na...................I don't find comedy funny."

We did manage to get down to the Gutshot but somehow didn't manage to play. There was a tourney running and the cash tables were going to open up as people got knocked out. As we were going on elsewhere we only had time for a couple of beers before shooting of, but I will be back. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was smaller than I expected. The upstairs bar area was nice but the downstairs card room seemed a bit 'underground' if you know what I mean. The wife was a bit over dressed for the place, or should I say underdressed, and kept her coat on. Had we got on a table it would have been interesting when she took her coat of, some of the blokes down there didn't look like they had been near a woman for a long time!! Probably would have given her an unfair advantage.

Obviously I havn't played since the weekend but tonight I'm going to open a new account at Paradise, hopefully the waters nice over there. This has got me thinking about which username to use. Should I use Aledan? At the crypto tables there has been a few occasions now where people ask if I'm the flopdodger. This is fine, but does this then make me a target in their eyes? Do they overestimate my abilities just because of this blog? Sometimes they want to start a conversation and sometimes I'm a miserable git an just not in the mood. I might prefer to play with some degree of anonymity and find a new alias but then who knows what kind of animal this new 'name' will become. I know when I first entered the name 'Aledan' I had no idea of the monster I was creating. Anyhow, I'm sure that among 10,000 players one more Aledan won't hurt or even be noticed and I've been rambling for too long now (who says working alone with no-one to talk to is bad for you?) so I'll be off.

P.S. Can you belief that someone told me I tend to go off on tangents!!!

See you at the tables, tommorrow there will definatly be some poker content!!

2006-02-10T22:46:00.000Z

Not much poker played yet as I'm just about to start.
I also won't be updating here until thursday as I'm going to be staying at a rather posh hotel in Kensington, London. Sounds good but this means at least 3 nights away from my computer!! I might manage to get down to either the Victoria Grosvenor or the Gutshot for some live action so if any of you are there shout out 'Aledan' and I'll buy you a beer! lol It looks more likely to be the gutshot either Monday or Tuesday in the evening and maybe during the day. As you can tell I don't really know what I'm doing yet and theres a virgin bottle of Jacks waiting for me so I'll be off.

Have a good weekend.

Does my bum look big in this?

2006-02-09T23:13:00.000Z

Watching the wife play poker is a bad idea. If she is winning, everythings cool. But when she is losing, watch out!
Recently she has been losing more than winning ( for those who watch 'My name is Earl' I think this is karma for getting rid of the dog!) and when I happen to peer over her shoulder to see what all the cursing is about I can see she is totaly in tiltland.
Then she asks 'Did I play that hand correctly?'
Arrggghhh! That is the poker equivalent of 'Does my bum look big in this?' She knows its big, I know its big and she knows that I know its big. But I get a slap if I say its big or she knows I'm lying if I say its not and loses any respect she did have for me. (by the way, its not big - had to put that in as self preservation )
Back to the hand.......
'Did I play that correctly?'
'Er......no, not really'
'Well thats how you would have played it, I learned to play like that from watching you!'
Yep we ended up having an argument over her betting away when its obvious she is beat.

Lesson learned, next time it will be more like this...................
'Did I play that correctly?'
'Er......don't know, I wasn't taking notice but I'm sure you was just unlucky.'

___________________________________________

Continued to play some more 2/4. Doing ok and I'm sure they seem more willing to pay you off at this level, they seem looser after the flop which could be true after reading Michaels' last entry in his blog. I was called down by an opponent who was only holding King high earlier today, its a shame the crypto sites don't have buddy lists!
Nothing remarkable to comment on so I'm off to play some more!!!

Get lucky.

2006-02-08T17:40:00.000Z

Walked the dog for what is possibly the last time today. The above photo was taken with my phone from the bridge near my house. It was so peaceful I just had to take it and I'm not sure how long it will be until I next go there. To get to it you have to walk on a barely used track between the farmers fields and the only time I see another soul on these walks its either the farmer, someone on horseback or people shotting pheasants. To walk down here without a dog would look and feel not only strange but pointless.

___________________________________________

Last night was so frustrating, I'm definatly going to open up another account. The crypto $1/2 tables seemed tighter than usual and when I finally did get on a reasonable table it soon tightened up. Just before I left the table there were 9 players. 4 had a VPIP of less than 10%, 3 less than 20% and 1 was a very loose 24%!!! After having all players fold to 2 previous pre-flop raises I decided to raise UTG with KQo. Again everyone folded and enough was enough, I left the table. Played some more 2/4 and did ok. Seems to be slightly more aggression on those tables but as I've only played a couple a sessions this could just be a blip. Its amazing how quick some of those pots can grow, will have to get used to that and I can't wait for 3/6!!

Also got my January rakeback for Caribbean Sun and it seemed a little low.I checked the email from them and there was a little surprise waiting for me......."Please take note, any additional promotion from the casino or poker room do not qualify towards the dollar value of your raked hands participation."
Are they the only crypto site whos bonuses now affect rakebake? Would be just my luck if they are. And if they are, how long will it be before the others follow? I must admit, it does feel wrong to moan about not getting as much free money as I used to.

See you at the tables.

Moving on up

2006-02-06T19:25:00.000Z

At the end of this week we are getting rid of the dog. As a child I have always had dogs but the wife never has. The original idea to get a dog was hers and we all obviously went along with it but now she has decided that she does not have the time to give for it, also I don't think she feels any kind of bond with him. Its a great animal, very well behaved for a 5 month old, and has a great character. The rottwieller in him means he is getting very large, very quick, but he is just a big softy and we will all be sad to see him go. Well, 3 of us will be.
But life goes on!

__________________________________

I'm getting fed up with the tight ass play at crypto. There are so many monthly bonuses available at the various sites, some of which require you to play 1/2 minimum to clear, that the $1/2 tables are proving very frustrating to play. Most tables have a VPIP of less than 25% and if any do get over the 30% mark then there is a 7 long que so by the time you do get on the table has totaly changed anyway. What has happened repetedly to me this weekend is I'd win a small pot, then another small one, small pot, small pot, and then get sucked out on in a large pot. With all these small pots its going to take ages to make it up again, and that asuming no more bad rivers.
So last night I had a quick look at the 2/4 tables and could tell just at a quick glance these tables were much better and although I'm jumping ahead of myself (I had originaly said I'd only play the next level once I've won $600 at 1/2) I do have the bankroll so I gave 2/4 a go. Much better! I think for a wile I'm going to have a 2/4 table running along with my usual 1/2 table, unless I can't find any good ones otherwise it will be two 2/4's.

All of this has had me thinking that I need to open an account at another site. I used to have various accunts but for one reason or another they have been emptyed of all funds (I didn't lose the money, I withdrew it all!!). Part of the reason is the 'loyalty' that getting rakeback had kinda forced on me. Watching my estimated rakeback go up daily made me stay more loyal than perhaps I should. I can't find a winning table but my rakeback is up $5!!!!!!!!!
After reading the advice os others I have more or less made up my mind as to where to open my new account, but I'm open to suggestions. Party is out, I know they have good games but the way they have handled themselfs regarding my old account means I refuse to play there

Falling down.

2006-02-02T22:57:00.000Z

First the important bit........................

Arsenal 2, West Ham United 3!!!!

Up the Hammers!!
____________________________________

I spent most of yesterday walking around London, meeting clients, and didn't get a chance to play any live games as I had hoped. Still, business wise it was a good day. Loads of good looking women to ogle, shame that most of them are so damn miserable.
I asume that most of you have seen Falling Down with Micheal Douglas. You know the part in the film when he wants to buy a breakfast meal at a fast food resturant but he can't have it because breakfast finished 10 minutes ago, well I had a 'moment' just like that getting home. I had got a one day travelcard for the GNER train into London and was told it was valid until 4:30pm. After that I would have to pay extra or wait until after 6:30pm. Fine. Going home I get to Kings Cross at 3:40pm, my next train is at 4:05. Something must have been going on as there was lots of police and security around. I go to get on the train and the guards are unusually checking every ticket. Thats when I find out my ticket won't work after 4:00 not 4:30 and I can't get on the train. I try to explain whats happened and its only 5 minutes, can't they just let me on? Can they hell!! I then get the vission of Micheal Douglas shooting up the fast food joint and I'm just wanting to stick the fat gits notebook up his arse.
I'm told I can get on a slow WAGN train, but that takes ages so I go to pay the excess on my current ticket and get the fast train. As I'm rushing of the platform, to get my ticket in time, I can hear someone calling out 'excuse me'. Not thinking its aimed at me I hurry along. Then I hear a shout 'STOP!' I look up to find myself surrounded by police, YIKES!!! They are demanding to know why I got of the train! I explained the situation and they let me on my way, to them I looked suspicious! Do I look like a terrorist?? (just realised, you don't know what I look like lol)
Just to top it of it cost me another £30 just to get home. Well when I say home I mean 40 minutes away from home.

Rant over.

__________________________________________

Poker, oh yeah this is suppost to be a poker blog!
Its been going ok at the moment. Still making up some of my losses from the end of January but it is steadily climbing upwards. I have noticed my increased aggression since playing 6max, I'm now reraising some hands I might have previously called with and so far its working well against the crypto tighties. Lost a big pot with pocket Queens which was anoying, my oponent caught his 8 high straight which caught me out as I didn't see it. Thats what I found annoying, the fact that I didn't see it not that I lost.

Is making a 'crying call' ever the correct way to play long term?
I lost a hand tonight where I caught my Ace high flush on the river with 3 oponents still in the hand, the pot was large and the board was paired. I was first to act and check-raised. When that was then reraised I 'knew' he had a full house but made a crying call and lost. Why do we make these crying calls? I'm yet to make one and be proved wrong by actualy winning the hand.

See you at the tables.

2006-01-31T23:10:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I just havn't had much to say that I think would be of interest. I know, I know, it dosn't normaly stop me.
To be honest I did type up an update last night. It took me 20 minutes and after reading through it I was quite pleased with the result. I then accidently closed the wrong page and then clicked the wrong button when the 'are you sure you want to lose the unsaved material' warning window popped up and I lost it all! As it was nearly 1 am I couldn't be arsed with retyping and went to bed with the hump.

______________________________________

I've strayed into the sleepy world of full ring! I hear you ask why? Well after watching the wife, who is not a great player by any stretch of the imagination, play full ring and win over £100 I just had to have a go. I'd normaly avoid these tables as they are so tight but my newly found aggression when in late position payed dividends. This is one area where playing 6max has really improved my game, also when the table does sometimes become shorthanded most of these players don't have a clue how to play. I'm going to stick around full ring for a while and see howit goes, I might have to 3 table to stave of the boredom though!

_______________________________________

Nearly got my 3rd Royal tonight. Well it was a King high straight flush. After the hand my play actualy got criticised by the loser in this hand.................................

Dealt to Aledan (CO) Qs Jh
6 folds
Aledan raises $2
1 fold
SB calls $1.50
BB calls $1

Flop Qc Qh 9h
SB checks
BB checks
Aledan bets $1
SB calls
BB calls

Turn Th
SB checks
BB bets $2
Aledan calls $2
SB folds

River Kh
BB checks
Aledan bets $2
BB calls

BB mucks Kc Js

I BB then 'says' typical and calls me a fishy calling station! I thought I was beat on the turn, hence just calling, but I thought I had enough outs. Maybe not, perhaps I am just a fish.

_______________________________________

I'm off to London tomorrow so hopfully I'll have something interesting to comment on. If I get time I might try to pop into the Gutshot or Grosvenor Victoria for a game.

Down, down.

2006-01-27T16:58:00.000Z

The downswing continues.....................
Not much poker being played at the moment, thus the lack of updates on here, but when I have played I have lost. I'm not talking about the odd $ here and there, I mean I've had a right royal kick up the arse. For some reason, probably mental, I have never done well on the 1/2 dollar tables. Put me on 1/2 pound table and I'm fine, dominating the table etc but I suck the big one when playing with dollars! I think I maybe too aggro for the $ games. On the crypto sites you see alot of UK players who seem to treat the mighty dollar as play money. A pre-flop raise still averages about 3 callers (6max) because its only $2 which we all know 'is only another quid, roughly'. Where as on the £ game after my pre-flop raises its normally heads-up or 3 handed at worst. With hindsight I'm relying on my opponents ability to fold, which is non existent in the $ game.
So what should I do?
I only started with $600 which is not enough to play the £ tables and I don't want to reload.
Change my game? Hmmm, not sure about that. What if I'm wrong!!!!! Also I like playing my natural aggressive game and the idea of limping just seems soooo wrong.

I did play a couple of 6max NL games last night. I finished in profit but after 6max limit they seemed incredibly slow, full of numptys who can't decide how much to bet!
Looking back at my PT stats I'm starting to question the intelligence behind my decision to start this Limit challenge. My BB/100 is over 10 for all levels played in NL where my Limit BB/100 is 0.04 over 9000 hands!!!! Luckily all my 'upswings' have been in the £ games where my BB/100 is 3.33. So the stats are shouting at me to give up the $ games or go back to NL.
To be continued.....................................

_____________________________________________

My 3 year old son somehow found out that I had a box of lead figures in the loft and was pestering me to get them down. I did and as I type he is playing with orcs and skeletons while I'm having a nostalgia rush of playing D&D and painting lead figures while listening to Def Leppards Hysteria album. Life was good.
I just thought...............is poker the new D&D? I know what I would have been playing had I knew about it.

2006-01-24T19:32:00.000Z

Funny how your hobbies sometimes overlap into your work. The above picture is of some silver drink coasters my brother has made that has a poker chip as its center. We have also made silver shot glasses, with the 4 suits engraved and enamelled on them and a silver enamelled Dealer Button. We are thinking of producing a whole set of silver poker chips enamelled different colours to show the different denominations but we are unsure if there is a market for it and the investment would be quite high. Still if it don't sell I'll have the flashest home game for miles!! I would have to check peoples pockets as they left though for the odd missing chip. If you want, you can visit his site here. The poker/casino page hasn't been done yet but if you want a silver Ferret Tank have a look!

____________________________________________

Poker-wise its been slow. I have not played much, due to work, and when I have managed to get on I always seem to lose at the moment. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my game and play some full-ring for a while. Not sure what to do to be honest, I know the swings are bigger in 6max but I'm now wondering if I'm playing them wrong and just got lucky for the first couple of thousand hands.

I shall plod on!
See you at the tables.

Distractions......

2006-01-19T23:22:00.000Z

I was playing last night and some guy says in the chat to have a look at this site called Beer.com. I would normaly ignore this but last night,for some unknown reason, I didn't. Its a virtual barmaid who responds to your one word commands typed in the box below the image. Hmmm, very distracting, espiecially when my TPTK was getting reraised but I had typed 'kiss' in the command window. Well I must admit it works as a way to distract your red blooded spotty opponents!! I might have to try it.

________________________________________

It seemed all the nutters were out tonight playing poker. Well I say 'out', but in this mad cyber world we have created where I 'talk' to people I don't even know, I mean 'in'. One guy was so abusive I was going to leave the table but he was getting rid of his chips like he was allergic to them. Most players involved in a hand with him seemed to crumble under the relentless betting and abuse so I waited for my chance and for once it came. I raised UTG with AJo and he types 'got you' and reraises me from the BB. I raise him back and we eventualy see a flop of JJ3. As a certain gladiator would say I 'unleash hell' after he bets and reraises me telling me in the chat he has the f***ing nuts and I'm a pr**k. He finaly quits on the river and I win a handsome pot! I normaly avoid these kind of players as they always seem to get lucky and beat me on the river.

Played 270 hands and finished up $15. Seems a pitance for the amount of time sat at the tables but it is a BB/100 of 5.55 so I must be doing something right. I can't wait to step up the limits but I must be patient and wait for the bankroll to be sufficient.

EDIT: that BB/100 should be 2.78, I'm such a muppet some times.

Got that losing feeling

2006-01-17T23:36:00.000Z

Back to poker and back to losing it seems. I started up 2 tables and got all my cards in the first circuit, KK, AK, QQ, AJ and then AA.
Amazing fact no.1......they all won!
Amazing fact no.2......for only $12 profit!
Not a single one got to showdown which is bloody typical. Then the usual happens and the tables start to chase and hit their draws showing my raises no respect! I leave one table some 75 hands later $1 in profit and start up a new table. Big mistake! First hand AQs, hit my Ace only to lose to AK. I hit 2 pair with J9s, only for the same guy to river his gutshot for his straight. AQs loses again this time to a set of 3's. I leave the table after 22 hands with $39.75 less in my account.

I go and watch Battlestar Gallactica and think about my game and basically let the tilt seep out of my body. This month started of well, probably too well, and after just over a week I had made $328 profit. Since then I have been in a downswing and have lost $100. Some of it has been down to bad play but mostly I feel I have been unlucky and even though I'm still up for the month it actualy feels more like a losing month so far. So I decide that I'm going to ride out this storm by just playing a single table and concentrating more on my game and plugging any leaks that have crept in while 2 tabling.

I start up a table and make $23.75 before it collapses 45 hands later. I then start another which also closes after only 16 hands but I leave it up $6 so I finish the day down by $8.25 which I'll take right now thankyou. I'm going to continue single tabling now until I'm on an up-swing!!

_______________________________________

A guy was playing 10/20 holdem and was down some $300 when he looked down beside the table and saw a little green leprechaun.
"Quit playing poker forever right now and I'll give you a pot of gold worth millions of dollars" said the little fellow.
The player replied "Let me get even first"

2006-01-17T12:59:00.000Z

I'm back!
After a weekend away from poker, and home, I'm ready to beat the world ( I hope).
I was in London for the weekend basically drinking Champagne and eating oysters all at someone else's expense, life sucks eh?
Made my way back to Romford, where I was sleeping for the night, and I had forgot how nice that place is. On exiting the station, after dodging 2 fights, I fancied just one more drink. So I walk into this bar, there arn't many left open as its after hours, and ths gorilla stops me. I empty out my pockets, take of my coat and then have to walk through an airport style metal detector to check for knives etc. He gives me back my coat and tells me its going to cost me £4 to get in and another £1 for the coat. I reply that as the coat is not drinking surely it can get in for free, this is when the said gorilla has a sense of humour bypass. I tell him he is crazy if he thinks I'm paying a fiver just to get in and have one drink and he looks at me like I'm mad!!!

See you at the tables.

I'm a Loser Baby, so why don't you kill me?

2006-01-12T22:13:00.000Z

What a night. Played 278 hands and lost $74.75.
I know I played crap. Hopefully my oponents made a note of me and the bad table image will help me win some extra bets in the future. I have noticed that with the 6max, if you are not playing your 'A' game it can, and invariably does, kick you right where it stinks.

I never slow-play. Well I never did, until tonight for some unknown reason. Twice I tried it and both times it cost me a large pot. First time I hold pocket 7's and flop the set. I get cute and slow-play which allows my opponent to hit the turn and river for his 8 high straight! The second time I'm UTG with KJs and flop the nut flush. I get cute and slow play allowing my opponent to catch his 2 pair on the turn and then river a full house. Poxy game.

I'm away for a couple of days so there will be no pokering to get my money off the thieving gits until next week, GGRRRRRRRRR.

____________________________________________

Spent some time with the wife and watched the last episode of Lost last night instead of playing poker. What a cop-out! It didn't answer any questions and all thats under the hatch is a shaft. I had a feeling it was the boy and not the baby the 'others' were after. If you don't watch Lost you are thinking 'WTF are you talking about' so I'll shut up now.

____________________________________________

Wife has just gone to bed and I have an hour to spare so its back to the tables to loose some more!!!!

Have a good weekend.

Slipping and a sliding on my rear...............

2006-01-10T23:31:00.000Z

It was an interesting night at the tables tonight. Had some lovely chilli for dinner and then started of with 2 losing sessions and then my stomach started to feel not too good. I tried to play poker between bouts of diarrhoea(sorry if you are eating). I'd just get comfy at a table an then that rumbling would start in my belly and I'd have to leave the table. So basically tonight consisted of short visits to the tables and after starting on a losing session I didn't hold out much hope.
But somehow, after looking on Poker Tracker, I've managed to play 367 hands and make $12.38 profit!!

______________________________________

I've been thinking I maybe too tight from the SB. My VP$IP from SB is 31%. Should this be higher? If any of you with more experience could comment on this I would appreciate it as there are a few of you limit players out there whos opinions I respect and I know that you know what you are talking about. (unlike some forums we could mention)

______________________________________

Running Hot

2006-01-09T20:04:00.000Z

What a weekend!!
I've totaly regained all my earlier losses at the 6max $ tables and I'm in profit. So far this month I've been running hot with a BB/100 of 5, this is a turn around from a BB/100 of -7.5 for December at the $ tables while for the £ tables it is also a healthy +5!

It sounds obvious but what I have been concentrating on is losing as little as possible when I do lose a hand. Any fish can win with the nuts just like any muppet can drive a sports car fast in a straight line, its how you get around the chicanes that decides whos the winner. This may go against common opinion but instead of calling that river bet, when you know you are beat but the pot is large, I've been folding. Don't get me wrong, I have not suddenly become weak at the river, but you know those hands where you 'know' you are second best. 95% of the time when you do call you are proved correct, you was second best! My play of overcards has also improved a great deal and my PT results prove that to be the case as I've turned around 'losing' hands like AJo into profitable ones.

_______________________________________

I managed to play alot more poker than usual this weekend as the wife and kids were away. I still had to work during the day but I had no other obligations in the evenings. I was enjoying myself so much that I hate to say it but I did resent them a little when they came home Sunday evening. There have been posts on other blogs about the whole poker vs life (mainly Poker Sweet Home) and I'm thinking this is something I have to address. I'm having an affair at the moment and poker is the mistress and the family is definitely losing out.

See you at the tables!

Fame! (I'm gonna live forever)

2006-01-06T23:41:00.000Z

How gay was that title!!!

Its Friday again!!!
Mind you I'm a slow typer so by the time I finish this it will be Saturday and no one will read it.

I had a srange experience last night. Calm down, its not as good as what you are thinking! I joined a table and someone types in the chat...."Ale.dan, are you the flop dodger?"
Whoa.....fame at last! My paranoia set in and I then felt that my play was being watched closer than usual and I thought I should make some real clever moves to justify my existence. But then I remembered I've never claimed to be a great player on here and started to relax. As it happens I was dealt total crap in that session so the person in question probably thinks I'm a nut peddler anyway. Which gets me thinking (dangerous, I know). If this starts to happen more frequently perhaps I should put up some dodgy strategy charts on here to help win me more money (you know the kind, just like Grinder does on his blog ;-) )
By the way, if you was that person, I'm sorry I wasn't too chatty as I was involved in a 3 handed pissing contest on my other table.

____________________________________________

I only managed 96 hands tonight before I could feel that bottle of red kicking in and deciding to leave the table due to the growing sensation inside that I was Gus Hanson and could out play and bluff any who dared to play me. I left up $4.50 and at first I was disappointed. But thats a BB/100 of 2.something and thats not bad really considering the wine. I must stop getting greedy and expecting 30+ BB/100 winning sessions. I already have the iche to step up to 2/4 but I will not until I have won enough at 1/2. I have the bankroll but I just feel that I havn't paid my dues at 1/2 and I need to know I'm not just running hot.

Have a good weekend, I know I will, the wifes away with the kids!!!!!!!!!

I'm the fish.

2006-01-05T21:25:00.000Z

Have just been playing, not finished yet but there are no tables availible right now so I thought I'd update this instead.(poker rooms must be full of peope avoiding celebrity big brother!)

I tried out the idea I mentioned a couple of days ago (mainly due to others on here backing-up my thoughts with their knowledge) and left a table ater 80 hands and $28 in profit. Would I have made more if I stayed? Possibly but we will never know.

On my other table I was running quiet well. I was up about $15. Then a new player joined the table 2 places to my left. This meant he was always BB when I was on the button. Sometimes you have to admit when you are out-played. He called most of my pre-flop raises and then continued to out-play me post flop. He never called, always check-raised and on the occasions I did decide to bet-call /check-call to showdown he always had the goods. As I said, sometimes its best to admit defeat and go. I know if I stayed I would just pay this guy off so I swallowed my pride (if you know me you know how hard this is) and took my remaining $1 profit!! Probably my best poker decision tonight!

____________________________________________

One day this guy dies and after years of gambling finds himself in hell. As he is wallowing in despair he has his first meeting with the Devil.................
Satan "Why are you so glum?"
Guy "Why do you think? I'm in hell!"
Satan "Hells not so bad, we have alot of fun down here. Are you a drinking man?"
Guy "Sure, I love a drink"
"Well you are going to love Mondays then. On Mondays thats all we do is drink. Beer, whiskey, tequila whatever you want and you don't get hangovers as you are dead already!"
"Gee, that sounds great!"
"You a smoker?"
"You'd better belive it"
"All right! You are going to love Tuesdays, we get the finest cigars from around the world and smoke our lungs out. Can't harm you, you are dead already!"
"Wow, thats awesome!"
" I know you like to gamble"
"Yep, sure do"
"Wednesdays you can gamble all you want. Blackjack, roullette, craps, poker, slots whatever. You can't go bankrupt, you are already dead"
"Wow, I never realised hell was so cool!"
" Are you gay?"
" Hell no!"
"Hmmmm.....................you are gonna hate Fridays then."

Back to the tables!!

Toilet fun

2006-01-05T00:34:00.000Z

I have just played a massive 26 hands and made $30 while 2 tabling!! If only I could keep that win rate for the next 10,000 hands I might then start to feel cocky.

Tonight was my wifes 'night' for poker and she decided to play a MTT and said I could play once she was knocked out. Great, that shouldn't take long! Well she made the final table and crashed out in 6th which is not bad for a girl.
So I finaly get on at about midnight.
I play a few hands and I have one of them moments when you realise you have possibly picked 2 of the best tables on the net! These guys were BAD.
Then the wife comes back downstairs..."One of the kids has blocked the toilet with loads of paper and its full up and I don't know what to do"
AARRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It took half an hour to unblock (I will save you all the juicy details) and I sit back down with a thunder cloud rageing above my head. I dare not go back on the tables, I have been put on tilt by toilet roll.

Hpefully I'll be in a better mood tomorrow and will have a longer post.

Goodnight.

Back in the saddle

2006-01-03T23:05:00.000Z

Finally back to poker.
This month I've managed to get in 500 hands already (this is good for me) on the $1/2 6max limit tables and so far I'm up $39.15 with a BB/100 0f 3.72 (this is also good for me). I know its a very small sample but at last I feel I'm getting the hang of this 6max malarky. During December I haad a BB/100 of 5.27 in the £ games but in the $ games it was -7.56!! (lucky for me that £'s are worth more than $'s).
So being a stubborn git and unwilling to have a game beat me I decided I was not allowed to play any £ games during January until I've beatten the $ game and I'm at least in the green on my poker tracker for the $ games. So far so good, just another $65.89 to go!!

I have started to notice a trend. I'll be up, or there abouts, but once I get to 90-100 hands at the same table winning pots gets alot harder, infact I start to lose money and quite often lose all the profit I had. This may be due to just 1-2 good players who are still at the table and have worked my game out. As this is only 6max it could be the difference between profit and loss so I might start to leave the table after about 80-90 hands and see how this affects results.
Of course this could just be my mad little mind looking for things that are not there.

__________________________________________

I hope you all had a great new year. We drove to a friends house (more dog puke) and had a great time drinking JD and playing blackjack and poker, both of which I won!! The funny thing was how annoyed my mate would get with his wife during blackjack for making the wrong play. Dealer would be showing a 5 and she has 16 and would ask for another card. This sort of thing just kept on occouring and he was getting more and more wound up, it didn't help when she would draw the perfect card for 21 and then tell him he is wrong. Heh, I had never seen someone go on tilt at blackjack until then!

Happy NewYear

2005-12-30T23:36:00.000Z

Happy New Year!!!
Thats the pleasentrys done, now I can go back to being a miserable git.

_______________________________________

I've been 'away' for a while. Christmas is hectic since we moved out to the country, we now feel obliged to spend the break driving around to visit family. We had to take the dog, and as this was the first time he has been on a long drive we was worried how he would be. We was 20 minutes into the journey when he first puked.........................................................

Boxing day at my Mum and Dads house was mad. 10 adults, 2 kids and 5 dogs. My sisters new boyfriend was there and I had forgot that I had told my 6 year old son that he only had one leg and one was false! He spent the first half hour staring at his legs trying to work out which one. Her boyfriend must have thought we had a very strange child!!
Once we did get back home I was too ill to play poker, unless I got a toilet installed infront of the computer. Mind you, a lap top would be cheaper.

I also got a message from Party Poker. It seems I havn't played there for 180 days so they are going to charge me an admin fee!!!!! The account has no money in it so how are they going to do that? Unless they can take it straight from my debit card! I assumed that by emptying the account it was effectivly closed but it seems not, anyone else heard of this problem with the cheaky gits?
It also makes me wonder about my other accounts that are empty, perhaps I should contact the relative 'customer care' and close them properly.

__________________________________________

I did manage to play some poker tonight for the first time in what seems like ages. I played 180 hands on 2 tables. Up $62 on one and down $60 on the other!! There was a total fish at the losing table that rivered his gutshot straight on 3 seperate occasions against me taking large pots which count for a large chunk of that $60. He had a VPIP of 73% and his BB/100 was 36.5!!!! Talk about running hot! I'll get him next time......................

__________________________________________

I'm off to a friends house for a few days so I won't be back until after the new year.
Bugger, I just realised its the weekend and no-one will read this! lol

Have a good'un

Toast!

2005-12-21T19:32:00.000Z

As requested here is a photo of the toast clock which currently hangs in my study. You may notice the top right corner has been nibbled. That was the result of my then 2 year old son finding it on the table and having a bite. Yum, varnish soaked toast!

Bah, Humbug!

2005-12-20T23:15:00.000Z

Not much poker being played lately. Each year I have to make something for christmas as presents for the family, it started last year because as we all mainly have anything that we need or want my brother came up with the idea that we all have to make something instead, but its not allowed to be anything associated with any of our jobs (that would be cheating). Last year was quiet funny and everyone got into the spirit of it, my brother made me a clock out of a piece of toast! This year I decided to paint some black and white portraits of my kids, so far they look really good but I've got to do 4 of the buggers and they are taking ages, so not only am I busy at work but alot of my 'poker time' is being spent painting! I might put a photo of them up after christmas.

________________________________________________

As for the poker, well its not been too good. It is either varience or I'm just crap and was getting lucky earlier. For some reason I still can't win on the crypto $ 6max tables, I'm starting to question if its worth raising pre-flop with hands like AQs as the whole table will call anyhow, they seem to have the mentality of 'I was going to see the flop before the raise, so I'll ignore the raise'. Its ok have one or two of these at your table but I always seem to find 4. I sit there thinking 'soon you are pay me off big time buddy' but that big hand never seems to happen. The following hand is typical......
I'm BB with 2d2s
All fold to the button who raises, SB and I call
Flop Jh 2c 9d
SB bets, I raise and button calls because he is on a gutshot so its well worth cold calling 2 bets with those odds isn't it!
Turn Qs
The hand was bet-raised to showdown and he turned over KT. I must admit I didn't put him on that, I thought he would have AJ, J9, JJ or 99 after calling those flop bets but not bloody K poxy T!
Rant over, I feel better for that.

_____________________________________________

So christmas is nearly here and that means its visiting season! That means time away from the computer to see people I'm not sure I want to. Bah, humbug!

Not sure how much I'll be on here between now and christmas so I'll wish you all a good-un now.

Tonight I will shave!

2005-12-15T23:11:00.000Z

Managed 200+ hands of £1/2 6max tonight. Overall I lost £15 which I'm ok with seeing as the cards seemed to be against me. Decided to defend my blind with AQ (a no brainer really) against a constant stealer but this time he held AK. Same player I reraise him with KK, flop is AKx loads of betting and I start to think he has AA so I slow down and check-call to showdown. My read was correct and I sort of 'knew' I was beat but still called the river bet anyhow. Why do I do that? How many times do you suspect you are beat, but call anyhow as your hand is good, only to mutter 'I knew it' at showdown as the bad guy takes your chips? If it wasn't for the 2 hand examples above I would have finished the night in profit, something to work on I think.

______________________________________________

Little Bobby was asked by his class 1 teacher..."Bobby, do you know how to count?". Bobby replied "Of course I do, my dad taught me". The teacher doubted Bobby, and decided to put him to the test. "OK, Bobby...what comes after three?" The teacher asked "Four!" Bobby immediately exclaimed. "Very Good" said the teacher, "OK, what comes after six?" "Seven!" Bobby shot back immediately "Bobby, your father is an excellent teacher. He must be so proud of you" "Yes, he is" Bobby replied "OK, One last test", said the teacher "What comes after ten?" Without missing a beat, Bobby replied "Jack"

_______________________________________________

I've noticed on Blogshares that someone has bought the remaining 69% of my blog! Is that what is known as an aggressive takeover? Does this mean its not mine anymore!!!! I might take off all of the links so my share price goes down, that will screw them!

Caribbean fish

2005-12-15T00:02:00.000Z

Have not played much over the last 2 days, this time of year work normaly goes nuts but this year is worse than usual, and I'm having to share my poker time with the wife as she likes to play. At the moment I play on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Mondays and Wednesdays I have to wait until she has gone to bed, we are still trying to sort out the rest of the week because if we don't there is a danger we might actually have to talk to each other at some point!

I did manage to get about 100 hands in £1/2 6max and finished up £50 in profit, I wish it was that easy all the time but I was at a particularly good table. In the whole session my blind was not raised once and any board that was missed would be checked down to showdown, but the strange thing was they always assumed I was bluffing and would check-call 'just to keep me honest'.
Played my first session at Caribbean Sun with rakeback. I'm also getting a $50 bonus which surprised me as I was under the impression you don't get bonuses with rackback. Live and learn! The first big difference that struck me was the American dealer voice, I'm already missing the deep sultry female voice at Betfair breathing 'All-in'. Whoa, calm down!
They also have a monthly $40 bonus for 200 raked hands. So I think each month I'll play my first 5 hours at Will Hill for their £25 bonus and then play the reat of the month at Caribbean for their bonus at the same tables, very nice.

__________________________________________________

It has been 2 days and 3 winning sessions since my last shave. Oh no, here we go again! Why do I do this to myself??????
Going out for a meal on Friday night, I think the misses will be expecting me to shave for that, she had better hope I lose!

____________________________________________________

You may notice a link just below my weather pixie for a frappr map. Register yourself on there so we can see where you all are from. You may have to manually move the 'flag' once you have joined as mine put me about 5 miles away, but now I have and the map actually shows my own driveway on it! Hmmmm..........this might not be such a good idea, I'm bound to have stalkers.
I got this idea from Micheals Counting My Outs blog (well I nicked it, I hope you don't mind). He is a professional low limit player whos writing a poker book when he's not playing. Its a good blog, check it out in my links.