To give some gambling spice to 2009 I have decided to put twenty large of the Queen's coin on a horse.
I'm hoping this little black stallion will come romping home for me.
Friday, 19 December 2008
Poker in the Black Isle
Arrived up in the north of Scotland amongst gusts of sleet to visit Big Bro and family. Once the kiddlywinks were despatched to bed we kicked off with a $1 18 man tourney with me talking bro through each decision. After doubling up with Pocket Kings hitting top trips against trip nines on the flop after folding the first fifty hands we took that puppy down without losing a showdown ansd without getting our money in bad once. My bro's friend arrived from Germany at the weekend so there may be some live action going on.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
No Cigar
Well it's been a poker free holiday as you might have gathered. Internet connection is too dodgy and my Dad's computer is slower than a week in jail.
I did abandon the Moll on Sunday Christmas shopping in Glasgow for a 'quick' NL tourney in the same Casino I played at last time. 70 players sticking in £230 quid each. Starting stacks of 15,000 and blinds kicking off at 25/50. I folded all my hands for the first 40 minutes. When I raised in early position with QQ it was folded round to me quickly and I realised that everyone was paying some attention. It even got a comment so I realised my tight image was well established. I then kept it pretty tight but through in the occasional loose raise in late position and maintained my stack. When two new players moved to the table one made a raise and I reraised in position with KK . I called and a flop 0f 99Q and faced a raise which I flat called. The river brought a third 9 and he shoved. I decided AA was not something I could be scared of. A fourth nine was pretty unlikely so I put him on a Queen or a bluff and called and he showed the Queen and doubled me up.
I take down another small pot with a delayed c-bet from Jacks OOP on a dry flop. With a larger stack I got involved a little bit more putting a medium-shortish stack semi-loose button raiser to a decision for all his chips with AJ and getting a quick fold. I then made my first mistake raising from the button with Ace rage thinking it was blind on blind but having missed a call from UTG. A Qxx flop and I fire out with a near pot sized bet and get called. I check the turn and he shoves and I lose my first pot.
The field begins to thin and I survive the first two breaks and have a slightly peeved Moll now done with Xmas shopping on my hands.
My stack begins to dwindle and I reach Allin or fold territory. I decide to make my move early to make a call less likely and pick my spots carefully and don't get any callers and keep around the 25-35K mark. I come up against a button raise and reraise to 12,000 against a stack around 20K. He shoves and my pocket tens hold up against his fives taking my up to safe territory. I probably miss a few chances to steal blinds at this stage and play a little too conservatively and my stack begins to dwindle. I reach allin or fold territory and down to two tables get a long hard think from the BB after an UTH with AKs. She decides to lay it down and I avoid a probable race although it may have been AQ.
I squeak through to the final table of 10 with just the top 6 paying. With hefty blinds and a very short stack I raise allin with AK twice and take down the blinds. AA from early position again doesn't get any callers despiting offering the big blind almost 2-1 odds.
I have 40,000 left with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and we are down to the last 7. It is folded to me in the small blind and I look down at a distinctly poor T7o. Noone else is going to be forced to make their move this round so I have to decide if I steal 15,000 now or wait for a hand. I plump for the shove and the Big Blind calls with QJs. He rightly puts me on a pretty wide range and I realise he must see me as playing fairly loose having witnessed a shove a round from me.
Neither of us get any help so I leave as bubble boy and leave the rest to decide who gets the £2K+ prize-money and head out for a night in Airdrie.
Next poker session should be my brother's house where I take on him and his pal in some short handed home game action and no doubt some online action too.
I did abandon the Moll on Sunday Christmas shopping in Glasgow for a 'quick' NL tourney in the same Casino I played at last time. 70 players sticking in £230 quid each. Starting stacks of 15,000 and blinds kicking off at 25/50. I folded all my hands for the first 40 minutes. When I raised in early position with QQ it was folded round to me quickly and I realised that everyone was paying some attention. It even got a comment so I realised my tight image was well established. I then kept it pretty tight but through in the occasional loose raise in late position and maintained my stack. When two new players moved to the table one made a raise and I reraised in position with KK . I called and a flop 0f 99Q and faced a raise which I flat called. The river brought a third 9 and he shoved. I decided AA was not something I could be scared of. A fourth nine was pretty unlikely so I put him on a Queen or a bluff and called and he showed the Queen and doubled me up.
I take down another small pot with a delayed c-bet from Jacks OOP on a dry flop. With a larger stack I got involved a little bit more putting a medium-shortish stack semi-loose button raiser to a decision for all his chips with AJ and getting a quick fold. I then made my first mistake raising from the button with Ace rage thinking it was blind on blind but having missed a call from UTG. A Qxx flop and I fire out with a near pot sized bet and get called. I check the turn and he shoves and I lose my first pot.
The field begins to thin and I survive the first two breaks and have a slightly peeved Moll now done with Xmas shopping on my hands.
My stack begins to dwindle and I reach Allin or fold territory. I decide to make my move early to make a call less likely and pick my spots carefully and don't get any callers and keep around the 25-35K mark. I come up against a button raise and reraise to 12,000 against a stack around 20K. He shoves and my pocket tens hold up against his fives taking my up to safe territory. I probably miss a few chances to steal blinds at this stage and play a little too conservatively and my stack begins to dwindle. I reach allin or fold territory and down to two tables get a long hard think from the BB after an UTH with AKs. She decides to lay it down and I avoid a probable race although it may have been AQ.
I squeak through to the final table of 10 with just the top 6 paying. With hefty blinds and a very short stack I raise allin with AK twice and take down the blinds. AA from early position again doesn't get any callers despiting offering the big blind almost 2-1 odds.
I have 40,000 left with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and we are down to the last 7. It is folded to me in the small blind and I look down at a distinctly poor T7o. Noone else is going to be forced to make their move this round so I have to decide if I steal 15,000 now or wait for a hand. I plump for the shove and the Big Blind calls with QJs. He rightly puts me on a pretty wide range and I realise he must see me as playing fairly loose having witnessed a shove a round from me.
Neither of us get any help so I leave as bubble boy and leave the rest to decide who gets the £2K+ prize-money and head out for a night in Airdrie.
Next poker session should be my brother's house where I take on him and his pal in some short handed home game action and no doubt some online action too.
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Live from Phillberto's roof
Apologies as I managed to delete the final tallies of the night from my Blackberry. So I'll post my best guesses and please correct them before I add to the running totals.
Phillberto +$880
Rick +$500
Sham -$400
Rummy Coakes -$5xx
Bigshot -$400
My recollection of the hands have also dimmed with the passing of time so I'll recap the ones that spring to mind and edit in any other hands of note as I'm reminded.
The first mention has to go to Bigshot for a very brave calldown. Rummy Coakes fired on 3 streets. Bigshot called down on the river and Rummy had to show a bluff with nothing. The big surprise came when Bigshot showed AQ for Ace high having missed all his own draws.
The final hand of the night was also a big one with Phillberto making a pre-flop raise. Bigshot put in a re-raise and Phillberto called. Flop 96x. Phillberto raised Bigshots c-bet to $150 and Bigshot pushed for around $400. Phillberto called and his trip sixes held against Bigshot's pocket Jacks.
I returned from a swift break to see the final street of an interesting hand between Rummy Coakes and Bigshot on a T9xx board with a possible flush on the board. All the money went in but with both showing T9 the pot was split.
I recall Moocher having been involved in a series of big hands but will need to have my memory refreshed on that front as the only only one I can remember is Sham running into Moocher on a paired board with a King kicker with Moocher taking down a nice juicy pot - can't quite recall if he had the Ace kicker or trips in that one.
So looking like this could well be the final live Lamma session for me in 2009. I'll do the final tally later though just in case there are any games in my absence or we sneak one in somehow before I leave on Tuesday morning.
Phillberto +$880
Rick +$500
Sham -$400
Rummy Coakes -$5xx
Bigshot -$400
My recollection of the hands have also dimmed with the passing of time so I'll recap the ones that spring to mind and edit in any other hands of note as I'm reminded.
The first mention has to go to Bigshot for a very brave calldown. Rummy Coakes fired on 3 streets. Bigshot called down on the river and Rummy had to show a bluff with nothing. The big surprise came when Bigshot showed AQ for Ace high having missed all his own draws.
The final hand of the night was also a big one with Phillberto making a pre-flop raise. Bigshot put in a re-raise and Phillberto called. Flop 96x. Phillberto raised Bigshots c-bet to $150 and Bigshot pushed for around $400. Phillberto called and his trip sixes held against Bigshot's pocket Jacks.
I returned from a swift break to see the final street of an interesting hand between Rummy Coakes and Bigshot on a T9xx board with a possible flush on the board. All the money went in but with both showing T9 the pot was split.
I recall Moocher having been involved in a series of big hands but will need to have my memory refreshed on that front as the only only one I can remember is Sham running into Moocher on a paired board with a King kicker with Moocher taking down a nice juicy pot - can't quite recall if he had the Ace kicker or trips in that one.
So looking like this could well be the final live Lamma session for me in 2009. I'll do the final tally later though just in case there are any games in my absence or we sneak one in somehow before I leave on Tuesday morning.
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Gang Aft Agley
So it was come the first day of my holiday I arose early to begin my attempt at earning a shilling on the virtual felt. Four tabling 25NL I decided was a sensible way to go to increase my chances of scoring a winning start given the proximity of my 50NL to breaking even.
It all started so well with me racking up a $40 win before breaking for breakfast. Some 5 hours later I shoved with AKs on a suited flop and was called by QJs and he spiked a Queen and I called it quits. Having turned into a mix of calling station and badly timed bluffs I had thrown away something in the region of 7 buy-ins and wasted an entire day. Having a high water mark of something like $480 in Poker Stars I had dropped down to $140. I tried again the next day and had to give up when my roll wouldn't allow me to play 4 tables of 25NL as I reached the bottom at $70.
Since then I decided to just play some recreational poker when I had the time and decided to enjoy my hols. With the occasional 4 (sometimes 5 and 6) tabling at 10NL I've scrabbled my roll up to $190. I've just about earned enough FPPs to allow me to buy a second fifty quid Amazon voucher for Crimbo.
So there we have it great plans up in smoke. Still I'm on my holly bags. I'm eating into my losses.
Down but not out.
It all started so well with me racking up a $40 win before breaking for breakfast. Some 5 hours later I shoved with AKs on a suited flop and was called by QJs and he spiked a Queen and I called it quits. Having turned into a mix of calling station and badly timed bluffs I had thrown away something in the region of 7 buy-ins and wasted an entire day. Having a high water mark of something like $480 in Poker Stars I had dropped down to $140. I tried again the next day and had to give up when my roll wouldn't allow me to play 4 tables of 25NL as I reached the bottom at $70.
Since then I decided to just play some recreational poker when I had the time and decided to enjoy my hols. With the occasional 4 (sometimes 5 and 6) tabling at 10NL I've scrabbled my roll up to $190. I've just about earned enough FPPs to allow me to buy a second fifty quid Amazon voucher for Crimbo.
So there we have it great plans up in smoke. Still I'm on my holly bags. I'm eating into my losses.
Down but not out.
Friday, 14 November 2008
Oops
Came home with a few beers inside me and decided to have a loose aggressive experiment at 25NL. It started well with me pulling off an allin bluff on a scare card. I then floated someone and took it away. Then my luck turned. I flopped a straight with 89 from the cutoff and got it allin on the flop against topset and he filled up. Shoved on a scare-card Ace against someone with pocket Aces. I Shoved with AKs against an over-raiser thinking they had a medium pair and might fold and they called with JJ. Lost close to a $100 in less than half an hour. Ah well - lets just see at as a poker stag night. My last night (I doubt it) of wild extravagant poker before I settle down to a dreary grind.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Poker Nirvana
Well here is the promised announcement. In tough economic times I have been given the option to take some unpaid leave over the Christmas/Chinese New Year period.
By job is secure for 2009 from Feb 1st and the hardship involves me sitting on a beach in the Phillipines drinking (virgin by day) Pina Colada and watching the kids build sand castles while getting set over setted on Stars.
Apart from the felting it sounds good to me.
I have a month in Scotland planned and then a Poker beach holiday planned for January.
I’m currently playing break-even Poker at 50NL at Stars so have the prospect of playing 25 hours a week for some Book Vouchers at Amazon as a reward!
I plan to sort out my Neteller account over the next couple of weeks so I can start playing on easier sites with a bigger first deposit bonus. Star lacks both a bonus and the opposition is proving pretty tough. I am trying to persevere because being able to beat 50NL on Stars is a key goal. I’m almost there but tend to get a little tilty and I’m letting random bluffing creep into my game. Even so eliminating these won't be enough to get me at a decent win-rate, I need to improve.
Hence I’ve signed up for 6 months of an online Poker training site ‘Deuces Cracked’. I love the name too. Not had a chance to watch more than one vid so far – been far too busy losing online to have time to learn!
No major hopes of enrichment from me. I’ll set myself some hopefully achievable goals in terms of number of hands and winning rate. A unique chance to improve my poker and get a tan and spend some time with the wife and kids.
I’ll also sign up for the Standard Chartered 10K so will set myself a goal there so will be a finely tuned athlete as well as ice cold Grinder by the time I return.
I may manage the occasional tournament or Casino visit in Scotland so may have a tale or there too. I suspect that the quality and regularity of the blog may improve although that could well be results oriented. Silence in this case will not be golden. Although my tan may be.
By job is secure for 2009 from Feb 1st and the hardship involves me sitting on a beach in the Phillipines drinking (virgin by day) Pina Colada and watching the kids build sand castles while getting set over setted on Stars.
Apart from the felting it sounds good to me.
I have a month in Scotland planned and then a Poker beach holiday planned for January.
I’m currently playing break-even Poker at 50NL at Stars so have the prospect of playing 25 hours a week for some Book Vouchers at Amazon as a reward!
I plan to sort out my Neteller account over the next couple of weeks so I can start playing on easier sites with a bigger first deposit bonus. Star lacks both a bonus and the opposition is proving pretty tough. I am trying to persevere because being able to beat 50NL on Stars is a key goal. I’m almost there but tend to get a little tilty and I’m letting random bluffing creep into my game. Even so eliminating these won't be enough to get me at a decent win-rate, I need to improve.
Hence I’ve signed up for 6 months of an online Poker training site ‘Deuces Cracked’. I love the name too. Not had a chance to watch more than one vid so far – been far too busy losing online to have time to learn!
No major hopes of enrichment from me. I’ll set myself some hopefully achievable goals in terms of number of hands and winning rate. A unique chance to improve my poker and get a tan and spend some time with the wife and kids.
I’ll also sign up for the Standard Chartered 10K so will set myself a goal there so will be a finely tuned athlete as well as ice cold Grinder by the time I return.
I may manage the occasional tournament or Casino visit in Scotland so may have a tale or there too. I suspect that the quality and regularity of the blog may improve although that could well be results oriented. Silence in this case will not be golden. Although my tan may be.
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