Lorry Drivers And Dance Music

I haven't been playing much lately. To be honest I haven't wanted to play poker. I don't really know why. I just haven't felt like sitting in front of my pc all day.

It's not like I've run badly, in fact it's been pretty smooth Thursday-Saturday last week, but I haven't played from then until a short session this morning when I picked up 1/2 a buyin in about an hour. I just haven't had the motivation to play, or any possible feeling that I'd be playing good poker if I sat down to play. So I guess it's good that I haven't been playing when I feel like this. I feel quite a bit more like it now, so hopefully I can get all my enthusiasm back as quickly as possible.

So from Sunday to Tuesday I actually went out playing machines, which is the first time for ages. I wasn't even interested in the money (although I made like £350 which was ok for the hours I put in), I just wanted to get out of the house for a few days.

I actually enjoyed going out yesterday, it bought back some good memories.

Apart from driving on the M25, where this lorry which was about as dirty as it gets pulls out in front of me without indicating when I'm doing 90 on the outside lane. I slow down pretty quick and once he goes past the car who he's overtaking pulls over to the lane on the left. I look at him and he's mouthing obscenities and giving me the finger. Is it hardly surprising that the M25 is nothing more than a glorified car park because wankers like this crash their lorries every single day? If I can ever be bothered, I'll write to the powers that be and tell them to ban all lorries from going outside the first lane.

But with this being the exception I really enjoyed driving around. I picked up a couple of pirate radio stations, Freeze Fm (www.freezefm.co.uk) and Subjam (www.subjam.com) and they were playing some class old skool house from like 93-99 which was awesome, stuff I haven't heard for ages like Raze - Break for Love, Kim English - Nitelife and Bizarre Inc - Playing With Knives, all stuff which I grew up listening to. The other day I downloaded all the dj sessions (UK Garage) from www.mrprecordings.com which are all pretty good, but I'd really like to get some old skool house and maybe even some happy hardcore dj sessions which I haven't heard for ages. If anyone knows anywhere you can download some good free dj sessions please let me know!

Hopefully now I've had this short break I can get back to the tables and play some good sessions. I've got loads on tomorrow, I'm taking my car to get valeted in the morning so I can advertise it online tomorrow, and then I'm going to Tottenham v Slavia Prague in the evening. I should be able to get a session in between doing these things.

After feeling pretty burnt out over the last few days, after playing like maybe 2-4 hours each day, I really wonder how some players have the mental stamina and motivation to play like 12 tables 10 hours a day, day in day out. I guess there must be an acquired skill somewhere along the line, or just a sick motivation to make as much $ as is physically possible. Answers on a postcard please!

Rollercoaster Ride

I played quite a bit since my last post. I managed to pick up about 3 buyins on Wednesday morning, before losing about 4 in the evening. It was ridiculous. I've never been done by so many 2-5 outers on the river in one day (even the morning was bad). Probably about as many in a day as in a month.

I played this morning and won 3 buyins. It was a great time to play, full of fish. But looking at the tables now, it looks very tight. The games weren't that great in the afternoon either, so I picked up my car from being serviced and now it's ready to sell. I should get about £3,500 for it (2000 BMW 316i Sport but high mileage), and I'm looking to get a new car for about £6,500. Really don't know what to buy...Any ideas?

Here's some pots I played in the last two days.

Smallish pot, but just typical of my day yesterday.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518107

I played this shit, should have bet turn bigger, but really 8 4, how the fuck can you call the turn?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518108

Obviously I should have put him on J2...Not.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518109

And to think I thought I missed a value bet on the river. Lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518110

Set under set is always fun.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518115

Another 2 outer.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518118

Set over set, thankfully in my favour.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518121

And this is my favourite pot, and biggest at 1/2, of all time. Thanks for the donation. Check out the chat of one of the other players after the river. Pretty funny. That is all.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?518123

As you can see if you've looked at the hands, it's been emotional. Despite all this I'm up a couple of buyins over the 2 days which I'll definitely take.

Bankroll wise I'm not a million miles away from $2/4. I've been making regular withdrawals of half my weekly profit and rakeback now I'm playing poker full time and if I hadn't have done that I'd be ready for $2/4 now. The extra experience until I get there will stand me in good stead though. My aim was to be playing $2/4 by the new year, so I've got plenty of time, and there's no rush.

I haven't got much on over the weekend so hopefully I'll be able to put some rare weekend sessions in.

Neil, I haven't really ever read any NL Cash Game Books - I actually don't know of any decent ones. I've read about 15 books though (which is far too many IMO and lead to me playing weak tight previously) and the only ones I really rate are the Harrington ones and I also liked Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. If you want to improve your cash game I'd recommend spending no money on books, just join cardrunners. It's only $20 per month and it's probably the best thing I have ever bought in my entire life. I recommend it highly. It's also good for tournament poker as well. Check out the free sample video on the homepage.

If anyone wants to talk about cash games, or poker in general, feel free to add me to your msn buddy list - my address is vampitup25@hotmail.co.uk.

Take it easy everyone and all the best at the tables.

Not Much To Say

I haven't played much over the last few days, I've been pretty busy with sports (Cricket saturday, Football Sunday and watching Spurs' bore draw with Fulham on Sunday), but I've done OK when I have played, only one losing session out of 5, and that was only 1 buyin.

I had a couple of sick pots though.

This one was a good set over set in my favour. I knew he didnt have the straight, so i pushed the turn. Sick river to split the pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?515679

I actually burst out laughing when the cards were flipped up on this hand. I was drawing to one out with a flopped straight and gutshot straight flush draw. These two guys were huge donks, and why I was at the table.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?515680

Going to try to get a load of hands in today, hopefully I'll update later.

Still Running Good

I've been playing sparingly in the last few days, I'd play more but I'll only play when the game is good. I think the fact I've been getting paid with a lot of hands has a lot to do with that. Full Tilt has been pretty tight this week still so I've been getting up pretty early to get some hands in and then I can chill a bit more for the rest of the day. On Tuesday I picked up 3 buyins in the morning, but dropped most of that in the afternoon. Yesterday I put in a very early 1.5 hour session and won just over 4 buyins which was nice, I didn't play after that as I had cricket all afternoon and was pretty tired in the evening. I played this morning early again and won 2 buyins in an hour. I've just got back home after picking up some friends from the airport and then picking my car up from the repairs it's had done all week (massive dent in the door and wing lol).

Overall I've played a mere 1,949 hands this week, but I'm up $1757.65, a BB/100 of 22.55 (lol). I'm gonna try to ramp up the hands played a bit more, I've been pretty busy this week and the games haven't been good so it's not been that easy doing so.

Here's some hands I played big pots with:-

Pretty standard, glad he didn't pair up! Opponent was very lag.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505918

This guy was probably the most aggressive player I have played lately. He was 3 betting me so often preflop, as well as others with the likes of K4s and he also pushed 66 for a full buyin after 2 raises. Not sure I'd have got the money in with his hand on the turn though...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505922

This hand was pretty funny. I didn't know much about villain but I honestly thought we were chopping. After the hand I realised how much of a donator he was. K7 - crazy.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505928

Pretty standard again.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505932

Opponent was a bit of a maniac, I really thought my overpair was in front. I put him on a flush draw, we were about 50/50 against each other. He hit, and that's poker.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505933

I don't like my call here, it's a pretty bad call IMO. Opponent is tight. I've since been told that opponent is a total nit who basically peddles the nuts but I had him down as a typical tag before then. I guess he put me on AK and shoved. Still, we live and learn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505937

This hand was pretty amusing, even though I lost. Shows there's still some value on FTP anyway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505946

This hand was pretty sick. I've had sets counterfeited a few times lately. Not much you can do. I think villain would have bluffed river regardless so the king was a pretty lucky card for him to get away with it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?505950

And that's about it for the last few days. I'm gonna watch the Tottenham game now, we are away at Slavia Prague and hopefully we can get a good result. A few of us were considering to go out there for the game but it never happened. So now we have to put up with listening to John Barnes' commentary on channel 5 instead:-(

Oh, and by the way I've been doing a bit of datamining on FTP tonight. Two (2!!!) tables out of 16 have an average vpip of 34%+, with the highest being 38.6% and the lowest 22%. I'd say the average of the tables was about 30%ish. Not too juicy.

Live Tournaments Suck. Online Cash Games Don't.

I played the £100 freezeout I was talking about on Friday. It was actually 5000 chips with starting blinds 25/50. 30 minute clock so it was a fair structure.

I've never seen so many donks in one room. It was totally amazing. There was a showdown with a load of limpers in the first hand, hands turned over were J5o, Q4o etc...

The biggest fish of the lot was bleeding chips left right and centre when I finished him off. He had about 2500 left when he and another guy limped as usual. I found QQ in late position and made it 600 to go. They both called. Flop came 983, they both checked, I fired out a bet of 1400. Big stack donk folded, and the short stack fish called (wtf!) leaving himself 475. He pushed the turn which was a 7. I asked him how much it was to me (standard as I've made the mistake insta calling before, and then finding out it was a whole lot more), he said nothing. I asked him again politely, to which he asked me if I was blind. Nice guy. Someone else confirmed it was 475, I called and he showed 36o for bottom pair and turned open ended draw. River blanked and my overpair held.

I then got in a pot with my mate. We are playing 7 handed, I make it 350 to go with AJh in EP. My mate considers things for a while and calls. Flop A72 with no flush draw. I lead out for 650, he thinks and calls. Turn 3. I lead out for 1250, dunno where I stood, and he thought for like 3 minutes and minimum raises me. I fold, don't really see what I'm beating as my mate is very solid usually, he showed QQ and told me he thought he was in front. Hmmm.

Then I make a great laydown. Passive donk makes it 400 to go UTG, woman calls UTG+1 and I have QQ and make it 1400. Donk insta pushes, he didn't even think about it and the woman folds. I think for a while and fold, I still had enough chips and I was sure he had KK or likely AA. I ask him to show me his aces which he kindly does.

It gets to the stage where the blinds are 200/400 and I have about 3800 (M of just over 6), so I'm looking to make a move. Donk who showed AA limps in MP, he has me covered. I check the BB with 98o. Flop comes 4TQ with 2 suits. We both check. Turn J to complete a 2 card bottom end of the straight, where the 2 card top end is AK so somewhat unlikely. I check, he bets, I checkraised and he pushed. Obviously he has K9 for gg me. No way I can fold this.

Sick tournament.

I then played a single table satellite for one of their festival events. We are down to 3 handed, with 1st getting a seat. I'm in push/fold mode with an M of about 5, I push 99, get called by KK. Flop 7 9 (yes!) K (lol). GG me once more. How many big hands can I run into in a day?

On a side note this was the first casino I'd been to since I got back from Vegas. The difference is beyond belief. Vegas is plush with good service. I'd forgotten how bad UK casinos really are. The only free drinks are tea/coffee/coke, you have to pay full price for any alcohol (not that I was drinking), and you are lucky if a waitress comes round once in 2 hours. Oh yeah, and all the games are self dealt by people who can't shuffle, or deal. Give me online poker any day of the week.

On that subject, the online world has been somewhat better to me. I had a couple of days break over the weekend as I went to a wedding on Saturday and was shattered on sunday after 3 late nights. I logged on yesterday, but Full Tilt seems to be rock city these days. It's virtually impossible to find a table where average table vpip is like much more than 30%. It used to be wild on there. A lot of the regular fish dont seem to be playing much also. I'm guessing they have either gone to Party Poker for the monster promotion or have gone busto.

As my game selection is picky, I've only played 775 hands since yesterday. But I'll take the $918.05 profit from those hands. Here's some pots I played over those hands:-

I was pretty sure I was winning here. Opponent was a big donator and a flush draw or A6 was certainly possible. He had 3rd pair, lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501933

How to get your money in whilst drawing dead (not me!). Thanks. Opponent is once again a big donator.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501934

I was worried about the flush but had to call with pot odds. KK, wtf!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501936

This was nice. Caught runner runner quads. Opponent played the hand terribly.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501938

This guy was usually quite solid, but he was on tilt.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501940

And this was when I finished him off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501941

This was before the last two, and before villain was on tilt. A very tough laydown. I made a blocking bet on the river, and when people go over the top of these bets on the river I find it usually indicates a big hand. I thought he had a flush, but I dunno. Difficult. Anyone call here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501943

Thanks river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?501946

Because of the lack of good games on FTP, I'm going to start playing on Party as well. Hopefully once I can get that sorted I'll be on there from tomorrow.

Thats all folks, good luck everyone!

Quantity v Quality?

I've had to abandon the challenge, for a few reasons.

Firstly Full Tilt Poker has been down for maintenance in the UK mornings and early afternoons this week which totally sucks, it's my most profitable time by far and also where I usually get a lot of hands in.

Secondly, when the games have been running on Full Tilt, the game selection is not there. All the fish are short stacks or there is one fish who has a stack but there are 5 predators around him!

Finally, I also haven't been feeling great this week and I don't want to play when I'm not feeling my best.

So overall, I haven't played a ton of hands, but when I have played I have felt really pleased with how I have played overall. I'm also now questioning whether I need to start putting in some night shifts to get some juicy games, which is something I have never done much of before.

Here's my stats for September, for when I have played.

Hands: 3,124
Profit: $2449.00
PTBB/100: 19.60

I've stacked tons of people over this time, and I'm getting paid off with my big hands so much its untrue. I've also been stacked a few times when I've flopped a set, any critique gratefully received as ever.

Here's some of the pots...

This hand was crazy. I couldn't literally believe my eyes. I really don't know why the guy with KK flat called my reraise preflop, just shove!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494646

This guy was getting so frustrated with me. I was constantly raising him and pushing him about. He is also totally attached to top pair, making this an easy call.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494652

This was another hand against a guy who I was bullying on several tables. I checked the turn with the intention of checkraising allin, but he pushed anyway, a horrible overbet with ace high.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494655

On the KK theme, here's a solid laydown I did with KK yesterday. He either has AA or a set 100% for sure. I absolutely hated this flop, but felt I had to bet out but if he pushes it's an easy fold. It's pretty rare I fold KK overpair in a reraised pot but surely its toast here...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494658

Here's a hand where I sucked out on the river. I was getting battered by bad beats on other tables so I guess I was due this good one. Can you lay this down on the turn when you pick up the flush draw? He was a huge fish btw. I was pretty sure the 10h changed nothing straight-wise as well.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494661

I guess this is pretty standard, at least from my perspective. Opponent is pretty loose, obv.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494663

This I guess is pretty standard too, opponent is a pretty tight multitabler, I had him on AK.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494664

This hand was pretty cool. How not to play KQ is the theme here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?494665

And that's about it. I would log on to FTP to play now, but I can't as it's down. So it looks like I'm going to have to go shopping now, what fun!

I'm playing in a £100 freezeout tonight with my mate which should be a grin, he plays in it every week and has done very well, apparently the structure is very good and deep stacked (8000 chips starting at 25/25) so I'm gonna play my normal cash game to start with as I'd like to think I am a better deep stacked player than a standard player there. As I've been pretty bored not being able to play too much, I've been reading up about tournament theory a lot, both on pocket 5s and particularly cardrunners forums, where I've read most of the last 10 pages of both sit and go and tournament forums trying to get to grips with the hand ranges for push/fold and when to do it. I've read all the Harrington's repeatedly but I feel that there's still a lot more to learn regarding tournaments. I don't think I'll ever stop primarily focusing on cash but I will be playing the odd tournament, usually live, which is good fun. It'd be nice to do well in them too.

Good luck everyone and have a good weekend.

Some Work To Do

I knew I'd be behind after the weekend with my challenge, but I'm behind a ton. I barely played all weekend, I had Cricket all afternoon on Saturday, I played a bit in the evening for about an hour, felt tired and left with about a 2.5 buyin profit, which was a good result. Yesterday I had football in the morning and a family lunch afterwards, I was pretty tired in the evening and decided not to play. This has left me a lot behind pace already, but I feel fresh this morning and this week I am gonna get in a load of hands. I'm aiming for 3k hands a day most days this week to make up the backlog. I have no plans all Monday-Friday, so this should be possible.

Here's some hands from my 345 hand session on saturday night:-

This was a tough spot. I didn't expect my reraise preflop to get 2 callers, but it did. I flop an overpair, so I can't really lay this down too easily. I just wondered what JMSOC had, I could only see him do this with AJ (he was pretty loose preflop!) or QQ out of the hands I beat. I didn't have him on AA, but JJ was a real possibility, although maybe with that he'd call to keep the shortstack in. I thought there was a good chance I was winning, and made the call. Fortunately I was good against both of them and I scooped a nice pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?487353

Here's one of the greatest hands of all time for me. I flopped bottom 2 pair in an unraised pot and get raised by the table donator, who also has a big stack. I called the reraise with the intention of checkraising the turn, although I didn't really want to play a huge pot with this hand at that point. The turn completed my boat, so I check called him because I was convinced he'd bet the river and I wanted to checkraise him allin on the river. He beat me into the pot with his call, fact is not one hand he beats me with checkraises allin on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?487361

I didn't really play any other great hands, hopefully I will today. Gonna sort some food out and then hit the tables!

Challenge Stats after Day 3:

Hands: 1313
Target: 6000
Pace: -4687

Day 1 - September 1

A bad start to the challenge. I played a bit in the morning and then had to go out for several hours twice in the afternoon, so I couldn't get much playing in. I played a shortish session in the evening, but I almost fell asleep so decided it would be pretty smart to log off. I finished the night watching the Green Plastic v Muddywater heads up video on cardrunners, what an awesome idea. I tried watching them both simultaneously, but it was too disjointed so I watched Muddy's first and will watch GP's later. I'll imagine I'll be at least 2k hands behind pace after Sunday, I have cricket all afternoon today, and Sunday football tommorrow morning as well as a family lunch. I'm gonna have to work hard all week to catch up with the hands.

Here's some hands I played yesterday. I picked up just over 4 buyins for the day, which is obviously pretty decent for the amount I played.

Obviously I am liking the flop in this hand. I decided that the best course of action would be to get allin asap. If he has 77, nice hand. I really think that his call of my reraise when he is pretty much getting towards pot committed is terrible. Surely it's push/fold for him?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?484133

This next hand, I don't think I can get away from. It's so rare that I don't reraise preflop with it, but I felt I didn't want to reraise the short stack with AQ as if he calls and I miss, I am playing a guessing game. I checked the flop with the intention of checkraising, unfortunately I didnt get a bite. Turn brings me trips and nut flush draw, I don't think I can fold this. A tough spot, I'd like some opinions on this one.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?484136

The next hand I felt I played perfectly against a regular, solid player. I flopped top set and lured him in with my check on the turn. I really didn't have him on a straight, and I felt a lower set was very possible. I was amazed with what he showed. I don't think you could play QQ much worse. Even if he reraises me preflop, I'll probably still stack him though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?484140

The guy I am against in this hand is one of the biggest $1/$2 fish on Full Tilt. I love playing with him. He is a total maniac, and was running the table over a bit. I was prepared to wait for a big hand against him, and thankfully it came. I wasn't worried about a flush at all, he pushes top pair to the felt all the time. His allin call is unbelievable.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?484144

This last hand shows the benefit (to me) of getting all in on the turn drawing dead. God knows what was going through this guys mind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?484148

Overall, I only played 968 hands. I won't take that. I'll take the profit though...

Overall stats, Day 1:

Hands: 968
Total: 968
Pace: -1032

September Challenge

I've been running pretty good over the last few days, and I've picked up a load of buyins. I didn't really doubt myself too much when I had a couple of bad -$1k sessions as I was just getting coolered left right and centre, and generally just running bad. I really feel as I am one of the top players at the $1/$2 on Full Tilt, and I have fear of no one.

Over the last few days I've been adding a few plays for deception against the regulars, and addressing a leak of mine, which was being too passive on the turn with a marginal hand. I was getting played back at a lot on the river when I'd check behind on the turn to control the size of the pot with say top pair ok kicker or maybe even something like TT on a one overcard board which may have draws on it. This leads to a lot of second guessing and doubting whether your hand is good. Typically, it also means you are going to have to call a bigger bet on the river than the bet you will make on the turn which will usually be in the 60-75% of pot range. Obviously it's better to be the bettor than the caller as well.

One problem I have had is getting the hands in. I'm incredibly picky when it comes to table selection, I often reject a seat a couple of times on a table until I get position on my target(s) etc... I also have had a problem of trying to 'bank' wins and not playing on after a huge session. If I am going to try to become a top player, this not playing after a good session has got to stop.

So, for the month of September, and hopefully for the future, I am going to try a challenge. It won't be a monetary target at all, as I feel that my personality does not benefit from them, it puts me under too much pressure and won't help me. But it's a hand target, and naturally the money 'should' follow! I'm going to try and play an average of 2,000 hands a day for the month, so 60,000 hands for the month. I'm going to try to make this my target every month, but I want to see how attainable it is first. I don't see why it shouldn't be. I haven't got bundles else to do with my time, I have no work committments either. I'm playing 6 tables at a time, so this would be about 450 hands/hr roughly. 2000 hands daily actually gets me about £17,000 per year just in rakeback, which is obviously an OK tax free wage as it is, without even thinking about the profits. On a loose monetary goal, I'd be very disappointed if I couldn't hit 5ptbb/100 hands over the month period. So this would be a loose target of $12,000.

I'm going to post every day with how I've got on, and hopefully put up some challenging hands for analysis, as well as some of the big pots I've played.

I'd love some comments on the hands - please let me know your opinions.

Good luck at the tables guys!