New Blog

Hey guys, the new Cardrunners site allows for blog hosting so I'm gonna host my blog on there now. Non members can also read all the blogs.

Here's the link to mine:-

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=29&task=show&action=view&id=2077&Itemid=29

Take it easy and gl at the tables,

FP

Taking A Break From The Game

Over the last few weeks I have been finding myself increasingly demotivated about Poker and not enjoying the game as much as before.

I guess the 70 hour weeks of playing and studying have finally caught up with me so I'm going to take a break from the game until I regain this freshness and drive for success. I also feel my life has no balance and I need to sort that out. I figure the warning bells started ringing when I took my laptop on holiday and packed a second monitor in my suitcase so I could multitable...

I'm going to honour my planned coaching committments this week and then take a total break from the game until I want to come back into it. I guess this could take anything from a few weeks to months but until I take the break I guess I wont know.

If anyone emails me and I dont reply quickly, hopefully this will explain why. I probably wont be that near my PC very often for a while either. I think I need a break from that too.

Good luck at the tables everyone, I'll be back in a while.

FP.

This Week's Hands

Well now pokerhand is back up I'll post a batch of hands that I've played this week. One pretty bad cooler in there...

Can someone help me make the hyperlinks clickable again. Big Mac - I couldnt find 'enable hyperlinks' anywhere...

On my last post I got asked in the comments about why I dont play machines if I win £300 per day. Unfortunately this isnt the case any more - profit is less now and is not anywhere near guaranteed, it has a lot of variance now too! Losing days are now possible. As far as the pubs and machine distributors go - I dont know why they have tricks in machines, probably because they are not play tested well enough (really they should employ pros to test them) and in the past they weren't updated quick enough because you had to physically get an engineer to put a new chip in them. Now the updates are all done through broadband and can be done really quick. The edge is being able to manipulate the short term percentage and to know how to do that and when to leave the machine. If you can do that, you could make a lot of money. You could also empty some machines if they had a really big trick (leak I guess) which allowed you to get stupidly easy jackpots repeatedly.

Here's some hands from this week:-

The sick cooler.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135117

Pretty ridiculous.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135121

Hand v regular where we were both gonna get it in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135122

Not sure if I should have shoved this, didnt really know what else to do though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135124

Sick two outer.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135125

I debated whether to post this hand as it outs the worst player on FTP. Never mind!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135126

Nice river overbet. Unfortunately I have better set!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135131

Nice draw lucks out over set.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135133

Nice river - shame about his turn line...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135134

Standard on both parts I guess.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135136

I get aggro with La Jolla Shores and suck out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135137

Lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1135139

Back to the tables now, gl everyone!

Back To The Grind - And Some Random Musings

Ok so I got back from holiday on Wednesday Evening and it was pretty nice to get away to be honest. I played poker a bit over there, mainly working on some stuff and studying and managed to make $1200 which was ok. I got back and did well immediately, picking up a few buyins. I played today though and things didn't go that well, I got a/i with 75 on a 765 flop against 74 who proceeded to hit runner runner flush (4 high one card!) and allin with 86 on an 863ddx flop against Callide (a regular) who had A8dd and hit his ace. I also got a/i with AKhh on a T64hhx flop against Q4hh in a reraised pot (wtf) and his hand held. Of course, I could usually show you these hands on pokerhand.org but it looks like someone has forgotten to renew their domain name or sth so the site is down. I'll post some HHs when it's working again.

Whilst I was away I read a couple of really good books, I love reading books on criminality/gangs as well as soccer autobiographies. I read a good book called Grafters which documented a gang of sneak theives from Manchester called the Wide Awake Crew, they basically went round Europe stealing all manner of crazy things. If these guys had the organisation of the gang of the second book I read, The Great Casino Heist by Richard Marcus, they probably would have got away with a lot, lot more. The Casino gang really were amazing, they pastposted on Blackjack and Roulette, as well as some other Craps scams too. The stories in there are truly amazing and it even has some good thoughts to general personal psychology which can probably be applied to Poker and definitely life.

The book really took me back to my years playing Fruit Machines full time. To be honest, if I had the chance to do that again for the money involved at the time, I'd do it like a shot. Looking back on it now, I had a great time on the road and locally. Some of the scrapes that me and my mates got into were brilliant, and we made great money. If someone offered me £600 between 2 every day with ZERO risk, after all expenses, I'd bite their hands off. If only things were good now.

Reading this book really reminded me of some incidents which we got into and some of the banter and camaraderie that we had.

One time I found this pub about 30 minutes from my house in a little village. It had 3 machines, and two were 'doable'. Basically for 10-15 minutes on each you could pretty much be guaranteed to walk out with £70-100 every time, as long as they weren't done which in this place was almost certainly not done. I went there like 10 times in about 3-4 weeks and made some great money, then they barred me. I said I'd cut them in if they let me carry on playing in there, they said no so I told them that I'd send all my mates in and they'd regret the day they barred me.

I sent my brother in a few times and he did good, obviously. Then I sent my mate in a couple of times. First time, he properly caned the fruits and I just sat in the car waiting for him, happy days. Second time, I found another good fruit in a pub down the road and went there after dropping him off at the pub which was hot for me. 20 minutes later I get a phone call, it's him sounding pretty out of breath. He's asking where the fuck I am, I'm like well just down the road mate, he goes well get here quick cos they are chasing me down the road! He jumps into my car still moving and we give them a beep and drive off. It turns out the landlord tried to turn the fruit off when he was getting the streak (a big amount of money which he has set up for it to give) out of the fruit and he ended up hitting the landlord whilst he tried to turn the machine off! He got the money out though, fair play to him.

Nothing came of it though, you've got to laugh because these landlords were basically the thickest people I have ever met. Every day or two you could be guaranteed to hear "That's my holiday fund" etc... They didnt realise that all you are doing is taking the percentage out of the machine and as soon as a drinker (aka donk) goes on it he is going to lose our profit back into it.

Now the jackpots are £35 and may be going up to £50 soon which is just ridiculous. These guys couldnt even handle £50 or £75 streaks on £25 jackpot so how can they handle it when they go for £100+. Absolute joke.

I remember many times pub workers trying to get my car numberplate when we drove off, not sure why because I'm sure they dont have access to a police database to find out who I was. Not that I was even committing a crime anyway. They were just stupid. I used to have a convertible at the time so we used to drive off with the roof down, thumbs up to them, and the stereo turned up to the max playing house music. They used to hate it, but we'd come back several days later and they'd say nothing. I've got many other stories but maybe I'll write a book someday. Many many people have told me I should, so if I ever get the motivation I might do that.

Should have a CR video up tomorrow, 4 tabling NL50 with some good PT analysis at the end.

I'll be playing all week so should update regularly, especially if pokerhand.org gets back up and running.

Cheers,

FP.

Holiday Monies

Well I went on holiday to France on Tuesday which I definitely needed as non stop working at home was definitely getting stressful. Over here, there is nothing really to do which is what I need.

So I havent really done much although I have been putting in some study on CR and 2+2 as well as playing like 500 hands/day.

Away from the tables, I am playing sick amounts of Football Manager 07 at the moment and I'm going for the Premiership with Bristol Rovers, we are 2nd to Man United in January 2019, and playing Barcelona in the UEFA Cup. When I was younger I was properly hooked on Championship Manager but then I found poker...

I'm also up to date with Lost and its getting good! Episode 20 was the best ever IMO and although Episode 21 wasnt as good, next week's season finale should be awesome. Question is, what do I watch now PB and Lost have finished for a few months? Maybe I'll start catching up with Heroes, seeing as everyone says how good it is.

Here's some hands from when I've been away. I've booked about 4.5 buyin profit playing not much, so its all good.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110969

Standard Preflop against a semi regular

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110974

Sweet river. Was so obv he had Tx too.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110975

'AK' induces terrible bluff float from over aggro opponent who couldnt fold. And there are plenty of them.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110977

Set holds against overs and flush draw.

And thats about it at the moment. Not sure how much I'll play between now and when I get back, will have to see!

Gl everyone,

Dan

Omg, The Swings Are Huge!

Well after Monday I took a few days off which made sense definitely - I returned yesterday and FTP was lagging up big time which obv is so frustrating but (EDITED): They showed great customer service by emailing me asking some very specific technical questions. Having said that, why cant they email their customers to tell them when they are going to have downtime? If they can send everyone emails with 'strategy tips' from Gavin Smith and Gus Hansen, why can't they do this? I know what I'd prefer. A lot of talk on CR and 2+2 has been about the 'Bot' Issues but tbh I couldnt care less. Obv it doesnt affect me so much at 6 max anyway but I'm sure they must be so exploitable as people have posted on there. I guess they shouldnt be allowed as they have unlimited stamina and dont tilt but I dont really give a shit to be honest!

Ok so I just played 1k hands at 1/2. 8 tabling. Many regulars, games were pretty tough. Didnt exactly run good on the whole, though I did win a nice little pot which I'll show later...If someone can tell me how to flop a set (esp in a reraised pot v regular), I'd like to know!

Well here's a few of the ridiculous hands from today. I was down like 3/4 buyins at one point but recovered well to turn in just over a $300 profit. The big pot certainly helped...

Ridiculous setup v regular who takes this line with a much bigger range.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1084263

I figure the OR misclicked somehow cos he folded really quick. Obv the cold caller (50% vpip+) played the hand abysmally and got lucky.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1084266

Nice cold calls, buddy.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1084267

Deepstacked, I flop the nuts on a fairly drawy flop and get raised. How to extract the most money? I know - overbet shove! Obv the turn sucked but it's fair to say that the rest of my block of flats heard me when the river paired the board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1084270

I've got some coaching to do this afternoon and then I'm going out into town in the evening. Tomorrow, it's Cricket but if I'm feeling ok I may play in the morning. Sunday I have soccer in the morning and then Spurs v Man City in the afternoon. I went to the Blackburn game last night and it was pretty mediocre. Thanks to the stupid roadworks in the Blackwall Tunnel it took me 2.5 hours to get home (50 miles of basically dual carraige/motorway driving).

Gl everyone.

Absolute Joke

Just dropped 6 buyins in 500 hands at 1/2. Ridiculous setups/beats. Take a look at these:-

FullTiltPoker Game #2371108541: Table Kiowa (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:34:43 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: SMOKINACESS07 ($150.55)
Seat 2: JustRiveredU ($317.35)
Seat 3: TLC1418 ($0), is sitting out
Seat 4: brendan01 ($222.55)
Seat 5: hairypencil ($232.65)
Seat 6: PheeRage ($200), is sitting out
brendan01 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Jd 9d]
hairypencil folds
SMOKINACESS07 folds
TLC1418 stands up
JustRiveredU raises to $7
SMOKINACESS07: glad i folded that ace
brendan01 calls $5
*** FLOP *** [5s Js 9c]
PheeRage has returned
brendan01 bets $10
JustRiveredU raises to $30
brendan01 raises to $50
-Brigy- sits down
JustRiveredU raises to $310.35, and is all in
brendan01 calls $165.55, and is all in
JustRiveredU shows [Jd 9d]
brendan01 shows [9h Ah]
-Brigy- adds $46
Uncalled bet of $94.80 returned to JustRiveredU
*** TURN *** [5s Js 9c] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [5s Js 9c Ac] [7h]
JustRiveredU shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
brendan01 shows two pair, Aces and Nines
brendan01 wins the pot ($443.10) with two pair, Aces and Nines

This one was good...Against a ridiculously aggro 37/19.

FullTiltPoker Game #2371129901: Table Lynnwood (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:46:19 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: bonehead1979 ($244.80)
Seat 2: Fuldtit ($1,376.20)
Seat 3: JustRiveredU ($201)
Seat 4: PheeRage ($200)
Seat 5: feelingit ($187), is sitting out
Seat 6: NoNFAtMiLk ($243)
JustRiveredU posts the small blind of $1
PheeRage posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Ad Td]
NoNFAtMiLk folds
bonehead1979 folds
Fuldtit raises to $7
JustRiveredU raises to $25
PheeRage folds
Fuldtit calls $18
*** FLOP *** [3c 3d 9d]
JustRiveredU bets $36
Fuldtit raises to $160
JustRiveredU raises to $176, and is all in
Fuldtit calls $16
JustRiveredU shows [Ad Td]
Fuldtit shows [Kd Kh]
*** TURN *** [3c 3d 9d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [3c 3d 9d 5c] [9s]
JustRiveredU shows two pair, Nines and Threes
Fuldtit shows two pair, Kings and Nines
Fuldtit wins the pot ($401) with two pair, Kings and Nines
JustRiveredU is sitting out

Hate this spot, but again villain was a fish and NONFATMILK was playing back at me in like every hand.

FullTiltPoker Game #2371115602: Table Lynnwood (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:38:28 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: bonehead1979 ($216.75)
Seat 2: Fuldtit ($873.25)
Seat 3: JustRiveredU ($216.95)
Seat 4: PheeRage ($215.30)
Seat 5: feelingit ($187), is sitting out
Seat 6: NoNFAtMiLk ($200)
JustRiveredU posts the small blind of $1
PheeRage posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Qd Qh]
NoNFAtMiLk raises to $7
bonehead1979 folds
Fuldtit calls $7
JustRiveredU raises to $30
PheeRage folds
NoNFAtMiLk calls $23
Fuldtit calls $23
*** FLOP *** [8d 4s 3s]
JustRiveredU bets $70
NoNFAtMiLk raises to $170, and is all in
Fuldtit calls $170
JustRiveredU raises to $186.95, and is all in
Fuldtit calls $16.95
JustRiveredU shows [Qd Qh]
NoNFAtMiLk shows [Ks Kd]
Fuldtit shows [8s 7s]
*** TURN *** [8d 4s 3s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8d 4s 3s Js] [8h]
JustRiveredU shows two pair, Queens and Eights
Fuldtit shows a flush, Jack high
Fuldtit wins the side pot ($33.90) with a flush, Jack high
NoNFAtMiLk shows two pair, Kings and Eights
Fuldtit wins the main pot ($599) with a flush, Jack high
JustRiveredU is sitting out
NoNFAtMiLk adds $200

FullTiltPoker Game #2371095140: Table Bonanza (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:27:38 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: plzlemmewin ($402.55)
Seat 2: MyEntourage ($175.25)
Seat 3: JustRiveredU ($207.25)
Seat 5: vanjoelz ($308.70)
Seat 6: NoNFAtMiLk ($218)
plzlemmewin posts the small blind of $1
MyEntourage posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Ad Ac]
JustRiveredU raises to $7
vanjoelz calls $7
NoNFAtMiLk folds
plzlemmewin folds
MyEntourage calls $5
*** FLOP *** [2d 8d Jd]
Parcesros sits down
MyEntourage checks
JustRiveredU bets $16
Parcesros adds $78.15
vanjoelz raises to $32
MyEntourage folds
JustRiveredU raises to $200.25, and is all in
vanjoelz calls $168.25
JustRiveredU shows [Ad Ac]
vanjoelz shows [7d Td]
*** TURN *** [2d 8d Jd] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [2d 8d Jd 9d] [Tc]
JustRiveredU shows a flush, Ace high
vanjoelz shows a straight flush, Jack high
vanjoelz wins the pot ($419.50) with a straight flush, Jack high
JustRiveredU is sitting out

FullTiltPoker Game #2371124962: Table Lynnwood (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:43:32 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: bonehead1979 ($202)
Seat 2: Fuldtit ($1,270.20)
Seat 3: JustRiveredU ($200)
Seat 4: PheeRage ($198)
Seat 5: feelingit ($187), is sitting out
Seat 6: NoNFAtMiLk ($247)
PheeRage posts the small blind of $1
NoNFAtMiLk posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Td Qd]
bonehead1979 folds
Fuldtit calls $2
JustRiveredU raises to $9
PheeRage adds $3
PheeRage folds
NoNFAtMiLk folds
Fuldtit calls $7
*** FLOP *** [Jd Ts Th]
Fuldtit checks
JustRiveredU bets $16
Fuldtit calls $16
*** TURN *** [Jd Ts Th] [Ac]
Fuldtit checks
JustRiveredU bets $34
Fuldtit calls $34
*** RIVER *** [Jd Ts Th Ac] [8d]
Fuldtit bets $92
JustRiveredU: omg
JustRiveredU has 15 seconds left to act
JustRiveredU: if you have outdrawn again this is sick
JustRiveredU calls $92
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fuldtit shows [Tc Js] (a full house, Tens full of Jacks)
JustRiveredU mucks
Fuldtit wins the pot ($302) with a full house, Tens full of Jacks

FullTiltPoker Game #2371064196: Table Newburg (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:11:48 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: TakeUrCheese ($197)
Seat 2: theWILLofD ($174.85)
Seat 3: batmonster ($133.70)
Seat 4: 79 HAMMER ($200)
Seat 5: phaldamir ($31.75)
Seat 6: JustRiveredU ($217)
batmonster posts the small blind of $1
79 HAMMER posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Jd Ah]
phaldamir folds
JustRiveredU raises to $7
TakeUrCheese folds
theWILLofD folds
batmonster calls $6
79 HAMMER folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 2h 3h]
batmonster checks
JustRiveredU bets $12
batmonster calls $12
*** TURN *** [Kd 2h 3h] [5s]
batmonster checks
JustRiveredU checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd 2h 3h 5s] [As]
batmonster bets $38
79 HAMMER: fu-ckin idiot
JustRiveredU calls $38
*** SHOW DOWN ***
batmonster shows [8h 4h] (a straight, Five high)
JustRiveredU mucks
batmonster wins the pot ($113) with a straight, Five high

FullTiltPoker Game #2371064254: Table Briggs (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:11:50 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: Anjonez ($710.85)
Seat 2: TakeUrCheese ($304.95)
Seat 3: JustRiveredU ($198)
Seat 4: NoNFAtMiLk ($295.30)
Seat 5: BigPappa882 ($69.75)
Seat 6: MyEntourage ($258)
JustRiveredU posts the small blind of $1
NoNFAtMiLk posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [9c 7c]
BigPappa882 raises to $4
MyEntourage folds
Anjonez calls $4
TakeUrCheese folds
JustRiveredU calls $3
NoNFAtMiLk calls $2
*** FLOP *** [Kd 7d 9s]
JustRiveredU has 15 seconds left to act
JustRiveredU bets $12
NoNFAtMiLk calls $12
BigPappa882 calls $12
Anjonez folds
*** TURN *** [Kd 7d 9s] [2h]
JustRiveredU bets $36
NoNFAtMiLk calls $36
BigPappa882 folds
*** RIVER *** [Kd 7d 9s 2h] [2s]
JustRiveredU checks
NoNFAtMiLk bets $72
JustRiveredU has 15 seconds left to act
JustRiveredU folds
Uncalled bet of $72 returned to NoNFAtMiLk
NoNFAtMiLk mucks
NoNFAtMiLk wins the pot ($121)
JustRiveredU adds $54

FullTiltPoker Game #2371069252: Table Kiowa (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:14:18 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: SMOKINACESS07 ($171.55)
Seat 2: JustRiveredU ($177.90)
Seat 3: TLC1418 ($95.80)
Seat 4: brendan01 ($187.90)
Seat 5: hairypencil ($183.65)
Seat 6: cobrasu27 ($241.05)
SMOKINACESS07 posts the small blind of $1
JustRiveredU posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Js Ts]
TLC1418 folds
brendan01 folds
hairypencil raises to $4
cobrasu27 folds
SMOKINACESS07 calls $3
JustRiveredU calls $2
*** FLOP *** [3s 8s 5s]
SMOKINACESS07 bets $8
JustRiveredU raises to $24
hairypencil calls $24
SMOKINACESS07 calls $16
*** TURN *** [3s 8s 5s] [Qs]
SMOKINACESS07 checks
JustRiveredU checks
hairypencil checks
*** RIVER *** [3s 8s 5s Qs] [Th]
SMOKINACESS07 checks
JustRiveredU checks
hairypencil bets $28
SMOKINACESS07 calls $28
JustRiveredU folds
JustRiveredU adds $50.10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hairypencil shows [Qd Ks] (a flush, King high)
SMOKINACESS07 shows [8c 9s] (a flush, Queen high)
hairypencil wins the pot ($137) with a flush, King high

Going to lie in a darkened room for a while now. Can someone answer me this? This guy (28/20) makes a ridiculously light call on the river against a fish, but whenever I do this with better, they have the goods. Explain?

FullTiltPoker Game #2371135811: Table Kiowa (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:49:36 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: SMOKINACESS07 ($140.30)
Seat 2: JustRiveredU ($200)
Seat 3: -Brigy- ($0), is sitting out
Seat 4: brendan01 ($514.35)
Seat 5: hairypencil ($238.75)
Seat 6: PheeRage ($208)
hairypencil posts the small blind of $1
PheeRage posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [5s 7d]
-Brigy-: A5
SMOKINACESS07 folds
JustRiveredU folds
brendan01 folds
SMOKINACESS07: no1 cares
hairypencil raises to $6
PheeRage raises to $24
hairypencil calls $18
*** FLOP *** [5c Qh Kd]
brendan01: oh thats harsh
hairypencil checks
PheeRage bets $30
hairypencil calls $30
*** TURN *** [5c Qh Kd] [4c]
hairypencil checks
PheeRage checks
*** RIVER *** [5c Qh Kd 4c] [7s]
hairypencil bets $36
-Brigy- adds $40
-Brigy- has returned
PheeRage has 15 seconds left to act
PheeRage calls $36
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hairypencil shows [Ac Th] (Ace King high)
PheeRage shows [6d 6h] (a pair of Sixes)
PheeRage wins the pot ($177) with a pair of Sixes

To All UK Citizens

For all UK citizens, here is a link to a petition on the government's website. It is to get Poker recognized as a prescribed game in the UK Gaming act. This will allow it to be played outside of licensed casinos, in other card rooms for example.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Poker-UK/

Please pass this on to other uk players.

A New Beginning

After the various posts on CR and the last post on here, I am going back to basics for a bit. I have really worked on my game in the last few days and the things that have inspired me to do this was some comments on the forum/here, and also the SB Rugby HU video, as well as the Hawk51 vid in Member Contributions. IMO this is one of the best videos on CR, he is an excellent LAG player and is well worth watching. If anyone doesnt learn anything from it, then you are either world class or need to give up.

I'm going back to 50NL for 20k hands (should take until Monday or Tuesday) to implement some things I have been thinking about. I'm not mad keen to share them on here as I am sure some of my opponents read this, but its safe to say that I will be much tougher to play as a result if I can get them to work effectively in my game.

I played 1500 hands at 50NL yesterday and picked up 3 buyins making some adjustments. I actually felt the standard, apart from obvious donks, was actually pretty decent. There are definitely some very competent (probably CR) members on there. In fact several started chatting in the chat box to me, so clearly this is true.

This morning I made a NL100 video for CR. It's a 4 tabling one where I focus on determing opponent's ranges based on their preflop stats and postflop actions, and how effective note taking can be a huge boost to your winrate by giving you a great read on an opponent's postflop range. It should be added on Monday.

I've got a couple of lessons this afternoon, so that should be good too - after that I'll probably 8 table for most of the evening, I have no real social plans for tonight. Tomorrow I've got Cricket nets, and a Barbeque at a mates house, so no poker unless I get up early to play, and Sunday I have Soccer in the morning (our game got called off but I'm going to watch a cup final), Cricket (first game for me this season) in the afternoon, and then a football awards drink up in the evening. As manager I have to present awards to our players based on their votes and the marks that me and my mate who is captain have given throughout the season. Should be a grin, even I am getting hammered!

Good luck at the tables,

Dan

Confidence, or lack of it

To be honest, I'm not really sure where my game is at at the moment. I'm writing this kinda feeling confused and unsure of where I am in the poker world.

Basically last week I played like 6k hands of 1/2 and picked up about $2,500 which I'm pretty satisfied with. But this is the whole problem. I can carry on repeatedly at 1/2 and make ok monies but I'm not sure I want just that. I don't want to be Mr. Average and be just a solid low stakes player. I want to be a big winner - I mean not in the league of SBRugby obv but it would be nice for me to make a game like 5/10 or 10/20 my regular game so I can start to make big money.

But every time I move up to 2/4 I just get crushed. I think there are various reasons for this.

Firstly the games are somewhat toughter, with far less donks and far more regulars. I mean, a 27% average vpip table seems juicy at 2/4, whereas in all honesty I'd probably pass it up at 1/2 and look for better. When I'm playing 1/2 I do tend to make most of my money from bad players, and obviously at the higher games they are getting spread thinner so its not as easy.

Secondly, I just dont seem to have the confidence to play here either. I'm not really the most confident of people to start with and this I think is part of the problem for me - i.e. its easy for me to get downhearted for various reasons. I'm not sure how to overcome this, that will be tough.

To be honest, I feel quite embarrassed posting this, as well as a similar post on the CR Forum today, but I'm not really sure what to do. At the moment I just keep 40 buyins for 2/4 online and withdraw anything on top of that like twice a month so I'm putting away a decent amount of cash but I'd really like to move up with confidence. I dont see why I have this issue really, I'm running at like 7.5ptbb/100 at 1/2 for the last few months so obviously I have ability. Whenever I play I feel I am amongst the best players at the level, and whilst I have respect for some of the regulars, I never have any fear of them.

This probably sounds like a whining post but I dont intend it to be that. Obviously I have to be grateful that I am earning what is, in all honesty, decent money playing 1/2 compared to most people who work for a living. But I have definitely put more work into being good at poker than I did in 3 years doing my degree, so I think I deserve this relative success. But I want to be able to build on this, and at this point I think I am under achieving and in danger of missing the boat.

On one positive note, I just watched Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties. A real shame to see Lampard and Ashley Cole on the losing side :-)

Today's Hands

I played a couple of hours this morning and this were pretty average, I just couldnt catch anything which was pretty frustrating. I didnt force the action though and just tried to get my money in in good spots.

I played about another 1.5 hours this afternoon and the tables were pretty bad. Many regulars and few fish, so I had to table hop quite a bit.

Overall for the day I played pretty tight due to a lack of cards/situations but managed to still pick up $340 in about 1250 hands. When things dont go for you on the whole, you have to take that for sure.

Here's some hands from today:-

AK has 3 streets of value against a fish.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038404

Hit a 2 outer with KK v AA :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038407

Opponent's float gets him into trouble against my flopped quads!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038412

Appalling call gets rewarded for the short stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038433

Horrible hand with AA. I'm really not sure of a good flop line here. The guy who lead $20 was very TAG and I thought he was going for a bet/3bet line. Looking at his hand, I think that was definitely the case. Good turn for me so I decided to commit myself, but the river was the worst in the deck so I had to pass.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038424

And that's about it for today. Gonna play some more tomorrow!

Solid Day At 1/2

Well - I havent played that much over the last few days for a few reasons. Firstly after getting broadband back last week I have been doing quite a lot of coaching and that has gone pretty well overall. I always enjoy it when students are very proactive and are asking a lot of questions and trying to pick my brains for good lines in certain spots. The last few sessions have definitely done that.

Also I moved some money to UB to see what the games were like there. Answer is, I really dont know. I datamined for a while (prefetching hands is pretty awesome!) and the games looked kinda softish but PAHUD seems to be very patchy on UB so I decided to sack it off. Also the table selection and the amount of tables is pretty bad. I'm not sure how they get double the amount of players as Cryptologic but have less cash game tables...

So I'm in the process of getting my cash back to FTP. I left some anyway so I could still play 1/2.

Here's some hands from today's session, where I picked up a few buyins and felt happy with my play.

Flop a boat against trips :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1034959

Me sucking out against a short stack

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1034962

Rivered the straight, his call is atrocious.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1034964

Pretty decent sized pot with 83o, I would have been happy to get a/i on the flop but it kinda got scary...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1034970

Not that many other hands of note, mainly standard stuff which I won medium sized pots with. I'll be playing a lot tomorrow so hopefully I can post some more. Also, does anyone know how to get the pokerhand links to be clickable again? I seem to have lost that capability...

Gl everyone,

FP

Up and Down Week

Well - where to start?

The weekend seems a good point, when I picked up 6.5 buyins in a 24 hour period at 1/2 on FTP. I played about 3.5k hands in this time and things went pretty well. I got my money in good and didnt have any problems and I was pleased overall with how I played.

Monday I played a bit and did ok, and I FINALLY got broadband on Tuesday in my flat. But then, disaster strikes. As soon as I get connected, my Postgre SQL database no longer connects to the server (port blocked). It's blatantly something to do with my connection as its the only thing thats changed, but support from all angles deny it's their problem. It's not a huge issue as I have many many hands on my access db's but just a pain as also I had loads of numbers on people on my PSQL db (like 30k hands on some regulars) and now I dont have that many.

I decided that this was a good point to have a shot at 2/4 again. I did ok on Wednesday but the tables were terrible, full of regulars, so I left after 30mins picking up a tiny bit less than a buyin after stacking someone w/a set against his float which turned top pair :-)

I didn't get any hands in on Thursday, but I did on Friday. I had an awful day at 2/4 on Friday, dropped about $1,500 in total and to be honest there was little I could do on the most part. I think maybe a couple of the hands were marginally questionable but those playing lower limits must remember that the game is hugely aggressive preflop with much light squeezing and 3-betting.

Here's some hands from Friday:-

Probably played this a bit tranparently but I'm not sure what other line to take seeing as I dont think I get that much value from TT if I double barrel a standard player.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023712

Half stack donation.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023715

JJ facing a potential squeeze from a regular. Opinion was pretty mixed on the forum as to the optimal line in this spot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023718

QQ busted by hugely aggro donk (45/25/5). Obv a different line would have been taken against a more competent player.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023719

Absolutely ridiculous chase gets rewarded. Nice turn call in particular with one card bottom end of a gutshot for $164.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023722

Maybe I should have double barrelled the turn but whatever.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023727

Set loses to 2nd pair which hits runner runner straight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1023732

And that's about it. Not ideal, but I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth and that certainly was rough.

I went to Spurs V Arsenal yesterday, we outplayed them for the first half and went in fron through Robbie Keane and deserved the lead at half time. But yet again we sit back with a one goal lead against a top 4 team and throw it away. I was so convinced we would not equalise I left with 2 minutes to go. Obviously Jenas scored :-)

Gonna move some money onto another site from FTP and see what that's like at 2/4. At FTP it's just regular city. A good table would be 4 regulars, one 30/10/2 and one donk.

I've got another video coming on CR today, a 2 parter which is about 50mins playing and 25 mins PT analysis. It's pretty decent IMO and hopefully will make up for the one with bad sound.

Cheers,

FP

Getting The Hands In

Well - since my last post I have got a good amount of hands in. I've upped my tables to 8 now and this really helps with getting them in, I've been getting in a regular 2k or more a day on 'playing days' now which is great. Finally getting the motivation to play and I'm really feeling confident about my game.

Despite this, I've been running kind of marginal lately. Had a sick beat in a big pot which I'll show later on in the hands, and just haven't been hitting. But I'm still winning and winning when running poorly can't be bad. I did run ok today and picked up 3.5 buyins.

I just got my new monitor delivered so I can pitch the 15" CRT which I was running as my second monitor. Now have 2 x 19" TFT which works well. And further good news on the technology front - should be getting broadband next week in the new flat... I have placed the order now the line seems free of tag so I'm waiting for the box and activation. Will be a huge relief!

I also had to get another 1GB RAM for my PC too because the FTP client seems to be a huge memory resource after their resizeable table update. It was ridiculous, PAHUD stats not showing properly and the cards lagging. Many people have found this too - but the memory upgrade seems to solve the problem. Anyone else having this problem?

Away from the tables, I've got football training in a couple of hours and then the Spurs game is tomorrow against Sevilla. I'll probably play online most of the day though before that. Massive game, would be awesome if we won. Watched the Man United game yesterday, that was amazing. They are the best team in the world at the moment, and despite his faults, Ronaldo is the best player by far.

I wrote an article for CR about PAHUD on tuesday, if you havent read it check it out, I think there's some interesting content on there. I also made my next video the other day and that should be up soon, I think there's some good discussion on there too.

I've also linked a few new blogs, everyone who added theirs on the comments should be added. If I have missed you out, please drop me a reminder.

And some hands from the last few days:-

People love donating:-

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988322

Pretty unlucky against an 80% vpip player

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988326

I'm sure he should not be shoving this turn...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988329

This was actually a great preflop call seeing as his range was tiny with a 4% pfr - but I felt he'd do this with hands I race with as well as sometimes worse so I called, was right and got punished :-(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988333

Tough for the other guy to get away from.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988336

Felt his overbet meant he was on a draw. I was right. He hits anyway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988339

Very next hand. I get revenge.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988343

Fish's call with a gutshot gets him into trouble!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988346

The amount of players I have made notes on lately for not being able to fold top pair is crazy!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988350

I insta called this, he was terrible.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988357

He was a huge fish and insta bet the river, I didnt like his line so I decided to call. Pretty decent call I think, many people get stacked here IMO.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988362

KK loses to open ender against a terrible, terrible player.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988367

Just played this hand this afternoon against one of the worst players on FTP

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988370

Probably just had the edge in this one but lose

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988376

I just couldnt put him on a 3.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988380

Pot which has been discussed on CR - against regular who squeezes light.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988381

Great flop, obv he was a big, big fish.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988384

Good old 86 gets the money from an idiot. Check his hand out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988386

This guy is another one on my buddy list

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988388

The sick hand I talked about earlier.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?988390

Good luck at the tables,

Fruitypro.

Birthdays, Mobile Phones, Spanish Police and Some Hands :-)

First up just wanted to say it was my birthday on Monday - 28 is not a good age to be, getting v close to 30 now! I think this is the age where the novelty of birthdays has finally worn off! I'm buying a new monitor with some money I got and also I got my ticket paid for for my trip to France next month.

To celebrate my birthday, I played poker online. And whilst doing this I dropped my new Nokia N73 onto the floor from a filing cabinet. Onto carpet. And somehow the stupid LCD screen broke inside and now its busto. Its insured, luckily as they gave me £50 in the shop to take out 3 months insurance costing £30 :-) I thought I'd get my old N70 unlocked to vodafone from orange but no, apparently you cant get N70 series Nokia's unlocked. Eventually I get my old old phone unlocked - but its so wierd, you feel totally lost without a mobile phone even for a day even though I actually hate them! And the N70 is going on ebay seeing as its basically no use to me now I am on vodafone.

Other points of interest was the Spurs game in Sevilla on Wednesday. I actually gave serious thought to going to this game but it was probably best in the end. I'm pretty disappointed I havent made it to a European away game so far this season. Looking at the crowd scenes on TV it looked pretty bad but now the truth has come out it seems the police were at fault just like at Man United - apparently they beat up a defenceless guy in a wheelchair pretty bad for no reason and it all kicked off after the worst referee of all time gave a penalty against Robbo and our fans committed the heinous crime of booing the ref. No fan on fan violence and there wouldnt be either. We have got on great with opposing fans in Europe. Club Bruges fans were awesome and we clapped each other at the end of the game at White Hart Lane.

As soon as there is any trouble with English fans we get blamed straight away. Fact is, if we had behaved like Italian, Dutch or Turkish fans over the last few years we would all have been banned from Europe for years. But they can get away with anything they want, and perhaps someone who knows more about life and football than me can explain it. Whilst they are doing that, maybe they can explain how the worst referee in the world took charge of the game. He was worse than the one we had in Sunday League last week who I wrote a report on because he was that bad. And maybe Seville players might actually get punished for diving sometime (or the headbutt on Keane in the last minute) - but no, silence again. We are still well in the tie though with the away goal and have everything to play for at home.

Today we are playing Chelsea - and because they run the league we have to play 36 hours after the game in the UEFA Cup. Back overs in this game because there will be plenty of goals. I think we'll play a weakened team so I think they will get 3 themselves.

I've played quite a lot this week, here's some hands. I've run pretty average - racking up some tough beats as well as inflicting an awesome one too :-) Pretty solid profit though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974849

Thanks for the donation

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974852

Very marginal spot - I think this is generally a fold but these guys were total donators (seen by their hands)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974855

Thought he was squeezing. He wasnt. Still, I won :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974858

I know - I have queens and the board comes with an overcard in a reraised pot. Let's overbet this flop!!! Thanks again for the donation.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974860

One of the best beats I have ever inflicted on someone. I really felt I was gonna win on the turn too - I felt it coming!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974862

Another donation

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974865

Does this guy really think his hand is good here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974867

I do run into sets too...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974869

Pretty terrible river call from me

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974871

Ouch. Flop the nuts and lose.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974874

Another donation from the guy in the first hand. I think he may be 2+2 or even CR as he was calling out Boosted J in the chat and asking him if he was making a vid.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974876

When will people learn top pair ten kicker is not a good hand !!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974879

Set v set against a regular

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974883

I know - I'll call $70 on the river with ace high. Thanks again!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974884

Nice.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?974887

Another bad river call by me. I just couldnt put him on a hand.

And after going through my PT database, I can firmly say that I am owed some sets from small pairs. Better hit the tables to get them!

GL everyone,

FP

Thought I'd Better Update!

Well what's new?

Still haven't got broadband which totally sucks and has kinda put me on a bit of a life tilt. I haven't played that much cos of it but I am gonna make an effort to get a lot of hands in now. I'm so lazy and I don't really know why. Psychological things affect poker players a lot I think, for example if you value money a lot and pick up a few buyins then it can be hard to carry on. That's something I have to get out of my head. At the end of the day profit is only profit when you cash out and not something you should quantify at the tables. If I can get that into my head thats a start :-)

I thought I'd post up some hands. I actually feel I played very well over the last week and am running at >10PTBB/100 hands over that period (only about 6k hands cos I am so lazy...) Something I have focused on more is playing my opponent more than playing standard lines. This has worked pretty well.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947860
This hand was all about ranges. I felt opponents range (24/20/40% att to steal) was huge for his 3-bet in position, so I decided to call and checkraise allin if I flopped an overpair. I think 4-betting preflop is ok against someone who does it this light but I prefer my line.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947861
Pretty standard from me. But what he is doing only he knows. Buddy list time :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947865
I think some players need a course on how to play 99!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947870
Tech house was playing 70/30 and was on monkey tilt. He had open shoved K3o and 94o preflop recently so I'm calling him down pretty light in position. He had felted ace high and bottom pair too. Not necessarily a standard line from me but playing the player and all that!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947871
Opponents play with air goes badly wrong...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947873
Nice when you can get AA allin preflop

http://www.pokerhand.org/?947874
Sticky spot with AA overpair and flush draw against top set. Even then I'm not that far behind, sth like 40-60.

I went out to watch the two England games and got bored to tears. We have to get rid of McClown. Oh and Lampard. The only good thing Rooney did over the international break was to hit Lampard's wrist and break it with a shot.

To finish, I just saw Chris Eubank on the news. It reminded me of the Steve Penk prank I found on YouTube the other week when he impersonates him.

Here's the link:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc_53vaWQ60

Good luck everyone,

Dan

More Live Poker

After the relative success on Friday, I decided to play live again last night. I thought I'd pop along to the Full House in Reigate and play the £50 1 rebuy tournament and then a cash game afterwards.

Tournament was actually fairly decent in standard with only several out and out donators/luckboxes.

I didnt have many key hands because I played pretty tight and then used this to my benefit when necessary and pretty much never had a showdown.

Here's a few though:-

Level 2 - 50/100 and I'm playing 4300. I havent taken my rebuy yet. I raise AQ behind 1 limper on the button to 400. BB calls. He seems pretty bad and I've seen him make some terrible calls preflop. Flop TT6 with 2diamonds. I'm happy with this and c-bet for 600. He calls. Turn is a Qc and he instantly lead for 2k. Wtf. I only have 3300 left so its clearly a push/fold decision. I tank it up for ages and I just dont know what to do. He seemed happy to call with marginal hands so it is possible he had Tx. I was listening to drum and bass music throughout and didnt hear them call the clock on me. I saw the dealer say 20 seconds left. Lol. I took my earphones out and quickly asked him how strong he was. He got very flustered immediately and mumbled a load of crap. I said 'There's only 1 way to find out' and shoved. He folded!!! For 1300 into about a 7500 pot. Lol.

I stole my way onto the final table in slightly below average stack. I had no premium hands until then apart from QQ once which flopped ace high and I took the pot down with a c-bet.

A few people knocked themselves out whilst I was just picking my spots. Blinds were worth a lot and most players didnt defend them enough so it was worth picking spots using my tight image. It only paid 5 and I got into the money.

Down to 3 handed and I picked up the chip lead when I shoved AJ and got called with KQ. I held. The only decent player then shoved KK and got called by the fish who held 89s. Seeing as I folded 75s he looked to be in trouble. But runner runner top end straight saw him home, so we didnt get to heads up yet. Then they both got a/i preflop with similar stacks so I thought definitely heads up this time, but no they both held AJ for a chop.

Blinds was an insane 10000/20000 by this point and with chip lead I only had 6 BB. It was actually a fair structured comp but it lasted ages which meant it was a crapshoot. SB (fish) shoved and I held A4c in BB. It was 43k more to me so a pretty mandatory call seeing as he'd been shoving a lot. He held Q2. 4 on the flop was good for me, but Q on turn lucked out for him. I then shoved with QJ to steal the blinds and I was back in it. Next hand, it folded to me in SB and I shoved KQ. BB called with AJ and we both blanked so I was out in 3rd for £350. I was pretty pleased with how I played but you do need luck to close these things out and you cant always get that. By this point it was late, and I didn't fancy the £3/3 cash game so I went home.

Overall, I'm beginning to enjoy this live poker lark.

FP

Big Slick Cash Game

Finally got back to the tables on Friday. I felt ready to resume. I played about 1200 hands online and picked up $415 at $1/$2. That was a decent re introduction I guess. I've been thinking about adapting my play a bit and what I implemented worked well, so thats promising.

In the evening I decided to go up to the Big Slick to play the £1/£2 cash game ($2/$4) with no max buyin. The game started at about 11:15pm and I sat down to start. I had decent expectations of how juicy the game was and I wasn't disappointed.

The very first hand, one guy who had a striking resemblance to Richard Bucket (Bouqueeet!) from Keeping Up Appearances had to ask the dealer what to do preflop. He was playing about £200. He open folded the flop. He soon learnt how to play and called every street (and eventual allin) with J3 on a JxxQx board. Not one to bluff then. Every time he called, he'd day 'I got to call'. Lol.

There was another guy who had a real problem with bet sizing. He'd try to bet like £80 into a £20 pot but we were playing pot limit. Dealer kept on having to tell him he could only bet the pot. Then he'd do something crazy like bet £5 into a £70 pot. He soon went busto.

Onto some hands I played. Richard Bucket limped in in EP, bet sizing guy minraised to £4. 2 other callers, I call from BB with Ts7s. Flop is good for me, 8 T Q with 2 spades. I lead for about £12 into the £16 pot. Only Richard Bucket called. He's only playing about £100 before the hand. Turn comes a 7 of clubs to give me 2 pair with the spade redraw. Opponent used to bet every time someone showed weakness so I decided to checkraise allin on the turn. He obliged and said 'I got to call' as usual. He said this when he called £30 river bet with queen high though, so I wasn't exactly concerned. Until he showed Q8. River blanks and I lose the pot.

A few hands later, I get dealt AA in early position. One guy guested for £1 (basically posting out of position) but only seems to cost £1, and I could only make it £10 to go. Richard Bucket (who was playing about 90%+ vpip) called, and the BB who looked pretty bad but probably was in the top 5 at the table, also called. Flop came 3 9 T. I can't remember if it was with a flush draw but I dont think so. I bet like £24 I think. Richard Bucket insta calls obv, and BB tanks for a little while and also calls. Turn J. I'm not liking this card much, now I'm torn between trying to control the size of the pot and protecting my hand. If I was heads up with the massive fish, I'm taking him to value town and he's gonna have to show me better. But I'm pretty concerned about the BB. BB checked, I decided to check and Richard Bucket checked. Which was a first for him. Usually he asked the dealer how much he could bet. Dealer would say 'Any part of £x' He'd bet exactly £x every time. If he had to do if off his own back he'd bet £10 or £15 on every street, regardless of the pot size. Anyway, river is a total blank, a 5. BB bets £50. I decide to call, Richard Bucket folded. BB shows KQ for the gut draw come good. Hmmm.

I then get a couple of good hands with no action, AK flops AKx against the inevitable opponent, he folds saying 'It's not his kind of flop', and J7 which I open raised button flops J7x against him as well, and again he insta folds.

Then, my comeback begins. I get Ks6s in the BB. Bucket is the only limper and SB completed. Flop comes 764. SB checked, I consider betting but realise Bucket will do it for me and check. He checks too. Odd. Turn is a 2. SB checks, I bet £4 into the £6 pot, Bucket raises me to £9 or £10. I have seen him do this with all manner of shit and call. I think I'm about 75% in front here. River is a 6, giving me trips. Immediately, Bucket says allin. Lol. He's playing about £400 at this point having luckboxed a ton of pots. Pot is about £30. Dealer tells him he can only bet £30. It's on me. I go into the tank considering whether I should be raising this. I'm pretty concerned about his insta attempt at allin. He then starts trying to needle me, he had never done this before and that struck me as odd. Telling me to call, saying he has nothing etc... In my experience, these speech plays usually are strength, and he had never done this before which was also a problem for me. Eventually I just call, and he shows Q2o. Lol.

I then get QQ in the blinds. Inevitable limp from villain, several other limpers and I pot it up. He then limp raises me to about £45. He's done this about 5 times but only shown down A9o in these pots. I decide to call but I'm felting any low flop. Flop is good, I think it was 9 6 2. I decide to checkraise allin, but he checks behind. Hmmm. Turn is another 6, I bet £100 and he folds.

A few hands later I get JJ. Ash (another CR member who was the only other decent player there) open raised his button to £9 behind Bucket's inevitable limp. He is playing every hand at this point. SB calls, I make it about £35 to go from BB. Bucket calls, claiming the dealer mislead him about how much it was to him and wouldnt have called if he knew how much it was to him. Everyone else folds. Flop comes 9 5 2 rainbow. I'm felting this against Bucket for about 1.7 buyins. All day long. I bet out £80. He calls pretty quick. Turn is a terrible card for me, the 9 of hearts bringing 2 hearts out there too. It's pretty possible he has the 9. I know I can get a cheap showdown as long as he doesnt ask the dealer how much he can bet. He doesn't. I check, he checks. River is a blank, I think it was a ten. I check (with the intention of calling a decent sized bet) and he checks. He shows 43h. Dodged a few river cards there :-)

I then get dealt KJo in the BB. Inevitable limp from standard guy, Ash completes his SB, I check. Flop comes K32 with 2 spades. Ash bets £5, I decide I'm way ahead/way behind with position and just call. Richard Bucket askes how much he can bet and dealer tells him £28. Ash folds, I call. I'm pretty sure I'm good here. Turn is another spade. I'm not too concerned as I've never seen him raise a draw. I check, he bets £10 (lol). I call. River blanks, and I check to him. He checks behind and shows A3 for 2nd flopped pair. I wish I could play this guy every day.

Final hand was pretty sick as I didn't get value when I thought I would. One limper (probably the inevitable guy), I complete SB with 33. BB (new American guy to the table) checks. He was pretty bad and seemed to be limping pretty much every hand. Flop 348 with 2 suits. I lead for £5 into the £6 pot. He calls. Turn is I think a 6. I'm not too concerned with 57 and bet £12 into £16 I think. He calls. River is an 8 giving me a boat. I'm getting paid off here with any 8 for sure, and there's a decent chance he has one. I bet £25 into the £40 pot and he tanks it up. I'm pretty sure he is gonna raise me, he asks how much is in the pot but after several minutes he folds. Pretty annoying.

Overall I did enjoy playing live cash for the first time in a while. The problem is it takes me about 40 mins to get there each way, and the rake is 5% of the pot uncapped. You also have to tip the dealers. So you need to have a pretty big edge to make it pay. Luckily the players are abysmal. Ash actually told me afterwards that they were better than usual last night. Lol.

Several things I learnt. Firstly, don't play live cash until 3:30 am when you have stuff to do the next day. I have to go to Spurs shortly and I'm gonna be tired. Secondly, I need to pay more attention in the live environment, i.e. focus more and talk to other players less. That's something I'll work on. Another thing was pretty annoying was that getting back late I wasn't able to get a residents parking space and had to park in a 1hr slot which meant I had to get up at 9am to move my car. Not good when you go to bed at 4:30.

I definitely will be trying to go there regularly. If you don't run bad you can make a fortune. I can't remember exactly how much I was in for but I either made £60 or £80. I lost a couple of £150-£200 pots so that's not too bad.

Had to break - tilt warning!

Basically, for the last week I have been on total tilt so havent been online. I actually havent played for a week due to this. Obv this is better than playing tilted...

I dropped 5 buyins at 100NL in the Challenge because of a few things. Firstly I can't hit for shit. That makes things difficult as it is. Secondly, about 75% of the time I got checkraised/raised on the flop. Either the deck is smashing my opponents in the face or they are making plays at me. Probably the latter mainly.

Finally, my broadband issue has multiplied this tilt in a big way. Here's an exerpt from my post I made on www.huset.co.uk which is a site devoted to helping people in my spot. Here's the link to it too:-

http://huset.co.uk/2006/07/17/remove-bt-adsl-line-tag-marker/

Here's my story:-

I moved into a new flat 3 weeks ago. It was basically brand new except that my landlord had lived in it for a few weeks. Unfortunately, he had broadband in it through a company called Mistral Internet Group/Utility Warehouse. This is where the fun begins…

I tried to get my existing AOL account to come onto the line. AOL said a ‘tag’ was blocking it and told me to phone Mistral to get it removed. I phoned them, they said they’d get rid of it but it would take a week. They didn’t. I phoned them again. This time they denied it was their responsibility and told me to email to Utility Warehouse about it. I decided to get my landlord to phone them to get the tag removed. He eventually phoned them and cancelled his contract with them. I phoned Utility Warehouse myself and they said they wont remove the tag until his cancellation period (30 days) is over.

This is an absolute joke. This would like buying a brand new car but finding that the garage has put petrol from Shell into it and that means I can only use Shell petrol. But I can’t use Shell until the garage organise with Shell to let me use their petrol, or to get Shell to let me use other brands. Obviously this wouldn’t be in Shells’ interest so they dont bother helping you, and put loads of obstacles in your way. You think this sounds totally crazy, well it is, and that’s what this phone line system is.

When a person moves into accomodation (particularly rented), it should be a given that all phone lines are clean and able to be used for the purpose of why they are there. It is clear to me that phone lines with ‘tags’ on are not fit for purpose and are of little use to anyone, especially in these days where people rarely use phone lines to make conventional calls.

I have contacted 'Watchdog' which is a UK consumer program on BBC. Hopefully they will get back to me as I'll do anything to ruin these companies which are basically, total and utter fuckers.

Back to the tables, challenge resumes with 7 buyins for 200NL. If I can't do this, lol.

FP

Challenge Update

Saturday - Played terrible. Dropped 5 buyins, the last of which was tilt when I checkraised the river all in against this guy I thought was floating me. I had 44. The board was 88JKK in that order. He called with T8 :-( I had to stop because I was playing terrible.

Here's my update from today which I just cross posted on the CR Forum.

Sunday - Focused better after a talk to myself (something along the lines of SBRugby's advice of being responsible for your results), and made $328.90 in 1,518 hands. I played much tighter, especially oop where I 3-bet a lot less, that worked very well.

I spent most of the day with my family and watched the best game of football of all time when Spurs basically relegated West Ham with 2 goals in injury time...Ship it!

Today, I hit some big flops and got severe action w/overpairs, which was nice obv, including getting put allin by a donk preflop with 66. I had AA :-) He was sitting with a 4 buyin stack. I relieved him of all of it. I left the table with almost 6 buyin stack...

My PT has been messing me about bigtime, so now I have all my results on different databases. Does anyone know how to amalgamate PostgreSQL databases into one big database?

I know the exact amount in my FTP a/c before the challenge as I withdrew some to make it an even number, so my 'challenge bankroll' now stands at $1529.75. I am gonna take a 3 buyin shot at 100NL tomorrow, the pace needs to be stepped up :-)

Here's some screenshots from today.
The first one is my PT stats for Sunday. The second one is my giant stack after relieving the 70/31 guy of all his money!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/fruitypro/4thmarch.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/fruitypro/massivestack.jpg

Good luck at the tables everyone,

FP.

March 2nd Update

This day was not good for me in the challenge, for various reasons.

Firstly, I get up at 9:45 ready to play. Oh no, I can't cos FTP is going down for 'maintenance' shortly. Thanks for the advance email. At 2pm they get back up and running.

I pick up 2 buyins pretty fast and then lose them against short stacks who think they should be playing 65 to a raise with 40% of a buyin, and then flop 55T when I have JJ.

I have to go and pick my parents up from Gatwick at 5:30 so I stop playing and start datamining. I went back to their house and then they decided they were going to the local indian for dinner. Obv I said yes and didn't get home until 10.

Was tired, so wasnt gonna play any more and was just going to play a ridiculous amount Saturday. I look at my screens, and wonder why peoples stats havent been updated. I look at PT - Database Error. Treat. I email Pat, who says I need to repair database. It won't let me. Or convert to PQSL. It took 3 hours for me to download that on my shitty dial up connection. I havent converted it yet, prob will when I am at soccer tomorrow or tonight instead of datamining all night. At the moment I am using a different database as before but hopefully I can get that sorted.

Anyway, before a LONG day of playing today, here's my stats for yesterday, and the second link is overall so far for the challenge:-

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/fruitypro/2ndmarch.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/fruitypro/overallat2nd.jpg

I've only done 4.5k hands so far, but I'm aiming to get that up to about 12k by the end of Sunday. One good thing will come from this. When we are all burnt out by the end of the month, we can have next month of courtesy of the sick rakeback we will get :-)

$1k - $50k Challenge - March 1st Report

Ok...Here's my summary of the day.

Tight play was in order with an insane amount of pots being opened or a ridiculous amount of limpers. The standard, IMO, was far worse than the last time I played 50NL - highlight was a 94/52 player over 70 hands, seriously - and Gravastar had the cheek to nick his seat :-(

Other highlights included me, grav and sp00n on one table, and then tonight me, grav and olliepower on another table which had the lowest players/flop % and lowest ave pot $ across the whole level. Why the other 3 tight players stayed for so long, I'll never know. Value on that table was like getting blood out of a stone.

Overall I did pretty good, up just over 9 buyins for the day. I ran insane good for the first 30 mins before hitting a bit of a brick wall, but finished strongly to book a solid profit. I'll probably try to win a couple more buyins at 50NL tomorrow before a 3 buyin shot at 100NL.

Link to my stats (cant believe i really played this tight!):-

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/fruitypro/1stmarch.jpg

2 hands were the highlights of the day:-

Overbet shove works a treat v guy on tilt who had 3-bet shoved me preflop a few hands before:-

FullTiltPoker Game #1896864286: Table Stardust (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 7:57:01 ET - 2007/03/01
Seat 1: XleprechaunX ($291.15)
Seat 2: scorpioonn ($29.25), is sitting out
Seat 3: schampoo ($49.25)
Seat 4: herrgeneral ($49.70)
Seat 5: JustRiveredU ($72.40)
Seat 6: Rounders121 ($43.70)
JustRiveredU posts the small blind of $0.25
Rounders121 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Kd Kc]
XleprechaunX folds
schampoo folds
herrgeneral folds
JustRiveredU raises to $2
Rounders121 raises to $5
JustRiveredU raises to $72.40, and is all in
Rounders121 calls $38.70, and is all in
JustRiveredU shows [Kd Kc]
Rounders121 shows [3h 8h]
Uncalled bet of $28.70 returned to JustRiveredU
spwuinmk67 (Observer): wow, lot of action
*** FLOP *** [5d Th Ac]
*** TURN *** [5d Th Ac] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [5d Th Ac 5s] [8c]
JustRiveredU shows two pair, Kings and Fives
Rounders121 shows two pair, Eights and Fives
JustRiveredU wins the pot ($84.40) with two pair, Kings and Fives
Rounders121 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $87.40 Rake $3
Board: [5d Th Ac 5s 8c]
Seat 1: XleprechaunX didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: scorpioonn is sitting out
Seat 3: schampoo didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: herrgeneral (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: JustRiveredU (small blind) showed [Kd Kc] and won ($84.40) with two pair, Kings and Fives
Seat 6: Rounders121 (big blind) showed [3h 8h] and lost with two pair, Eights and Fives

QQ - Overbet shove preflop v 94/52 player who had just lost a $150 pot with 92o all in preflop v AA :-)

FullTiltPoker Game #1898921590: Table Bamber (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:27:43 ET - 2007/03/01
Seat 1: jevjun ($40.40)
Seat 2: weak_nit ($129.60)
Seat 3: Gajnos ($106.50)
Seat 4: JustRiveredU ($50)
Seat 5: PATN1TROF ($82.25)
Seat 6: TunaLic ($50)
weak_nit posts the small blind of $0.25
Gajnos posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JustRiveredU [Qs Qh]
JustRiveredU raises to $1.75
PATN1TROF folds
TunaLic folds
jevjun raises to $3
weak_nit calls $2.75
Gajnos folds
JustRiveredU raises to $50, and is all in
jevjun calls $37.40, and is all in
weak_nit folds
JustRiveredU shows [Qs Qh]
jevjun shows [Kh 5c]
Uncalled bet of $9.60 returned to JustRiveredU
*** FLOP *** [3h 6h 9h]
*** TURN *** [3h 6h 9h] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [3h 6h 9h Ac] [5d]
JustRiveredU shows a pair of Queens
jevjun shows a pair of Fives
JustRiveredU wins the pot ($81.30) with a pair of Queens
jevjun is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $84.30 Rake $3
Board: [3h 6h 9h Ac 5d]
Seat 1: jevjun (button) showed [Kh 5c] and lost with a pair of Fives
Seat 2: weak_nit (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Gajnos (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: JustRiveredU showed [Qs Qh] and won ($81.30) with a pair of Queens
Seat 5: PATN1TROF didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: TunaLic didn't bet (folded)

Good luck everyone.

Some 1/2 Hands

Thought I'd update with some 1/2 hands I've played lately. I'm up 5.5 buyins over 2 days (2416 hands), which is fine by me.

Kinda standard, A2 wtf!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863774

Luck is on my side again.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863776

The fish (who I am ridiculously up on over time) did a hit and run on me after this...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863779

Maximum value obtained from a regular who tried to win every pot. I knew he had nothing so let him do his best to hang himself.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863783

This guy owes me big time. He was pretty easy to read and I've picked up tons of tells on him. He had a flush here for sure.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863787

Got my money in as a slight underdog with fold equity but lucked out :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863790

Absolutely terrible river call from opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?863793

The $1k - $50k Cardrunners challenge starts tomorrow. I'll be posting every day in March with PT stats/graphs etc... I'm aiming to play 6-8 tables for 6-10 hours per day. Should be fun!

Dial Up Is The Nuts

Well, it is at least for the time being. I moved into my new flat on Tuesday, which took ages, I didn't realise I had so much stuff! Wednesday was spent setting up flat pack furniture, which I did ok but my back was not ok at the end of proceedings. My new computer desk took 3 hours to set up... But it's a good setup and this will def help me having a non cluttered working environment.

I also phoned up AOL to get my broadband transferred to my new number. They said it would take 10-15 days, why I'm not sure, I thought we were in the 21st century but obviously not. They said I could go on dial up for free though which I thought about before realising my new pc doesnt have a modem...

So I went to a coffee shop with internet and forked out £40 for a monthly pass. I messed about with some 50NL but kept getting disconnected before I realised where the best place to sit was. Unfortunately for a coffee shop which advertises itself as very internet orientated, the place has a whole 2 (yes 2) plug sockets. One upstairs, one downstairs. Lol. So basically when you go in there it's like a stealth movement. You first of all get the seat near the power point, and then get the internet best spot. Or vice versa, load of bollocks basically.

Here are my stats for 200NL at the cafe. Please note - I am not a nit. I just play like one. Seriously, every hand had a 3 in it most of the time. Apart from one time when I had 33, and so did the other guy :-) I won't force the action in these instances. I did ok $ wise anyway.

Hands: 640
VPIP: 14.22%
PFR: 12.34%
Profit: $348.45
BB/100: 13.61

Two things I have noticed. Firstly, you dont get many hands in playing 3/4 tables. Secondly, I don't like reeking of smoke each day because even in the 'non smoking area' you still get covered in the stuff.

So I went to PC World this afternoon to buy a dial up external modem. Just to give it a shot. I spent £25 to get it, only to get home and find it had nowhere to connect to on my pc cos my pc is too new for it :-( I went back with my pc and the modem and the guy offered to give me an exchange for one with which has a usb cable instead - even though I didnt have the receipt (tho he did serve me when I went the first time) or a box or half the components! Ship it! I got home. I tried to log on. Couldn't. Ended up on the phone to a call centre for half an hour and finally I am now online, in my flat, but on dialup. Never felt so sweet. It's slow, but I've written this quick enough, been on CR which is bearable speed, and I've datamined 16 tables throughout with no problems. So I can now play in here. Including the £40 fee at the cafe (which I'm gonna go to tomorrow to download all the latest CR vids, some dj mix sessions and maybe watch PB) and the £30 for the new modem, it's cost me £70 to get online. I won about £180 at the cafe so I guess thats ok.

This is also good news because it will allow me to compete to the maximum in the 1k challenge starting next week. I'm buzzing for this.

Good luck at the tables,

FP

Random Stuff!

Well firstly I'll start by talking about the new FTP beta. This is pretty sweet, I think resizeable tables + rakeback = the nuts, so I'm in the process of moving my roll back onto there. I think I'll be playing on there solely in the foreseeable future. I spent ages getting my PAHUD sorted for the new resizeable tables, and today I went out and bought a new graphics card so I can use dual monitors. At the moment I've only got my usual 19" TFT and a 17" CRT with it, but it works fine and I'll probably get another 19" TFT and 4 table on each with no overlap.

That will suit me pretty well for the $1k challenge some of us are doing on Cardrunners. Basically what this involves is starting on March 1st with $1k. Using semi-aggro bankroll management, the first to $50k in the month wins. If no one does that (prob likely) then the person who wins the most wins. It looks like it will be a $100 entry fee which goes to the winner's prize, hopefully which will be lessons from a CR Pro. I'm probably gonna be 8 tabling for 6-8 hours a day doing this, I'm hoping this will motivate me to get a lot of hands in. I'll be blogging every day during March and also updating on the forum. Plenty of hands, and plenty of graphs :-)

I just checked the CR Forum, and saw the crazy pictures of Britney Spears. Can't believe she shaved her head, the difference in her from when she first hit the music scene is crazy!

To finish, my brother found this 9min clip on YouTube of a garage MC I haven't heard for a few years. He used to be the best MC on Soundz FM before it got shut down, probably the best pirate about 4-5 years ago IMO. If you like garage music, this is a good taste of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvxRH8eSd1U

Good luck,

FP

Ouch...Bad Run

Ok, so my quest to find a decent flat has now finished. Found a sweeeet one yesterday, move in on Tuesday. Will hopefully post some pics when I get everything organised - if anyone can tell me how to do that, it will be muchos appreciated. It's brand new and fitted to a very high standard which obviously is all good.

I've played quite a lot over the last couple of days. I played 2/4 yesterday, and 1/2 today. Had some brutal suckouts, gave myself about 6/10 yesterday, 5/10 this afternoon and 8/10 tonight. After my poor afternoon session, I decided to watch a couple of CR vids and I really picked up a lot. God knows why I don't watch every one of them, every time I do watch them I just learn a ton. I played a lot better in the evening, but the cards just didn't fall in my favour. I was getting my money in in decent spots with solid hands/draws but I just couldn't win the pot. I also made much more use of my HUD as well, that helped a lot. Often it's been the case for me that I just look at stuff like position and my hand rather than my opponent's tendencies. I was focusing on that a lot more and it worked pretty well. I had to deal with a couple of sick 2 outers though. Here's some hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823278

Opponent showed no strength, so I value bet my tptk on the river. He obviously had 2 pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823284

AK allin for 1/2 a buyin. Obviously he has AA. Didn't even realise he limped UTG till just now :-)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823288

Nice play, buddy. Thanks for the 2 outer.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823291

I felt this line had the best chance of getting max fold equity against an overpair. He tanked it up big time before shoving. I'd do this again all day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823298

Some things do go my way...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823303

Hmmm... Can I ever win with top set against a flush draw?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823311

If I could play this hand again, I'd shove the turn. But opponent was over-aggro 2+2er so I figured he'd hang himself on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823314

Dunno what this guy had. He only raised 3% of the time, as well.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823319

Cheers Poker Stars

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823322

Merci beaucoup, poisson

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823324

Poor guy. Maybe he can get away from it, but he wasn't very good anyway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?823328

I'd have put a lot of money on him having AK here :-)

And that's about it basically. I'm gonna go out playing fruits tomorrow and watch a couple of CR vids as well.

I hope everyone is running well, and hopefully I will too :-)

FP.

Finally Get Some Playing Done

After about 10 days of barely playing, due to laziness but mainly flat hunting, I resumed playing tonight.

I don't want to over exaggerate, but I felt I played some of the best poker I have ever played. The problem was, the poker gods didn't co-operate, and I dropped about $250 in a couple of hours 6 tabling 2/4. However, I feel very confident about my game, and can take a lot of heart from this session.

Here's some hands from today. I'm really going to try to add a lot of hands here in the future.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817397

KK < AT all in pre, obv

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817404

Can't work out if I played this one well. I think I did play it ok, and probably lost the minimum on it. No reads on opponent, apart from that he limped too much.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817419

Top set < Flush draw, obv

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817424

Ok river call, or just spew? I think it's ok cos he could easily have Kx.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817439

Anyone like a double barrel on the turn to fold out 77/88/TT/JJ, which I put him on (as well as 99)? I think I could have taken that pot away from him. Opponent was about 25/8 and pretty passive.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817446

Lol @ this hand. He actually tanked the river before calling off the extra $21 into the $850 ish pot. Ship it!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817451

Was going for a turn checkraise. Ended up giving the fish a free card. Lol @ his river CALL with a flush.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817458

Finally get a hand to take someone to valuetown on.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817462

Tough river call with a straight, when he's representing the flush.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817474

Tough cooler for the other guy, he wasn't too deep though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?817483

Looks like he got caught floating...


Kind of a tough session, with some ridiculous beats. But on another day I think I could have booked a very solid profit. Hopefully that day will be tomorrow. I'll update again then, gonna play loads tomorrow. Have finally rediscovered my enthusiasm for playing.

Good luck at the tables,

Dan.

Waste of a week

Well, since my last post I haven't done much apart from look at other flats. Haven't found much which has impressed me.

To be honest I am amazed at the lack of thought in this market, from both the owners and the estate agents. The estate agents are clueless, have no idea even of rough room measurements, don't have brochures and can spell to the level of a 5 year old. Landlords seem clueless too. I went to view a brand new flat on Friday. It has no wardrobes, and no washing machine. No wonder they are having problems letting it. I'm sure there is a huge opportunity for someone rich enough and relatively knowledgeable to make an absolute fortune in the lettings area.

I've got about 5 more to look at. They actually look very good, well 3 at least look very decent. Question is this: Do I get the top of the range one which is £850 per month, or do I spend like £700ish and get something pretty decent but not totally amazing? Kinda tempted to offer them less on the awesome flat if I like it when I go to see it on Monday. It's been on the market for 2 weeks and was for sale before then, so no doubt they might want to get it sorted asap.

I haven't done much playing because of this, but hopefully that will get itself resolved next week. I've done about ten coaching sessions though this week.

Cardrunners members who like a challenge check out this:-

http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=14555&enterthread=y

This should be pretty cool if we get enough people interested.

Good luck everyone.

Screwed Up Society

Because it doesn't respect people who try to better themselves off their own back. It's totally ridiculous.

A few years ago I got turned down for a mortgage. Not because I was playing fruit machines for a living (that was ok, apparently, and all they needed was an estimate of my income), but because my credit number was low because I never borrowed. How fucked up is that? I'm like 'Ok I have money in my pocket, savings, why borrow or use a credit card? That's good money management' Society is like 'He must borrow, and use a credit card to see how he reacts to borrowing'. Hmmm. So I just stayed at home and lost £25k in a business instead.

In fact, that was another instance where trying to better myself ran into severe problems. I got screwed by everyone and their mother and got out before I got into even bigger trouble.

And then it comes to a point recently. I decide that it's time to move out of my parents and rent a flat (with a view to buying one in 6-12 months time). I find a nice brand new flat to rent and cos I knew there would be trouble I said I'd pay 6 months up front. That's fine for me and I didn't mind doing that. Now, if I was a landlord, I'd say 'Sweet, this guy is offering me 6 months payment which I can make 5% interest on, with no risk of them defaulting'. They said 'He's a poker player, I don't want him in my flat'. That is serious. I'm like, for fucks sake what can I do? I even proved that I'm covering all my rent and bills in my coaching income, but apparently that didn't help... Lol.

This leads me onto my next point. I never really felt sorry for homeless people before, or people down on their luck. But if it's this hard for me to RENT a flat with plenty of savings etc, how on God's Green Earth do people on the streets or just out of prison sort themselves out? They basically get crushed by society and have little/no chance. A lot of these people are probably decent guys who have had a couple of things go against them and they never get a second chance in society.

I am actually gonna look at a few more flats tomorrow. Hopefully I won't find any more anti-poker landlords...

Shout out to all my poker players still living with their parents!

Jol Out?

Well here I am, sitting at my PC after wasting the last 7 hours. I just got back from Tottenham v Man United and it was an utter disgrace.

Firstly, Ronaldo is a cheating f**k who needs someone to put him in the stands, preferably injuring him for a long time.

Secondly, do Scholes and Gary Neville have an amnesty for bookings against them? Scholes commits 3 bookable offences and doesn't get one card.

That's my views on Manchester United over, they played pretty well but my Sunday League team could have done against Spurs today, we were embarrasing.

Firstly - why do we play Gardner at centre back? The guy is terrible. We buy Rocha and don't play him instead of a player who was our fourth choice centre back a couple of months ago.

Next - why didnt we buy a left back or left mid in the transfer window? We have loads of money from the Carrick deal/sponsorship from Mansion/Puma so splash out! Even if it cost £10m, just buy Gareth Barry and/or Gamst Pedersen. They would improve our team SOOOO much.

To finish - why don't we have any fighters in midfield? We are a soft touch and we are getting exposed by teams in this area. Zokora is awful and its a testament to our scouting network that we paid £8m for him. He can't pass, head, tackle or shoot.

Oh yeah, and why didn't we recall Routledge when Lennon is always ill/injured?

An absolute joke, and I'm afraid the responsibility needs to lie with the management.

That is all.

Ship It

I played the weekend at 100NL, because I wanted to get back into it at a low stakes before I hit 400NL. I definitely think this was a good idea, even if I didn't make much due to ridiculous setups and beats. I was pretty pleased with how I played, although there was definitely room for improvement in some ways.

Yesterday I was tilting (non poker) because of a couple of things so decided it was best not to play. I did 4 hours of lessons today which was good, and after some dinner I loaded up 6 tables at 2/4. Things went pretty well. The game is definitely different there, much more aggro, players do have a raise/fold mentality although there were some fish on the tables too. I actually enjoyed it a lot and got a bit of a buzz (first time for ages in poker) playing higher stakes against generally better players. After about 20 minutes my brother came into the room and told me to watch the new episode of Prison Break, so as soon as he said that I had to log off and bank the $612 profit. I was pretty tired anyway. Here's two of the pots I won:-

With this hand, I made a standard 4x raise blind on blind after it was folded to me. BB called. It was a good flop for my hand, giving me a flush draw with a gutshot and an overcard which may or may not be live. I make a standard continuation bet and my opponent raises me 3x. I'm happy to play for stacks here so I make a value raise to about $200, basically committing myself to the hand. He calls (wtf?). I hit my money card on the turn and shoved, he called, and he was drawing dead having played KK appallingly.

No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $2/$4
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $474
UTG+1: $660.55
CO: $400
Button: $406.20
Hero: $402
BB: $584.15

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with J♣ K♣
4 folds, Hero raises to $16, BB calls.

Flop: 9♣ Q♥ 2♣ ($32, 2 players)
Hero bets $22, BB raises to $64, Hero raises to $200.4, BB calls.

Turn: 7♣ ($432.8, 2 players)
Hero is all-in $185.6, BB calls.

River: J♥ ($804, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $804)

Results:
Final pot: $804
Hero showed Jc Kc
BB mucks Kh Ks

Not much explanation here. Opponent buys in for 1/2 a buyin and posts out of position. He puts me all in on his first hand on the table when I have AA. Sweet.

No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $2/$4
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $525.70
UTG+1: $200
Hero: $400
Button: $205.60
SB: $600
BB: $400

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with A♦ A♠
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $16, Hero raises to $48, 3 folds, UTG+1 raises all-in $200, Hero calls.

Flop: Q♠ K♣ 9♦ ($406, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $406)

Turn: 5♥ ($406, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $406)

River: 6♥ ($406, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $406)

Results:Final pot: $406
UTG+1 showed Ac Jc
Hero showed Ad As

Gonna hit 2/4 up for most of the day tomorrow, looking forward to it. Good luck to everyone!