Ok I’m not happy. Poker has slapped me in the face this weekend and has given me a rude awakening. My online Bankroll of about $550 at VC and $100 at UB has gone. I went BROKE. I’m not going to regale bad beat stories to you for 4 pages (which I could do for 5000- words(AK beaten by KQ on K high flop, AA beaten by 99 all in preflop, both pots $140+). I’m going to talk about the much more serious issue of psychological control, which I don’t have. I won a $25 SNG which put my bankroll up to $550 on Friday afternoon. I then decided to play the .25/.50 cash games and found a couple of real juicy ones and got viciously outdrawn. The point is I should have LEFT the tables IMMEDIATELY after 1 outdraw, instead I stayed for a second one which tilted me and left me with $250 which I frittered away by playing shite for about ½ hour. 4 weeks worth of building before 1 hour of bulldozing. I hate myself for the fact I didn’t see the signs and didn’t quit when I started to feel sick. It would be nice for the favourite to hold once. 3 outs seem to hit wayyyyy to often for my liking.
I played at Luton in the £10 and then the £20 rebuys on Saturday. Final tabled the £10 for 7th place and £80. I felt good the whold way through that tournie and played well. Unfortunately I doubled up a short stack who had AA with my A10 when I re-raised to isolate (She had to take the blinds in 1 hand and I figured she might be moving, if I had known the player I would have folded). This made me short stacked and the lady limped in the small blind after it got folded round to my small blind. I of course wasted no time in going all in for 7k (3k in pot) with my K9. She calls and has A9 and im out. Still not bad but I read her as weak and passive and should have known better. She proved to be passive but a bit good at calling when she had the best of it preflop. By no means was she a station mind, she played very well from what I saw.

I then played the £20 rebuy and I think that was a mistake. I was tired and not feeling tip top. I was missing tells and making mistakes galore. 2 rebuys and an add-on later and im kissing goodbye to my profit from earlier (had the best hand going in everytime but it’s the re-buy period and pot-limit so you wont catch me whining). I saw a young guy who must have thought he was Phil Iveys prodigy or summat. He made a couple of nice calls and a couple of shockers. Iv logged his body language for future reference. Anyway I was short stacked and stayed short-stacked. I played survival mode well until with the blinds at 1k/2k I was forced to move my 5.5k stack in with K,10o after an EP limp. He called with A6s and I hit 2 kings to double up.

Down to 14 and 2 hands later I get that HORRIBLE pot-limit hand JJ. Best hand iv seen all night though and after 2 EP limps im all-in with a bish, bash, bosh. HUGE multiway action and I think im infront as the late calls were probably value calls. About a 30k pot and the others have, wait for it…..KQ,77,………79o.
Im thinking ok, if I can dodge a K or Q im gonna win this thing, but alas, the 7,9 makes a str8 on the riv. DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished 14th for sweet FA. Don’t even get a goodbye from anyone at the table. These people have no manners, I ALWAYS say good game, safe journey….or at least something!

Robby held on and did the justice, taking 7th for a healthy profit. That’s 2 final tables in a row!

Played a Cash game in a Film Studio last night, that was cool. All smokey lights and Cigars, I felt cool. I dropped 4 buy-ins (£5 each ;) ) and then went on a roll winning a few nice pots. Then this hand. I get K,10 in ep and opt to limp in. My stack is about £35. Lenny, a wild Jewish lad ( I know, contradiction of terms) raises to £2. I call. Flop Comes K,6,3. I check, he raises £5. I give him the eyeball and he doesn’t have a King. I decide calling he isnt an option. Its find out where I am time. If he comes OTT of me I can still get away from this hand. I re-raise to £10. He calls?!! Turn comes a 9. Not a particularly scary card so I push in the rest of it (£17). He calls and shows trip nines. HOW THE FUCK can he call my re-raise? Theres only 2 nines left in the pack for fuck sake!!! He did that 3 times while I was there. Called with shit preflop and and on the flop against rob twice and hit a lucky 2-pair. The boys got luck ill say that for him. He’ll be alright ;)

So all in all I havent logged a winning session with the boys in the last 4 attempts and iv lost my entire online bankroll. Im gutted. The only highlight is that my live tournament form is pretty good. I don’t tend to bluff or try anything fancy until I get to the final table and hey presto it kinda works. Another day id have hit a Jack on the flop in the £20 rebuy, have a massive stack and win the whole thing. But never mind, shit happens, ill live. Im having a poker break until a week on Saturday. I need it. My mind is swamped by the whole thing. I re-run strategy after strategy with hand after hand through my brain and dammit that’s sad. Im gonna take this opportunity to smash up the gym, play loads of football ant eat like a king. I going to rest my weary brain cells of their tireless and thankless task of working overtime. Im going go-carting on the weekend which should be good. Last time I finished 3rd but never really got a chance to tangle with the big boys, which I WILL be doing this time. Im going at it hammer and tongs!

Good luck readers, ill be posting in 2 weeks, or sooner if I don’t get offered a renewed contract. Love yall, bb

Tip of the Day. Know the level at which your opponent is operating. Does he have ANY idea what he’s doing? Or is he a Bluefin Tuna like Lenny, aka a BIG FISH!