A big Saturday night lined up. Im going to play all the gigger MTT's on Tribeca and a couple of the larger events on UB. Ill play like a rock and hope i go deep in a couple of event, then open the game up and engage the chip magnet. Winning a nice MTT would set the tone for the week ahead. Ill be playing with the Artist and if he's up for it we might play the Tribeca $500 Freeezeout, depending on how many runners. Congrats to DPommo for getting to day 2 in EPT Dublin, lets hope he can answer D.Negreanu's criticism with a major result.
The past 2 nights i have been dreaming about Southampton, lol, nothing like a good live tournie to get the blood flowing and the nerves jacked up.
Been running well in the Tribeca Cash and this is probably the best call i have ever made. Me and opponent (good opponent, capable of anything, but mailny solid). Stacks are $400 deep between me and him. I have KhKc and raise to $10 preflop. 2 Callers. Flop comes 9h5cJc. I bet pot on flop, he calls. Turn comes Ac (ugliest card in the world). I check, he bets 1/2 pot. Now this is interesting, if he was chasing a Club flush, he would have had the nut flush draw 90% of the time. At this point i am showing weakness by checking the Ace and i reckon he figures im done with the hand. He either has me fucked with AJ or was on a str8 draw on the flop with Q10. I dont think he was flushing because he would have had the nut flush draw (detailed notes on him). I elect to call, after I still have the nut draw. River 7h. I check, he goes all-in overbetting the pot (pot $250, his bet $280ish. Hmmmmm. I start to engage the grey matter. He cant have the nuts as i have the K clubs, and he knows i could have the nuts as i bet preflop. His bet could be an overbet "bluffalike" move, but that is normally done with the stone cold coco's with this player. I think he could well be bluffing with KJ or even Q10 as the bet is so huge. Realistically its his only way to win the pot if he has missed his draw AND i have shown immense weakness by checkin to him twice. I call and he has Qc2h. I like his play, but im happy with my reasoning, normally i would NEVER call even the bet on the turn, but when things dont add up in online poker, use your brain. Evaluate possible holdings and then form a map of events. The answer is normally out there if you know your opponents and use your head.


gl all, ESP ME TOMORROW!!!!!!

:)

Played the £15 rebuy @ Luton and made the final table. Came 9th. Played shit. Never mind,
only really went to buy in for the Southampton £500 FO and see the artist.

Then played the £250 NL Cash game and played well/got lucky depending on your pov. Left with £800. The artist also ran well and we took all the easy money on the table and fucked off @ about 2.30am. ha ha ha.
Incredibly excited about my newly ordered comp < geek! Also really excited about life in general. Im in a rich vein of form at the moment and hopefully that will translate into a result or 2 this weekend. Playing a couple of major Satellites this weekend (Pokerface/WPT events/ maybe amsterdam masters) on Tribeca and obv the Southampton tournies.

When poker is going well its so important that you recognise WHY. Every player has the highs and lows but being honest with yourself and your limitations has really focused my game. Iv reached a level at which im really comfortable with my poker and am wealthier than i have ever been at any stage of my life. It feels THE SHIT!!!!!

gl all. Alex "metamorphic" Martin. I know im a rock, you know im a rock, so lets make me a rock. Fuck im mad.

Been thinking a lot about my start date.Sunday the 26th November looks like the date as my contract finishes on the 22nd. Ill have a couple of nights on the piss and then get cracking with the Sunday majors.

Also been looking at how to capitalise on the american market crash. With party running for the hills it looks like ill be having a stab at the MTT's on either Stars/Bodog or fulltilt, as these are the most likely fish refuges. I guess ill be putting in biggish deposits onto Fulltilt and Bodog, primarily because the standard of play on Stars is good to excellent. But ill only be playing on the yank sites on weekends and monday mornings. My weeks will run according to a schedule and im definitely going to allocate myself hours and a regular wage. As i still live with the folks ill continue paying a paltry rent and i have few outgoings (which is why i can risk giving this a shot anyways)- I have it pretty cushtie.

UK Thursday and Friday evenings are going to be real sessions for me, as thats when ill be playing cash due to the abundance of drunk tired players. On other evenings ill be playing the small majors on Tribeca (20k, 15k, $200 FO, 5k) and $100/$200 SnG's on the same network. I have the bankroll for the $200's but the fields in the $100's are so much weaker- and i like the relaxed way i play when i dont care about the stake- $200 seems like a lot for a SnG to me.

Im also going to be doing some occasional days labouring and a few days here and there out beating on the shoots near me- just to give variety and maintain interest. Ill be going to the gym 5 times a week from the start date and playing football 3 times a week. Its about time i jumped the final hurdle and got truly fit.

Will be seeing the missus much more and hopefully socialising (golfing/shooting/fishing) a fair amount more with all the extra time ill have. Not too sure about playing live. To be fair i do enjoy live play but there are important negative aspects....

a) Its a hassle driving to places at night, then coming back knackered @ 3am in the driving rain on the M25. Pretty sure that shortens life expectancy.

b) Somehow encourages me to smoke, i gave up smoking a long time ago (only 23 mind) but playing cards makes me want to light up.

c) More expensive as you incur more bills/expenses and also your time spent making money is reduced because of travel.

Ill probably treat myself once in a while after a good week.

Been going over the details of my new desktop online. Getting a new top spec comp with a 24inch flatscreen, also getting the broadband hardline set up in the room next week, no unreliable wireless shit. Im forking out a lot of cash (£800) and am hoping it will pay for itself quickly.

Only other highlight is a Week off starting on Friday :)

Really excited about the Competition and im gonna play my abc game. I have been criticised (jokingly) by freinds for playing too tight, but thats just because thats how i play medium/big stacks in MTT's. Iv learnt that big stacks can be ironed out real quick with reckless plays and they need to be protected. Ill keep my occasional bluffs/moves to just that, occasional and im aiming to maintain 150% focus until i get rivered- no ipod/magazines for me.

Im hoping the Artist will be accompanying me and ill be hooking up with Mr.Gray for a cheeky one pint or 20 when the dust has settled.

How to play QQ in a cash game....Ill Definitely talk about this later this week.

gl all, Alex.

The

Last night was another one of those days. In the 100k continuation bets with missed AQ's/AK's really did my stack no good whatsoever and i finally bombed in about 70th/800 odd.
Ultimate bet $200 fo 200k gtd was sick. Got a stack, then lost with AK v AJ against a maniac. Then played an AK really badly and lose all my chips deep at the end. To be fair the guy made a cracking call with 55 on the river with a board of Q47109 showing, but i dont know how he can call for half his stack unless he puts me on AK perfectly. I came 150th out of 850 odd and the standard of play was weak, plenty of dead wood.

Came 4th in the $150 FO on BluSq after Claimer knocked me out with AQ v my AK. Tony "tikay" Kendall was playing and got his top set cracked by a str8 draw. Incidentally, i spoke to Poker Pete last night and turns out he knows in my opinion one of the best players on the Tribeca skin "Portfolio".

Ah well, im happy that i went deep.

gl all, BRING ON THE SOUTHERN MASTERS ;)

Had a result in the 20k gtd last night, coming third for $2600. Not sure about this play so please let me know. My thinking in the hand went along the lines of a Josh Arieh/Phil Ivey hand let on and i think i have the odds, but my calculations cannot be exact because this guys re-raising range is fucking huge.
Down to final 3. I have 1mil, Numerator has 1mil and a blondite has 500k. I get dealt 44 on the button with blinds @ 40k/80k. I raise to 240k to play. BB goes all-in and we have even chips. I think if i win this i win the tournie and i put him 65% of the time on overcards. With the pot odds i call, he has AK which hits on the river. Should i have passed?
Answers on a postcard.

gl all

and gl me, im gonna win a bigge tonight outright.

Iv had downswings before, but this is getting truly sick. Playing a $100 buy-in MTT on UB. I get dealt 55 and the flop comes 5Q9 with 2 spades. I be the pot as my image is ultra-aggressive. 1 caller in position behind me, he looks failry ABC. Im a little worried of an overset but i think he owuld probably raise tochase out the draws on that kind of board. Turn comes a Queen. No-one can fold trips as we all know, so, go all-in. He calls with QJ, then spikes an ugly J on the river.
I have lost my confidence in the cards, the only FT iv made all day i got whilst on tilt where i decided i would go OTT of every raise before me, all-in. It actually worked, i cracked AK with 85s, and generally made a nuisance of myself. I know the upswing is coming, tomorrow night in the majors would be nice poker gods ;)

I feel quite sick. It happened again. Playing the $100 UB freezeout $40000 gauranteed. My stack is above average on 6k (av is 5k). 200 playrs left.
I get dealt JJ on the button. UTG (tight/solid) raises to 40 (blinds are 75/150). I call. Flop comes 46J rainbow. He bets pot, i go all-in praying he has an overpair. He calls with QQ and of course the Turn is one of the only 2 queens left in the deck. I freaking hate this game sometimes. Tonight has been so sick in terms of outdraws.

I have howevever satellited my way into the UB 200k biggie and the Tribeca Sunday tournies, plus the World Poker Tour sat. I hsould have won a ton tonight, instead, im licking my wounds. Having said that, im on the bubble in the $5k on Tribeca so i might be able to donk my way to a final table......seems to be what everyone else does.

Last night was a success, with Rob Apple winning and Dave Halfacre coming second. Only 13 runners but fun was had by all. What a prediction, both my favourites coming in @ 1 and 2 ;)
Rob played excellent poker in the latter stages (after imo a horrible call with A10 preflop against Seb's all-in bet- he had 99) and Dave got lucky when he made 2 pair after attempting a convincing bluff. As a side note, Michael paul Jack made the money and in one hand played Rob like a sewing machine. Nice result michael, 3rd is respectable.
Well done Rob "Byliant" Apple sir. Spend the £200 wisely ;)

Tonight was an absolute fiasco. I played a satellite for next weekend and failed to make a solid player fold 1010 preflop after a substantial all-in and failed to hit an Ace or Queen :(
Shit happens.

In the 20k it was amazing, i always led when the chips went in and they always somehow fucked me. I got a stack playing ABC (which is all you need to do against these muppets) and then this hand. Holding 6s7s in the BB i see a free flop with 2 other player and the SB. Flop comes magic. 589 with 8s9s. I decide to lead out and bet 1/2 the pot. Moron goes all-in (8k), Tight/weak player re-raises to 15k (my stack 30k blinds 400/800) I decide i can do without another spade coming off the deck and go all-in with the stone cold coconuts, tight player folds.
Mateyboy has 9,10 so obviously the turn comes 10 and the river 9.
Later i go all-in with a flopped top set of tens on the turn only to be fucked by a rivered set of Queens. Horrible game sometimes.
On my last gasp i go all in with JJ only to get insta called by a circus freak with K10 for 1/2 his stack which knocks me out.

I dont give a shit about winning the 50/50's, just let me win the 70/30's and the 90/10's.
Anyways, angry and fucked off, i wrote a post to calm me down.....

Big thanks to Gatsby for adding some new links, i hope my select group of readers enjoys.

All you can do is play perfect poker and hope they dont get lucky..... GL all.

I reckon im more nervous about tonight than i will be next Weekend at the Southern Masters. Iv got a buffet organised, bought some felt for the (hopefully) 2 tables, downloaded a tournament director, charged the lappie, got the chips, organised the blind levels and generally been a busy git. Im hoping the comp goes well and the lads get to play plenty of poker. The structure is going to be ultra-slow and i think D.Halfacree and R.Apple are joint favourites in my book. The missus is gonna come along aswell to help me host (what a woman) so it should be good fun all night long.
The cash games afterwards could be a nightmare however ;)

Played the Luton £15 rebuy last night and chopped it up 3-handed for a little over £600. Played nice poker the whole way through, bever got my chips in behind, but the structure meant it was a total crapshoot at the end. I have 25k, CL has 80k and third player has 55k. And they want to do an even split (after 4th place had already had a bonus). OK then, ill do a deal where im quite obviously getting a good deal.

My tournie tonight, lets hope it goes smooth

Havent played the addictive game for nearly 3 days now. Felt my MTT game has really gone downhill lately. I cannot maintain solid play for long enough before getting bored/ tired/chipped up. I have been burning the candle way too hard recently and its not good for results. Staying up till 3am and getting up at 7 4 days on the trot saps your body.

In the few tournies where iv got chipped up by playing solidly, often i get complacent and start fancy play syndrome or playing poor poker(calling raises from medium/big stacks with AJ/A10, small pp's in a HU pot) and generally turning into a lag chip donator. What i should be doing is managing the stack better and protecting my assets. This primarily menas nicking blinds when being the 1st to enter a pot and targeting desperate short stacks who are forced to play marginal hands.

I am starting a new chapter in my game and really going to learn more about human psychology and reading players. I have a natural talent for reading ppl but it needs work (probably from assessing whether or not the gf is lying ;) ). The Bar12 tournament is looking really good, pleanty of numbers and some good grub mean it should be fun.

Iv decided on my 1st medium-buy in event in the UK. A £500 double chance freezeout at the Southern Masters on the 29th October will be awesome. Im playing a big online satellite that same friday (for the Amsterdam Masters)also so should be a good weekend.

OK. I shall now discuss playing KK from a cash game perspective. A very tricky hand to play. The one thing you dont want to do all the time is get all ur money in preflop agasint a tight player in a medium stakes game. Sticking $200 in preflop mean he has one of 2 hands, KK or most likely AA. Against a crap player or one that gives action stick the lot in. One thing you will observe very quickly is that good players always have the maximum you can buy-in to the table and poor players have a small amount of money at the table (not always, but often).

Raise preflop and see what happens. Thatever the flop fire in a continuation bet of 2/3 the pot (even if an ace comes). If they do anything other than fold, seriously consider you are beaten if there are no obvious draws and try and keep the pot small.

If an aggressive player has bet into you preflop and you think he's bleeding, check calling all the way to the river is a viable option, BUT i much prefer this approach when flat calling behind a bet. The river overbet with a very strong hnad is a common online move and you dont want to have difficult decisions out of position. Say for example that you have KK and he raises preflop with Q10s. You flat call.Flop comes 10,7,6 rainbow. If he bets into you here, you really want to find out where you are and use your brain to evaluate his hand. If he flat calls your re-raise he most likely has a 10 and is worried. Dont flat call on this board because its a connect board.On a flop of Q 7 2, you could consider flat calling behind with KK purely because you are most likely massively infront and can win a good pot without trouble. But normally re-raising with an overpair wins the most money.

What a shit post. Im off.

GL all, Queens will get more attention, im very busy at the moment.

Bar12, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Opposite the Galleria. Thursday 19th October, 7pm for food, 8pm for poker.

Was getting dangerous online so iv withdraw a large proportion of funds. Left enough so that ill be able to play the MTT's and $100 SnG's comfortably. Basically i lost a $1300 pot and tilted away another £700. On top of that iv gone, wait for it.....29 online tournaments without a cash (but have qualified for 2 satellites). This is partly due to the fact i never want to creep into the money, but mainly due to excessive fancy play syndrome coupled with donkey calling stations/ ppl with the stone cold nuts. Healthy cash injection is just what the doc ordered and i rmembered some cash i had in BlueSq which was handy. Ok, so the $1300 pot went something like this. NL Cash 2/4. I have 99. I raise preflop and get re-raised small. 1 LP caller and i come along for the ride. Flop, magical. A99. I figure to swerve the re-raiser has 99 because he's been raising with trash since he sat down. I have $600 infront, mateyboy 1 has 400 and other chap has over 1k. As i am 1st to act and know one of em surely has an ace i put in a pot-sized bet. Mateyboy 1 raises, mateyboy 2 re-raises. Funky sequence of events. Now AA is unlikely because there has been a re-raise form a third player, indicating both aces are held by my opponent. A9 just doesnt bet here because no internet cash game player if met bets the solid nuts on that flop hard (although they should ;) ). So i think i am ahead and shove em. Insta-call and insta call. Iv read em perfect (for once) and AK and AQ are duly shown. Turn Q (which means im losing the main pot), River K (which means i go fucking ballistic). Now narmally this wouldnt affect me but i somehow got screwed again when i flopped the rolled up FH and some lad hit quads qhich i duly paid off only too eagerly. The standard has been really high iv found this weekend and i donated way too much.
And then, just to kop it all off i got rogered in the $200 freezeout. 1st hand, i have chips. I raise from the cutoff (no limpers) 4*BB. Bb calls. (who has same chips as me). Flop comes pretty/scary depending on your disposition..Qh10c9h. The guy then moves all-in on me. Do i lay down sets? No. I think he most likely has top 2 pair, or MUCH MORE LIKELY and overpair that he tried some fancy shit with and now wants to overbet the pot with in order to scare me off if he thinks i have a draw. I insta -called and he insta-showed the KJ nuts (hearts). Sigh sigh sigh.
Then in the $100 rebuy i go deep (well, as deep as you can in a 64 runner event) and holding QQ i bet 1/3 my chips preflop. 1 caller. Flop comes good enough J49. I Bet all-in and he calls for all his stack with...........33. turn, 10...river, BING. Allelulluyah (sp?)

The good news is i have a lot of runners for my comp on Thursday. Roped in a good twenty im hoping, which should mean a good game of "poking-her" for all of us (well, not me, ill be doing a Thomas Kremser impression and propping up the bar ready to hit St.Albans afte riv speeded up the blinds a bit) .

Just checked on Blonde and Mick Fletcher has FT'd Walsall. Andy Liue came 35th or something and Shermeister crashed early. Gl to the rest of em, especially Mick, who i spoke to @ the UK open and has real game.

Oh, and I sucked out on Rob in a SnG in Luton. Made me fell really good cracking his KK with AK. Sort of like divine retribution for when the monkey called and all-in bet with A9 soooooted agaisnt my Aces (after i showed him what i had). Hurrah.

Gl all.

Just to finish off my day and give all bored office workers something else to mull over here is a cracking little list of hints from a wealthy online player. This is unashamedly nicked from his blog, but i dont think he will mind. Its pillowtalkpoker.blogspot.com if you wanna go peek.

Random Online TipsIve gotten a few emails recently from people looking for general advice about playing online. Im really not a great person to ask as I just sort of play natural but this is an answer I fired off to one of these mails the other day, its basic enough stuff but worth a read if you are transfering your game from live to trying online for the first time.First off I dont really know your game so my advice is more on general internet play than how to adapt your particular style to internet poker. First off dont worry about not winning at the start I was messing around online for about 8 months before I started seeing some results. So here goes:1) Get pokertracker and update all your hand histories into it, dont lie to yourself and not upload losing sessions. Once you have about 5k or more hands uploaded go on to twoplustwo.com and do a search for pokertracker stats and compare yours to the stats the winning players have, this will give you a good idea of areas to change in your game.2) Decide what kind of player you are, players have different success at different forms of online poker. Some players do very well at sit&go's whilst they struggle at cash games, some players do well at mtt's and some do well at cash games. Some do well at all games but I would say concentrate on the form you are most proficient at to begin with then work on the rest after time.3) If you are struggling to begin with then eliminate bluffing from your arsenal of weapons, too often online bluffs are ineffective and to be honest at the lower limits they just arent required. Play just premium hands and bet them hard, that is enough to beat lower stakes online, when you get used to online and start moving up you can begin to open up your game, but allways remember a bluff is more likely to fail on the internet and hence you should trap with strong hands less than you would live too, just bet them strong in general.4) Game selection is useful look for games with the highest average pot size and players to a flop %.5) Tilt control is infinately more important online than live. If you go on tilt in a casino you lose whats in your pocket but if you tilt online you can lose everything in your account and the rest of your credit card balance. It is far easier to tilt online , there is noone there you know so you arent embarrased by a bad play or horrid call so some players who wouldnt play tilty live tend to tilt online. The thing is that if you are inclined to tilt then it is really important to get a grip on this before you commit to being an online player.6) The most major thing that I changed in my game when I started playing online was how I played AK. Instead of reraising with it I often (not allways) just call behind, I do this so that if I miss the flop I can get away from it but also if I hit the flop I often dont get put on AK and get paid off, but the main reason I changed this online was to try and play smaller pots pre flop. This is quite important, as much as I dont mind putting all my money in on a 50/50 preflop I mush prefer to keep the pot small preflop and get busy on the flop. This is an important part of my game, I play small preflop and steal a lot of pots post flop but it costs me a lot less to steal on the flop as we havent put so much money in preflop, and if I run into a hand I can now get away from it without commiting my whole stack.7) Bankroll management is vital the 25 x a buyin is a good rule of thumb, do a search on any of the internet forums for oodles of threads on this, it really is hard to set a hard and fast rule as how much bankroll you need changes depending on the type of player you are and the stakes you play.8) A lot of people say to start out on the micro limits and work your way up, but if you are used to playing live cash then I would say start off at 1/2 nl as the stakes lowwer than this dont really represent a real poker game.9) If you are starting out new to online poker dont multi table, play one table at a time untill you are comfortable.10) For low limits like 1/2 and 2/4 the softest games on the net are generally Party, or where when I played that low it has been a couple of years since I played that low but when I did Party was where the fish were at, I doubt thats changed.11) Without doubt the most profitable time to play is between midnight and 4am as this is the time all the american market come online.There is a lot of other general stuff like taking player notes etc but the above are probably the main things that helped me when I was starting at internet poker. When you have a couple of thousand hands loaded into poker tracker at a certain level send me your stats and I will be able to give you a couple pointers more specific to your individual game. Remember there is no reason why a player who wins live wont win online and vice versa but it is a different media and as such requires a different approach.I hope this helps and Im sure I have left out loads of tit bits, but the main thing is this, when you play online it is MUCH easier to play badly, you need to build up a dicipline where you actively try to play your best every session. If you are facing a bet and you reckon you are beat you probably are, you wont call it live but for some reason a lot of people find it hard to not call online. I dont know why this is, probably the fact no one can see their bad play.Anyways good luck and let me know how you are doing.All the best,Eoin.Not exactly groundbreaking stuff but I just thought I'd stick it in the blog.

Just been looking at a blog that will really complement my Beginners guide to cash games for the long term. http://rgougepoker.blogspot.com Ill get it linked but if you are serious about making money read it thoroughly from the beginning and then go out and practice.

Totally forgot to plug my 1st ever tournament. I will directing a 1 night only £30 freezeout next Thursday (19th) @ Bar12 in Hatfield Middlesex. A buffet is being laid on from 7pm with kickoff at 8pm. It will be nice and slow with a cracking structure and some very good players, Herg "SnG machine" Gray, Mr.Apple aka Bryliant(when he's on form he should be favourite), Dave "the artist" Halfacree (the talented one in our partenership who has hit fantastic form) , Johnny Martin (kid brother (metamorphic, sedimentary, igneous are types of....)), Chris Ford (good/somewhat loco player), Oli "the slowplay" Nicholls, Mike "5" Paul-Jack (tbh and lets keep it quiet, pretty useless) and a bunch of other nameless wonders. It might even turn into a winner takes all event, ill probably put it to vote.

On saturday ill be trying the Betfair promotion. Win 5 SnG's in a row and go to Singapore. Sound's fairly simple? So ill probably deposit $500 and multi-table 8 $10 6 man tables at a time trying to spin a run together (of course ill have to check terms and conditions). Then im Going to Luton for some fun and games, well, actually i just want to railbird Artist and see how he's smashing the fields apart. Will probably play the £20 PL event in the evening, sort of like my consolation prize for not qualifying for Walsall.

Sunday, going London with the missus, then playing the Majors online. Might even have a go at a couple of the Stars Sunday events.....nah, ill stay with the fish on Tribeca.

gl all.

Beginners guide. No use to the Ben Grundy’s and Rob Sherwoods of this world.
NLEM part 1. Guide to short-handed small/medium stakes cash game poker. Typically $1/$2 NL with $200 at a table buy-in 6 seater tables.
OK, welcome to a brand new series. Since the weather has turned nasty and im spending a lot of time in the office I thought id have a go at posting a fair bit of my strategy on my blog for mates of mine who regularly do their bollox online (ie. Rob ;)
Basically patience And discipline should be the 2 key factors influencing your play. NEXT should be your opponents. I normally 4 table, but you could 1 table KNOWING that you will be playing very few hands.
In my experience you make money online and win big pots by running the absolute nuts into the second or third nuts. This guide will talk about choosing the correct hands to ensure you don’t fall into that trap. Simply put, as Chris Ferguson and numerous other players have said "online players don’t play anywhere near as tight as good game theory dictates". Well, this guide is a rock till they drop guide. If you can be patient enough, all players will make mistakes, they will lose to you. Your aim is to play mistake free poker. This means not only having the patience to wait for good starting hands, but having the patience to play them in position and waiting till you flop to them.
BIG PAIRS.
AA- obv in a class of its own but a lot of money is lost with this hand online every day. Post-flop, its difficult to play, period. Unless you flop a set to it, or the board comes 3 flush cards with your Ace, I prefer to play it slowly against a good player. The trick is to keep the pots small when you are unsure whether or not you have the best hand or not, but maximise it when you know you are winning. Always raise 3*the BB whenever you raise imo if you are 1st to enter the pot in a LATE POSITION (ie cutoff or Button). You should be confident enough in your post-flop ability to not have to overbet. The only time you should overbet is when there are a lot of limpers and you get AA in the blinds. Because your bet could spark a series of flat calls, raise the full pot, or more if the stacks are very deep. Basically, if you think a few will call with small pp’s, then you want to negate their implied odds. They will hit a set 1 time in 7. So make sure that they are getting 5-1 on their money if they want to call. That way, you have done your job as far as Slansky is concerned as they have made a mistake.
If there has already been a raise, re-raise. Always. And make it healthy. If there has already been a raise and a re-raise, shove. Simple really. If a tight/solid player Raises big on the button/cutoff and you are in the blinds, shove also. There is a good chance they will think you are loco and cal with QQ/KK. YOU DO NOT WANT TO PLAY AA out of position with deep stacks, simply because the hand is too easily married and hard to lay down to a (good?) maniac.
Tricky flops. Ok. So you have raised 3*BB with AA from the button and got 2 callers, the BB and an EP limper. You have $360 and they have $180 and $80 respectively. This will happen regularly when you are equipped with the tools you need. There is $17 in the pot. Flop comes JJ4 rainbow. They both check, you bet (and it should always be 2/3- full pot in situations like this where you took the lead preflop) $14.
1 caller. Ok, now we have to weigh up his hands. Could have a Jack, could have 44, MOST LIKELY has a pp between 44 and JJ. On the turn, a King, he checks. Bet again, try and price him but really find out where he’s at. Pot is 45ish, bet 20 (note you can do this on this board because there are no real draws, normally it would be larger). He calls again (At this point you have to seriously consider he has a Jack, as he would most likely think you have an AK (the hand that most players put a preflop raiser on)). River, 7. On the river the pot is $100ish. If he bets small, call anything up to about $20. If he bets big, fold. A lot of players play trips by using the big "bluffalike" bet on the river. If he checks, check behind ALWAYS when you are unsure where you are on the river.
Ok, a different scenario. You re-raise preflop and get a call from a solid, tight aggressive player. You both have $300. Flop comes J107 with 2 spades. You don’t have A spades. He bets the full pot into you, ie $50 into a $50 pot. Now you have to evaluate whether or not you are up there. He doesn’t have AA/KK because he would have re-re-raised. He doesn’t have AJ because he wouldn’t stand a large re-raise preflop. Same with KQ/KJ. He either has QQ/JJ/1010 or 77. Against a weak player you would re-raise here and freeze out his odds on a draw. But a quality player isn’t betting a flush draw In this spot. He thinks he’s winning. Which means that although sometimes you may fold the winning hand, you should fold AA. He is saying he’s prepared to go broke on the hand, believe him. If he is a mediocre player, probably you should just shove and pray, KNOWING that you are going to lose a good proportion of time, but beat AJ/KJ/QQ enough to make the play worthwhile. These situations really require a lot of feel.
OK, different situation. You get AA and raise preflop. 3 callers. Flop comes QQ10. Bet big on the flop, but shut down if you don’t win it there. As you were the preflop raiser, callers have to think you have a strong holding. Unless a weak/short stack calls you, lose no more with the hand.
Hope that was fun and some of you might pick up a few ideas. GL all.
Oh, tomorrow, kings, I can hardly conceal my excitement ;)
This is going to be the start of a mammoth NL cash game series, you have been warned.

Given the amount of time iv been spending thinking about MTT strategy and fold equity/survival dilemnna (sp?) i have been reading a lot of 2+2 threads. Here is a cracker.


Understanding that every situation is one long stream of events, and the results of any single hand mean nothing in the long run isn't enough. Because of Gamblers Ruin(cannot recover from zero(MTT'wise) you are forced to recognize that each situation is independent, and have to be results oriented for that hand. It is counter-intuitive to make a move based on one situation, rather than 100s of thousands similar situations, but because you cannot recover from zero, there has to be a plateau in each situation that you can recover from. my words in red.

Funnily enough, after this he goes on about creating valid models....which is where i stop agreeing because you cannot "model" a solid player who is playing loosely around the bubble trying to amass chips, or the maniac who just lost $500 on his cash table and will call with any 2. The words in bold hold true to me.

Andy Ward has written a recent article reagarding short stack management. Very good read.
IMO basing too much emphasis on chart-like all-in manouvres doesnt give enough respect to your opponents.

A big congratulations to Dave "the Artist" Halfacree. Who took down the Swansea £20 last night. His run is phenomenal. 5 podiums out of his last 7 tournaments with 3 wins. Highly impressive and a cracking success rate. His style is Ungar-like and he is more than happy to re-raise with junk if he "knows" you are good enough to fold. Similar to Mr. Ward me thinks.....

Last night was fun, played a lot of tournaments then went back to my cash games staple. Spoke to a few cracking players last night who all agree the fields are getting softer in the MTT's. Far less solid play about and far more aggression. Portfolio, <>, LuckyCU and svelin have all had cracking results lately.

GL all. Footy tonight. I have a large bet with Artist that i can get a better 6-pack than him by June next year. p/s im winning ;)

This is how to be classy. Good reminder next time your get sucked out on in your local comp to be this cool. youtube.com/watch?v=uyAj0ZygG80
What a legend.

Having a major rethink about hourly rate. I keep wasting loads of cash on weeknight tournaments when i should just play cash game hit and run sessions where i make money 90% of the time and good money too. Ill save my MTT's for Sunday's. Also going to stop the smaller buy-in events online as they are just a waste of time. Large fields, poor prize money. Im definitely upping my game lately and taking bigger risks to make more profit and stack people. I get dealt 99 last night and there is a standard preflop raise form another player and a flat call from myself and another player. Flop comes 9AA and original raiser thinks for a bit then raises small. This stinks of an AK. I have $400 and so does he. I just shove knowing he has to call with AK or AQ as he wouldnt expect someone to come out betting hard on this flop and thinks i have a smaller ace. THEY BOTH CALL. One has AK, one AJ. $700 for me :)

Really going to start puttin ghte hours in. I reckon i need $12k to play 2/4 NL. And im close ;)

:( No Warsaw for me. Had a fantastic starting table. 1st hand AKspades. 1 lag raise from MP i elect flat call on the button. Flop Q89Spades. I get bet into and because he wont know whether im chasing or completed i flat call hoping he bets his Queen on the tunr also. Another player (horrible) also calls. I raise a small amount when he predictably bets the 4hearts on the turn and the other guy doubles me up chasing a King high flush draw.
That was nice.

After that, 0 playable hands. I made one big bluff with A7hearts after a preflop bettor checked a raggy flop to me. Then nothing, no cards, nudda.

Ah well.

Finally going to try a satellite for the Grand Prix. Im a bit late and to be honest i should have put more effort in but with a little luck ill do it tonight. £100 rebuy @ Luton and ill go for 2 buy-ins max as it pays out on a % of players basis.

Play the players, play the cards. If i can do that ill have a seat locked up by 111pm and press the sit out button while enjoying at Corona at the bar ;)

Also, as a side note, what a fucking dick Bush is for demanding action wrt Korea's Nuclear testing. Hypocrisy is rife. Remember this guy broke every human rights law going with the opening of Guantanamo Bay- oh and the whole Iraq/Oil, Lebanon/Israeli support, Afghanistan/911 witch hunt fiasco's that have occured. And someone hasnt shot this guy yet?
Madness.

Made a nice omeback last night clearing $1000 profit in about 4 hours without a single tournament cash. Tournies were dire, misplayed an AK and lost all my chips in the 60k tourie. Cash games were excellent however and i had some exceptional luck to runner runner a full house against a made str8 for $600.

Ah well, variance payback i guess.

Bollocks. Had to come sooner or later. Took a big hit last night and a major downswing. Lost 2 key pots and got hit. :(

Going to dodge the Gutshot £500 freezeout. Went out last night for a mates birthday and had a few too many. I dont feel too good and i wont give my A game whilst tired. Played the Artist HU last night which was good for £175 ;)

Might play Tomorrow night at Luton or might just fuck about online. Not sure really. In a blissful state of melancholy that can only be truly apreciated the night after a heavy night out with the traditional Saturday hangover.

Congrats to Snoop who made a final table at the Gutshot London Masters.

Headline of my paper this morning " Half the worlds surface going to be subject to drought by the end of the century". This is going to be primarily because of Global Warming/Increasing human population/activity. As all poker players consume vast amounts of energy (though tiny in comparison to ppl who jet off round the world- poker pro's/travellers thats a hint..) please consider buying a plot of woodland to help soak up your Carbon emissions. Go tohttp://carbonneutral.com and spend a few quid ensuring our planet has a chance. Its peanuts and if we all do our bit we might just reverse the trend.
Believe me, we are gonna fuck this planet up real quick unless intelligent people start thinking and acting responsibly.

Rant over, but Global Warming is getting as sick as perfect runner runner

Ok, this is horrible, so if you cant be arsed with another bad beat story, piss off to one of the other 8 billion poker blogs out there. I make final 2 tables of the 20k GTD. My stack is 120k, CL has 300k, average is 80k and im 7th in Chips.

Very 1st hand in after the break i get bullets under the gun. I elect to limp as there are 2 short stacks round the back who might have a pop. 2 other limpers and the SB completes. Fooking brilliant. I tell myself that unlesss the flop comes really really ugly im gona shove 100k into a pot of 38 on nearly all unpaired flops. Board comes a bit rough, but not too bad. 5h7s9s. I shove, get folded to button, who insta calls for 95% of his chips with what i think has to be a set. But no, this guy thinks calling 100k to win 40k with AJspades is a wise move. He duly rivers a straight.

Bah. Then i get peppered in the chat box, "thats the price you pay for limping with Aces"..."He deserved it, he should have raised preflop". Wow, talk about salkt in the wound. Im annoyed coz if my hand holds true i have 280k and can secure myself podium fairly well. Then i can play the Gutshot 500 event this saturday, but oh no, one of our lop-eared freinds has to go and make the play of a lifetime and donk me out of the tournament.
Of coure the guy is exstatic (sp>?) but so frustrating because the guy isnt gonna win the tournie, he isnt gonna podium, infact as i watch he calls all-in with AQ v AK for 1/2 his stack.
But he will tell his freinds the story about how he flopped the "nut flush draw with 2 over and think his play is sound". Dont know why im annoyed, not even sure im that big a favourite...i assume he has 9 outs + maybe 1/2 for runner runner str8/Jacks so im about 62%.

Balls. So near yet so far. Looks like Winnie the Poo's best mate will win the battle, but not the war.

Tip of the Day. Dont play Cash games unless ur game is rock solid. Period. Iv seen some kids lose a lot of money lately on tilt.

Went out last night to wirk on my live game at the rookie night @ Luton. How can you beat muppets? I re-raise a raiser (who had a fair few chips..5k) in the rebuy stages with KK, he re-pops it and i instacall. He has A10 and spikes an Ace on the river. Next hand, i have A4h and have a few thousand again after some donk donated to me. Flop comes with 2 hearts, 9103. Original raiser bets, i elect to flat call, rtb goes all-in, original raiser re-raises all-in, im getting the odds and call. RTB raiser has KJ for oh, lets see...a funky draw for 2k in chips when the preflop pot is 150. Original raiser( A10 man) had J6h and spikes a 6 which holds for the side pot. :)

Later on a rookie woman who was as useless as an inflatable dartboard bets into 4 ppl with Quad Queens on a board of QQK when there was a preflop raise. Someone asked her why she didnt check and she said she thought she had the best hand. Never again am i going to this. I dont think im going to learn much, although i have a couple more tells nailed/ updater a few players/ chatted to some buddies.

Going to work tonight, gonna make $1000 and freeroll my way into the gutshot £500 main event. hopefully....


gl all

Bollox. Just went to Luton and to my horror the cash machine said i had insufficient funds. Went to bank and i didnt realise A) how much i have spent (booked 2 hols for me and the missus and B) thats funds have not gone into my account yet.

So having no money, i left quickly before i could nip anyone (£100 is a bit too much for me to borrow off anyone im not very familiar with).

Mighty annoying. Sunday evening was just as bad, online made final 70 on the 20k, then some donk made a shit move and got lucky (kinda ;) ).
50k was just on a really tought table medium/short stacked for eternity and a bluff re-raise on a scary board was snapped off very easily by an opponent.

I now have 2 chances for the Grand prix, on Blue SQ this weekend, and Luton next Monday.

Going to attempt to make £500 this week online and if i do, ill play the £500 NL freezeout @ Gutshot this weekend. GL all, and congrats to Ben Grundy.

Trying to keep my feet on the ground but im itching to finish my contract and get stuck into playing online poker proffessionally. I have 2 ways of playing cash games ponline at the moment. The safe way and the loco way. The safe way just sees me playing textbook ABC poker and works really well on weekends and between 6-8pm. On weekday evenings after that time the method that works best it the megalo/advertiser- because the oposition bets better. Once you have convinced them that you are an absolute moron (as cheaply as poss) slow down and watch the money come flowing in.
Some really shit players everywhere i look. The re-raise all-in overbetting the pot *2 with a flush draw is a priceless thing of beauty. Having these ppl river me doesnt bother me. I know the money is staying in the poker community ;)

Massive Sunday lined up. Been to the gym this morning, played footy for a couple of hours, made $700 in about 1.5 hours and going gutshot in 2 minutes. Im playing a heckuva lot of tournies with the artist and we should get a result or 2. Tomorrow night im playing the £100 PL satellite to the Grosvenor Grand Prix @ Luton.

If we get knocked out eraly, never fear......we shall go on the piss instead ;)

gl all.

Tip of the day. Playing Aces preflop after a raise in a cash game. Deny your opponent the correct implied odds to call with a smaller pair. If he has a brain, do this- ALWAYS.
If you are facing a large raise preflop when holding AA agaisnt a tight player, shove. Tight players always think that you are some moron with Jacks and usually call with QQ and nearly always with KK. It works really nicely if your opponent is solid.