Played well this evening, did everything in my power to get a result, but sometimes you know its not meant to be. I have to learn to fold JJ preflop if a tight player raises deep in an MTT. Its just a losing play % wise to go with the hand. Made 2 minor cashes in the smaller tournies. All of the majors went tits up. In the 75k i made a real hash of it late on and am still kicking myself for a couple of my plays, namely a lay-down where i was getting 4-1 on a river bet. All i had was AK, but i think it could have been winning.
In the UB i lost back to back races, one with QQ v AK ai preflop and then lost with 55 v AK when i was semi-short stacked. One day i will win 50% of my flips in this comp and eat up the field (who for a $200 comp are pretty pathetic), but it will have to wait.

Just logged a 4 hour cash session clearing $1200 in profit. That should go some way towards forgetting the £7 a pint i paid in Copenhagen for beer! I dont normally give a toss about money but listen to this. 2 hot chocolates in the centre of CH cost 270 Danish Krona (sp?). Thats about £27. Daylight robbery (ironic, as they only have 5 hours of daylight in December).

Must also regale a mildy amusing tale. Woke up on Saturday morning, went into the bathroom for sss (shower, shit, shave) and caught a glimpse of my back. It was covered in some kind of funky tattoo, like a spiders web all-over. Upon closer inspection it was biro. Turns out the missus had got so peeved with me fidgeting/snoring that she decided to do dot-to-dot with the moles on my back. Cheers love.

Not sure what im gonna do this week. I should really forget tournaments as its cash where i make my best roi, but i love the thril of MTT's and (naiively) think im a good player. However, tournie after tournie is making me come round to the fact that maybe, just maybe, im not very good at all.
Having said that i could well be venturing to the Sportsman tomorrow night for their £250 Freezeout. It sounds like fun....and what do these old farts know about poker anyways?

Tip of the day. Infact, im not very tired so ill spoil you. When making a desperate last stand when short stacked in an SnG/MTT, dont go all-in. Reserve a small portion of your stack. This makes the raise look like it wants action and gets more respect. BUT PLEASE DONT FOLD later in the hand.

Also, read Antonio "theMagician" Esfandiarii's (sp?) piece on NLHE in WPT magazine. Real quality stuff that i thoroughly agree with. In particular is the idea that information should always be garnered asap in a hand. For example, say you call a preflop raise in position with 1010. The flop comes 67J and opponent bets into you. Now this could be a continuation bet with AK/AQ or it could be a premium pp and the bet is to protect the hand. If he is a cash game lag player, 89 or 45 could be in his repetoire. Raising NOW is the cheapest and most effective way of getting the information you need. He will fold most trash, you dont allow free cards..and (best of all) sometimes he will fold a winner (J9/J10) plus you define your hand. It also gives you the momentum in the hand, useful if you want to take the pot off him later if a scary card comes.

Also, for you cash game players out there getting nailed by super aggressive players who always seem to have posiiton/cards get this into your heads. Re-raising and check raising are techniques which work bets against super aggy players. Also, now and then try a check raise bluff, but make sure the amount is biggish (pot-sized). This will stop them from pegging you as weak/tight/passive and outplaying you every which way.

A really interesting fact that Antonio discusses is slow-playing and why he never does it. Without boring you on the detail look at this example. Say you hold 109 and the flop comes 678. Say an opponent has 88 in the hole. He bets into you. If you slow-play this hand post-flop there is a real danger that a danger card will come on the turn and totally kill your action. If a 4,5,9 or 10 comes on the turn, Mr.Set wont give you a dime. Also, a straight is not the nuts when there are 2 more cards to come ;)

A last note on keeping book on players. This is proving immensely useful. Watch how many tables they play. I play loose/aggressive on 4 tables at once, but nearly every other multi-tabler on the cash games i work on plays ABC solid. And around 90% check their monsters on the flop. If a rocky player who I see is multi-tabling 4 tables at once raises......guess what.....i fold unless i have top premium (no AQ hands here) or hands that play really easily post-flop (middle pocket pairs are easy as long as you adhere to no set, no bet). Dont EVER give these players action.
If a rocky player re-raises someone then checks on a rainbow board, top set is nearly always your answer.


gl all, keep grinding, keep reading, keep learning.