Shit. Just had a session and someone turned on the doom switch. AA v KK twice ai fucked, then a sick 400BB pot with me betting out (pot) a flopped underfull, like 44 on a KK4 board after solid player limp called my preflop raise from MP. Turn comes 7 and it all goes in. whats that, 77, nh wp sir. FFS. Does my brain in as he is the type of numpty that need s a 7 to fall to make any money regardless of my hole cards. As in i fire again on any turn/river greater then a 9 and he folds. Got looked up by a lot of donkeys today but its my own fault. Tried 2 huge bluffs in particular and got looked up by Begovic with 2 pair on a 1 card str8/ 3flush board where every single draw imaginable came on the river. He blocker bets, i time down and shove (im pretty sure he cant have the backdoor str8 or the flush) and he times down before heroing. Entire table goes on about "that was obvious nikinblinds, such a bad bluff". I tell them something i shouldnt repeat. Not hugely disheartened but i dont want to start losing again. After a record week last week i feel good but poker and variance are fickle beasts which have no masters and no mercy.

Might post some of the odd hands at the end of the weak for you to check out, im a bit frustrated with my all-in luck ATM but im also giving waaaay too much action to nit type players who just aint got the kahunas to bluff which equates to the fact that you should always fold if you cant beat a v.strong hand. I know this, yet still i try to make em fold. LOL.

Found another uber-nit who you shouldnt give any action to whatsoever also ppl. Guy was a rude bugger tbh so ill tell you not to give FishBullet any action without the immortals. I swear his win$ @ showdown is like in the 70's. Nit king.

Think i need a break from online so prolly gonna go Luton tomorrow for my fave lil comp. Always good fun and good banter and it will be nice to relax aka donk off. Nice steak dinner and a fun table should be a decent change from the norm.

:)

Had a fun weekend tbh. Went out to visit my Uni mates at Alistairs new gaff in Tumbridge Wells on the Saturday and (in the words of Amatay) got totally ball-bagged. Have now decide to not drink again (proper lashups) till March. I need a break and its really unhealthy when i get on it. But it was really good fun and i managed to broker a drunken deal with Al for him to transform this blog into a site.
So over the next few weeks we shall be sorting out the layout and stuff before moving onto my own domain complete with proper commercial bullshit (baby has to pay the bills ;). Should be good as he's pretty handy with website stuff.


Suzanne has left today to start her police training, she was a little nervous but im sure she'll be fine. Im still a bit apprehensive of her joining the fuzz as she's quite fragile really but hopefully the training will toughen her up. I think she has the potential to be a cracking p.o. Gl babe. Also on the news front a huge shoutout to Seb who calls me up today to tel me he's getting married! woop woop! Im to be joint best man and get the speech instead of the stag do (matt you swine im not going to the Tenerife). Pretty nervous already but ill sort something out.


RUNNING HOT!!!!!! No doubt about it, i have been super lucky all week.

Poker this week has been a swinger, but i came good at the end, despite losing a lot @ 5/10 when i was too tired to think straight. Got into one or two arguments with the 2+2 know it all as they talk such utter bullshit so much of the time. Im just so unconvinced by nearly all of 2008 conventional 2+2 thinking. It just doesnt make sense to me how they can be so adamant and convinced of their own authority when what they are advising a lot of the time is utter spew. Typical advice just slates the OP and nearly always disagrees with how op has played. They do my head in but i play a lot of them now and im glad that their thought processes are spreading. Ill stick with bet bet bet unless opponent shows me that plan wont work and live with it. I know being so aggro is super exploitable but SO FEW REGS ACTUALLY ADJUST. They keep limp/cold calling pre then folding to the 1st but more often the second bullet. I find it quite funny. And then once in a while they check raise or min re-raise and guess what, i fold! Simple lol.

Turning made hands into bluffs, betting for information, changing your represented hands on later streets and narrowing ranges. These are some of the comments that always start up huge arguments and i guess thats why poker is so special, there is no right and wrong.



Made a decent chunk this week, looks like Vegas could be on the cards if i get a tournament hit/ keep winning. 2008 FTW. Lets hope it will be a very good year because the signs are promising from what iv seen in January. Just played another session and im really happy with my game at the moment. Feels like even when i play a hand terribly it doesnt matter as im just freerolling from some aggro bluff i pulled earlier. I still stack off way too light to nit check raisers until i have got the notes and adjusted otherwise, basically im so scared of people actually trying to play back at me that i keep them super honest and call light to put them off. Also have started playing too many tables at a time which is a huge leak but i just want to be certain that im gonna win the 10k challenge. Ill cut down and table select better when January is over. Would be a nice thing to qualify for on a number of levels.

Here's a couple of hands for you to giggle at. Firstly, check out this for a sexy mofo. I still cant believe he calls my turn craise with A8! ROFL. I adore these hands multiway, havent had many lately but when you are bluffing a lot and then have this you get paiiiiiiidddddd.


www.pokerhand.org/?2008612

And how about this for a dodgy play. I do this a lot against some ppl and never against most. Utter spew but i fancied it works a lot. Not advocating this at all btw, its pretty horrendous play buless you have gd read on oppo. Calling his flop monster bet i have to be super strong in his mind after flop 4bet. JJ/QQ are folding now :) govii thinks im good (lol if only he knew) and when he starts to put me on a range on this flop its hearts, sets and AA he's narrowed it to.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2008668


Sry guys about the HH's, i cant get the links working for whatever reason. Copy and paste it is then.

Ok, 5am and i need to sleep. Got a coupld of goals, but im gonna try and clear 20k sterling by March. Its deffo doable, i just need to pull my finger out and put the hours in when im in the zone. Also prolly need to play a lot more 5/10 opposed to 2/4 but we shall see. 2/4 is so redic soft that i think ill stay for a bit longer just to cash in. But when players like DntCryPlz are on the 5/10 tables its hard to imagine how they are'nt dead money. NN ALL.

Brighton, meh. Was really good fun meeting up with the UK poker circuit good guys and also bumped into my Inside Poker boss Alun Bowden (at the bar, where else?) and had a good crack. If im honest with myself i prolly spent too much time jollying it up drinking gallons and being a socialite than actually playing great poker. One highlight was chatting to Julain Thew, such a genuinely nice bloke, actually came over to say GL whilst we were walking down on day 2. Real role model for the youngsters of today. Also great drinking with Rutter, Romanello, Carter, Atkin, Rudders and a few others that i apologise for forgetting.

Anyways, the comp. Felt really focused but there was no dead money on my starter.

Hows you like this for a starting table, Dan Carter, The bookie, Ray Wyre, Praz Bansi, Adam Stoneham (Sunday mil winner), Mick Mccool and some other chap i know is good from Gutshot/Bishops Stortford.
1st hand i play i raise on button with 88, Gutshot boy rr me a chunk and i flat. Flop comes J99 and he fires out a cbet. I am now 90% on his hand as AK as its 2 flushing and the bet looks so weak. Call. K on turn, check check all the way, AK wins 1.6k off me marvellous. Felt like i was struggling all table tbh, no spots, no donkey moves pulled on me, just a grind. Also, that Adam Stoneham is vv good.

Sadly my Day 1 was so super tough all day long that i never really got a break, the highlight was limping with Ks4s in the SB (along with 1/2 the table) and seeing a As2s3h board come down @ 100/200. Some guy bet out in MP to 600, some chap called, Praz made it 1600 on the button and i figure im +EV here even if Praz has a set (i only have 7k total). Luckily they all pass.

HAd a minor rush when i got moved to a table with Dave Lloyd and Jeff B when i doubled up QQ v JJ of Jeff and AA v 1010 of Lloyd. Then Josh Tyler sits down with a huge stack and floats me in position with 23s. Nice. Finished on 20k.

Day 2 i play a funny hand. Blinds 600/1200 and m8boy limps utg after i saw him go to fold. I make it 5k on button (22k total) with AQ and he calls. Flop comes 1010J and it goes check check. 10 on turn so i cant even bluff a thinker anymore and it check checks again. 8 on river and he bets something pathetic and i fold. Not sure about that hand.

Then open shove 15k with AA and some guy tanks for 7 mins before passing AJs. And then the exit hand. M8boy who had been active opens for 4kish on cutoff and i have 20kish and 77. I am pretty sure this is ALWAYS a push but in hindsight there was a tiny shaking hand tell that i should have paid more attention to. I shoulda got him talking Romanello stylie. He insta's with AA and its goodnight Vienna. Really aggravated that i didnt get any proper setups but i know the problem was i wasnt playing aggro enough. I know i got squeezed by Mr. Carter on table 1 at least twice. Next time i will be totally aggro and for for the big stack early.


Cash has been good to me this week, made about 5k so far and we havent had Friday night yet :). Also image is phenomenal especially after Hafaia and a couple of other regs saw me 3bet jam 104o pre. Been totally smashing them the last 2 days tbh and its great that they never have any idea where they are. Mainly because i play so randomly donkishly with and without the goods. My fave this week was getting a guy ai 200BB deep with 44 v my QQ on a Q78 2 heart board, i have QQ. LOLLERSKATES. Happy with how things are going and i dont mind losing a lot of big pots as long as i win a lot of bigger ones. One thing iv really noticed is how bad regular decent players are at maxing value from their hands. Its wonderful that they make $50 where decent lags make $200. Got tilted for the 1st time in ages last night, by a Frenchie of course. The missus wasnt happy when i randomly started shouting obscenities while she was sleeping.

Off to visit some Uni mates this weekend which is annoying as i would have played the Luton ME where i really need to start winning some events. Ah well, Springfest it is then. Have unusually decided to play the Sunday majors this week to give myself a break and pay some donkament poker, hopefully i can find some decent 6Max tournies too, if anyone knows of any please feel free to comment. Oh, and Argy from CounterStrike, i will buy you into Sunday Mil you nipping tard, but only once.

chow.

Oh i do like to be beside the Seaside. Off to Brighton tomorrow.Really looking forward to it, gonna have nice day out walking about with Suz, before getting a nice bit of grub and my head well down before annihalating (sp?) the field. Will prolly be in serious mode with headphones on as i know i give away too much when im not focused. Hoping the field will be nice and soft and an early double up will give me the confidence (insurance) to have a good stab at this. My 1st outing on the back of the BlueSQ live fund so i hope to do well for them, if i won 100 grand i dont think id worry about having to give them 20 :)



Mr AlexRoss, you can sleep easy, ukgamblingforums.co.uk has been linked up, i told you id get there in the end m8 ;). And nice play you fish! I should have called that 44 bet. If id known it was YOU i woulda lol.

Luton was fun the other night. Came 5th in the end. There was this one guy who i had tried to bluff about 4 times before and he just wouldnt fold. So obviously in a battle of the blinds i 3 barrel him with air. The final bet, which looked super strong, was greeted with the line "great bet, however" and i knew what was coming. "Whats that you have sir? Third pair, nice call." So i got totally pwned, i was a bit rude and said something like dont go bluffing a calling station Alex, which wasnt meant maliciously, but was out of line. I apologised.

Mr Galloway, cheers for comment, ill tell you what my stats are next time i bump into you. I am wary about putting stats on here anymore as its obv super exploitable. Last night in itself was a complete joke. Lost the biggest pot iv lost in a while after winning the biggest. Both @ 5/10, both in the wee hours. Was up 2kish on the day so decided to take a punt on 2 soft tables. Won a big pot when i call a 3bet with Ad9d pre and it comes 9high 45. Mateyboy pots it on flop and i time down before calling. 5handed my hand is good here too much of the time to give it up. K on the turn and he moves in for 700 into a monkey pot. Arghhhhh. But eventually i figured it didnt add up as unless he has hit trips somehow, he wants to control pot size here and get to showdown cheaply. So it has to be a bluff. Call. He shows 5c7c for air and im good. Yippeee.

I then proceed to get called down by a Frenchie in a big one. When will i learn lol. Should have released but i cant help myself if i think it will work. Flop came J44 and he had taken lead preflop. check /check flop, cr'd Q on turn and jammed ai for just over pot on 7 river. Didnt take him long to call with Jacks eek.

Hope you all have healthy dollops of luck over the weekend. You can follow my crashing and burning @ blondepoker.co.uk in the "live updates" section.

1 time!

Knew it would happen sooner or later. Ran terribly last night. Was tough going all night long, couldnt hold up and couldnt win flips. When i lost AAvKK on 2 tables in the space of 5 minutes i was on suicide watch. But i wont bore you. Also im finding im getting called down a LOT thinner now, so iv adjusted my game to those who think second pair is check/call material for 3 streets. The play was ridic shocking @ 2/4 + 3/6 last night on ipoker, the number of players open limping, cold calling and generally playing check call poker was astounding. Played for nearly 30 hours in the last 48 and have broken even. Tired, grumpy and stressed.

Im a bit frustrated and annoyed to be honest, so ill change the subject and talk you through proper 6-max LAG value betting and hand-reading. Im not really being a know it all, this is a results based-hand after all, but ill let you in on my thought process. Listen close, this took me a LONG time to learn (im slow but keen).


Had a couple of interesting situations last night, including a hand i think i maxd which is prolly the biggest singular difference to my game now to 6 months ago.

Hand1. Villain has been murdering the table for the short while he has been here. I noticed after a river CR with second pair (for value) that he was probably a loose aggressive (good) thinking player. We had tangled a lot with him getting the better of me in a pissing contest. Villain knows im lag too. Villain can think and is prolly a level 3/4 thinker.

GAME #796643992: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-13 05:55:04
Table Cuneo
Seat 1: BeerPong ($459.00 in chips)
Seat 3: Gwendallina ($364.00 in chips)
Seat 5: nikinblinds ($590.50 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: azure123 ($486.80 in chips)
Seat 8: euro200champ ($1 136.60 in chips)
Seat 10: noiq3442615 ($491.00 in chips)
azure123: Post SB $2.00
euro200champ : Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to euro200champ [ X X ]
Dealt to nikinblinds [ HK DQ ]
FOLD noiq3442615
FOLD BeerPong
FOLD Gwendallina
nikinblinds: Raise $14.00
FOLD azure123
euro200champ : Call $10.00

Flop:
[ S5 D8 SQ ]
euro200champ : Check
nikinblinds: Bet $24.00
euro200champ : Call $24.00

Turn:
[ H3 ]
euro200champ : Check
nikinblinds: Bet $58.00
euro200champ : Call $58.00

River:
[ C9 ]
euro200champ : Check
nikinblinds: Bet $150.00
euro200champ : Call $150.00

SUMMARY:
Total pot $491.00 Rake $3.00
nikinblinds: wins $491.00

Preflop, he flat calls from his blind. Not good poker really but meh. No info apart from he doenst have a monster. No AQ or overpair for this bad boy. 1010 is a distinct possibility, but definitely not JJ.

Obv on flop i hit my hand nicely. Only 1 primary draw in the form of 67. He flat calls flop bet, clue no.1 about villains hand.

Turn info makes situation clearer. I make turn bet chunky to facilitate big river bet and (although its going out of fashion) to get real quality information about his hand. Now we know we are ahead when he flats, we would have heard about a set by now and 2pair type hands are non-existent on this board. When he calls the turn i can downgrade 67 as a holding as opponent knows he wont make a huge amount oop v me.

The river is the key part. Thank the lord. He checks. He wouldnt run the risk of me checking behind if he had hit his straight. He craised the river with second pair in another hand FOR VALUE, so i doubt he wouldnt bet out his str8/2pair type hands when we are deep with me showing the aggression. Its worth noting that 2 pair hands on this board are few and far between, only 89 got there legitimately. Whilst its true that the 9 has just arrived for the straight, i could easily have been seimbluffing light all the way from villains prespective. Which adds up to me assessing risk of being Craised to be minimal. Id guess 70% of reg TAG players check behind on this river, because the draw has arrived, villain knows this too and there is a chance of being c/raised. Nonsense, you cross those bridges when you hit them. Also, its a very nitty sort of player that check raises rivers, generally bad cally wally types.


Selling the hand. Whe you bet this river, after betting strong the whole way, a thinking player thinks you have either a monster or air. The likelihood of either makes his mind up. He told me afterwards that my river bet made him certain he was ahead. So his made hand holdings look stronger if i bet, if ur with me, so he is more inclined to call a large bet now than ever. So it has to be QJ or Q10, possibly A8. Valuetown, what can we get for our hand? A large bet looks suspicious and i dont want it to "look" like a value bet, so we go for the max and the plan comes together. Truly great feeling when you know ur opponents hole cards and gain maximum equity. Rant over.


Ok im going to sleep for a bit, then im going to Luton for a chillout and a nice freindly little game of poker at the G luton.

Hmmmm. Im running really really well all things considered. I got bluffed too much tonight and didnt table select too good which im annoyed with. However i got coolered a couple of time and ended up all-in with AQ no pair no draw and was actually a favourite. The hand personally felt really good. I had him 3-betting air and thought he could fold for the extra 200 on the flop, but obviously in hindsight he is pot commited. Stoved it and im a 1% favourite, so shoving was best in an unusual situation. He said in the stack that he thought his 7 or 8 was an out too, LOL, like i dont take this line with real hands sometimes too.

Also ill post Vinny 3-barrel bluffing me like a bastard. I "knew" 44 was good but lacked a little heart. I should have insta'd really as its one of those ones where you use ur brain and come to the right conclusion. Sadly i bottled it, so wp m8.


Valueshove no pair no draw.

GAME #795064803: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-12 02:37:37
Table Olbia
Seat 1: nikinblinds ($456.50 in chips)
Seat 3: PoutsoKefalos ($400.90 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: chirpybrox7 ($699.80 in chips)
Seat 8: pygoc3ntrus ($171.90 in chips)
Seat 10: MarwanChaaya ($390.30 in chips)
chirpybrox7: Post SB $2.00
pygoc3ntrus: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to nikinblinds [ SQ SA ]
Dealt to chirpybrox7 [ S7 S8 ]
FOLD MarwanChaaya
nikinblinds : Raise $14.00
FOLD PoutsoKefalos
chirpybrox7: Raise $50.00
FOLD pygoc3ntrus
nikinblinds : Call $38.00

Flop:
[ D6 S5 C3 ]
chirpybrox7: Check
nikinblinds : Bet $66.00
chirpybrox7: Raise $188.00
nikinblinds : Allin $338.50
chirpybrox7: Call $216.50

Turn:
[ H9 ]

River:
[ HQ ]

SUMMARY:
Total pot $914.00 Rake $3.00
chirpybrox7: wins $914.00

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1927729

GAME #795062992: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-12 02:35:35
Table Townsend
Seat 3: alexr0ss77 ($400.00 in chips)
Seat 5: nikinblinds ($455.00 in chips)
Seat 6: hierkommtdiemaus ($482.00 in chips)
Seat 8: elogin ($889.00 in chips) DEALER
alexr0ss77 : Post SB $2.00
nikinblinds: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to alexr0ss77 [ SK CQ ]
Dealt to nikinblinds [ H4 D4 ]
FOLD hierkommtdiemaus
elogin: Call $4.00
alexr0ss77 : Raise $12.00
nikinblinds: Call $10.00
FOLD elogin

Flop:
[ H2 H9 S10 ]
alexr0ss77 : Bet $20.00
nikinblinds: Call $20.00

Turn:
[ H5 ]
alexr0ss77 : Bet $40.00
nikinblinds: Call $40.00

River:
[ C8 ]
alexr0ss77 : Allin $326.00
FOLD nikinblinds

SUMMARY:
Total pot $476.00 Rake $2.00
alexr0ss77 : wins $476.00


« Hand #1927728


Feel a bit deflated as i spunked off about 2k in profit pretty fast tonight. I should have stopped really as i was bleeding everywhere but i was getting so much action from stations that i carried on. I liked this value shove a lot really.
Whoever said that bs about "the only hand that calls a big river bet is the hand that beats it" (i remember some old fart in Luton telling me this when i first went there) deserves to be shot. That person obviously played in proper poker games where people raised with the nuts and called with nut redraws. Duh.

So mr donkey, you think AK is good for 2 streets showing no aggression, then hit top pair on this board! I got insta-called lol.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1927770


GAME #795044611: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-12 02:15:17
Table Juring
Seat 1: willycc ($536.40 in chips)
Seat 3: Laudrup111 ($571.80 in chips)
Seat 5: nikinblinds ($383.50 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: snetsj ($404.95 in chips)
Seat 8: MarwanChaaya ($400.00 in chips)
Seat 10: Ostepopp1 ($977.50 in chips)
snetsj : Post SB $2.00
MarwanChaaya: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to snetsj [ DK HA ]
Dealt to nikinblinds [ D9 SJ ]
FOLD Ostepopp1
FOLD willycc
FOLD Laudrup111
nikinblinds: Raise $12.00
snetsj : Call $10.00
MarwanChaaya: Call $8.00

Flop:
[ S9 SQ H9 ]
snetsj : Check
MarwanChaaya: Check
nikinblinds: Bet $26.00
snetsj : Call $26.00
FOLD MarwanChaaya

Turn:
[ C4 ]
snetsj : Check
nikinblinds: Bet $60.00
snetsj : Call $60.00

River:
[ HK ]
snetsj : Check
nikinblinds: Allin $285.50
snetsj : Call $285.50

SUMMARY:
Total pot $776.00 Rake $3.00
nikinblinds: wins $776.00

I think tomorrow i might play proper poker and make some money.

Been fairly quiet this week. I quite enjoy the spinup technique for the week as it limits my losses. Also it stops me playing in the tougher 2/4 and 3/6 games during the week when its mainly just tough regs. *1 So basically i play donktastic 100NL and 200NL whilst having a nice cuppa for Monday through Thursday before readying to take advantage of the softer easier weekend money at slightly higher stakes. Don get me wrong, 100NL is in my experience some of the toughest poker to beat, but i think thats just because it took me aggggggeeeeeeees to learnt hat big laydowns are a good thing. I know some good thinking players (longy on blondepoker for example) find the game so much easier (100NL) than me and have like 7bb/100 winrates. My 100NL winrate is 2.3, and thats only recently been increased. And sod you 2+2 mofo's im proud of that. My 1/2 winrate is actually ok at 2.9 (which i can live with over a 400k sample or something) and my 2/4 winrate is 4.5bb/100.



Played a bit tonight (i am going for the 10k BlueSQ challenge still) and ran OK for about 3k hands. I got stacked pretty easily by Hafaia before remembereing why i dont give him any action and also got stacked lightly by some mug who i "knew" had tptk but i couldnt get to fold despite a dream card arriving on the turn. My representation obviously didnt fool the player, who on closer inspection, was Italian. More fool me. Also lost a $1000 pot to a 1 outer with 1 card to come. That was fun. I 3bet dubbledamen w AA to $57 in the BB, he flats, so now i have his range solely on 99-JJ and flop comes AJ10. I lead, he raises, i flat. Turn J. I lead, he jams, i call, 1010 no good officer, except poker gods have a laugh and put the case one out there. Marvellous.


Played Luton G on Wednesday night, after all i promised myself some live warmup before Brighton. Sadly i got utterly smashed on Tuesday night on a random night out in upper street and wasnt my usual self. I think this was to blame for my going broke on the first hand. 4 limpers, i raise AhJh from the cutoff to 275 @ 25/50. 2 called. Flop monotone AJ3. Neither player rechecks their hole cards. Now villains are fairly regular, both non-tricky, both fairly average players. Both check to me, i bet pot, mateyboy 1 passes, no. 2 goes ai. Now in retrospect he doesnt make this move without a made flush. If it was a decent player i would obv snap call but v a probable nit i think i can find a fold here (remember 1st hand of level 1). Anyway i ended up calling and he flips the flush. Will remember that one. Player then proceeded to take more off me by cold calling 600 (my stack 3.5k) with K6, check calling (hereby referred to as cc) on a K67 board. I then did something im learning to do. On the 2 turn, 6 months ago i would always bang it in with my stack. But im getting better at reading and he looked strong. So i check behind. Villain then checks the 3 river and im thinking "Are we in valuetown?". I decide no and check behind only for him to proudly table 2 pair. As tony the tiger says, Grrrrreeeeaaat.
The end was near though. I thought i found a decent spot tbh. Alun (loose, asian, thoroughly decent chap who is one of the nicer regs in Luton)raises UTG to 800 @ 100/200. 3 callers. Im in the BB with Ks8s and 1700 chips. So my thinking is that there's only a few hands that have me in real trouble and im hopeful that Alun will isolate us heads-up, with the dead money this should make it +EV. Obviously he flat calls my jam, as do the other 2 callers. Someone somehwere has a flush draw with 47s or something and thats me gone. I nearly hung around for a bit because there was some good-natured banter involving Mo Muse and a "no blacks" private game that was swiftly countered with a "no whites" game. LOL. I nearly pissed myself when Mo shouts out "but my Nan was White".

And thats all thats been happening. Going down to Brighton with Suz on Wednesday for some sightseeing (and probable shopping) before playing on Thursday. Really looking forward to it and hope to see Flushy, Parker and a few of the other Brightonians before going deep. Anyone who knows me or reads this and sees me down there its Kronenbourg please :)

Will try and play Luton Sunday and Monday to get a bit more practice in, i feel my game needs a bit of back to basics so will try and be a good boy in one of the comps. gg all, gn.






*1 This in itself is controversial. Sure there are a few players that give me headaches, but none that i actively avoid. I mean, when you know Ubiyca and Hafaia are 11 tabling and paying zero respect to you its so easy to beat them its unfair. The moment you get ANY grief just give up unless you have a super strong hand.

Hmmmmm, image/value. Interseting relationship that im sure any game theorist would have fun analysing. Played ok over the course of the "spinup" week, turning 1k into 6.5k overall. Played some good, bad and ugly poker at times.

Highlights were plentiful, made a hero call with A high for $150 on the river on Friday night which felt good. He check-raised the flop then checked the turn, then bet the blank river on a draw heavy flop. Hmmmm so thatt'll be a busted flush draw then. I did actually think about raising incase he had rivered a pair.

Lowlights include last night where i get $500 in preflop 3handed with A9s. Was one of those hands which just took off. Villain was insanely laggy, mainly coz other chap was so bad. I limp button (i like doing random donkish things occasionally), sb nit raises minimum, aggro BB iso-raises (at least thats what i thought he was doing- to get hu in a pot in position against the nit) and i squeeze to $140. SB now flats and villain moves in. Arghhhhhh. Its "only" x more to win y i tell myself and obv i reshove. SB duly folds what he says was 1010.Villain has KK but run better than Linford at the mo and ding an ace on the door card. But that was bad play. Also included in this is flopping a rolled up house v quads and repping trips into a preflop 3bettor who had a nice holding on a AA5 board with 55. My 77 was in trouble.

Im going to be playing Brighton on Thursday but feel my live game is a little rusty so will be playing a bit down Luton over the coming week or so. I really want to work on not talking when I am in a big hand. Also want to work on specific moves against the type of Mcrock's that will be in leg 1 of GUKPT08. But above all i want to win a comp. Havent won one for a while and feel i should take them more seriously. So im gonna, starting from tonight.

Life stuff is pretty good at the moment too. Me and Suzanne are nearing our house fund target and im pretty excited to finally be getting a place of my own.

Hmmmmm, from the frying pan into the freezer. Was running super good for long periods tonight, including winning a $1700 pot @ 2/4 after i outdrew the nuts with a set. Then went into coolerville and was outplayed on several occasions by decent regs. 5/10 was different from how i remember it, with no decent action on most of the tables available. Had no setups or big mumma hands but did walk the second nuts into the real deal a lot. 66 into 77 on a 677 board $1000 deep was not pretty, especially when he leads. Sadly got tilted after some beats/sick spots.

Player "Runiii" (French of course) was a real pain in the a55. The guy was hitting everything on a 2/4 table and effectively tilted me after getting lucky two or three times. I ended up playing this hand this badly against him (Hand 1). I should have shut down on the turn and the river call where im screaming "i can beat a bluff or 78" is one of the worst iv made in a while. The guy was a bit of a station and this is deffo not what i should have been doing. After this and a hand where i folded AA on a 47QQQ board i decided to quit for the night, my heart had faded.

I dont think iv been getting enough sleep the past few days and im a bit stressed about money which is putting me off my game. So i doubt ill be playing tomorrow, i fancy having a beer.

Hand 1.

GAME #785056742: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-05 02:46:24
Table Itumeleng (No DP)
Seat 1: owls0 ($78.90 in chips)
Seat 3: Runiiii ($391.80 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: MrDrakir ($569.30 in chips)
Seat 6: nikinblinds ($750.02 in chips)
Seat 8: Laudrup111 ($895.20 in chips)
Seat 10: noiq3442615 ($400.00 in chips)
MrDrakir: Post SB $2.00
nikinblinds : Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to nikinblinds [ DK SA ]
Dealt to Runiiii [ S5 D5 ]
FOLD Laudrup111
FOLD noiq3442615
FOLD owls0
Runiiii: Raise $16.00
FOLD MrDrakir
nikinblinds : Raise $44.00
Runiiii: Call $32.00

Flop:
[ H6 S6 C9 ]
nikinblinds : Bet $58.00
Runiiii: Call $58.00

Turn:
[ C2 ]
nikinblinds : Bet $122.00
Runiiii: Call $122.00

River:
[ D4 ]
nikinblinds : Check
Runiiii: Allin $163.80
nikinblinds : Call $163.80

SUMMARY:
Total pot $782.60 Rake $3.00
Runiiii: wins $782.60


Hand 2.

GAME #785038472: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2008-01-05 02:25:11
Table Ancona
Seat 1: nikinblinds ($600.20 in chips)
Seat 3: FScottFitzgerald ($377.30 in chips)
Seat 5: pagat4 ($218.60 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: OverCoated ($453.00 in chips)
Seat 8: Laudrup111 ($400.00 in chips)
Seat 10: Amator ($624.00 in chips)
OverCoated: Post SB $2.00
Laudrup111: Post BB $4.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to nikinblinds [HA DA]
Amator: Fold
nikinblinds: Raise $14.00
FScottFitzgerald: Fold
pagat4: Fold
OverCoated: Fold
Laudrup111: Call $10.00
*** FLOP *** [C3 C2 CQ]
Laudrup111: Check
nikinblinds: Check
*** TURN *** [SQ]
Laudrup111: Bet $26.00
nikinblinds: Call $26.00
*** RIVER *** [DQ]
Laudrup111: Bet $65.00
nikinblinds: Raise $170.00
Laudrup111: Raise $295.00
nikinblinds: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $609.00 Rake $3.00
Laudrup111: wins $609.00

On the bright side i am comfortably in the lead for the BlueSQ hands raked race and fully expect to be sidling up alongside (hopefully) the Legend Wernick for the playoff. Check-raising him should be worth £500 at least. Also just finished a review of poker software for insidepoker that was quite difficult but i was really happy with the end product.

Finally found someone on 2+2 that thinks like me.

And im not sure whats up with my blogger/explored but i can no longer link.
So copy and paste this. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=95226
Read what he says and although he is a bit shit when he gets check raised or weak ked into, his thought process is spot on and gets paid. I like the comments too, personally i just think its whiny tags going on one.

Tonight is ripe for me to switch it up i think. Hopefully the ppl who went back to work this week will be online and the regs have seen the BS iv been getting up to for a few weeks. Tonight we cash that image. 2/4, 5/10 and i we run super super goot 10/20. This will be a rude awakening, a donk can play solid 2!!!!!!!!

Ok. Played 2 evening sessions and spun the 1k up to 4.5k pretty fast. Just played another shit load but got a bit too cocky and lost $400 overall after getting up to 6.2k
Back on 4.1k now and will be playing this evening. Got so close to the legendary $2k stack @ 1/2 today with a 1650 stack and play that was getting "he must be cheating" comments. Sadly had to close it down to free the funds for other tables (aggravating that). Also that was before TeapotXX or whatever his bloody name is tilted me on another table with some of the most odd play iv ever seen with KK, rivering trips (near nuts bar 35 or something) v my flopped trips and then MINRAISING me. This really got my blood boiling, the min-raise crew are so horrendously bad and lose so much value that is offends me when i see it. So i decided a little too late to log off even though i prolly still had an edge, i was timing out on tables because i couldnt type insults quick enough in the chat box. I think im going to go out of my way to bust people who check/min raise me on the turn or river from now on. They do my nuts in. Whats really funny is when they min rr you pre w AA, slowplay AAA on a rainbow dry non-threatening board and you hit the gutshot w 24o on the turn. That makes up for the annoyance and temporarily relieves the stress.

Iv decided to go for the BlueSQ $10k promotion. Basically theres a few ways to qualify for a STT in the Vic worth £500 and most hands raked over January @ nl100 or higher is one of the ways. Well they might aswell send that to me already then :)
Iv conservatively given myself a target of 150k hands for the month (ill be putting in long 1/2 sessions 16-tabling when i know my image is right for harvesting) but at the mo im having real fun with the 2/4 tables as the regs pool seems diluted at the mo and theres only a few i really rate. Overcoated seems solid and a couple of others but most are really spewy and either 3-bet too much and are really spewy or are like 17/9/3 nits who i just refuse to even entertain the idea of playing a non-premium hand with.


Ok, footy practice now and bar 1 stupid ciggie on a drunken New years eve im 6 weeks without a fag, including 2 trips to the Casino and 1 out shooting. Im pleased with myself and hopefully this should translate to more in the tank for those tricky Sunday league fixtures.

Luton G. Went last night for their £100 FO and had a good deal of fun whilst it lasted. Table looked like a grumpfest to begin with before Jeffrey Buffenyank sat down. Had a good giggle from then on till 2 hours later when i busted. 1st hand was fun, i open for 125 utg w 1010 and Lawrence re-pops me to 400, i cal and another random comes in. Flop 1072 rainbow. Obv i overbet the pot, Lawrence folds. Drat, AK it was then. Raised the next 7 hands on the trot, winning one of them. Also got bluffed by Lalits mate Kermit, which i wasnt happy about as i would have called if it wasnt for Jeff behind me, although in hindsight he would never have overcalled.

Next came crunch hand no.1. I raise QsJs from MP and get 3 callers. Standard, they are already banking their doubleup. Flop Jh10s5s. YumYum. I lead out big and get called by reserved indian man who is a total rock and a total gent. Hmmm KQ it is then? Or AJ. Turn comes the marginally scary 7h. Into the tank, no way this guy plays 89 to a raise. Pot bet 1.5k with 6k back, he has 4k total. River 9s. Hurrah KQ got there. All-in, insta call, m8ty has As7s. Not sure about that hand tbh, did i make a mistake somewhere? Someone please spot it and identify it for me please.

So we reloadm dwindle down then get AK in MP after rock opens UTG+2!!!!!!! I hate this but i cant operate properly with only 7k as there are two players with 20k who both think im dumb and i need their stacks to win the comp. I shove and he insta's with JJ to knock me out of another comp. I think i always make that move though. Although probably Folding>Shoving>Calling but its marginal.

Gonna go back there for some of the Grand Challenge fessy comps in a few weeks, after hopefully going to Brighton GUKPT and not having brain farts. Hopefully my FAT new Bose headphones and my Jarhead haircut (only 1 barber open on New years Eve and he obviously hated me) will give me a good disguise to fit in with the native population. Hopefuly bump into a few people i know (except Flushy, i owe him money and he's not getting it :) and have a few beers AFTER going deep.

Anyway, i forgot to mention my challenge for myself this week. Playing 1 account all week what can i turn $1k into playing as many hours as possible. Lets see shall we, anything less than 5k ill be disappointed with, $10k would be great, but im holding out for dreams of 50/100NL!!!!!!!.

Happy New Year all!!!!

Sorry for lateness of response guys, been super buys. Cheers for responses Reevio, SimonG (sorry for not winning the 400 FO(*freezeout - had to edit this as i thought it looked lol) m8) and Baz. Obv these hands are a long way from my normal lines which is why i posted in the 1st place.

Hand 1 was obviously the most contentious. You pretty much all hated the play and most of the time i wouldnt take this line at all. I agree with yall that this is pretty dangerous vs an opponent that thinks about holdings. FWIW i do take this line with made biggish and monster hands sometimes Baz, like AA/KK i might make identical play occasionally, esp if table no longer respects my cbets.

But i dont think my hand is super important here vs a level 2/3 thinker. His hand is what im concerned about. Praise the lord he didnt have Bazclef's hand reading skills at least. Villains line was so super weak that i just didnt think he had a strong enough hand to call me once he flatted the cr on the turn. Obv he doesnt have QQ and Q10/10101 and 44 would see this guy all-in on the turn pretty much always, or at least giving me the ol min raise on the flop.

He looked like pretty weak money and once he "just" called the turn cr i figured he has to have KJ here a huge chunk of the time. The river shove is laying me 2/1 and i thought he could pass some marginal hands also QJ prehaps/ possibly even KQ which made the move ok v this opponent.

These situations are cropping up more and more often and i think that there is a big chunk of the online poker community that gives up repping hands too quickly. The players that cbet flops oop then give up the turn are disgustingly exploitable. Player dependant, 3 barreling is hugely valueable, esp with deeper stacks and ESP if opponent is a non-reg or a shortstacker that has spun up a stack. They tend to get convinced the further you go with the hand that actually he does have something.

Hand 2 was the one that shows how playing the player is vitally important. I screwed it up tbh by not watching villain for long enough. I watched him after this hand and obviously he is one of those customers that gives "valuetown" as his home address. As alluded to in your comments, the 3bet pre was too small. The cbet was too small and my hand-reading skills v this oppo were off. I did think he would fold a 10 here so included that in my shove but shouldnt have made it. Against most 1/2 decent regs i never get in this situation in the 1st place of course, but if i do it works a lot.

Hand 3, meh.


Also id like to talk about advertising here for a moment. I guess that lately iv been woken up a bit to how image affects your game at all times. Not sure if its sensible or not but i have been showing a lot more bluffs to tables lately, but normally the non-standard and fairly rare bigbluffs with air. I dont like showing the semi-bluffs that miss (for obv reasons) but feel that the metagame benefits of showing big gambling moves deffo improves action a whole heap more than when one $200 river shove gets called. SimonG said that he thinks you can give the impression of giving action without actually veering off too far but im not sure if thats the case with 6-max cash anymore. I think you actively need to get people turning off their TV to write "donkey bluffer" in the notes section. I learnt a long time ago that when a bluff goes wrong and you feel aggreived enough to turn off the computer rather than reload, you should stay seated at the table just to allow people to finish off their notes on you. Also there is a school of thought that you have to give action to get action. Regular opponents that play too tight wont get a penny out of me. There are certain opponents on ipoker (Turntable, Dr.Action, Fablouuff) that actually play poker and rep hands/draws and are generally aggravating. But once they know that you are capable of making big moves on them, calling them thin and cr the river w air they lay off you. And then you get to play TAG/WAP fish all on your own without fear of being outplayed. This is worth a whole heap more than half a dozen big bluffs going wrong over the course of the week.