like nuts in a vice

2011-03-23T05:20:00.001Z

New blog is up, location is here

2010-11-25T19:17:00.005Z

Ok guys, looking to signup fresh talent for the uk pokerfarm. Please drop me an email at alexander_martin@hotmail.co.uk ; we will be doing remote staking in the very near future with a phenomenal deal giving upto 90% profits and 25-40% rakeback. A cracking deal for that rare breed, the winning player. Any london-based players are more than welcome to drop into the office and have a looksie, just be sure to give anyone thats losing a really big rubdown.

As an aside, my good friend Robbie apple is doing some stuff to do with that sport involving drinking beer in the sun on sundays. Take a look here for ashes coverage

2010-05-03T02:33:00.002Z

Well april was good overall, mainly because i ran like absolute god. Didnt manage to get that many hands in as spent a week in manchester being a degenerate and being a bit dumb with money. Ah well, only old once. Will be going to vegas with the pokerfarm, hopefully bink something. Should be pretty cool hanging out with some of the pokerfarm guys i havent spent much time with yet, and also be fun hanging with bordy, i think we could be in for some good times. Planning on playing all the 6max comps (except the $25k) and probably the main, although i dont really want to spend more than 3 weeks out there. Some other good stuff coming up including notts ukipt, gonna be sticking in a couple of guys from the office that deserve a little shot at a decent chunk. Feel a bit drained and pokered out, training guys to beat 50 and 100nl is pretty tough, given 6max holdem is played to a disgustingly high standard nowadays, at almost all stakes. Wish i still had that bet to take v padraig parkinson, would be a pretty easy $10k imo.

Having some real issues getting hold of a house close to the office (borehamwood), for some reason they wont accept 4/5 20-something y.o guys with no proof of income. Even if we will pay 6months upfront. Seems a bit crazy to me, but if anyone reading this can help me out, ill be much obliged. Want 4/5 bedroom nice houses in barnet/edgware/bushey/mill hill are, paying £2.5-4k pm. So looks like im gonna take a holiday in a couple of weeks, not sure yet where im going, might treat my mum to somewhere nice and just lounge on a beach for a week. Seeing sunlight again might be a bit of a shock to the system though :)

2010-04-07T21:45:00.004Z

March ended up beign pretty decent overall, didnt play that many hands but ran ok and had some nice sessions. Dropping 5k us on the last day wasnt ideal but w/e we can log it as a metasession. Alltold it was a good month and i fixed some smaller leaks and was a bit more player dependant with some of the line i took.

With regards to the uk pokerfarm, we are about to go massive. I mean huge. Once the pokerden airs (i believe sam trickett and possibly the anti-hero fullflush will be wearing our logo's) we will launch the website and forum and hopefully be inundated with applications from guys that want to be part of a seriously buzzing poker office and syndicate. should be pretty sweet. anyways, for the purposes of a record and some minor self pat on back ill record my results for this year in all their honesty on this blog. With a little luck we can run like the sun for 2010. Havent got round to formatting hem yet so these results are in euro's.

also massive congratulations to mr James Mitchell for shipping the IO, great result for a great guy that needed a break and has one of the best tournament games in the uk. well done son. Also well done rob sherwood on a great final and shipping the sole survivor, prolly one of the most established and successful online pro's around. grats, mbsfn.

2010-03-17T03:47:00.002Z

ok, so time to dish the dirt. Im running the london office of the uk pokerfarm. The website isnt quite up and running yet but the domain is thepokerfarm.com

The aim is to get hold of as many young, keen guys as possible and train them through the ranks. We have 15 players at present in the uk, but will be moving to a top spec office just before vegas, which means we need players. Lots and lots of players. The deal we are offering is better than anything else out there. Believe me i know how generally terrible staking deals are for the player. These deals are player dependant, but are amazing. I will be buying a place shortly close to our office (all poker is undertaken in-office, with only 1 remote player (v special circumstances) so if u want to live, eat and breath poker, email me on here.

Off to ept snowfest on weekend with a little fucking degen (no not u reynolds) so will hope to bink something, but mainly just going to get away from it all and do some thinking. Got a lot of shit going on in my life right now and working nonstop is taking its toll on me. Need to get those attractive in a weird way looks back.

Anyhow, im having a sick month, pretty sure im on a heater but still happy. Im kinda being a bit nitty with table selection, but iv set some new goals for this year. Namely, i want to win $300k and sustain a 10bb+/100 winrate at 400nl+. Pretty sure these are well within my sights, so lets see how we dooooo.....(graph in euros, im allowed a fucking brag once in a while seeing as cody just won a fucking ept, lewis is getting the lot without lifting a finger and moorman and pabs love circle encompasses just about every major score on every sunday ever.

2010-03-02T02:36:00.002Z

Update time. Iv left badbeat, many thanks to them for their support and help over the last 18months. Im now being backed by a new enterprise, uk pokerfarm. Iv been given joint control of the uk office, a fantastic staking deal and a great opportunity. We are aiming to become the biggest staking company in the UK by the end of the year and the biggest worldwide by 2012 (inc moorman.inc :P ). With offices in South Africa and Costa Rica, in addition to the london office we are looking for smallstakes and medium stakes nlh grinders to join us. If you think thats you, email me and ill get in touch. Preferably attatch graphs/sites/winrate information also.

If you dont live locally in London, no worries. We are looking to relocate and accomodate players (free accomodation) it it means we will get the grind from a big volume decent player. We are currently working out of a small 15man office, but are looking to move to a 60man office in the coming few months. All staked play is undertaken in-office, a great environment for playing/learning and earning. Most staking deals are 70/30 minimum, with 25-35% rakeback negotiable on winrate/volume etc.

In other news, im having a kinda midlife crisis atm. Not gonna go into it but a combination of this new job and other stresses has led to some heartache, but hopefully life will return to normal in a little while. Also, iv been banned from driving, so ill be wearing cycling shorts in the near future, marvellous.

Last month was decent, my HEM has missed some hands and is in euros, but im reasonably happy with my winrate, if not my volume (euro's so sweeter). Most of this was 400nl on prima, but i got a little bitchslapped at 600nl recently, so will be loading up some hands so i can get a read on (what i expect to be) tough regs. Ill post the biggest pot i lost in the month, which was quite funny imo. Guy was a maniac, but w/e nh :P

***** Hand History for Game 3175755132 ***** (Prima)
$400.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, February 27, 05:27:38 ET 2010
Table Stay Gold 2 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: DiMomento ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 2: jammyjenny ( $1501.19 USD )
Seat 3: kenn213 ( $636.60 USD )
Seat 4: rasmus3908 ( $1561.54 USD )
Seat 5: Xedeck ( $386.50 USD )
Seat 6: Nile ( $406.00 USD )
kenn213 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
rasmus3908 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
Dealt to jammyjenny [ Ad As ]
Xedeck folds
Nile folds
jammyjenny raises [$12.00 USD]
kenn213 folds
rasmus3908 raises [$36.00 USD]
jammyjenny raises [$125.00 USD]
rasmus3908 calls [$97.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2h, 7h, 9s ]
rasmus3908 checks
jammyjenny bets [$155.00 USD]
rasmus3908 calls [$155.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
rasmus3908 checks
jammyjenny bets [$355.00 USD]
rasmus3908 calls [$355.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 9h ]
rasmus3908 bets [$324.00 USD]
jammyjenny raises [$854.19 USD]
rasmus3908 calls [$530.19 USD]
jammyjenny shows [Ad, As ]
rasmus3908 shows [Kc, 9d ]
rasmus3908 wins $3001.38 USD from main pot

2010-02-11T04:13:00.002Z

lazy me. well, hardly, iv been really busy with a new project. Ill talk more openly on here later in the year as i dont want to offend anyone or appear ungrateful or arrogant. pokers been going well, kinda averaging 3:1 in winning sessions to losing on a new site @ 2/4E, but am involved in a new circle with some realy smart guys, working together daily and grinding our nuts off. Kudos to a freind of mine mr reynolds for being able to rake $12k a month playing 100nl. Please find someone on this planet thats not a retard that has a better work ethic.

Ill be sorting out some links, some are redundant and some are crap/broken. I have no idea why i went to the effort of doing that stars blogger thing, seeing as i open jammed every hand in event one and didnt play any of the rest. wp stars, u gg'd me. guess i am a lazy fk afterall....

2010-01-22T03:16:00.002Z

jan update, doing my brains, going back to mtts for a little while as the skill gap is so vast its incred. finalled the 100fo on laddies tonight and the 20r on ipoker for about 2.5, but couldnt close either, 5th in idonk and 3rd in the laddies sit and dont go (such a ridic slow structure i wont be playing that again). Got a pretty good thing going on right now, so hopefully 2010 will be a gr8 year. Also i thought id get involved in this, might aswell, eh?

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Free Poker Download at PokerStars

Registration code: 439211

2010-01-06T03:08:00.002Z

Ok, so gonna do a yearly review, as i was reading Neils blurb the other day about keeping book and i think im generally pretty bad at it.Was a decent year overall, i mean i survived (still havent had the tournament bink to set me up proper obv), moved in to a fab new house, had some nice holidays and stuff so im happy w that.

Cash was a little disappointing tbh, i was happy with my winrate/game but suffered from a sever lack of work ethic and a tendency to tilt at times. When i finally decided to accept advice and move up to 1knl i got bitchslapped pretty hard, running bad and trying really funky spewy lines, which didnt work out so good, which resulted in not wanting to play etcetc. Online donkaments i did ok, Strongbad919 won about 15-20k on ipoker, Jenny won about 20 on betfair, so happy w that. Independant ventures on stars and tilt went terribly, think my stars roi is in the bottom 1 percentile.

Live went really well overall, didnt play a lot of big events due to tight pursestrings owing to the house, but was happy w my play, really happy with my 1k wsope. In the local side of things, i won the luton 2009 league, which was quite cool and of which im quite proud really, guess i won about 20 sterling there last year, half and half in the small 50-200 mtts and the rest in the biggest 1/2 game in the country (on a fri/sun theres about 10k on the table which creates some wickedly fun action). Did my absolutes on drinking/partying a few too many times but meh, young, toning that down now.

In sadder news, insidepoker folded, which for me was a crying shame because of the quality of the mag and the fact that it basically meant that i had a locked on mortgage payment every month. Nevermind, will be trialling some stuff in a new venture soon :P

Coaching i was really happy with, my 1st student mikel ended up progressing really well until he decided poker wasnt his route in life and took a disgustingly well paid engineering gig. Pat on bodog exceeded expectations, so much so he bragged about it here

My other student stijn has postponed his coaching till he graduates (he paid me in full upfront...trusting dutchman, unusual after recent rumours on the uk circuit), but i think hes got the ability to exceed almost everyone i know in 6max (apart from sida obv, sigh).

Moving onto 2010, im gonna grind my fking tits off in a word. Im kinda fedup w the whole staking thing in a way, so will be looking to make a wedge and go fully independant by the middle of the year, possibly on a joint venture with the degen known as adam reynolds (u heard of him here 1st). Iv been approached by a number of people regarding coaching (christ knows why but might aswell stick a finger in another cake) and as a result im almost fully booked for the 1st quarter, which is handy as ill be attempting not to spend any moneybookers $ on dumb 100000 field donkaments on sundays chasing a (very unrealistic) 1 bink dream and instead will be using the money for a well-planned vegas trip (still a vegas virgin). 2010 will be a locked down grind, im gonna emulate some other guys i admire in the uk, mainly upthemariners and clarkatroid, who really put the time and effort in.

Also, this year

2009-12-28T02:22:00.006Z

Right, given im on perma tilt lately and iv decided to get more organised i figured id put this blog to some good use. im setting up my coaching programme for 2010. If u cant make money anymore might aswell help other eh?! :P Nah, i want to branch out as i need more revenue streams given the untimely and saddening death of insidepoker. Im doing 1 month coaching programmes, involving approx 20hours. Fee is roughly $2k and student tailored. email me at alexander_martin@hotmail.co.uk
Im booked up for Jan and Feb (only 2 students a month) so if u want in its 1st come 1st served. Heres some reasonable credentials and a satisfied customer

in other news, im about to write for the racing post, which will be fun. Im also getting pretty prominent on pkr's strategy section and even been approached by a training site. Quite why i have no fking idea, im skint and spewy, but i guess dubai is pretty awesome and he exceeds me in both areas, so i might roll with it. 2009, highlights, i survived playing this poxy games, next year i swear rodney, we'll be millionaries.

2009-12-27T15:52:00.002Z

Guess i should update this. Im still alive and no i havent had to approach for an unsecured personal loan from senor channing. Just been really busy and had a bit of a bad run online. Meh, shit happens. Had a holiday in Bali and my best mates wedding in singapore, which was pretty awesome, ill put some photos up of the venue etc, but it was just crazy. speech infront of 700 people, most of whom were members of the rotary club in the shangri-la was pretty intimidating, but i carried it ok. The reception was great and nice to see a lifelong freind who i get very little time for (him and his missus are doc's living on the south coast).

On the home front, its all pretty rosy, had xmas at ours this year which was pretty fat, dogs doing well and house is looking good again after missus gave it a clean. Didnt get to see as many of my mates this winter as id like, but ill make up for it in the new year.

Pokers been going a bit shit, i seem a little emotionally unstable and ran 20bi under ev over 20k hands on a fresh account which kinda sucked. Wont complain though, still surviving. Will probably be changing things up in the new year, grinding 200nl online fulltime and playing in bigger live cash games/live donkaments where i think the real value is nowadays. right, gtg, cmas hols and i need to secure a year-end payment. merry (belated) xmas and a happy new year to you all.

2009-10-25T02:40:00.002Z

Wow. looks like im finally going to earn some serious money this year afterall. The last month or so has been immense, not sure why but my reads are cushdie and the games have got soft. The new betfair account is golden is appears and the number of idiots on ladbrokes is insane. I think the main reason my results have got so much better is a little more balance, not playing mtts at all anymore, well, sometimes sundays and also bouncing ideas about with my students/mates. I always think how odd it is when you look back at your game say 1 year ago and compare it to what you know now, realise you were a complete spewmonkey and that now you are faaaar better. Does this happen every year? Do you reach a peak or does brunson still laugh at himself for getting involved in 3bet pots with 102o?

Off to Bali with the missus soon, then gonna pop over to vienna for a few days then get back in time for the DTD monte carlo thing, which im gonna win. I really should play a few more of the better live comps, but the harsh reality is they just aint that worthwhile unless the buyin is biggish, field soft and i feel good. Trying to be more professional and look at hourly has left me feeling kinda elated and embarassed. My hourly this year across all sites for cash is substantial. Why my work ethic was so bad i dont know. I guess i can blame moving (1 month+) and blackbelt grading (1month) partly for the lacklustre start to the year, but comparing myself and the hands im putting in to people like alex bowler and clarkatriod and it really hammers home the different requirement in attitude you need to go from a nice standard of living to making chunks.

Been watching 2m2m and i thought it was pretty decent. Brain Hastings voice does go right through me and Emil comes across as a kinda detatched gimp, the last episode when his PA is packing his bags while hes sat on the bed, i swear i could have shipped that euromillions on friday for 56 superdimes and wouldnt be able to be so cold and (it looked) demeaning. Its embarassing, leave the room while shes working....TBH krantz seemed ok but uhoa and ansky was probably the best of the bunch. Hastings voice and AE jones come across really badly. Interestingly, i always liked leggo's strategy segments on 2+2 poddies, but having seen the guy and how he reacted to an argument about reverse implied odds or some shit all i could think was my god what a twat. Thing is you can argue just about anything in poker, there is always a different answer for any different hand, which is why iv been thinking a lot about balancing lately. It seems to me that a lot of reasonable grinders dont understand this point about balancing v regs and going for max exploitation v fish. All they do is go max exploitation v everyone and fuck themselves over by, for example, never showing up with a bluff when they river CR. Dont get me wrong, im grateful, but its gonna be a while before the floodgates open in online poker again and in that 4/5 year gap learning to beat tougher players will be the biggest challenge. With that in mind i was thinking about the whole Akenhead fiasco, how th fuck can u final the wsope main, wsop main and the million. Literally such a huge sick achievement and got me thinking what do i want to do/be eventually. Tbh i think i lack the right ambition, im really not interested in tournament prowess and all the jazz. Maybe ill have to have a crack at it one day, just not right now :)

2009-10-07T12:47:00.002Z

Hi ppl, not much to report, been grinding my tits off, took some shots higher but they didnt workout too well. Nevermind. Going well with my students now, Stijn in particular seems to be super smart and will go really far in the game i think, just started with Pat but signs look promising, found a little goldmine new site too, which is awesome.

Pippa is doing well, growing quite fast i think, cant wait till shes big enough to take out as i can see her getting frustrated being restricted to the house and garden. Not long now before we go after those rats pips!

Gonna post on here that im taking on 1 more student in December (already got my other lined up), my rates have gone up a little as the exchange rate/ my portfolio is stronger, but email me at alexander_martin@hotmail.co.uk if you want 200-400nl coaching. I only take guys for a 4 week schedule, putting in 5/6 hours a week to really get ideas flowing, impart some thought process. I cant justify coaching higher as my winrate is super mediocre (3bb/100), but im 11bb/100 for 200nl this year playing a redline winrate/ blueline flatline 26/21/3 style.

2009-09-22T18:32:00.002Z

WSOPE, played the 1k friday, was a fun comp, as i find trip reports pretty boring to read i wont write one. All ill say is, Ian Frazer wasnt the tv donkey i expected him to be, Huck Seed was incredibly rude, French and Italian people are still at the top of my favourite nationalities to play poker against list and in general live poker is still super soft. Had a fun tournament, met all the usual suspects, thanks to Kerry Taylor for an unwarranted and very generous late night lift home, grats to JP on making the second hurdle on the way to his nickname manifestation and fair play to the organisers in not joining the 10k starting chips brigade. Was fun and deepish the whole way through. I think i busted 65th/700 odd with 62 getting paid or something. Not much i could do with 88 and 17bb, apart from win a flip v AK 1 time all tournament. Think that was the telling part tbh, i think i got outplayed twice, lost 3 coinflips, lost 2 30/70's and held twice as a 70/30. Thats my tournament report. Sigh.

Getting the dog tomorrow, hopefully she wont go chewing through cables and stuff as im running quite good at the moment and could use some consistency. As usual i speak to most of the circuit regs at one time or another at these things and am consistently amazed by how much fucking money they all make. Toasty life. Nobody loses?

Wanting to get a bit more of a spark in my game as i think its getting a little tired, so im taking on two students from 2+2 for 200nl coaching. Think its a pretty good deal for them plus hopefully ill be able to build my portfolio as a coach, plus another revenue stream is fine by me. Some of these coaches charge up to $300 an hour for 200nl coaching, which i understand is probably justified, but i seemed to get a hell of a lot of response after graphing this years results and charging $60/h. Hopefully ill get the 2 guys i want, iv generally found the people that are most keen to do anything are the most enjoyable to spend time with at said activity, so with a little luck ill form up some good relationships and help them make more money.

As it stands im writing a piece for insidepoker on how to exploit shortstacks at midstakes on a cold evening on my own in my glorified shed. :( At least tomorrow ill have my dog as company. Im turning into a sad git. :P

2009-09-10T00:10:00.002Z

And its time again for your quarterly update. I am now officially in our new house, wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Starting to feel like home, but i wonder just how long that really takes? The place looks the absolute bollocks, had a housewarming last weekend with a really good turnout, thanks to all of you that came (especially those of you that left me with loads of beer). I had a great time, burning food, seeing freinds, then obviously getting absolutely blotted with one of my equally best mates, Sebastion mfkin Gray. Was good catching up w the old Doctor, also great to see mates from uni Matt plus especially Al, plus the usual suspects.

Starting to get a bit of a routine, which is quite nice. I dont use the car basically at all anymore, as everyhing is walking distance. Gonna get rid of the old banger soon and get a bike too, might aswell be a bit greener if im gonna rabbit on about it. Im a perfect hypocrite (sp?). Going to the gym daily now (as its only 200 yards away), plus running daily over the common (although secretly i sell it to the dark side of my brain as "fishing reconnaisance missions" as i run tight to the lower river lee, where the chub are gargantuan but there are rumours of big barbel in the weirpool, ill be having a go as soon as we get some heavy rain.....) Not had a cigarette sober in like 6 weeks now, did have a few at the housewarming when we went to Hertford, but tbh i was smashed and i crumble after drink. Enjoying playing poker in the shed, connection isnt amazing though, probably cost me about $300 this week so far in DC's, which is annoying, but iv got the best equipment/service we can recieve, so ill have to build a bridge (and get over it obv, i dont have a clue about actually bridging wireless networks).

Poker been decent of late, iv really lacked focus so taken a decision to play 200nl for a couple of weeks to get hungry again. I kind of get desensitised to big pots sometimes playing higher and its not good for MY game, as this leads to longer term destabilistation of my usual level mindset, which leads ultimately, to monkey tilt. Had some decent online results for $4k and $8k respectively, which is always a nice little bonus. Im massively off target for the year, but thats partly due to the Blackbelt fiasco and a long drawnout house renovation (that admittedly i have minimal involvement with) and the move itself, which was easier than i though (coz my missus when shes in a good mood is a diamond and did so much to ease the passage).

Looks like marc Goodwin just came 2nd in the Barca EPT which must be pretty gutting. I mean i know hes just shipped mad dimes, but he really should have won an international major like this in the last few years, everyone i speak to has commentated on how good his game has got. I dont know him, but wp, ul. I do wonder if he netted enough to payoff Ivey on that little golf game though..........

Lots of stuff coming up in London soon, and im deffo gonna play at least some of it. Really like the look of the 6max ept side event and probably gonna swerve that £1k crapshoot @wsope, might try some satellites to the biggy however, even though im -5k in wsop/e qualifications. Which is ridiculous (unless i ship the next time or 2, or is it??..?). Much better ways to spend money and we owe a fair bit of red paper, so will prbably have to put a dent in that before getting involved in gukpt stuff again.

Played some WCOOP stuff this week, continuously amazed at just how soft therse fields are. Particularly piss off about running terrible in the 4max and a big annoyed i lost 99 v A9s with 1/4 field left for ok chips. Nevermind. If i could have a piss break when i wanted, i think id play more of these mtt's, the player quality is astonishingly bad compared to what i normally encounter. So probs gonna play some donkaments (gg flushy) the next couple of weeks, probably selling some and playing a shit load of 200nl, till i feel ready to take on 600nl Euro on ladbrokes again, which im doing my reg homework on (thanks Dan Rudd). Will be nice to get into the fight with sick knowledge about my opponents and them not having a scooby about me.

Will post again on the weekend, with a couple of rants about things that are pissing me off in the world, plus some photos of MY HOUSE! later

2009-08-30T06:12:00.003Z

Boring week. Worked long hours, won some huge pots and ultimately won nothing. Just didnt book enough wins and wait till the next day. Particularly annoying is when i run good and win like 2-3k in 30 mins, i feel compelled to stay for marathon sessions when eventually some monkey (normally tevje) does something which tilts me and i spew a load of money back. sigh. Moving into my house tomorrow, 90% of the stuff has been moved, the amazing oak flooring is down and i cant wait to get in to be honest, its gonna be phenomenal.

Went today to put the deposit down on my border terrier, she is an absolute beauty! only 3 weeks old and about 6 inches long, suzanne took 1 look at her and it was good game £500. To be honest i was equally smitten, we are calling her Pippa and getting here in 4 weeks time, ill write a long post then, suffice to say we saw her mum, dad and grandfather who are all stunning. The breeder has bred them slightly smaller (the line was formed orignally many years ago for hunting badgers in Scotland) and the grandfather in particular was incredibly handsome with a long bushy beard. They have amazing energy although they do have a slightly disturbing tendency to fight viciously with each other (like proper go at it and kill each other) so we will have to be very mindful obviously. The responsibility is kinda unnerving, god knows what its like to have a kid. I cant wait to take her out to be honest, do a bit of ratting with her and maybe a bit of long-netting if the rabbit population on our local shoot stays too bouyant.

Back on to poker, so a shit week in all, probably not playing too good over too many tables and also not abusing tag's pain thresholds enough, like if im gonna cr bluff the turn on a scary board and think that most of the time he cant call a river shove, dont bottle the fucking river. Also, a lot of work/life stuff has impacted on my focus, which needs to be good because without fail the games are getting tougher.

Anyway, here is one of the best hands i played all week, purely because it was a slightly complex puzzle, given i knew i was probably beating the shorty but that twojacks likely had tp with a better kicker or an overpair. Its not that interesting tbh, but at the time i was like wow i wonder if that did just happen and i got a hybrid bet to work perfectly in a multiway pot..... I decided against flatting the shorty on the turn because that would probably end up getting damascus commited by the river, so elected to bluff one guy with a superstrong line and valuebet/protect against another. Fun hand anyways. In reality twojacks probably had air anyways, but i tricked myself into being convinced id made him fold QQ, purely for ego.

** Hand # 2804942948 starting - 2009-08-30 06:44:53
** Cynwit [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 NL - Cash Game) Real Money

twojacks2 sitting in seat 1 with €250.90[Dealer]
damaskus169 sitting in seat 2 with €92.33
_HaMmerHead_ sitting in seat 3 with €386.90
NOB sitting in seat 4 with €0.00
Manix1983 sitting in seat 5 with €116.05
playeur1980 sitting in seat 6 with €568.15
damaskus169 posted the small blind - €1.00
_HaMmerHead_ posted the big blind - €2.00

** Dealing cards to _HaMmerHead_: Jh, 9h
Manix1983 folded
playeur1980 called - €2.00
twojacks2 raised to €6.00
damaskus169 called - €6.00
_HaMmerHead_ called - €6.00
playeur1980 folded

** Dealing the flop: Jd, 8s, 4h
damaskus169 checked
_HaMmerHead_ checked
twojacks2 bet - €10.00
damaskus169 called - €10.00
_HaMmerHead_ called - €10.00

** Dealing the turn: 4d
damaskus169 bet - €24.00
_HaMmerHead_ raised to €60.00
twojacks2 folded
damaskus169 called - €60.00

** Dealing the river: 9d
damaskus169 went all-in - €16.33
_HaMmerHead_ called - €16.33
damaskus169 shows: 6c, 8h
_HaMmerHead_ shows: Jh, 9h
_HaMmerHead_ wins €199.66 from the main pot

Rake: €3.00

2009-08-22T04:00:00.002Z

Lol. This game is pretty funny at times. Still running pretty hot, despite tilting a little yesterday night versus Tevje the mother of all luckboxes i had a cracking session tonight. Really getting good at targeting fish/weak regs and getting in their heads, which u most def cant do on more than 4 tables. Moving in next WEDNESDAY WIIIIII and cant wait, although there is a pub either end of my road, which might cutdown on work ethic :P

Heres a funny hand from my session v a fish, i misread my hand and thought i had KJ, but i should just claim it as a hero call.

***** Hand History for Game 565690796 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 22, 03:27:21 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 158 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $2178.07 USD )
Seat 2: rush88 ( $1219.64 USD )
Seat 3: wanabe ( $423.87 USD )
Seat 4: Fortknoxxx ( $522.00 USD )
Seat 5: suncrest ( $1181.71 USD )
Seat 6: oversleep ( $500.00 USD )
Fortknoxxx posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
suncrest posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Qs Kc ]
oversleep folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
rush88 folds
wanabe folds
Fortknoxxx folds
suncrest calls [$12.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, 9s, 5s ]
suncrest bets [$40.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$40.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
suncrest bets [$60.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$165.00 USD]
suncrest raises [$1064.21 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$959.21 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Qs, Kc ]
suncrest shows [3d, Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ks ]
JammyJenny wins $2362.92 USD from main pot

off tomorrow to see a man about a gun and visit my old nan. run good people.

2009-08-16T15:40:00.002Z

Ok, gonna have a brag now. Just had my first ever massive (for me) week. After 15k hands of 1k and 500nl plus a donkament touch for 4k iv shipped $24k. I ran at 24bb/100 which is obviously completely unsustainable but fuckit ill just keep giving it my best every session. Really pleased with myself and feel like this is the turning point from msnl grinder to understanding and progressing to highstakes. Would like to say a big thankyou to Adam my running partner online and my mentor Manuel who has been incredibly supportive when times are bad aswell as good. This game can be a huge rollercoaster at times and im hopeful that this will be the start of things to come.

2009-08-15T18:13:00.003Z

Bink. Out the hole. Warning, still slightly drunk so excuse this post if its loco. Combination of stopping playing like a complete monkey, toning down my squeezing, oop 3bets and triple barreling/ FPS against fish has had a sweet effect. My end of year graph gonna look so funny, but im gonna try and grind out $150k this year. Been fking about a little in tournaments lately but cant seem to seal anything, getting 2nd after 2nd after 2nd. Which is odd as i play a lot of HU and thought i was decent, perhaps will play the tougher regs at a lower stake hu to learn/improve.

Moving into the house in 2 weeks now, got some fantastic invites made by basically my brother in law and im so excited, its gonna be awesome. Not been up to much lately although im starting to like golf which is odd. Not sure if im allowed to stick a clubsock on an air rifle but nobody seemed to mind. Been entertained most evenings lately by the WIRE, which is a fantastic show, definitely the best series iv seen come out the states for a long time, but maybe thats because im still insanely immature and like guns, drugs, sex and politics. Not in that order.

Have missed these ftops for the most part but its pretty amazing that players from the uk have won 2 events that i know of, Moorman and Kellet. With akenhead in Nov 9 i think the uk really is back on the poker map which is brilliant. Cracking thread on two plus two here
which had me in fits and just shows that when doubting old Englands many undesirable attributes, at least we aint French.

WSOPE coming up and im probably gonna play the £1000 and £2.5k events, it will be like my vegas plus a chance to meet the scandie fish iv been toying with. Would love to play the main and get setup for life (kunku) with a bink but the money is too big and despite the fact im certain i could sell my action im gonna try 1 more satellite then giveup. Think im 6k in the hole in wsop/e qualification entries which is dumb.

Im gonna have to stop talking poker on here shortly as some of the regs are reading this but hopefully getting some $ onto some of the bigger sites in the near future will mean im not tooooo exploitable.

Anyhow, heres some fun HH's for you. I only post hands i win obv.

Epic Hero Fail, but good valueshove from a thinking opponent. Thats what i thought originally then this guy donked off his money. *EDIT- I posted the wrong hand, in said hand i made a river hero with AK on 445108 in a 3bet pot pre and villain had K10. In this i just spanked my French buddy.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 561398727 *****
NL $2.50/$5 Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 12, 11:04:08 GMT 2009
Table Nitrogen 156 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of active players : 2
Seat 3: touten ( $652.22 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $1,617.07 )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50]
touten posts big blind [$5]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ah, Th ]
JammyJenny raises to [$15]
touten raises to [$55]
JammyJenny calls [$40]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, Tc, 4d ]
touten bets [$82.50]
JammyJenny raises to [$165]
touten goes all-in
touten raises to [$597.22]
JammyJenny calls [$432.22]
** Showdown **
touten shows [ Kd, As ]
JammyJenny shows [ Ah, Th ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $1,303.44 from main pot with a pair of Tens
************ Game 561398727 ends ************

Ok, prime example of bad table selection here but i literally love this dude. He plays 24/7 and is quite funny so i like doing funky things with him. FWIW i played this about as badly as possible in hindsight, but i won and thats all that matters :P

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 548765751 *****
NL $2.50/$5 Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, July 14, 23:40:25 GMT 2009
Table Nitrogen 21 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: Fish Fair ( $497.38 )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $830.37 )
Seat 3: The Math ( $605.57 )
Seat 4: rush88 ( $509.15 )
Seat 5: touten ( $591.44 )
Seat 6: stokerus ( $462.50 )
rush88 posts small blind [$2.50]
touten posts big blind [$5]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Kc, Ah ]
stokerus calls [$5]
Fish Fair folds
JammyJenny raises to [$22.50]
The Math folds
rush88 folds
touten folds
stokerus calls [$17.50]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, Js, Tc ]
stokerus checks
JammyJenny bets [$32]
stokerus calls [$32]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
stokerus checks
JammyJenny bets [$82]
stokerus calls [$82]
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
stokerus checks
JammyJenny bets [$350]
stokerus folds
Returning uncalled bet [$350] to JammyJenny
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $277.50 from main pot
************ Game 548765751 ends ************

This hand was funny, the guy was a total maniac and makes the thinnest valuejam in the world. In my eyeeeeeeeeee

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 561374015 *****
NL $2.50/$5 Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 12, 09:34:05 GMT 2009
Table Nitrogen 54 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of active players : 5
Seat 1: 2squali ( $208.13 )
Seat 2: GO ON CALL ( $497.50 )
Seat 3: Zizou06 ( $0 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $626.75 )
Seat 5: CapRat ( $250 )
Seat 6: promiseland ( $487.50 )
GO ON CALL posts small blind [$2.50]
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 7c, 7h ]
CapRat folds
promiseland folds
2squali folds
GO ON CALL raises to [$15]
JammyJenny calls [$10]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jh, 4s, 4c ]
GO ON CALL bets [$30]
JammyJenny calls [$30]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
GO ON CALL bets [$90]
JammyJenny calls [$90]
** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
GO ON CALL bets [$270]
JammyJenny calls [$270]
** Showdown **
GO ON CALL shows [ 8h, 8d ] two pair, Eights and Fours
JammyJenny mucks [ 7c, 7h ]
** Hand Conclusion **
GO ON CALL wins $807 from main pot with two pair, Eights and Fours
************ Game 561374015 ends ************

This hand was sexy. Interestingly both touten and slep were v solid 200nl players about a year ago and now crush higher. Slep particularly is an incredibly solid player, who is tough to play when hes on the ball. Touten is a huge spewbox (snap 5b jams over my cold 4balls with like AQ/99+) but occasionally can play amazing. I tilted him earlier in the week which was quite funny (esp as im not tilting anymore) and this hand obv has a lot of history behind it. This was beautiful.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 548760266 *****
NL $2.50/$5 Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, July 14, 23:26:00 GMT 2009
Table Nitrogen 200 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: laxmir2 ( $477.50 )
Seat 2: touten ( $417.50 )
Seat 3: rush88 ( $1,034.28 )
Seat 4: TiltOnAcid ( $555.50 )
Seat 5: water832 ( $540.99 )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $638.64 )
laxmir2 posts small blind [$2.50]
touten posts big blind [$5]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 9s, 9h ]
rush88 folds
TiltOnAcid folds
water832 folds
JammyJenny raises to [$17.50]
laxmir2 folds
touten raises to [$55]
JammyJenny calls [$37.50]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, Th, 3h ]
touten bets [$84.37]
JammyJenny raises to [$168.74]
touten goes all-in
touten raises to [$362.50]
JammyJenny calls [$193.76]
** Showdown **
touten shows [ Ah, Qc ]
JammyJenny shows [ 9s, 9h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Jc ]
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $834.50 from main pot with two pair, Nines and Deuces
************ Game 548760266 ends ************

Very few regs are causing me massive problems, Tevje still runs like a dream v me and has owned me so hard of late, but in general i think hes utterly dreadful and a big money pot. Sewerrat seems to try to fuck with me an awful lot, but goes after me in bad spots which makes life easier. If he adjusted well he could rape the game. The rest are a combination of weaktight 2+2 style players who are generally overtly concerned with pot control, or 18/14 nits. some of the nits are starting to play poker of late, which is leading to ridic spew coz they aint comfortable with marginals. Other than that i did play with fullflush today (pretty sure hes Nikosthepro on betfair) and he check-folded to my cbet. Yeer, u heard right, im better than the flushman. Cya kids, gl in whatever you whatever you want out of life.

2009-08-04T00:19:00.008Z

On the plus side, and to cheer me up, the house is coming on a treat. Not entirely sure how we are going to pay people but will try and cross that hurdle when they come knocking with a crowbar. I kinda regret making such a massive commitment as my 1st house, but suzanne has reminded me that a) its gonna be the shizzles, and b) it will be our home for a long time hopefully. She's been pretty awesome the last few weeks, hats off to my amazing gf.

Anyhow, heres some photos! Im exceptionally happy with the "doghouse" down the end of the garden, which will be where ill be playing my poker from. The work is nearly finished now and and i cant wait to move in, even if it will be beans on toast for a few months :). Finished with a few photos from my mate Sebs real stag do (ie night before) where we got a bit too smashed than is decent. Also thought id payback seb for giving me a suprise naked night visit by putting him out there. He does read this time to time, so when you do mate, UNLUCKY! :)

2009-08-04T00:08:00.003Z

Poker post.

I swear to god the last two weeks have been so brutal it hurts. I never really listen to people when they talk about massive downswings and running bad etc, but good god. I am in the utter shit at the moment. I have failed to win a single race/flip or hold @ 500nl in about 2 weeks. I have logged a total of 3 winning days in that entire period. Im having enormous confidence issues, tilting like a mother fucker and generally hating life. The problem is im not really doing anything wrong. I mean sure iv probably tilted off like 5-8 buyins with spew. But the rest has just been a fucking joke. This one idiot on betfair (i wont out him) plays the most retarded stlye i ever fucking saw and seems to get the lot daily. His fold to 3b% is 28%. He 3b jams 100bb over a standard open b v b w AJo. Mind i guess his play is fairly standard when either flops a straight every other hand or else binks whatever ridiculous card he needs to get there. It makes me cringe to see him getting the absolute lot when right now i NEED the money pretty badly. Im not one of these poker guys thats had some sick mtt results to set them up financially, i dont make the tens of thousands every other poker player seems to make it quite frankly i feel sick. Last week i was close to crying myself to sleep. I know its just variance bla bla bla but right now i cant see the fucking wood for the trees, doubt every single decision i make and tilt like a baboon when some idiot luckbox from sweden decides to checkraise allin in a 3b pot w 99 on 1024cc for 250bb v 444 and get there. seriously. Please dear god i dont want a 10bb/100 winrate but let me regress to the mean.

2009-07-22T13:31:00.002Z

Ouch. Havent had one for a while so i guess im due. big downswing. Not sure on exact amount but think its like $10k, mainly due to never being able to win a flip anymore. Luckily i dont have to be too concerned as my bankroll is infinite, well not mine but Zim smith's :) Playing pretty good but some of the regs are trying to fuck with me, which is understandable, but leads to some crazy spots.

Thanks for the comments b4 btw, although anonymous please come forth and tell me who you are, weasels that hide behind internet anonymity do fuck me off. I know it will change soo (it always does...) but right now i need the money more than anything, ngst other things, but thinwith the house costing an absolute fortune and the deadline for works soon approaching. I cant afford to go out at the moment or do any of the finer things in life, but hopefully by August/September it will be ok again, with like a small amount of money available to me that the missus hasnt whipped away for some megaflow or sink that needs purchasing.

Had to do a best mans speech for Seb on the weekend. Hmmmmm, that was one of the toughest things id done in a while. The party was a mixture of conservative Germans (Sebs mothers side, travelled over), a tricky crowd from Singapore (Selina's folks)
and the usual smattering of easy to please drunk brits. Id love to say we smashed it, but the confidence of my co-pilot failed and i spent most of the speech keeping my eye on his shaking hands. Also i had toned down the speech way too far owing to the blend of values in the room and felt i let him off waaaaaaaaaaaay too lightly. We had one joke that was going to compare Seb to Michael Jackson (he wants to be a child doctor, is it paedeatrician?) and we had to axe it last minute for fear of killing him too much, but in hindsight would have gone down a storm. I have to say its pretty fucking difficult to be a best man, with the massive amount of organisation involved with the stag do and everything im glad its over, and really happy for the pair of them. I love them. On the subject of romance me and the missus had a drunken chit chat and things are probably in motion :) Looks like probably in the next 2 years tbh. I always said id wait till i was like 35ish to prevent the mistakes that my Dad made (having kids too early, breaking families etcetc) but i guess you have to make your own way in life sometime or other.

On a completely unrelated note, someone pointed out my "other" blog the other day. I re-read it and was astonished about how embarassed i was reading it. Not sure why, maybe iv matured a little. Anyhow, i cant decide on whether to post again and stir myself up or remove the thing. among i could have written it better and with a little more class. I think ill bring across my rants to this blog actually, given im incredibly pissed off with government and will probably turn to eco-terrorism in the near future unless something is done about it. No joke, im on life tilt right now.

Rant- so like 3 years ago i studied climate change in depth for a period at uni (brag obv). If the earths overall temperature rises by 1 degree c the effects are enormous. Earth is already as warm as at any time in the last 10,000 years, and is within 1 °C of being its hottest for a million years. The recent meeting held between the big industrial countries, G8 has tried to limit increases to 2 "C by 2050. WHAT THE FUCK. an increase of 1 degeree will wipe out 30% of the worlds species. We are so close to the brink of the collapse of our planet and world leaders are preoccupied with recession? Its embarassing. They have had like 5 chances over the last 3 years when in massive meetings they could have made a pledge to address the balance and make big changes, right now. Thats what we need. Massive changes right now. They have 1 more chance in Copenhagen in December. Get a government order do get hold of the patents bought by oil companies in the 80's regarding water cars ran on hydrogen fuel cells that actually worked with low risk. Stop people having more than 2 children, infact go to 1 child for the next 100 years. Sterilise women after birth. Put super tight control on IVF. Stop building new fucking roads, can you imagine how we will look back at something like the M25 WIDENING in 30 years time. They will say what the fuck were these idiots thinking. Stop cheap airfare. Put a massive levy on the worst polluters we have. A single person is a rational, thinking, compassionate body. People on the other hand are selfish, greedy and irrational. That is why we have government. If i cant afford to fly to Manchester, then guess what, i'll get a much cleaner train. I know we are all guilty, but we need to change bigtime NOW. I dont want my kids living in a world where they cant go and look at the great barrier reef, or cant eat salmon. If we let the temperature rise by 1"C, the arctic permafrost will melt. This is the biggest store of readily released methane on earth and will spell the end of the earth as we know it. Ozone cannot be repaired. We dont get to reload after we make a hero call this time.

2009-07-16T15:15:00.002Z

Long time no post. As per usual i hear you cry. Well, i have actually been pretty busy. I seem to be writing longer and longer pieces for magazines, which i put my all into (given its me writing the content, i feel i should at least score an A for effort :P ), and they are sapping my finger power. Im quite enjoying arguing (sp?) with my editor about topics, but he seems to wield a bigger club than me. I did get to write about inducing bluffs/spew quite recently, which was quite fun. The piece is out in this months i think and if you can think how i think for a second (not easy given im slightly dense) i think its probably some of my best yet.

On the poker side congratulations 1st. Massive WP to my better-looking doppelganger JP kelly on taking down a bracelet (he started in Luton did you know). Also v impressive Mr Kabbaj and Rolande De Wolfe (who incidentally has been playing in live cash games where the sit-down is £250k in london.....erm stake me please.....errr dunno who to ask its that big). Very impressive WSOP for the english. And yes fuckit i am gonna say English not UK. Because im fedup with the Scots and everyone else getting so haughty about their specific heritage in anything they win, so fuckit, hooligan stylee EN-GER-LAND EN-GER-LAND, EN-GER-LAND! Also, today is confirmation that James Akenhead has made the Nov 9. WOW. JUST WOW. What an achievement. Here's hoping he runs like the wind. Also quite funny that almost certainly Channing gets out of it right at the last, i can only imagine the best that will take place from now till Nov at the Vic as badbeat negotiates himself to multai.

Also, i am soooooooooooo close to moving in now its exasperating. Really really cant wait. Will post some photos on here next week showing the work. So incredibly grateful to my missus mum and Dad for doing so much of the work. Indebted.

On the poker front been exceptionally busy. Last week i had a nice little double day, playing random tournaments i actually managed to final the 250k on ipoker for 8 and then come 3rd in the ipoker 500 on monday for 6. TYVM. Been playing a little bit on ipoker the last month or so, mainly 2/4 plo and the 100r they have on tuesday and friday. Seems soft enough.

Cash has been decent. Nothing great, but decent. Im running ok at 500nl but like a fking dog at 1knl. Horrible. Heres a few hand histories that i thought were failry interesting.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 549377216 *****
NL $2.50/$5 Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 15:00:36 GMT 2009
Table Nitrogen 35 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 3
Seat 1: mice ( $605.76 )
Seat 2: GreatGreek ( $631.37 )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $959.49 )
Seat 4: OlyB ( $500 )
Seat 5: Mauro60 ( $206.23 )
Seat 6: touten ( $1,052.69 )
Mauro60 posts small blind [$2.50]
touten posts big blind [$5]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 7s, 7c ]
JammyJenny raises to [$17.50]
Mauro60 folds
touten raises to [$55]
JammyJenny calls [$37.50]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6s, 4s, 5h ]
touten bets [$80]
JammyJenny raises to [$235]
touten raises to [$540]
JammyJenny goes all-in
JammyJenny raises to [$904.49]
touten calls [$364.49]
** Showdown **
JammyJenny shows [ 7s, 7c ]
touten shows [ Ks, As ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $1,919.48 from main pot with a straight, Seven to Three
************ Game 549377216 ends ************

Got slated a bit by touten (vvv good TAG on betfair) about this. Tbh i couldnt give a monkies. He plays it similarly. Basically he was playing 17/12 this session (normally 18/15) and i just want to move him off overpairs on the flop or turn (obv im jamming turn if he check calls flop). I can rep wide IP 200bb deep and he cant. As it turns out he had one hand he was never folding and i win a flip for a 2k pot. It happens.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 549379194 *****
NL $5/$10 Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 15:05:39 GMT 2009
Table Carbon 147 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: MrGoldenEye ( $1,941.31 )
Seat 2: Back2Back ( $985 )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $1,131 )
Seat 4: 3ofAKind ( $1,477.12 )
Seat 5: MrBarolo59 ( $2,754.02 )
Seat 6: niikos ( $990 )
niikos posts small blind [$5]
MrGoldenEye posts big blind [$10]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Jc, Kc ]
Back2Back raises to [$20]
JammyJenny calls [$20]
3ofAKind folds
MrBarolo59 calls [$20]
niikos folds
MrGoldenEye folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, 5d, Jd ]
Back2Back bets [$50]
JammyJenny raises to [$100]
MrBarolo59 folds
Back2Back raises to [$270]
JammyJenny goes all-in
JammyJenny raises to [$1,111]
Back2Back calls [$695]
Back2Back goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [$146] to JammyJenny
** Showdown **
Back2Back shows [ Td, Ad ]
JammyJenny shows [ Jc, Kc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
** Hand Conclusion **
Back2Back wins $2,002 from main pot with a Flush
************ Game 549379194 ends ************

This hand was quite funny, basically im using click it backs more and more now to pot build, as my line looks ridic retarded and most 5/10 players dont know me v well. Also makes it way cheaper to bluffraise the ones with a v high cbet frequency. Get it in pretty good but fade. Ah well, it happens.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 549379420 *****
NL $5/$10 Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 15:06:16 GMT 2009
Table Carbon 145 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: tohardtodie ( $373.89 )
Seat 2: MrGoldenEye ( $1,663.73 )
Seat 3: MrBarolo59 ( $1,742.75 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $1,114 )
Seat 5: niikos ( $1,689.13 )
Seat 6: Atmosphere ( $1,082.50 )
niikos posts small blind [$5]
Atmosphere posts big blind [$10]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ As, Ts ]
tohardtodie folds
MrGoldenEye raises to [$35]
MrBarolo59 calls [$35]
JammyJenny raises to [$158]
niikos folds
Atmosphere folds
MrGoldenEye calls [$123]
MrBarolo59 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 5h, Ks ]
MrGoldenEye checks
JammyJenny checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7s ]
MrGoldenEye checks
JammyJenny bets [$65]
MrGoldenEye calls [$65]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
MrGoldenEye checks
JammyJenny bets [$575]
MrGoldenEye folds
Returning uncalled bet [$575] to JammyJenny
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $493 from main pot
************ Game 549379420 ends ************

This was quite an interesting hand, as opponent folded AK faceup. :P
Had a bit of history against him, he was playing 55/45 exceptionally well on 2 tables and was a ridic pain in the a55. On the river it was just a sick sick spot for me to use my 1st overbet of the session, given my image was clean and i rep KK and QQ pretty phenomenally (i was playing 18/16 at the time). Happy w this.

***** Hand History for Game 549365681 ***** (Betfair)
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 02:27:57 ET 2009
Table Carbon 147 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: MrGoldenEye ( $1341.56 USD )
Seat 2: Back2Back ( $1000.00 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $990.00 USD )
Seat 4: 3ofAKind ( $493.25 USD )
Seat 5: MrBarolo59 ( $2226.62 USD )
Seat 6: 344852 ( $1149.50 USD )
3ofAKind posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
MrBarolo59 posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ah 7h ]
344852 folds
MrGoldenEye raises [$35.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$105.00 USD]
3ofAKind folds
MrBarolo59 folds
MrGoldenEye calls [$70.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, 9s, 6s ]
MrGoldenEye checks
JammyJenny bets [$145.00 USD]
MrGoldenEye raises [$350.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$740.00 USD]
MrGoldenEye calls [$535.00 USD]
MrGoldenEye shows [As, Kc ]
JammyJenny shows [Ah, 7h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7s ]
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
MrGoldenEye wins $1992.00 USD from main pot

How to lose $1k really quickly. Early in the session, guy was playing super aggro and i figured this was a decent spot to try a huge move, given he reps almost no decent kings (KQ sometimes) and a tonne of draws, against which if i get it in w a BDFD/BDST and over i have some equity. Obv here he had the hand and i donated, but i dont mind it that much, you cant let sLAG's start checkraising you every other hand, but perhaps here was a clear fold.

***** Hand History for Game 549206612 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 12:06:09 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 31 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: GreatGreek ( $512.50 USD )
Seat 2: aislinn ( $359.43 USD )
Seat 3: Tribbiani ( $500.00 USD )
Seat 4: Nico2288 ( $502.04 USD )
Seat 5: JammyJenny ( $671.37 USD )
Seat 6: TiltOnAcid ( $1574.99 USD )
GreatGreek posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
aislinn posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 7d Ad ]
Tribbiani folds
Nico2288 folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
TiltOnAcid folds
GreatGreek calls [$15.00 USD]
aislinn calls [$12.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, Tc, Th ]
GreatGreek checks
aislinn checks
JammyJenny bets [$36.00 USD]
GreatGreek raises [$120.37 USD]
aislinn folds
JammyJenny raises [$617.87 USD]
GreatGreek calls [$374.63 USD]
JammyJenny wins $158.87 USD
GreatGreek shows [2h, 2c ]
JammyJenny shows [7d, Ad ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ah ]
** Dealing River ** [ 7c ]
GreatGreek wins $1039.50 USD from main pot

Pretty clearcut spew. Problem i have is GreatGreek knows his image and me and him deffo dont see eye to eye. Add this to the fact that he has almost 0 tens in his flat calling preflop range and his range starts to look an awful lot like 66-99 trying to take this down with the likely best hand. Given i dont think hes strong enough as a player to recognise im Yeti-ing i think i can fold out these holdings, but alas, he is a nit and as per usual he had it. Nevermind.

***** Hand History for Game 549212916 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 12:25:44 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 18 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: GreatGreek ( $510.80 USD )
Seat 2: rush88 ( $623.75 USD )
Seat 3: touten ( $1914.99 USD )
Seat 4: interpXl ( $500.00 USD )
Seat 5: Bruce Wayne ( $1125.59 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $567.40 USD )
touten posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
interpXl posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ad Qh ]
Bruce Wayne raises [$17.50 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$17.50 USD]
GreatGreek folds
rush88 folds
touten folds
interpXl folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, 2h, 6d ]
Bruce Wayne bets [$32.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$32.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qd ]
Bruce Wayne checks
JammyJenny bets [$77.00 USD]
Bruce Wayne calls [$77.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
Bruce Wayne checks
JammyJenny bets [$171.00 USD]
Bruce Wayne calls [$171.00 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ad, Qh ]
Bruce Wayne shows [8s, 8c ]
Bruce Wayne wins $599.50 USD from main pot

Possibly a bit thin, but i dont really think so. I felt a bit hard done by here as even though Bruce is a fantastic player his line is terrible. If he calls on the turn its because he thinks im floating, which means ill probably bluff the river. Problem is i really dont see him ever being able to call the river, almost regardless of what it is (like every other card in the deck sucks and im gonna bet 160-200 is on this river). Ofc he binks and i vtown myself, he actually timebank called which was aggravating.

***** Hand History for Game 549232659 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 01:40:49 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 03 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: GreatGreek ( $525.48 USD )
Seat 2: touten ( $451.45 USD )
Seat 3: Bruce Wayne ( $1275.87 USD )
Seat 4: Jellybean J ( $867.85 USD )
Seat 5: Kobussen ( $716.00 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $580.00 USD )
Bruce Wayne posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Jellybean J posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Qh Ad ]
Kobussen folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
GreatGreek folds
touten folds
Bruce Wayne folds
Jellybean J raises [$29.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$87.00 USD]
Jellybean J calls [$70.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, As, Qc ]
Jellybean J bets [$476.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$475.50 USD]
Jellybean J wins $0.50 USD
Jellybean J shows [8c, 8s ]
JammyJenny shows [Qh, Ad ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
JammyJenny wins $1159.50 USD from main pot

Clear example of table selection at its best. WOW.

***** Hand History for Game 549219603 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 12:41:24 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 22 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: petronikos ( $887.13 USD )
Seat 2: Nico2288 ( $1027.22 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $538.05 USD )
Seat 4: __data__ ( $448.75 USD )
Seat 5: Tribbiani ( $694.90 USD )
Seat 6: rush88 ( $811.51 USD )
petronikos posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Nico2288 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 3s 3d ]
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
__data__ folds
Tribbiani folds
rush88 folds
petronikos calls [$15.00 USD]
Nico2288 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, 3c, 3h ]
petronikos checks
JammyJenny checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
petronikos bets [$16.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$66.00 USD]
petronikos calls [$50.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Ks ]
petronikos bets [$360.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$454.55 USD]
petronikos calls [$94.55 USD]
petronikos shows [Kc, Kd ]
JammyJenny shows [3s, 3d ]
JammyJenny wins $1078.10 USD from main pot

Was waiting to stack this fish all evening. Then he does all the work for me. WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.

***** Hand History for Game 549226206 ***** (Betfair)
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 16, 01:07:19 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 22 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: petronikos ( $448.86 USD )
Seat 2: Nico2288 ( $1044.52 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $1074.65 USD )
Seat 4: __data__ ( $545.15 USD )
Seat 5: Tribbiani ( $736.80 USD )
Seat 6: TiltOnAcid ( $492.50 USD )
petronikos posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Nico2288 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Jh As ]
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
__data__ folds
Tribbiani folds
TiltOnAcid folds
petronikos calls [$15.00 USD]
Nico2288 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, Jd, 6d ]
petronikos checks
JammyJenny bets [$33.00 USD]
petronikos calls [$33.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
petronikos checks
JammyJenny bets [$89.00 USD]
petronikos calls [$89.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 7d ]
petronikos bets [$309.36 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$309.36 USD]
petronikos shows [7s, 5s ]
JammyJenny shows [Jh, As ]
JammyJenny wins $899.72 USD from main pot

Loved this Hero call, was a pure timing/flow thing. Seems im way better at getting into the heads of true weak passives and SLAG's. I can rarely make super thin calls against good tag/lag types.

Anyhow, month is looking good and im hopeful that ill be crushing these slightly higher stakes for the rest of this quarter. By October, ill be asking for the keys to a much bigger daily allowance, as i feel super ready to take on 10/20.

This weekend im off to be the best man for my mate Seb. Im absolutely bricking it given i hate public speaking. He's having two weddings, with the 1st being in bournemouth and the second in Singapore. On the 1st there are 2 bets men, which is cool. In Singapore, i will have to give the speech solo infront of 800 people. Seriously GTFO.

Hope you are all well, anyone with any ideas about good magazine articles hit me up on here, best of luck on and off the tables and well done those Brits in the WSOP.

2009-06-18T13:58:00.002Z

Mammoth post tournament Review, from the salubrious Bolton Summer Series+ odds and ends.

Firstoff a catchup. I didnt get my hands on a brownbelt, which was a little frustrating. Im a little cheesed as i really felt i was one of the stronger candidates, but i missed the last workshop which probably cost me. I wish the best of luck to the browns, who fully deserve what they got. Im not bitter. Having Channing ring me up at 3am to let me know i was the bubble boy was hardly ideal, i would have rather heard i was 16th or something. Marvellous. Well, i should give this some sort of appraisal. Was the grading worthwhile. To be completely frank, not for me. I am not going to blog on here about a bunch of issues i have with blackbelt, as i thought the original idea was immense and i genuinely think Neil and Nick had a pretty fair and player orientated site in their mind when they designed the site. What i was really concerned and disappointed about was the fact the goalposts were effectively moved once the grading was completed. I was elegible for a bluebelt after the grading, which means i get $1500 a month to spend on live tournament entries. These tournament entries would be split 50/50 on profit between the player and blackbelt and most importantly, would be 50/50 after rakeback. Brownbelts (what i was aiming for) get $4k a month in the uk and $20k in vegas. Now this all sounded fine and dandy at the time, but once the grading was completed, monthly raking figures became clearer and eventually we were told. In order to maintain bluebelt status, you would need to rake $4k a month. Now if you rake $4k a month, you can pretty easily get 35%+ rakeback on ipoker, which means you can play/spend that on what you like, do not have to go 50/50 on any profit AND dont have any makeup. Hmmmmmm. For brownbelts im not 100% certain but i believe the figure to be $8k. We were informed at the beginning of the grading that there would be other ways in which we could earn points, which would maintain our status, but it doesnt seem all that sweet. The points earned for the action taken do not appear to addup. My hourly rate at 200nl this year is nigh on exactly $60/hour. I write articles for insidepoker and pkr stacked because they pay me IN EXCESS of my hourly rate, plus i get satisfation from researching ideas and theory, which keeps me fresh. I dont do it for ego. So when the breakdown of points came in and i saw that an article i penned would be worth $400 OF RAKE i was kinda upset, i want to be a part of what should really be a new home for professional poker players, but i feel somewhere along the way its got a bit too greedy, which is a crying shame given the staff and framework. Lets hope they fix it.

Blondepoker: I have recently been speaking to senor Dempsey, and because we will probably doing some stuff in the coming couple of years, have agreed to mentor some of his cash game players at the lower limits. It should be fun, blondpoker is basically my home on uk forums and i would like to see his staking scheme end in success. I hope any students get on my wavelength pretty quickly, basically to make money from 6max you need to crush non-showdown profits, which will give you a game that is scaleable from 50nl to 1knl. Once the system is in place, its hard for you to not win.

Me, family, freinds etc. Well me and the missus are currently doing work on the house, which is going at a rate of knots (sp? does nautical knot change to not?). The steels went in last week after me and a mate dug the footings. The place is gonna look the bollocks when its finished but Suz is getting kinda stressed that its not done yet. All in good time, my love :P Family is well, cant help but feel i need to take my mum away for a few days, probably next summer, to try and say TY for being super supportive all the time and helping me out with the house no end. MY Dad would get a holiday, but only if he actually pulled his finger out once in a blue moon. GG South of France old man. On the Dog front, im afraid its still not happening. Dunno why, but my mate Tom is being so difficult with a certain border terrier breeders number and its fucking me right off. Hes just being lazy (runs the oxford shooting school) but the number of cats shitting in my new garden is doing my head in, which is why we need our cuddly litte terrier (translation cold hearted killer) to put the wind up them a bit. MY brother came back from Plymout uni last week, i came into his room and it literally stunk of cheese. Like someone had oven-baked stilton for a month. I naturally assumed it was his washing or something, till i looked on his desk at a supermarket carrier bag full of a type of skunk he assures me is actually called cheese. Little shitbag. I gave him a bollocking, but in truth i doubt there is a better way to fund your expenses at university whilst doing minimal work. wp.

Online: well, im still grinding, not been too busy of late but im putting that right now. Trying a new thing, where i aim to win everday. I dont set myself a target, or play when im tired, i just setout to win small every single day. So far its working, playing fresher with shorter sessions lets me get away with some funky stuff. Need to make some major money this year so wont be playing live much more this year, possibly only the DTD 1k events and the gukpt grand final. Vegas is well and truly off the cards, despite having seom very kind offers from Keith hawkins, Sida and Neil himself. I just dont feel like i can justify it this year. Well thats it, i was gonna write a tournament report, but thats gonna have to wait, ill do it later this week. Be sure to read it though, i robably played the best i ever have live and felt way more comfortable than i ever have done. tara.

2009-05-03T07:29:00.002Z

Meh, 50nl. I got selected for the blackbeltpoker first grading, which was nice as i know a few people that didnt make the cut and feel priveledged (sp?, deffo sp) to get a shot. Got to play 6 hours of 50nl a day 6 days a week. First 2 weeks 50nl, 3rd 100nl, 4th 200nl. I am away in week 4 in Cephalonia with the family but they have a decent internet connection and my sister just got an awesome new lappie, yoiiik.

Well so far the grading has been a nightmare. Im playing my usual hours anyway (babay got to eat right) so i tend to play ipoker after midnight till 6am, sleep till 4pm, get up, mill around, get on betfair by 8pm etcetc. Its a ridiculous schedule and taking its toll on me, i dont have time to go to the gym and i feel/look like shit, but i keep telling myself its only a month and this is probably going to be my best shot for a stable long-term backer for live events for life. Im not even hugely fussed about the whole vegas with $20k thing to be honest, i just want domestic/ odd european sponsorship in smaller fields..........

Well, its nearly the end of week 1 and any graders reading this, dont worry, im losing. Infact today i just tilted for the first time in a while, most likely due to the insane hours im putting in, zero excercise and no real timeout. Im down about $350 which is a bit of a see you next tuesday. My main problem is boredom, i know i shouldnt be concerned but when i see yet another 12/7 reraise my cbet from $2 to $4 on a super dry K high board it tilts the absolute life out of me and i just have to see what hes doing (holding AK). He has a set. Simple answer. Always. Like seriously a raise from any of these weaktight regs is at the bare minimum top 2, i see them checking back AA in a 3bet pot on the river of a 33K34 board. Seriously. How these guys get enjoyment from playing such a retardedly mind-numbing brand of poker is beyond me. also the software is a fucking joke, i just bought minimaxmod to try and save me from the tilt-inducing graphics, irritating "ping" when its your turn to act and a miniview that wont fit my HUD and a full view that i am forced to overlap. Which tilts me.

So starting from now im gonna change this shit. Im gonna cut back to 4 tables and play in 3 sets of 2 hour sessions with breaks inbetween. Im going to go to the gym everyday while im doing this grading, as hopefully the endorphins will protect me from wanting to stick rusty nails in my eyes as a preference to playing these arseholes. Honest to god this network is the worst iv played cash on. Table scanner at 11pm on a saturday night (peak fish traffic time) revealed 40ish tables of 6max 50nl, with only two having a vpip above 30. I didnt believe it so i made it run every 2 minutes for another hour. Yep. WHAT THE FUCK. Contrast that with like 50nl on fulltilt. errrrrrrr.

So i am being forced to play a different kind of poker of late. There is no real levels of thinking, because 80% of the regulars play faceup. They all basically try and see a cheap flop, flop/turn the nuts, min/checkraise or min re-raise the turn to build the pot then shove the river. Thats their plan. And its worked on me mostly :). I thought about it a bit, did a little homework and iv decided to just LAG it the fuck up. Im gonna play a much looser 35/30 game and open basically every CO/Button and SB with 90% of holdings. Im gonna stop bluffing a guy whose vpip is half a 200nl regs prf. I mean his calling range crushes most of the regs i play on betfairs 3bet range, so guess what, hes not gonna fold 1010 on 245 (unless i barrel the K/A/3 turn ldo). Im going to coldcall the button a bit more/ 3bet in position more than i normally would player dependantly. Im going to be ludicrously tight from utg and mp. I will have a super tight 3b range oop as they dont ever seem to fold to cbets in 3bet pots (coz they have AA obv) and i just cant fuck them over like i can IP (coz they cant handread very well and have no idea about my percieved range v actual range).

Anyway, its like 9am and i should really be going to bed. Night night.

2009-04-14T02:38:00.002Z

Summertime. Well, nearly. Just got past the 20k barrier at 200nl, won a bit more here and there but im still defintely a bottom feeder compared to the rest of the balla uk poker community. Feels slightly depressing really but i guess it will come eventually. Time is a great test i guess. Went on a ridiculous downswing a couple of weeks ago, losing like 20 buyins in a week, maaarvellous. But i didnt panic, just realised what was pretty obvious, i was playing 6 tables like a bad robot, waiting for hands etcetc and not playing poker. My bad. So i cut back to 4 tables, turned off the tv and surpise suprise was winning again.

My student at the moment is an absolute revelation. I originally had some apprehension as he is spanish, but his english is perfect and he is just a really nice smart guy. Great to bounch ideas about with him and it was great that he was a regular in my games that looked for me, nice ego boost. Mikel when u see this can you coach me into making my showdown winnings line at least breakeven :) Im really pleased that he is having a sick heater of a month, he is learning so fast he wont need me anymore in a while, although i did get the better of him today :)

Played a few donkaments lately, the 5006max on stars was a cracking comp, shame me and my backer/coach boxerdean couldnt have gone further, ended up having trouble with maniacs to my left, bad seats are a nightmare in 6m and in this sort of comp is was even worse. Felt good for about 4 hours, but i need to work on my stamina. Talking about SCOOP, must mention Flushies truly sick run in the last week, making 3 finals, including the 5k plo8 and winning the 300 2dayer for in excess of 200k. Sick puppy. At least i know my ecoop stakes are safe for a year or too :) Unlucky to moorman too, who finalled this tonight only for a truly sick exit hand, im sure you can go find it either on blondepoker or on 2+2. I cant really comment as im sure there was a tonne of history and im probs biased but in the final of the 10k event in scoop i think the guy has made an enormous error, coming ott of moormans second barrel on a 3sKhJsJc board allin with A10 with moorman having invested 70% of his stack. Hmmmmmm, run that past me again, still hes probably a great so i shuld stfu.

My garden is done, thanks to lots of work from suz's mum and dad and zan herself, with obviously me carrying the lot of them (riiight....). We got some cool limestone paving now on the way to my "office" outside (think big swedish log cabin/shed) and im itching to get in now, that + the dog that should be arriving in the next couple of months will be awesome.

Blackbelt poker grading starts soon, iv saved up as much as i can for it on the pittance i earn so hopefully i can have a good crack which will let me compete in the longterm sustainably on the live scene and also in vegas this year. Would be fantastic for all of the things im involved with if i could be one of the 8 selected from the 50. Sadly, i think the competition will be pretty strong, so ill have to rely on cunning and backhanders to win the war!! Also, and no this is not a copout, but i think im in Cephalonia in week 4 when we are playing 400nl, so i might be able to fade that puppy :)

Insidepoker going well, i havent seen my boss for about 2 years but im still really enjoying writing about poker. Seems like in the last 2 years strategy has just reached a much higher level of thinking, probably aided by the emergence of a lot of intelligent young pros sharing ideas. I was thinking of wrting an extensive 6max guide, possibly in conjunction with insidepoker/blackbelt poker but someone pointed out to me it probably would have a shelflife of about 2 years given the way things are going. Still, i might do it if i get prompted :) I could write a good book :) Im playing more omaha lately, (bigup to chris noflops on a SCOOP final too! wp fella) and im enjoying a lot more after watching plo dojo and plo by whitelime and jman on deucescracked. Just feel like i have a better understanding of what im doing now (like in nlh u steal from the sb v a tag with a wide range, in plo thats dumb coz they defend wide with position and stacks..) which could be benefitial in the future.

Been luton a few times lately, but have not performed and honestly been card-dead for eternity. Cant get anything through there anymore either which is not ideal :(
Still, ill probably have a bash at their gukpt :)

So thats it, another update for the month. Next update will be house photos and other stuff. If you have any comments, derogatory or otherwise, come join the party.

2009-04-01T12:57:00.002Z

argggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Downswinging hard. Marvellous. Just had a pretty brutal 20buyin downswing, biggest iv had in a while. In 4 days. I got unlucky a fair bit but also played like a twat on numerous occasions. People hero me so light now on the end that im going to have to adjust. For the next few weeks im gonna really tighten it up and spot the levelling ware postflop deep when i decide to rep super narrow ranges and my opponents are good enough to realise im bluffing 70% of the time. Been running at about 32/25/12%3b which is normally my optimal winrate, but ppl are 5b shoving 88 on me pre and calling my 3barrels down light, so i need to punish them. Nedd to cure them or always tapping that call button. Need to make them feel the pain of bad hero calls :)

Otherwise, my garden looks sick now, suzanne has had most of the input but the turf went down the other day. Ill take some photos soon.

cya kids, blackbelt grading starts 27th april, mail them if you might like to take part in future opportunities.

2009-03-23T12:58:00.002Z

Okok fish im writing for you. Been pretty tough @ martin towers last few weeks, my opr on fulltilt is ridiculously bad and iv worked out why. I kinda treat mtt's as a little joke at the end of a cash session, which is really not clever. These things are pretty tough now and unless you put in the effort you aint gonna make the grade. I normally reg, then about 1 hour in think hmmmm, something decent on tv, want to go out etcetc and just donkoff. Not clever. Im gonna be a little more focused in the future, playing the smaller fields in the rebuys and 6m arena (long-handed nitfests with super slow structures are like pain personified, where is the skill in waiting for your opponent to make a mistake?) and hopefully bink something.

Played last night, had one hand in the 80k on betfair that i just cannot understand and i see more and more. Like regularly now i see the BB snap calling button shoves for huge chunks of his stack with no hand. Last night, ave 10k, i got 6k @ 400/200/50 and open shove btn. BB snaps me off playing 8k with Q8o. I dont get it? Is that really the best spot u can find for making chips? Calling off 75% of ur stack with Q8 in a $500 comp. Gimme a break. He then justifies by saying "the last 2 times i 3b shoved and u folded, so i figured this time u would shove" well thats all well and true mate, but ur forgetting you have QUEEN 8! He probs stoved it and given he dominated 70% of my 8's it was a close but correct call. fk me.

Anyway, unregged from stuff on fulltilt and 1 tabled a little comp on betfair, which boxerdean from bb was railing me (cant say coaching :) ) through and i utterly crushed. I made some ridiculously huge laydowns v other bigstacks in the runin simply because i didnt want big chip confrontations. AQs v a sb call and a bb squeeze sticks out in the memory. I was allowed by some fantastically weaktight players to dominate and felt in complete control till hu when even with a 4:1 lead i was tired and made mistakes. He was vul to lose. Still got there in the end and had my second online mtt win of the year wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii lol.

Cash has been interesting, had some bad runs @ 500nl a little while ago but now back on track, need to really pull my finger out in remainder of march to get back on target. Im running at 11bb/100 over 100k hands so far, which is lovely but i need to put in more hands, i play everyday but im still lazy lol, especially when it comes to playing at the peak 7-10pm twilight zone.

On the coaching front, i now have my two students for now (out of 3 enquiries, sigh ;) ) and hopefully they will get what they want out of it. Putting a lot of time in and taking an effective paycut but i hope to learn a little too whilst im at it, so can cost this several ways.....

Badbeat poker grading takes place in a couple of weeks. As one of the 50 i sevretly think i will crush, but am a little concerned with the amount i have to outlay in week 4, hopefully ill run good up till then. Writing some stuff for their website today which hopefully will meet snoops+co's criteria :)

London gukpt stuff this week, unfortunately im pretty skint at the moment after various bits and pieces so wont be attending, but good luck to all in attendance, take home mad dimes!!!!!!!

2009-03-12T10:06:00.004Z

Time for an update. Firstly, coaching enquiries please just email me at alexander_martin@hotmail.co.uk , i dont have time to be messing about on various forums pm'ing blablabla. I will respond promptly.

Month has been reasonable, had my 1st serious downswing of the year last week, think i logged 4 losing days before coming good again. wiiiiii long live short ds's. been doing my absolute conkers on fulltilt mtts of late, cant seem to catch a break in the endgame and its getting a little frustrating. I went deepish in the 750k on sunday but alas my exceptionally spewy bluff didnt get past top 2. Infact i got slowrolled. The most infuriating thing about tilt imo is immediately after busting a comp it closes the table. So unless you know someone on your tables name you cant go back, find them and abuse the hell out of them (not that i would condone that fo course ;) ). Anyway, mtt's seem a lot tougher now on the us sites, which is a bit depressing.

Went to the launch of blackbelt poker on monday, went for a beer w JimJam before and tried to steal raaby's little comping book in the vic. Didnt get it but ill try harder next time :) anyways looks like mr. channing+co have made some pretty shrewd observations about the uk poker scene. I have been asked to contribute some strategy stuff and will probably have a go at their grading system when it is released. Looks like a pretty generous vegas package they are offering (50 ppl go for grading, 8 ppl get a 20k vegas package (brown belt), rest get something or other, think green belt? gets $1500 a month for live donkaments. Basically, they are launching a site on ipoker, plus they are setting up a training site/forum specifically for pros and neil is giving away 250k in vegas but is going to judge ppl over 4 weeks on his site....smart idea see. Anyhow, i like the idea and my experience with all of this kind of stuff is put something in and somewhere down the line you might get a favour elsewhere, so iv told nick and neil ill contribute some strategy and put some money on ipoker, again.... Obv night got pretty messy pretty quick so i stopped drinking and then just milled about in the empire until 1st tube.

Off to Venice on weekend for a little r+r and some nice grub. One of the few euro cities im excited to be visiting so hopefully that will be sweet. Setup our little vegpatch on the weekend with some railway sleepers, really itching to move in but gonna be a while yet. Looks like we could be getting a dog, but to be honest depends a lot on how much i can clear this month. Obv black and white springer for general crazy excitability and awesomeness for flushing/retrieval. Will update soon....

cya.

2009-02-26T05:20:00.004Z

You want thrills. Check this out. Im not sure id have the stones to do it, but HOW FUCKING SICK does this look.

2009-02-25T03:58:00.004Z

Some seriously funny/ good stuff written by fellow posters on deucescracked. Pretty awesome. Also, good to see a british guy getting the highstakes yanks scared, gogoogogogogo _FullFlush_, Durrrr challenge ftw sir. Jamie, when u read this, can u organise a pissup with him please, i need a coach like him!

Firstly, if ur not using a HUD and ur playing 6m at the low-midstakes, get one. I can understand if ur playing highstakes in a small player pool, but if ur a bottom feeder like most of us, get holdem manager. Hopefully soonish ill get Roy from HEM/PartyPoker (when they finally pay me doh) and Insidepoker together and be able to giveaway a couple dozen copies via this blog. Anyway, this was pretty funny from DC.

This is my HUD.

There are many like it, but this one is MINE.

My HUD is my best friend. It is my life.

I must master it as I must master my life.

My HUD without me is useless. Without my HUD, I am useless.

I must read my HUD true.

I must read better than my enemy who is trying to read me.

I must exploit him before he exploits me. I will.

My HUD and myself know that what counts in war is not the plays we make,

the noise of our chips, nor the short-term losses.

We know it is the wins that count. We will win...

My HUD is human, even as I, because it is my life.

Thus, I will learn it as a brother.

I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories,
its sights, and its optimum translucency.

I will ever guard it against the ravages of MS Windows and refresh problems.

I will keep my HUD clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.

We will become part of each other. We will.

Before God I swear this creed.

My HUD and myself are the defenders of my bankroll.

We are the masters of our enemy.

We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until there is no enemy, but PEACE.

Also, im reaching ridiculous clarity at the moment, and im not even using drugs. Admittedly im spewing a lot too, but more and more often im hitting this zone where i just dont think i can make a mistake against regs. Probably relying on hand-reading a little too much now, a few better regs are just realising that my river cr range really isnt that strong, so hopefully ill be able to get some thinner stuff through soon and get paaaiiiid. Anyway, i saw this which was awesome.

Malefiicus's guide to going robusto.

Do some exercises.

Play lag on a certain day of the week
Play like a nit on a different day of the week.
Play normal for the rest so you wr doesn't take a hit.
Wait at least 10 seconds before making any decision for 1 day per week.
Dissect ranges, get a piece of paper out, and write down ranges, realize that nobody folds on QJ7ss and have the paper knowledge to back it up.

I can't think of any more, the rum is getting to me. I suggest that you when playing lag pre, don't play lag post, that's something that tricks most regs 200NL and less fall for. When you play lag pre, play a bit nittier post, not super nitty or anything, but play smart (cbet correctly, etc). When you play nitty, play lag post, go crazy. That's how both styles are supposed to be.

Anyway, I'm drunk, so perhaps there's some wrong shit here, but I think it's good. I doubt anyone listens to this advice (and by listens, I guess I Mean listens and enacts. Most people will see this and never perform it, but if you do I guarentee you have a better chance at improving than someone who skips over it, a much better chance. Anyway, I'm going to have a bit more rum and party, because I live on an boat on a island. EVERY PERSON READING THIS POST CAN DO THE SAME. There are no limitations in life outside of self imposed limitations. Yeah, maybe you won't fuck a huge bitch, but you could. Maybe you won't move out of state, but you could. Maybe you won't sky dive, but you could. Perhaps you'll never do drugs, but you could. Maybe you'll never kill a man, but you could. All limitations in life are self imposed, so what I hope you all take from this is that you can do anything if you set your mind to it, and run good (joking, you could run bad, but if you're good and play a lot, it'll even itself out so quick that it won't matter).

We're poker players, we are lazy, but set your mind on it, set your heart on it, give your all to it, and you'll succeed at anything you attempt. End my rum induced rant.

Absolute quality and so true. Listened to ryan fees and read his guide to robusto on 2+2, this guy is probs the person that has affected my game the most indirectly out of anyone. His responses (when he's serious) to hands on 2+2 shows a different level of player, id expect huge things when he turns 21.

Should also state that im gonna start a coaching programme. Sometimes i get a little bored playing/games are bad and iv really enjoyed coaching my mate mondo from blonde. Im not really gonna do it for the money, ill probably charge a fairly small fee compared to others, but i want to do a full training package opposed to just X$/hr. Im thinking something like 10hour coaching programme, including a mix of live sessions/reviews/questionnaires/q+ "a"'s?/ etc. If anyone on here is interested, email me/pm on blonde/comment on here if u want to enquire. Im on the partyacademy coaches list and ill link some of my vids when party finally pull my finger out. Im probs best at advising ppl from 50-400nl, any higher and tbh, im not qualified to coach :).

Anyway, gonna end with a pretty funny hand. I CR the river here because im nearly 100% certain he has some missed spade draw on the river when he bets so much. Pretty funny he foldedwith $25 back :)

***** Hand History for Game 487379393 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, February 25, 03:16:46 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 18 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $502.00 USD )
Seat 2: oversleep ( $730.12 USD )
Seat 3: peeceee ( $242.50 USD )
Seat 4: sell4life ( $177.64 USD )
Seat 5: Mazaayub ( $0.00 USD )
Seat 6: flyguy01 ( $554.32 USD )
flyguy01 posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 9h Jc ]
oversleep folds
peeceee folds
sell4life raises [$12.00 USD]
flyguy01 calls [$9.50 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$7.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, Kd, As ]
flyguy01 checks
JammyJenny checks
sell4life checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
flyguy01 bets [$18.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$60.00 USD]
sell4life calls [$60.00 USD]
flyguy01 folds
** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
JammyJenny checks
sell4life bets [$80.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$160.00 USD]
sell4life folds
JammyJenny wins $80.00 USD
JammyJenny wins $331.00 USD from main pot

2009-02-23T23:31:00.003Z

Ok, just logged a metagame session. Actually finished up unbelievably. Got some funny remarks. This is just a long list of hand histories and pretty boring unless ur keen on lowstakes 6m, but i thought id post em for a laugh.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486790195 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 21:23:08 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 08 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 5
Seat 1: SewerRat ( $200 )
Seat 2: Levup ( $257.05 )
Seat 3: Dirk Bouts ( $287.40 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $198 )
Seat 5: 79HigaShino ( $280.82 )
Seat 6: GOV INSPECT ( $192.40 )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$1]
79HigaShino posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 8c, 8h ]
GOV INSPECT raises to [$4]
Levup folds
Dirk Bouts folds
JammyJenny calls [$3]
79HigaShino raises to [$17]
GOV INSPECT folds
JammyJenny calls [$13]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 2d, 4h ]
JammyJenny checks
79HigaShino bets [$28]
JammyJenny calls [$28]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ]
JammyJenny checks
79HigaShino bets [$35]
JammyJenny calls [$35]
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
JammyJenny checks
79HigaShino bets [$123]
JammyJenny calls [$118]
JammyJenny goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [$5] to 79HigaShino
** Showdown **
JammyJenny shows [ 8c, 8h ] three of a kind, Eights
79HigaShino shows [ Qs, As ] high card Ace
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $397 from main pot with three of a kind, Eights
************ Game 486790195 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486792356 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 21:26:48 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $235.35 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $161 )
Seat 3: Micxors ( $200 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $407.65 )
Seat 5: minios ( $138.15 )
Seat 6: Gunshot ( $297.90 )
79HigaShino posts small blind [$1]
woody47 posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Jh, 9h ]
Micxors folds
JammyJenny raises to [$7]
minios calls [$7]
Gunshot folds
79HigaShino folds
woody47 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4h, Js, 8d ]
JammyJenny bets [$12]
minios calls [$12]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
JammyJenny bets [$24]
minios calls [$24]
** Dealing River ** [ 4s ]
JammyJenny bets [$42]
minios raises to [$84]
JammyJenny calls [$42]
** Showdown **
minios shows [ Th, 8c ] two pair, Eights and Fours
JammyJenny shows [ Jh, 9h ] two pair, Jacks and Fours
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $254 from main pot with two pair, Jacks and Fours
************ Game 486792356 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486792356 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 21:26:48 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $235.35 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $161 )
Seat 3: Micxors ( $200 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $407.65 )
Seat 5: minios ( $138.15 )
Seat 6: Gunshot ( $297.90 )
79HigaShino posts small blind [$1]
woody47 posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Jh, 9h ]
Micxors folds
JammyJenny raises to [$7]
minios calls [$7]
Gunshot folds
79HigaShino folds
woody47 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4h, Js, 8d ]
JammyJenny bets [$12]
minios calls [$12]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
JammyJenny bets [$24]
minios calls [$24]
** Dealing River ** [ 4s ]
JammyJenny bets [$42]
minios raises to [$84]
JammyJenny calls [$42]
** Showdown **
minios shows [ Th, 8c ] two pair, Eights and Fours
JammyJenny shows [ Jh, 9h ] two pair, Jacks and Fours
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $254 from main pot with two pair, Jacks and Fours
************ Game 486792356 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486822129 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 22:09:24 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 08 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: SewerRat ( $222.25 )
Seat 2: Levup ( $440 )
Seat 3: Dirk Bouts ( $224.90 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $381.65 )
Seat 5: 79HigaShino ( $184.15 )
Seat 6: GOV INSPECT ( $600.01 )
79HigaShino posts small blind [$1]
GOV INSPECT posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ks, Ts ]
SewerRat folds
Levup raises to [$7]
Dirk Bouts folds
JammyJenny raises to [$24]
79HigaShino folds
GOV INSPECT folds
Levup calls [$17]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, 6c, Kd ]
Levup checks
JammyJenny bets [$38.25]
Levup raises to [$78]
JammyJenny calls [$39.75]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qd ]
Levup checks
JammyJenny checks
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
Levup checks
JammyJenny checks
** Showdown **
Levup shows [ 8c, 7c ] high card Ace
JammyJenny shows [ Ks, Ts ] a pair of Kings
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $204 from main pot with a pair of Kings
************ Game 486822129 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486823536 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 22:11:52 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $679.37 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $469.61 )
Seat 3: oleary14 ( $151.93 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $181.80 )
Seat 5: juricom ( $223 )
Seat 6: monge ( $89 )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$1]
juricom posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Tc, Td ]
monge folds
79HigaShino folds
woody47 calls [$2]
oleary14 calls [$2]
JammyJenny raises to [$12]
juricom calls [$10]
woody47 folds
oleary14 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 6c, 4h ]
JammyJenny bets [$24]
juricom calls [$24]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
JammyJenny checks
juricom bets [$76]
JammyJenny goes all-in
JammyJenny raises to [$145.80]
juricom folds
Returning uncalled bet [$69.80] to JammyJenny
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $225 from main pot
************ Game 486823536 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486837704 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 22:31:48 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of active players : 5
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $880.62 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $484.66 )
Seat 3: haulikko ( $195.40 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $214.75 )
Seat 5: juricom ( $416.20 )
haulikko posts small blind [$1]
JammyJenny posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Qh, Kd ]
juricom folds
79HigaShino folds
woody47 calls [$2]
haulikko folds
JammyJenny raises to [$10]
woody47 calls [$8]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, Ad, 4d ]
JammyJenny bets [$15.75]
woody47 calls [$15.75]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
JammyJenny bets [$45]
woody47 calls [$45]
** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]
JammyJenny goes all-in
JammyJenny bets [$144]
woody47 calls [$144]
** Showdown **
woody47 shows [ 3d, Ac ] a straight flush, Five to Ace
JammyJenny shows [ Qh, Kd ] a Flush
** Hand Conclusion **
woody47 wins $427.50 from main pot with a straight flush, Five to Ace
************ Game 486837704 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486840901 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 22:36:40 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $859.32 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $678.41 )
Seat 3: haulikko ( $205.35 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $197 )
Seat 5: juricom ( $446.45 )
Seat 6: Lacorderaid ( $198 )
Lacorderaid posts small blind [$1]
79HigaShino posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 8h, 9c ]
woody47 folds
haulikko raises to [$5.25]
JammyJenny calls [$5.25]
juricom calls [$5.25]
Lacorderaid folds
79HigaShino folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, 7h, 8d ]
haulikko checks
JammyJenny bets [$14]
juricom calls [$14]
haulikko folds
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6c ]
JammyJenny checks
juricom bets [$46.75]
JammyJenny calls [$46.75]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
JammyJenny checks
juricom bets [$140.25]
JammyJenny calls [$131]
JammyJenny goes all-in
Returning uncalled bet [$9.25] to juricom
** Showdown **
JammyJenny shows [ 8h, 9c ] two pair, Eights and Threes
juricom shows [ Jh, 9h ] a pair of Threes
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $399.25 from main pot with two pair, Eights and Threes
************ Game 486840901 ends ************

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 486847427 *****
NL $1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 22:46:55 GMT 2009
Table Oxygen 14 6-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $846.32 )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $644.41 )
Seat 3: haulikko ( $372.40 )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $410.20 )
Seat 5: ReloadPLZ ( $200 )
Seat 6: Lacorderaid ( $270.80 )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$1]
ReloadPLZ posts big blind [$2]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 3h, 2h ]
Lacorderaid folds
79HigaShino raises to [$7]
woody47 calls [$7]
haulikko folds
JammyJenny raises to [$24]
ReloadPLZ folds
79HigaShino raises to [$48]
woody47 folds
JammyJenny calls [$24]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, 5s, 3d ]
JammyJenny checks
79HigaShino bets [$65]
JammyJenny calls [$65]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4s ]
JammyJenny checks
79HigaShino checks
** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]
JammyJenny goes all-in
JammyJenny bets [$297.20]
79HigaShino folds
Returning uncalled bet [$297.20] to JammyJenny
** Hand Conclusion **
JammyJenny wins $232 from main pot
************ Game 486847427 ends ************

***** Hand History for Game 486790348 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, February 23, 09:23:24 ET 2009
Table Oxygen 14 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: 79HigaShino ( $237.35 USD )
Seat 2: woody47 ( $178.00 USD )
Seat 3: Micxors ( $200.60 USD )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $208.05 USD )
Seat 5: minios ( $141.15 USD )
Seat 6: Gunshot ( $279.70 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
minios posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Td Ts ]
Gunshot folds
79HigaShino folds
woody47 folds
Micxors raises [$7.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$6.00 USD]
minios folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, Th, As ]
JammyJenny checks
Micxors bets [$5.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$15.00 USD]
Micxors calls [$10.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]
JammyJenny checks
Micxors checks
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
JammyJenny bets [$35.00 USD]
Micxors raises [$95.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$151.05 USD]
Micxors calls [$83.60 USD]
JammyJenny wins $7.45 USD
Micxors shows [Qd, Ks ]
JammyJenny shows [Td, Ts ]
JammyJenny wins $400.20 USD from main pot

2009-02-22T01:08:00.003Z

Monthly update. Been grinding my tits off so far, well behind yearly target but won a little bit playing higher....i know i said i wouldnt but sometimes u cant turn down the sweeeeets! Had a couple of awesome 500nl hands v a fish which ill post later.

Playing a 24/20 tag game most of the time, and a 9.5ptbb winrate is nice, [ ] sustainable (although maybe it will be this year...who knows?)

To the people that commented, iv linked u dom and also yorkshire pud. I finally got round to doing it :) , thanks for the comments too ukgatsby, ur blogs still a fun read even now.

Yorkshire pud, after the next article, which is on river play against more dynamic players and the second part, iv had a word with the boss and seat selection it is. Something iv been working on incredibly hard lately, i mean im not playing 200nl to try and beat the best LOL, im there for the easy money, something some people just will never understand. So at the moment, rest assured there will be a decent spread on seat selection in the next few months.

In other news a good mate and part-time backer of mine james "mbn to be me" dempsey recently bought blondepoker out effectively. Hopefully he will make it into the no.1 uk forum it deserves to be, i spend a stupid amount of time on there at the moment, mainly because this year im gonna work my balls off to make money and get the house done and.....go to vegas.

Yeah, decided this years the year, always said to my old hu mate dave that 2009 was the year and its happening now. Playing the 5k shorthanded and 10k me plus maybe some other stuff if i can whore myself out to backers out there. Iv sold 40% in the two bigger events to offset the variance and give myself a shot. Obviously i dont really expect anything but its all about enjoying the dream of the lolly more than anything. My game has come on miles in the last 3 years and i should be able to hold my own against the cardrunners crew in the 5k shorthanded, no fear depsite everyone telling me its a v tough event. Too dumb to accept reality that im not the don. Mainly i just want to give my lifetime a few shots at bracelets, i really really would like to get close to one, so going deep in any wsop event would be a great feeling i think. Was planning on staying with the boyband, but kinda got fked there in that they overbooked, so im having to arrange somewhere else w other folks. Not sure how many i can round up yet, but theres always the sahara for £700 2 weeks accomo + flights, i mean i know its supposed to be a shithole but im hardly fking donald trump.

Off to DTD in a couple of weekends time, next weekend a huge wedding for suzannes sister. Really chuffed for the pair of them tbh, John and Sarah are two truly toptop people. Ill have to fight off the marriage thing for a couple more years though i think, even though iv got the board locked high and low.

My student Monatoo is coming on well, he plays good poker but hasnt managed to put the hours in to say goodbye to variance. Hope he gets a heater soon. I get random emails from ppl asking about lowstakes cash staking sometimes. Ppl showing me 15ptbb winrates over 10k hands. I mean seriously. Play 1/4 million hands and then see how ur doing, 10k means nothing in 6m.

Luton has been fun, havent been as much as i like as the missus is clamping down on my ex's. All my fault tbh and im glad she is.

Anyway, ill finish off with some crazy hands for you. Enjoy.

***** Hand History for Game 480228201 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, February 10, 03:18:25 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 127 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $593.87 USD )
Seat 2: shAAArk19 ( $100.00 USD )
Seat 4: W4LLY ( $1105.57 USD )
Seat 6: oversleep ( $502.00 USD )
oversleep posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ks Js ]
shAAArk19 folds
W4LLY raises [$17.50 USD]
oversleep folds
JammyJenny raises [$45.00 USD]
W4LLY calls [$32.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 7s, 9d ]
JammyJenny bets [$70.00 USD]
W4LLY calls [$70.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
JammyJenny checks
W4LLY bets [$140.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$473.87 USD]
W4LLY calls [$333.87 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ks, Js ]
W4LLY shows [Td, Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
JammyJenny wins $1188.24 USD from main pot

Dont hate his play really. But wo history is verrrry marginal. If he checks back turn he doesnt get in this pickle................

***** Hand History for Game 480226085 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, February 10, 03:03:14 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 135 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Samanthas T ( $257.90 USD )
Seat 2: fab16 ( $1790.63 USD )
Seat 3: oversleep ( $500.87 USD )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $490.00 USD )
Seat 5: Hat Man ( $523.90 USD )
Seat 6: GreatGreek ( $779.47 USD )
Samanthas T posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
fab16 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 2h 2d ]
oversleep folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
Hat Man raises [$40.00 USD]
GreatGreek calls [$40.00 USD]
Samanthas T folds
fab16 calls [$35.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$22.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 4d, 2c ]
fab16 checks
JammyJenny checks
Hat Man bets [$125.00 USD]
GreatGreek folds
fab16 folds
JammyJenny raises [$450.00 USD]
Hat Man calls [$325.00 USD]
JammyJenny shows [2h, 2d ]
Hat Man shows [Jh, Jc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
** Dealing River ** [ Kh ]
JammyJenny wins $1059.50 USD from main pot

why u should play sets fast on wet boards.............pay ME!

$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, February 10, 03:14:44 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 130 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: oversleep ( $549.50 USD )
Seat 2: Dead Kitty ( $533.60 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $475.43 USD )
Seat 4: lykosss ( $213.40 USD )
Seat 5: GreatGreek ( $1011.57 USD )
Seat 6: W4LLY ( $762.60 USD )
lykosss posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
GreatGreek posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ac Td ]
oversleep folds
Dead Kitty raises [$10.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$30.00 USD]
lykosss folds
GreatGreek folds
Dead Kitty calls [$20.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, Qh, 6c ]
Dead Kitty bets [$32.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$32.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]
Dead Kitty bets [$413.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$413.43 USD]
Dead Kitty calls [$0.43 USD]
Dead Kitty shows [6d, Qd ]
JammyJenny shows [Ac, Td ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
Dead Kitty wins $955.36 USD from main pot

this guy was insane, valuetown, population me. hes so lucky i level myself and he gets called by worse imo...........

2009-02-10T03:49:00.002Z

Bla bla bla, yeah i know i havent updated in ages, been kinda busy with different bits and pieces and more importantly, excessively lazy of late. This hand pissed me off so decided to get posting...

***** Hand History for Game 480227133 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, February 10, 03:10:33 ET 2009
Table Nitrogen 144 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $592.80 USD )
Seat 2: GreatGreek ( $649.55 USD )
Seat 3: Samanthas T ( $310.55 USD )
Seat 4: oversleep ( $542.75 USD )
oversleep posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Kd Kh ]
GreatGreek folds
Samanthas T raises [$10.00 USD]
oversleep folds
JammyJenny raises [$27.00 USD]
Samanthas T calls [$22.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, 6h, 5c ]
JammyJenny bets [$50.00 USD]
Samanthas T calls [$50.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
JammyJenny bets [$100.00 USD]
Samanthas T raises [$228.55 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$128.55 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Kd, Kh ]
Samanthas T shows [Th, Ah ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
Samanthas T wins $621.60 USD from main pot

Anyway, gonna do a long post now, degenerate readers (esp sharplea, bump me boyo!) fear not i will be trying my best to write more bullshit in the coming months. This spiel is gonna be mainly poker, next spiel is gonna be a life/fun post with some photos of my new place.....

OK, online first, then a complete dtd trip report as it was a really fun comp until i got tired. As you can see from my betfair graph at the top, this year badbeat cash games have started a little slow, i havent played as much as i would have liked but its ok so far. A bit frustrated im underperforming by about 30%, but im cutting down tables hard now (5 at absolute maximum) and it takes a little more adjusting. Still intend on playing 200nl for the most part, but feel like im wasting my time a little. Still, this year its about paying for the housework and a vegas trip and maybe next year we can do something a bit more risky :)

Feel my game is still improving, i am tilting a little at times but generally thats because of instability/ arguments at home which ruins my mindset. Hopefully thats gonna calm down. Im playing a 30/25/3 game now, with a frankly out of line 9% 3b percentage, but because im so table and ESPECIALLY seat selective, it doesnt matter. Watched some interesting vids lately which highlighted some of the finer points of table/seat selection and pissed me off a bit. Its like everyone is sharing all the best tricks, trying their hardest to fleece the fish fastest. Is this knowledge sharing ultimately sustainable? I dunno.

DTD trip report. This is gonna be virtually hand by hand analysis, so book in a spare 10 mins to enjoy it, coz drifting through will just bore you to death. Ok, so i decide last minute to go dtd for their monthly thing. 1st time iv been there and i was impressed. I met up with the blonde juniors, knave, trigg, mondo, rooks, dunk and co, and also saw a good mate of mine, grumpy garnham, doesnt get to luton much anymore but still loves his poker. Swapped 5% w trigg pre (he runs good for me) and 5% w my prodigy monatoo, who's game has come on a tonne, he just needs to remind himself to abuse situations :) ! Once that was done, it was a quick pint and then off to my table.

Starting table looked pretty good. I only recognised Maria demitriou at first, but given i was two to her left i felt i probs held the keys. Also noticed some lad down the end who revealed himself to be tom rutter, stuarts bro. 3 to my left i figured he could be a problem. Apart from that, couple of old guys, then, later, Lawrence gosney arrives on my direct right. Early on i go out of my way to get involved, playing a high % of pots. Got 3b early by tom when he was on the button, but i figured he would only really want to clash when he had position and control plus a hand, as the table was pretty soft. I played some small pots, then maria limps button on my bb and i raise JJ. Flop is K42r and it checks check, turn is a 10 and i check call, river check check and the lady has KQ. Lawrence now arrives, and i am forced to show a biggish bluff versus a guy down the end. I raise the cutoff after 2 limpers, he calls and flop is 44s8s. He donks and the others fold. I had 56 no spade but figure his donkbet range is an 8 or fd. Turn is a King and he bets weakly again, i should have raised but flatted narrowing him down to exactly a fd. River was a Jack and he check calls my bet with A8o. This hand combined with having to showdown some junk, including a pretty thin vbet with 55 on a JJ492 board when tom called me with A4 meant i was viewed as out of line pretty early.

1st big pot, lawrence openlimps co, i raise KK otb. Flop Aj4r. Check check. Turn 10s putting 2 tone board. I bet 800, lawrence makes it 2k. Given his rep and the fact he can never have a hand apart from some weird draw forces me to call. River is a 2 and he bets 2.5k with 2k back. He nearly makes me fold with some ridic calm speech play but im not folding to him ever and he shows Q6o. I then get a fun hand, i open 82s in mp and this oldish greek guy (who was a bit tez) calls. Flop is ok, 8s7s6 and i bet flop big. He calls, turn is another 6. I bet again and he calls. K River i c/c and he is unimpressed but mucks. I open next utg with AQo and get 3b big by some oldish spewy guy two to my left, all folded round, dont really think he has a hand and shove, he timebank folds. Up to about 16k now. Next pot i play was with a youngish asian guy (who studied physics at warwick uni and was hoping for a 2:1...got to get in his head yo) defends his bb when i open J10o. Flop 478c and he check calls. Jc on the turn and he CR shoves on me, i snap him as he bet really oddly and he has a big draw, 69cc or something, and gets there on the riv, knocking me back down to 10k.

Soon after i find 22 in the SB after multiple limps. I run like god and a Kd9d2s board drops. checked round and the turn is a 4s. I check, utg pumps 2k, some tight guy calls, and i shove from the sb. They both timebank, the first folding AJ but the second calling with AQo and dead. Up to 25k and working just before the break.

After the break i get involved in a couple of pots, including one that got me paid pretty well. I open 107d after 2 limpers and the bb and one limper call. The BB caught me bluffing twice but seemed pretty weaktight, obv a huge mark as i thought i could make some big pots then make him fold. Flop was 9h6hJd and i bet with a view to a multistreet bluff on good barrel cards or giving up if it went badly. Turn was a 2h and i checked it back, as he will let me know his hand strength on the river. River i bink an 8 and he check calls a big bet and looks a little sick when he sees my junk. I won a few more, knocking out lawrence after flopping bottom two on a 468 board (raised pre obv) and then played a pot with maria. I raised marias bb w 22 in ep and flop another set lol J102 board and i bet, maria goes to raise, then just calls.... holy fk we are getting PAID! Turn is a pretty annoying scarecard, the 8 and she check calls again. River is a fking disgusting 9 and we check it down and im a little annoyed to see J10. Anyway, i was up to about 50k when the average was 17k so good so far.

Then comes the first hiccup. I open AKss utg and Tommy on my left calls 800. Tom rutter now makes 800 3600 @ 150/300 and its folded to me. He's playing about 23k and i hate all my options. I eventually shove (trying to get him to fold JJ/QQ) and he puts it in my eye with AA. I hate flatting oop there v a decent player and i think folding is bad, but in hindsight i should perhaps have just mucked it. I lose it a little here, dwindling to 20k before having a crazy luton local come to my right and winning a few pots bullying him. I then get a christmas present, seeing a 5s58s board with 57 and the utg limper calling me allin with JJ. GG tommy. This got me operable again, above average. The table dynamic now changed horribly, with dave jones (leknave), Trickett and Paul Lammas joining. I wasnt too bothered about Paul as he plays a fairly tight solid game, but really didnt relish sam and dave messing up my party. I tightened up for the next hour before the table broke.

My next table was fantastic. Possibly the softest table iv played live in a couple of years. So much open limping, donk betting, terrible poker i was laughing inside and out loud a fair bit. Fisrt hand i play, im in the BB. The board comes 844 (i have 29) and one of the open limpers bets 1/2 pot. Called by another middle aged guy and i float oop, hoping to get away with a proper lol lets rep it line. Didnt know the table so obv i giveup if it gets checked on the turn but nono, the guy bets again on the K turn, with the caller in again. I now make a really grubby checkraise, making 1200 2800 and get called by the bettor. The river is a brick and i bet 5k, shipit. Now back up to 40k i felt good, but i got bluffed by this guy with about 100k twice.
On one occasion an absent BB and 3 limpers made me raise Ac10 4X on the button, then this seemingly nice cockney with beard on my left started going on about me raising all the time and i seriously thought if he 3bets im shoving. Anyhow, he folded, and bigchips utg limper (i know, lololololol) called. Flop was QcJc4 and he donked 5k into 5k and made a bad bad call (playing 40) hoping to outplay him later. Didnt work as he smashed the 8 turn and i was duly shown K9o (in my eye again). I then grinded for about 4 hours, staying ahead of the curve. Then, 1 level left, it went tits up. Couple of limpers, new internet guy raises biggish in the hijack (6k @ 600/1200), i 3bet big with JJ to 18k and the bb cold 4b shoves. FUCK MY LIFE. But obv im not folding, just hoping he has that ace and king combination thats the only hand i beat :) He doesnt, he has QQ and im crippled, losing a 70k pot. Dealer leaves me with 5k (ffs let me die gracefully, i was walking out the door.....) and i obv open shove atc 4 times on the trot. I then get called and crack AA with QJ, getting back up to 26k with average at 34k. There was no way i was coming back the next day with 26k, (i have learnt that i simply cannot operate well with a shortstack so go out of my way in an effort to play to my strengths) so was looking to get involved in pressure spots. Which is probably why i opened 102o 8k utg, just felt doyle was on my shoulder...., the flop came pretty good, K72 and i open shoved into 1 caller. It would have got through aswell, but i couldnt help myself from fking talking when he started quizzing me. I seriously have lost so much fking money from talking to good players, who invariably fold or call perfectly once they hear my voice. No MORE. from now on, in big pots, im not talking AT ALL. He called me with 55 and went on to come 4th for 10k, i went home.

2009-01-09T01:50:00.003Z

Aha, another week, another update. Damn im good atm. Been being a little naught this week with not much gym, but lots of work. Just did my 1st video for partyacademy partypokers newish training site which launches in Febuary. I hope i didnt come across as being a tit and was not too technical (im doing the lowstakes 6m stuff) but i think it went ok. Apart from i never realised how drony and bad my voice is, i always kinda thought i sounded like an english sean connery, not baldrick sigh. fuck playback.

Poker has been going good. Had a nice 15 bi day today so well on target for a slightly optimistic (probably) 1000 buyin target for the year @ 200nl. Its definitely achievable. Im going to start playing more 600 and 1k nl in the second half of the year, but id like to secure myself finincially (and me and zans house :) early in the year, which means playing a lot and making a tonne in real monies and rakeback.

Off to Brighton next week, gonna have one night on the piss on wednesday to get that out my system, all the boys are going so should be a good crack. Then im gonna take it easy and prepare for the Main event. I seriously feel like im playing so far above the rim when i play average live players now its like a game of mariocart versus a blind grandma. Blowing my own trumpet a bit but sod it iv worked HARD for 4 years now and iv had so many eureka moments but lately if been seeing much more clearly. Clarity of decision and trusting your gut reads in big pots is tough to learn and im finally getting it a bit. Won the Luton sunday thing last week which was fun, nice warmup before Brighton.

Quickly going back to the shooting article i wrote last time. I appreciate that its not everyones cup of tea and im willing to accept some people find it hard to stomach. Having said that, its a free country so mr anonymous, either come out behind that screen and say who you are or dont read my blog if it offends you. I think thats the easiest way to resolve this. ITS MY BLOG AND WRITE WHAT I WANT TO. Just incase you didnt get it.

Right, off to sleep. gl at the tables all.

In response to NHGGFU, i have decided to be anonymous mainly because if i luckbox talking to a sponsor at the bar who asks how i have done i can lie through my front teeth and not have to tell him iv had two live cashes in raking events in my life. Secondly if i ever make it deep in a big event i dont want players chasing other players to buy/ask for specific info/reads (i know longshot but u never know what might happen).

good luck to all bloggers and readers, esp Nirvana who got me blogging again.

2008-12-30T17:55:00.002Z

Decembers over (nearly), merry xmas and happy new year to my faithful few. I am gonna start keeping ontop of this blog from now on, with updates at least once a week, purely to prevent the gatsby's and amatays taking over the world. Ty for the comments all, always sweet to see comments even if they are threatening me over my passion for field sports. doh.

Just got back from skiing with the folks, nice to get away for a bit. Didnt realise how much weight id put on tbh, jesus. 14 whole stone :) not bad for a previously skinny git. Skiing again has kinda kickstarted the excercise regime and iv not got a personal trainer to keep me more even in terms of regular excercise opposed to just hitting the gym hard for 2 weeks then not using it again for a month. Bought a pair of goggles for swimming, yes i look sexy in them, forgot how to do front crawl tbh, but after looking like a seal on special K for a brief length i found the rhythm again.

NHWWFU mentioned that he was gonna look for my macua result on thm. I wouldnt bother mate, iv made a decision to keep all (two of them) live ranking festival cashes anonymous in future. I have a few reasons, but cant be arsed to go into them here.

Been having a decent time lately, before i went away i had that 2nd in the betfair 55k and then won another comp on ipoker for a touch. Had another score last night in kunkuwaps signature tournament, i v rarely play mtt's but had just logged a nice session and fancied a break. I can honestly say from the start it felt like i had a lock. Havent had that feeling since july in a small luton comp. Its weird how your attitude changes over time. I know a lot of players, most of whom are far far better mtt players than i am ever likely to be, that have almost complete disregard for the monies at stake. They just play their A game. Its taken me a long long time to bring this willful nonchalence to the mid-stakes mtt's ($100-$300) and i suspect a great deal more time before i can play the same game higher. I just see the risk involved a lot which brings out the nit in me. Scared poker is obv so bad and i deffo dont play scared cash but in online mtt's i struggle to make the thin +EV more i should make sometimes. Im conqouring (sp?) this but damn im so fkin slow at it.

Not gonna make it to galway sadly, it was there or brighton and i fancy the latter. Gonna play every gukpt this year and im fedup with making excuses. About time i finalled ffs. Played like 8, day two'd 7 (big stacked twice) and cashed zero.

[ ] my endgame is good

Also, should mention, in insidepoker this month there is an example of a hand where i apparently flop the nutflush and think im drawing. Obv no matter how fantastic the editing etc there are always gonna be the odd typo's. Long way to go before it reaches a certain (ex?)- competitors levels though lol and its still the best magazine for the more serious player by a country mile.

We had a minor setback on the house regarding planning permission, which in truth im seriously fked off about but suzanne has pointed out what we might be able to do instead. Ill get some photos sorted soon and show you my poker log cabin in the back yard, its sooooooo sweet. Im getting a little pissed off now about not being able to more in but i guess this stuff happens at times. In other news im thinking about getting a dog vv soon. Not sure what yet. I quite fancy a springer or cocker but then i know they are not the easiest working dogs to train for a 1st time owned and i want my dog to be the absolute bollocks in the field. Might get a standard black lag but they are a large dog and my garden is not v big, which means id have to excercise it a tonne or they would do what comes naturally to labs and get fat. The last option is probably the most likely, either a patterdale terrier or a border terrier, both of which are the nuts for ratting and would be a bit of cheerful company in my cabin when the missus is working. Still deciding.

On that notes im going to give a brief description of a fantastic days shooting i had last month. Dont read if you are some idiot that doesnt realise i cow has to be slaughtered to eat roast beef or at least have some understanding of the british countryside, you just wouldnt get it.

I wake up early, too early infact. Its still very dark outside. But on a shoot day i can barely contain my excitement. I get up and put the kettle on, get some bacon on the grill and get washed and ready. Dammnit, my prize shooting shirt is in the dirty laundry. Nevermind, hand wash quickly and setup an ingenious way of mounting the hairdryer on the desk to facilitate speedy drying of said garment. I check the gun (cleaned and checked night before obv) and get all my kit together. Shit i didnt get cartridges, no worries, my old man said he would sort that out. Ring my mate Matt, one of my oldest and best freinds, who i got into shooting and fishing when we were both very young and who has spent many days out with me pissing about doing something in the field or stream. Hes on his way and will be here soon. On this shoot me and my father share a gun, as it is our 1st year on a new shoot we wanted to try it out before investing a substantial sum of money and finding out the guns were assholes/ the shoot not up to our standards (in terms of etiquette, not numbers or height of birds i should add). Matt is beating for us today along with another good mate of mine Paul, there is a rule where you must bring at least one beater per gun, and these two love it.

Once shirt is dry, get dressed, some nice moleskin trousers, fave shirt and i dont think ill wear a tie today. Look outside, looks sunny, i think ill wear an old barbour waitcoat i have opposed to the longsleeve jobbie, ill be roasting after walking a few miles. The boys turn up, almost simultaneously, i get them both a quick bacon sarnie and cup or tea while we natter for a bit and they have a fag. Right, all set, into pauls old pickup and we are off. We meet the rest of our party at a little cafe in hertfordshire, place looks so out of sorts with the rest of the street at 8am, dogs, kids, odd hats and cigars and even port being handed around while copious amounts of sausages and eggs are being wolfed. My Dad is there too, along with my youngest brother Daniel who's beating too. I dont get on with my dads wife, but ill always have time for Daniel, who has so much enthusiasm and class you wouldnt believe he was 10. After half hour or so and we move on to a nearby coachyard where we are given a talk. The beaters and guns are seperated and they are driven off while we are given a thorough talk about the day by the keeper here, Carl. This guy puts in sooooooooooo much effort into this 200 acre piece of land you would think he must be getting paid a fortune, but no, he doesnt earn a penny out of it, just loves what he does and loves the craic. He told me that with the rearing, trapping, clearing, hedge-laying, planting, feeding, shooting and planning he probably spends more time here than he does with his family and work combined. Damn dedicated and helped by his freind Dave, a wisened old boy who loves his shooting and is handy with a chainsaw these two are the people who make this happen. We are told that there are a few english partridges about on one of the lower fields so if you are in any doubt as to the identity do not shoot; since the loss of small fields and gamekeepers and the abundant use of fertilisers and pesticides and changes in farming practices post 1960 there has been a massive crash in english partridge numbers, nowadays except in areas where they are abundant, they are left by nearly all guns who marvel at them when in years gone by they would have shot them by (literally) the thousand. They are sometimes occasionally shot when mistaken for a redleg or french partridge, which is easy to rear in the uk (english partridge rearing is ridiculously difficult) and as such is bred and shot as one of the two primary gamebirds, the other being the pheasant. We are told that no ground game is to be shot and not to take woodcock as not many have been seen this year. Alltold, we setoff in a few landies and drive to the farm.

Me and my old man flip a coin for the 1st drive (we stand together and take it in turns drive to drive) which i win. Im shooting on the first drive, oh and look, im in the absolute money peg after we draw for numbers, 6. There are 10 guns, and normally the birds are driven over a large area over the guns who are spaced in a wide arc, from 1 to 10. As a result, the middling numbers tend to get the bulk of the sport. Normally, i would be chuffed to bits, but i havent shot since pidgeon in the summer and im definitely rusty, this could be embarassing. Im not disappointed, as we watch the army of beaters blank in well over 400 acres (that we cant shoot, but are allowed to walk) i can see them coming. Partridges. Fuck me they are high. And this morning, the gods have seen fit to make it the perfect day for flying a kite, its very very windy. As the beaters get closer a few take flight towards us, the first climbs like a rocket before powering over the gun to my left, which he misses cleanly with two barrels (behind it looked like). Then i see it, a wonderful, majestic cockl pheasant has got up from the bottom of the hedgerow, with the wind behind it it powers up aiming for the wood 1/4 mile behind. Me. Behind me, everyone in the line has seen this bird and christ almighty its going fast now, wings locked and curling in a wide cresent over my right shoulder, its about 55 yards high and appears to be moving at 19000 miles an hour. I tell myself to relax, get my footwork right, follow through the bird, pick it up on its tail, swing through till its about half a yard past its beak and shoot, but its no use. I miss cleanly with both barrels, the bird flies on giving me a two-fingered salute. A huge cheer erupts from the guns, i think ill be taking some stick for that later. Confidence shattered, i then miss another two partridge before the end of the drive. To say i was the butt of a few jokes is an understatement.

The next drive, daddy's turn!. This drive is in the woodland, a think belt of conifer trees drives the birds up to point where they catch the crosswing at the top of a hill, then bank right hard and slide along the guns. They are fking tough. Except my old man seems to be superman. He doesnt fking miss. Once of the pickers up (basically, man with dog strategically placed to collect and/or retrive fallen/wounded game) has to move dirctly behind us because of how well he is shooting. I dont recall any being wounded, most were cleanly shot, but a few needed the second barrel to finish. 14 birds after the drive. The bastard has shot 14 birds for about 20 cartridges, most of them absolute stonkers. wp gg sir. en garde.

We break for lunch, meet up with the boys, i get some more abuse, we have a nice little chinwag with my old man positively beaming and have a little glug on a cracking bottle of port a freind has brought along. mmmmmm. Then its back in the thick of it. I get a stunning peg on a partridge drive, named shitbottom. Said drive got its name owing to the fact dave got caught short once while ill and unfortunately couldnt batten down the hatches, unleashing his bowels upon the poor plantation while working in the wood oneday. LOL. I decide sod this, off comes the jacket, sleeves rolled up, ground flattened down a bit, legs moving a little. I shoot like a i shoot pidgeon, im not a driven shot, i dont have the luxury or shooting driven game 50 days a year. Im a poacher, a ducker, my experience is with trying to take the woodie crossing the hedgerow trying not to be spotted, poking and stabbing neat shots rather than the graceful elegant slow long swings of the best shots in the country. Fuck them, i want to start connecting. And there it is, the first covey, it busts over the hedgerow like a starburst, but i pick my bird well (not the lead bird, which is generally the lead male and who has the responsibility of the whole covey, calling them all together before nightfall to prevent predation and usually having the most experience) and drop it well out infront, having enough time to pickup a cracking bird high over my left shoulded. Get in, this could be better. Dad stuffs a couple more catridges (paper of course, no litter)in just in time for me to take out the best bird iv shot all year, a screaming cock pheatant crossing down the line, missed by two other guns. This is generally known as wiping someones eye (not to be confused with "in your eye" a poker term popularised by moorman, pab and the blondepoker boys). The drive continues and i am suprising myself, the early flurry has subsided but i still have some great shooting, finishing up with 7 partridge and 2 pheasants, for 11 shots, superb. Pride restored, i then help to pickup the birds, helping the wonderfully named heidi find a partridge a long way away. You might think she was a supermodel, well she probably is if you were a male, shorthaired springer spaniel, and watching her make the retrieve and come to her dog handler Peter was a marvel. Hes an old boy, clocking on for 75, but absolutely loves this and wouldnt miss a day ever i learn later.

We finish up the day in the bottom of a deep gulley, im watching my day shoot but these are immense birds that are probably a little too good for anyone in the gun line. They are too fast, too wily and too high for anyone to have a chance, and despite a couple of lovely high hens, the vast majority escape unscathed. Fantastic, there will be more for next time and next year :)

2008-12-03T01:01:00.002Z

Ok ok, ill update. Firstly, thankyou all for the comments, esp Kevin Stevens and of course gatsby who is still a legend lol. Anonymous, thanks buddy!

Big update as iv been lazy with this. All to do with poker now :), ill do a life/shooting one tomoz.

Last couple of weeks have been pretty fun, i chopped a small comp in Luton for a few quid, then had a decent result coming 2nd in the betfair Sunday thing for 13k. Flew out to Ireland on thursday for the macau sporting festival. Great comp, great structure and i wasnt allin once (where i was covered) till the final table exit hand.

My starting table was relatively mixed, had a good young guy to my right and the winner of the IPF on my left, a french guy who was pretty sound. Table started well, a guy i play with a lot on betfair was on my right and i flopped a set of sixes on a K106 board, he maintained lead on the turn (which put a flush draw on the board) and i raise. Villain (Pistolpeter) calls and check calls the river with a rivered 2 pair. This kinda got me going, i made a handful of 3bets and one kinda risky cold 4b on the button which got through and was flying. I then open from the cutoff w AQs and the SB instacalls. Flop K3s4s and i bet/call a small raise. Turn A, i c/c and river bricks. Obv on the turn i think im pretty much a lock and then get letoff when villain checks back the river with AK!!! Ty sir.

I then hit some big hands etcetc and was at 45k by level 4 (starting stack 15k). I then obv get moved sigh. I get involved in a few spots with another bigger stack and kind of got the feeling he was trying to school me, so it was bound to get messy. I open the button to 550 with QJcc and he defends (100/200 blinds). Flop 994c and villain check calls a 800 bet. Turn is a King and now he checkraises me from like 2200 to 5600 with about 14k back. I kinda reason he rarely has a nine and is pulling a move so, erm, shove with a gutshot and he has Q9 and i dont get there. WP martin.

The good thing is my image is now nuts. The button opens and i call with 88. Flop A82, sweeet. I check, villain checks. Turn is a Jack. I bet biiiiig (1400 into 1200) and to my suprise he raises to 7800. I have 30k and villain has about 23k. Yipppeee he has AJ (always look on the bright side imo) and shove. He calls me with A8, which i seriously think is a terrible call, but he can justify it because i made some donkish moves earlier.

I finished day one in ok shape, had a few beers with fintan gavin and the galway boys, got slater for being english a lot then played day two, accumulated a lot then lost a big pot 2 tables out with KK v QQ which shut me down a little. I made the final but a little short. Now heres the good bit, suzanne came with me and simply wouldnt let me go and get drunk!!! So i woke up on sunday, went to the gym, had a nice breakfast and felt so much better! ty baby!

Final was a mixed linup, 2 fish present, but i was oop to derek and manus who were the ones i was scared of, so couldnt open raise much with 18bb at 1st. Lost two races with 22 v J7 and KQ v 56 then got a little short.

Ok this is getting boring, i made the final in 7th spot, finished 6th and its my first major final so a big fat monkey off my back wahhay. I then played a little plo and managed to get mick mclosky allin with 6 outs on the flop (thats tough v a rock) but he got there sigh. Then went and got pissed obv and luckily got allowed on the plane.

So a good couple of weeks, probably gonna try to play either DTDME or Luton, not sure which yet but hopefully ill see some of you in the near future. Keep the comments coming, good, bad, or ugly.

2008-11-10T23:09:00.001Z

fuck this game sometimes. this summer poker was soo fking easy and i was crushing whenever i played. october was a fking joke and november hasnt changed. im on a massive downswing atm and dont have any confidence at all, always thinking the nit is trying a move and making ridiculously spewy plays, in addition to lazy table selection and not putting in the hours i need to. Im going back down to 200nl until xmas at least, i want to get my confidence back up and start crushing again. Im pretty sure im the fish in the 500nl and 1knl games on betfair at the moment, i feel so mentally fragile and tilt soooooo fking easy. I KNOW! im meant to be a fking pro and i still tilt,terrible. Then i hear fking d'angelo spieling on something about imagine how much more money you would have if you had never tilted in your life, for me thats probs like 10X my net worth.

To top it off i have blown out some huge chances in online sunday donkaments lately. Yesterday that prize tit Iremarks managed to call 25% of his stakc off pre w 45s and obv bink A44. Then gives me the rubdown. Christ i wanna hit something.

Acutally looking forward to playing low, playing lag, not being adjusted to, getting paid and throwing around buyins with enough regularity that i can have an aggression edge. Not waiting for a fking hand in a ludicrously aggro 500nl game only for someone to cooler/outplay/outdraw me at every opportunity.

Off to ireland end of month, shooting in a week and skiing over Xmas w family and maybe in January with some degens. Fk i need a break and a result in the irish winter festival would be well handy.

2008-10-29T16:57:00.002Z

Havent posted for a while, been busy. Went to thanet, an island dont you know, even though i drove directly form london and dont recall oging over a single bridge but meh. Sold a chunk to the flushy track where im pretty sure im gonna be downgraded from oats to acorns due to 0/3 events. Ill give a full report as iv always wanted to do one and the 500nl game on betfair are sooooo bad atm. Cannot be arsed to be grammatically correct as iv just been spellchecking stuff for insidepoker and PKR's stacked magazine and it jarrs me to waste time with the mundane things in life. I apologise in advance for anything bad i say about anyone, but i want to say it as i saw it.

So Thanet, 1.2h drive away and v pleasant in my cobweb-infested saxo, doing a tasty 110 in bright sunshine. Did a bit of a naughty and stayed up till 4am night b4 as games were for once OK. Casino is big, like all the G's and actually looked to be run really well, with decent service and all the little details (things like the toiltets being super-clean, barmaids not hanging around for tips etc) were all good. These things please me so i was kinda excited from the off. Also having had flushy, dubai and jp stake me obv gives the confidence a boost, i talk a good tournament game........
Actually got in as an alternate 1 minute late despite being in the joint at 1pm. thats organisation for you. Table was pretty ugly looking, with Woody Deck and that crazy middle-eastern looking 50yo guy that came close to a bracelet on my table. Had flanders and some guy wearing a celebpoker t-shirt too, who were (sorry) obviously the marks from my perspective. Couple of weaktight middle-aged guys and we were in business. Played quiet for about 30 mins just gauging table when it became clear eastern guy that came close to a bracelet was a donkey, like properly fundamentally terrible. So obv i want to get involved. Guy raises in MP to 4X @ 25/50 and i defend Ah9o, purely with the intention of letting him inflate the pot so i can bet big on turn/river. Flop is something good like J9h7h. I check/raise his cbet from 400 to 1k, as i have pretty much the nuts v him. He snaps without thought. The turn is a 10h. In hindsight i shd probs CR again v this numpty but i barrel and he shoves. LOL. So much for that plan. He shows a 10s after i pass. outplayed again fml. I then proceed to watch woody flop sets 2 times in 15 minutes and (no lie) play them pretty shitly the 1st time v a nit and terribly the second. I nick a few more w cbet, boring stuff to get back to 10k then table breaks.

New table looks yummy! no-one i recognise! no-one i know! weeeeeeeeee. I elect for sitting back and building a little image at 1st, as im on table 5 so wont be broken for ages. Celebpoker guy has moved to my table and by now i realise hes not bad at all, infact hes pretty decent. Do have a couple of eggs on my table and a couple of weak-tights but the rest seem abc tag, which i figure will be nice and fun to play with. I pootle around for a bit before getting involved. I raise A8o from the co with 1 limper. BB calls and limper folds. Wasnt too bothered as bb defended a whole heap. Flop of 235 and BB donks into me, playing 7k with 800 in the pot, he bets like 550. Im playing 9k and raise to 1500. He folds. We rinse and repeat the almost exact same hand the next time its his BB and i have K10 on a 679 board. Image getting a little naughty when i suddenly turn into a card-rack in level 5. I raise twice v limpers and get one through and get c/r'd and have to fold the second time.

Then find AA v celebpokers utg+1 open. We have played half a dozen already where he showed a bluff and i returned the favour later (but didnt show) and he has been fairly reckless, letting pots get too big oop and tending to valuetown himself, luckily he's been getting away with it coz ppl are viewing him as recklessly aggro and calling him light, adjusting improperly. Im on button and flat when its folded round. Flop 226 weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. He bets out on the flop and i calls. The turn is a Jack and he re-checks his hole cards and check/raises me from 1800 to 4200 playing 17k effectives. I flat as i have this locked and i really really want him to fire a huge bluff on the river. He should be able to do this as i reason he should have an idea what most live players ranges are now. Anyway the river brings a 2 (yeah yeah i know, run good much etc etc) and he checks. Sigh, fml, he was bluffing etc etc. Anyway i go for 1/2 pot and he time-down folds saving face etcetc. This gets me going a bit.

Then steal a little, get it in my eye a bit more when two new guys arrive, in the form of Jamie Brown and Ian Woodley. Ian is a complete cock at the table imo and i have a lot of banter with him, usually is degenerates but that day he was O.K. I like him off the table but hes a twat on it, guess it works for him though. Jamie brown sits down and immediately im glad hes two to my right. Boy has a bit of class about him and was fairly pleasant, between him, my little welsh mate (totally forgot ur name m8 but u were quality) and the guy two to my right who i played with the entire time (sorry forgot ur name too but vwp son) we had a nice bit of banter. Two to my right were fairly abc (v me anyway! dirty bluff w Q8s m8, ill remember that!) and didnt get out of line at all. Which basically meant i was letting jamie abuse his mp/lp opens for a while. Then i get kings like a true live nit. Luckily my image was active and i think he knew i was a dodgy fukr coz i 3b KK on the button (24k eff) and he min 4bets me from like 2.4 to 5.2. Not entirely sure why but i shoved after some thought. Baaad play but i thought at the time he had to have a pretty big hand. This got me over 30k for the 1st time. I then knock out two shortstacked players in quick succession, with AA v JJ and JJ v 1010 aipf. I squeeze Q8s after celebpoker opens and both tight guys flat, which gets through. Now on 45.

Then i witness the sickest hand iv seen in a while, Ian woodley (26k) opens in late position, welsh kid who has played super tight and really well the whole time repops playing 16k to about 3500 from woodleys 1100 open. Woodley calls. Flop is J42h. Kid checks, woodley bets 5k, kid jams remaining stack (approx 8k). Woodley obv has nothing and talks on and on for ages. "Iv got nothing at the moment but ur in trouble, iv got you surrounded, backdoor everything" deffo the best line iv heard from him at the poker table :) He then calls with K10hh with no pair no draw and spikes a king on the river. Sickening. Obv i abuse him a lot and really want to get involved w him as we are both pretty deep, lack of position doesnt matter too much as he is spew.

Next hand he small raise my bb. I defend HU w K9s. Flop K4c5c, i check call 1k into 1.6. Turn is Qs and we check check. River is a 9 and i go for a 2.4k vbet. He pretty much insta raises shoving a load of purples, not sure but a biggish overbet. Doenst really addup that much, looks like nuts or air and obv i call to be told J high. Jamie then tells me he thought i would have snapped, sigh, feel like a legend to be told im a noob :)

Little later and a 40yo woman dressed to the 9's w fake tan and loads of jewellery sits down. ty lord. She min reraises my button open in the BB and obv i have to call w K9s as her range is so sexily defined, even if her figure is not. I call and continue to run like god, flopping KK8. she check calls me 2 streets and sighs and i peak in uncontollable sexiness at 75k, cl at the time w 50 left i think. Q table breaks. I have a much tougher table for the 1st time in the day, w penly, grech, lawrence and couple of other faces, in addition to paul mcintyre (slightly crazy madman, picks up KK 6 times in 2 orbits then runs the biggest bluff of the day v penly and gets it through) and my mate from 2nd table.

I make a few bad-timed moves/ get ppl hit v me (riverdave u fish) when most difficult hand comes for me given timing/ other stuff. Iv been relatively quiet then get outplayed by joanna who crushes me by shoving a couple of times. Then i find AKs utg+1 after joanna limps. Now jonathan Gale who has just won a huge pot and has about 90k 3bets me from 3600 to 10k. Im playing 60k at start of hand. All folded round and this is a toughie. 30 mins left on day 1 clock and i feel he is making a play at me, but we have no history and my image is cleanish. I shd probs fold as im gonna have to c/f near 60% of flops. But i call like a tard and check/fold a 1063 board. Then dwincle a little and get it in my eye to finish with 44k ish, plenty for day two.

Arrive late on day two, by about 45mins. wp alex. must stop drinking. feel pretty good though, even if i look rough. Table is tough, i get jiggy with liv boeree on one hand but the rest of the time i get priced into ugly calls Q10 v JJ of shorty/ get it stuck in my eye by Praz/Jamie/ glasses man or just have to giveup on wet boards where i cant cbet oop. Dwindle to 24k when Jamie opens utg and i shove AK, he calls and his 22 hits a set, K on the river too little too late. Ah well, had a good run. Getting a little frustrating now though. played 9 of these now, made day two 8 times but havent cashed once, what am i doing wrong? not sure, should probs have asked nick "run like god" persaud when he was pished, nvmind, ill try again soon.

2008-10-06T02:28:00.002Z

long time no post. been v busy w trips to Luton blonde bash where i got messed and bratislava for JR's stag do, which was even messier. I have this vision of me buying some russian called Ivan a shot in a boat nightclub, where he then throws up all over the bar and my shoes before knocking back another. stayed with flushy and raaby who were both pretty tame. good fun though, again again!

House is coming along brilliantly, completely gutted the inside and bought a nice log cabin for my poker den in the garden, only 4m*5m but its gonna be a little beauty, obv humongous flatscreen for the boys to watch the footy on. plans have gone through so now just tidying up. i will never take down another ceiling again, period, i hate the disgusting mess the crap up there makes of you.

poker been ok, didnt hit september target due to being a moron and having 3 weekends off, which is when i should be making hay. cleared 19k in the end. My badbeat mentor strummer has been kind enough to see i am killing and has let me do whatever i want in reason, giving me funds and letting me get on with it. Once i clear 100k profit the cut goes to a more player freindly 70/30 (+ ridic goodrb deal obv). This week has been tumultuous, the figures coming in at +1, +2.2, +.6, -3.6, +1.4, -2.5, +5.6 on the cash on betfair. I dropped about 600 on tilt and just done another bit on stars, but ok week in all. Had a shot at doing something in a tournie also, coming 14th or so in betfair 55k, obv losing q QQ>A5 for podium stack. never mind, hate the fucking things anyway. Oh, also got to get a belated brag in. the 2.5 ipoker last month that i coached Kingjackson through to 4th in has finally come through. The boy was sick ul to finish 4th for 125k (lost 2*cl pot w QQ<77ai pre) but still, what a score. Ship the 10k gratitude fee from my german freind! weeeeee. so i wont see a penny of that then as the missus has earmarked the lot for the house sigh.

Ill leave you with some of the biggest and craziest hands, and ill show Nutmegs bluff at the end coz he was whining at me to update today. Im getting callled so light nowadays that i am logging more nit sessions, playing something like 17/14/4 and getting ridic action postflop, but its not my natural style to be so selective and i dont like it, so might need a bit of TAG coaching to firm up second gear. Ill ask around, but sadly all my decent winning freind players are 25/20 minimum. Maybe ill pay some yank on DC a few quid to see how to be a nit. hmmmm, or not.

Hand 1

***** Hand History for Game 421616168 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, October 02, 06:02:46 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 91 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: zidane88 ( $495.00 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $1874.81 USD )
Seat 4: Katana ( $278.75 USD )
Seat 6: play2kill ( $980.45 USD )
zidane88 posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Th Tc ]
Katana folds
play2kill raises [$17.50 USD]
zidane88 folds
JammyJenny raises [$50.00 USD]
play2kill calls [$37.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, 9d, 7h ]
JammyJenny bets [$80.00 USD]
play2kill calls [$80.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
JammyJenny checks
play2kill bets [$180.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$180.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 6s ]
JammyJenny checks
play2kill bets [$665.45 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$665.45 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Th, Tc ]
play2kill shows [9s, Ah ]
play2kill wins $1961.40 USD from main pot

Loads of history with this guy, who understands that deep i need a huge hand to call. He pretty much insta shipped the river and i played like a mofo tool and levelled myself. I didnt think about how wide his calling range was deep(hes pretty tight)
and thought the fact he can bluff+ he hardly ever has a nine/33/66 means that its a call as he wont valueshove AA here coz hes not good enough tbh (which would be vvvv good btw). In all i fked up, never mind.

Hand 2.

***** Hand History for Game 423565257 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, October 06, 12:47:18 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 156 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $1423.19 USD )
Seat 2: ALLaddINN ( $1169.76 USD )
Seat 3: GraveDiggah ( $698.40 USD )
Seat 4: fitzjim ( $483.67 USD )
Seat 5: ISickOOsicK ( $556.50 USD )
ALLaddINN posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
GraveDiggah posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 7h 7d ]
fitzjim calls [$5.00 USD]
ISickOOsicK folds
JammyJenny raises [$22.50 USD]
ALLaddINN folds
GraveDiggah calls [$17.50 USD]
fitzjim folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7c, Th, Ac ]
GraveDiggah checks
JammyJenny bets [$40.00 USD]
GraveDiggah raises [$140.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$260.00 USD]
GraveDiggah raises [$535.90 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$375.90 USD]
JammyJenny shows [7h, 7d ]
GraveDiggah shows [Ad, Td ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
GraveDiggah wins $1401.30 USD from main pot

ok meh its a cooler and i lose but w/e i know i have the nuts and its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo important to get it in on the flop here v a solid TAG (who always 3b AA pre and 99% of the time 1010 too) to stop him shutting down if a scare card hits/ not playing his draws so laggro on turn with 1 card to come. pretty std obv but add up these hands when a scare card drops and the pot doesnt get as big and u lose tonnnes by slowplaying on a wet board.

Hand 3.

***** Hand History for Game 422545889 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, October 03, 11:17:00 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 147 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Gabian ( $701.14 USD )
Seat 2: Helstokkjr ( $500.00 USD )
Seat 3: Poluchka ( $149.50 USD )
Seat 4: Nestor ( $922.55 USD )
Seat 5: stokerus ( $453.00 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $646.40 USD )
Gabian posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Helstokkjr posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ As Ks ]
Poluchka folds
Nestor folds
stokerus calls [$5.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$22.50 USD]
Gabian raises [$75.00 USD]
Helstokkjr folds
stokerus folds
JammyJenny raises [$137.50 USD]
Gabian calls [$82.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4s, 5h, 2c ]
Gabian checks
JammyJenny bets [$199.00 USD]
Gabian raises [$541.14 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$287.40 USD]
Gabian wins $54.74 USD
Gabian shows [Tc, Ts ]
JammyJenny shows [As, Ks ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
Gabian wins $1299.80 USD from main pot

Pretty funny hand coz i think villain plays like a tard tbh. My range has him totally crushed (i never have 99 here, why would i run the risk of getting blown off the pot pre) and when i do have AK his equity sucks. pretty spew gabian sir. I small 4b pre just to balance all of my 4b range well.

Hand 4.

***** Hand History for Game 423570765 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, October 06, 01:10:07 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 36 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: cockroach1 ( $0.00 USD )
Seat 2: Mahnzis ( $647.61 USD )
Seat 3: RibePigekor ( $862.78 USD )
Seat 4: Nutmeg ( $881.35 USD )
Seat 5: ALLaddINN ( $1288.36 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $620.35 USD )
Mahnzis posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
RibePigekor posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 8d 5d ]
Nutmeg raises [$13.12 USD]
ALLaddINN folds
JammyJenny calls [$13.12 USD]
Mahnzis folds
RibePigekor raises [$49.98 USD]
Nutmeg folds
JammyJenny calls [$41.86 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, Jh, 7h ]
RibePigekor bets [$94.18 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$240.00 USD]
RibePigekor calls [$145.82 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
RibePigekor checks
JammyJenny bets [$325.37 USD]
RibePigekor calls [$325.37 USD]
RibePigekor shows [Qd, Qc ]
JammyJenny shows [8d, 5d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4s ]
RibePigekor wins $1253.32 USD from main pot

yeah this is pretty spewy, but i like it. Villain is a tight player, i thought he was good but obv not so sure now (got to insult them when they beat u obv). V a thinking player they fold the flop all day long as my value raises have QQ by the balls. i fked the betsizing though, should raised less to make it a psh on the turn. Villain only 3b 3% of all hands, which means he doesnt squeeze JJ/1010, wheras my range is still wide open and incorporates the lot. ah well, n1 son.

Hand 5.

***** Hand History for Game 423568122 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, October 06, 12:58:51 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 12 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: Nutmeg ( $1594.52 USD )
Seat 3: JammyJenny ( $2010.66 USD )
Seat 5: ISickOOsicK ( $502.50 USD )
Seat 6: ALLaddINN ( $1299.15 USD )
ISickOOsicK posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
ALLaddINN posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Qs Kh ]
Nutmeg raises [$14.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$49.50 USD]
ISickOOsicK folds
ALLaddINN folds
Nutmeg calls [$35.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, 6d, 6h ]
Nutmeg checks
JammyJenny bets [$100.00 USD]
Nutmeg calls [$100.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kd ]
Nutmeg bets [$150.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$150.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Th ]
Nutmeg bets [$420.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$420.00 USD]
Nutmeg shows [4d, 3d ]
JammyJenny shows [Qs, Kh ]
JammyJenny wins $1444.50 USD from main pot

oh nutmeg. this guy is imo very variable, sometimes lag, sometimes lap, but always loose. so whe he calls my 3bets oop deep all the time i elect to smash the flop and make the pots bigger so i can bet more later and use my pos it ion. as it is he does the hard work for me, ship it puppy!

2008-09-19T04:14:00.002Z

Ok. Currently not on course to clear 40k. Gonna aim for 30. Going blonde bash over weekend and the missus has been on earlys which has fked up my session times sadly. still put in decent hand volume (only 6 tabling) and playing reasonable. Made a few mistakes last weekend but have plugged leaks. Playing about 32/25/3 this month, table dependant, which is obv ultra high variance but thats why i chose to be staked now i guess. Coz i can handle the swings. Handy having someone keeping a close eye on you and prepared to let you play as high as u want. Getting a much bigger daily limit loss soo which should let me play 500/1k nl as my staple (assuming decent games), otherwise ill stay at small stakes grinding the easy money. Going bratislava next week for senor reevios stag do which will be awesome, hope i have kicked this fking cold by then.

Did some house stuff today, went well, roped in a mate obv, will post some pictures soon, its actually bigger than i thought weeeeeeeeee. OK, im going bed, see most of you at bb7 on saturday, where ill or not it will be super messy. gl at the tarbs.

2008-09-05T04:58:00.003Z

So the challenge has started and so far so good.

Was on Sky last night, that was fun, Ed giddins (sp?) seems like a nice bloke as does Michelle. The team there are really cool and i can see why Tikay enjoys it there, cool crew, really want to get that presenter job, screw the other applicants, I WANT IT MORE!

Back to pokah.
Im ahead of the curve by about $600 even after having a throwup session this afternoon. Had kinda decided to log a loco session in order to (hopefully) get more action on the weekend from the regs and got into some really high variance crazy spots which were fun. Ill own up to playing some 500nl at the end of the night though (obv end of night spike lol) purely because i was bored and i like bigger games tbh. Here are some funny hands.

Ill start off with the bs first, love this guys AQ play sigh..... in fairness i probs fold like JJ here along with AK...lol anyway, wp sir, good spot to bluff, im really going to 3b light v a 12/9 limper and a 14/10 button isolated deep. Why is it always the tight nitty ppl that spew the most?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3147351

***** Hand History for Game 409011283 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, September 04, 11:34:01 ET 2008
Table Oxygen 06 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: riverbug ( $377.10 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $395.15 USD )
Seat 3: 12top ( $170.75 USD )
Seat 4: aelare73 ( $86.90 USD )
Seat 5: A Recoba ( $436.50 USD )
Seat 6: jellyf147 ( $239.65 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
12top posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Kd Kh ]
aelare73 calls [$2.00 USD]
A Recoba folds
jellyf147 calls [$2.00 USD]
riverbug raises [$13.50 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$38.00 USD]
12top folds
aelare73 folds
jellyf147 folds
riverbug calls [$25.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4h, Ts, 3h ]
JammyJenny bets [$64.00 USD]
riverbug raises [$338.10 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$274.10 USD]
riverbug shows [Ac, Qd ]
JammyJenny shows [Kd, Kh ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
** Dealing River ** [ As ]
riverbug wins $757.20 USD from main pot

Hand 2. Interesting this, borderline spew but obv once i flop a draw its all going in...as it is on any board i can rep a big hand hard (AXX/KXX/ paired boards etc) and opponents range will rarely have hit it. Not sure if shoving is optimal, could prolly just 2/3 pot it but i dont want 99/1010 to start feeling pot commited on the turn. Should get me some action when i limp rr in ep with real hands down the line though.

***** Hand History for Game 409029899 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, September 05, 12:24:40 ET 2008
Table Oxygen 22 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $316.17 USD )
Seat 2: BarrierReef ( $217.00 USD )
Seat 3: grindintr00 ( $245.75 USD )
Seat 4: Mahnzis ( $0.00 USD )
Seat 5: Marino4ka ( $243.00 USD )
Seat 6: TIBBO ( $277.00 USD )
grindintr00 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
Marino4ka posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 4c 3c ]
TIBBO folds
JammyJenny calls [$2.00 USD]
BarrierReef raises [$9.00 USD]
grindintr00 calls [$8.00 USD]
Marino4ka calls [$7.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$30.00 USD]
BarrierReef folds
grindintr00 calls [$23.00 USD]
Marino4ka calls [$23.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8h, 8c, 5c ]
grindintr00 checks
Marino4ka checks
JammyJenny bets [$284.17 USD]
grindintr00 calls [$213.75 USD]
Marino4ka folds
JammyJenny wins $70.42 USD
JammyJenny shows [4c, 3c ]
grindintr00 shows [5s, 5d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
grindintr00 wins $529.50 USD from main pot

Hand 3. This guy was a total tool, he kinda showed his colours early calling me down in a 3b pot w 88 on 910XQX board 3 streets (i had str8fldraw and obv bricked). So here i obv call for a middle pin nut draw in the blind hope that the good player has AA/1010 and i can stack someone hard. I hate having to CR the turn but unless i do im not gonna be able to shove the river v this guy, obv v an actual thinker i probs just c/c as he never puts me on nuts and will probs vbet if i check river as my hand looks a lot like AJ which cant continue. But then they would also have a hand............and brain cells. Nice river call sir!

***** Hand History for Game 409066305 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, September 05, 04:42:23 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 119 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Echo88 ( $595.55 USD )
Seat 2: MorningWood ( $523.00 USD )
Seat 4: rush88 ( $615.15 USD )
Seat 5: JammyJenny ( $1417.42 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Echo88 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Kc Jd ]
MorningWood folds
rush88 raises [$10.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$7.50 USD]
Echo88 calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, 7d, Ac ]
JammyJenny checks
Echo88 bets [$30.00 USD]
rush88 calls [$30.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
JammyJenny checks
Echo88 bets [$120.00 USD]
rush88 folds
JammyJenny raises [$280.00 USD]
Echo88 calls [$160.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
JammyJenny bets [$1097.42 USD]
Echo88 calls [$275.55 USD]
JammyJenny wins $821.87 USD
Echo88 shows [Qh, 8d ]
JammyJenny shows [Kc, Jd ]
JammyJenny wins $1229.10 USD from main pot

Hand 4. got some stick for this but we had some kinda war going on as we had been playing HU prior. Tbh i was getting pissed at his floats IP and he was continually testing me down the streets, so obv i counter by 3/4betting more pre oop and c/ring his floats. always handy to have some outs when they actually have a hand though lol :)

I like my line, i think hes gonna fold a whole heap given my line looks super strong and the only set he ever has is 99 so if i get called my 2pr outs are good a lot of the time too. V a weak opponent they probs fold AQ, this guy just got ul.

***** Hand History for Game 409065722 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, September 05, 04:32:00 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 119 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Echo88 ( $697.55 USD )
Seat 2: MorningWood ( $639.17 USD )
Seat 4: rush88 ( $392.40 USD )
Seat 5: JammyJenny ( $770.25 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Echo88 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Th Jh ]
MorningWood raises [$17.50 USD]
rush88 folds
JammyJenny raises [$53.50 USD]
Echo88 folds
MorningWood calls [$38.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6d, 9c, Qh ]
JammyJenny bets [$80.00 USD]
MorningWood calls [$80.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
JammyJenny checks
MorningWood bets [$160.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$634.25 USD]
MorningWood calls [$343.17 USD]
JammyJenny wins $131.08 USD
MorningWood shows [Ah, Qc ]
JammyJenny shows [Th, Jh ]
** Dealing River ** [ Kh ]
JammyJenny wins $1281.34 USD from main pot

Hand 5. Valuetown. I had no history v this guy but i kind of like 1/2 pot bets atm for balancing purposes, just makes bluffs cheaper etc. Here was a fun hand, when a guy only 3bets you 6% of the time, you can abuse the strength of their range on certain boards and put them on that train weeeeee!!

***** Hand History for Game 409065658 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, September 05, 04:30:54 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 129 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $661.69 USD )
Seat 2: rush88 ( $1643.81 USD )
Seat 6: Echo88 ( $1051.56 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
rush88 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 8c Ac ]
JammyJenny raises [$12.50 USD]
rush88 raises [$40.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, 9c, Kc ]
rush88 bets [$72.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$72.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
rush88 checks
JammyJenny bets [$120.00 USD]
rush88 calls [$120.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]
rush88 checks
JammyJenny bets [$200.00 USD]
rush88 calls [$200.00 USD]
JammyJenny shows [8c, Ac ]
rush88 doesn't show [Ks, As ]
JammyJenny wins $873.00 USD from main pot

Looking forward to WE, gonna hopefully clear another 5/6 to get the month off to a good start. Sunday biggish day, got the ipoker 2.5 that iv been staked into as i really cannot afford 1.5k mtts, the betfair wsope satellite, 55k and probs some stuff on stars (might even do the warmup/ million or something, someone recently told me stars mtt standards got worse).

Get the keys to the house on Monday so gonna organise a barbeque (sp lol?) where my mates can help me clear the garden etc.....ingenious, thanks mum for that idea. Cant wait to move in, be nice to give Suzanne a big lump after shipping the 500k 1st prize on Monday morning though :)

2008-09-01T13:56:00.002Z

Pulling my finger out...at last.

Great month in the end, one of my best ever, now at 7.8ptbb/100 over 80k hands @ 200nl and at a ( [ ] sustainable) 9.1ptbb/100 over 35k @ 500nl. I have started getting played back at more which is slightly frustrating, but its not as if i dont know how to combat it. Its just tougher to exploit than weak passive morons that let you dictate the pot size every hand. With that in mind i have a bit of a challenge for September. I was going to take action on it but im not entirely sure its feasibly so will see how it goes at first. I reckon i can clear $40k profit in September playing just 200nl. There, i said it, we shall see if its possible. My game has gotten a little too loose lately, so im looking forward to speaking to a couple of other tighter players i respect in sweat sessions i got booked over next few days, im sure its profitable, i just need to see how they COMBAT seriously loose players and then work out some effective lines that make it tougher. A few players @ 500nl started 4betting me light OOP (i get it a lot IP but oop is generally much stronger), which meant that i had to shove over their cbets in order to retain some value from calling small 4bets with marginal AJs type holdings. Normally at least if i have some equity (gutter+ over for example) im happy doing it occassionally. Once you add up the metagame, great price ur getting (normally 1:1 pot sized raise on flop), ability for them to level themselves and fold winning marginals plus the slight equity you have in the hand im pretty sure its fine to throw up all over the table now and again. Or every other hand :)

Really gonna try and boost my vpip and preflop raise this month. I want to ideally be in the 32/27 bracket opposed to a standard 28/24 game that i tend to revert to but i know my edge is so big postflop i need to be involved in a lot more pots in order to reach my monthly target. Ill have to add a lot more random shit like 95s and 710o to get it up but initiative plus postion as always do most of the work. Plus as long as im playing with 100bb minimum stacks i can justify it with "implied odds" lol.

Oh, played the Betfair $400 fo on Sunday. What a fiasco. Good structure, small field, decent prize pool. Got hero called early for 1k, then lost another to a torrid resteal from blinds before making a few k back then this joke hand. I open hijack for 300 @ 50/100 playing 5.5k (roughly average) with Ac4c. Cutoff, button, small and big blind call. Flop 2c3c2d. They check to me and i just want to get 99 to fold tbh so jam (oddly i only ever overbet in mtt's..leak?). Now thats like 5200 into 1500. So obviously all fold round to BB who snaps me with Kc8c and gets there. Ppl keep telling me poker is getting tougher, but if you know where to look the value is immense.

2008-08-30T04:11:00.003Z

This week has been nice, im playing on a small network now with limited players so table selection and spotting regulars leaks are an awful lot easier than on ipoker imo.
Im still mainly playing 200nl with soft 500nl games thrown in when i see them. Hourly rate is highest 6-tabling 200nl, i think 6 is the max i can handle whilst still getting nice reads and mixing up my play to ensure im unexploitable and tougher to play. I can crush the softer 500nl games, but i still struggle @ 1knl for some reason, its like a mental barrier to me that just shouldnt be there, i guess coz i dont have a bunch of money (like way too many of my mates) i stop playing the game and start thinking money when i get deep and the better players defintely put me under pressure. Hopefully with the backing of Badbeat (who i am now trading for as i want to pull my finger out and climb to the top- pretty sure i need some kind of framework to get there and the mentoring/broll mgmt side of things is great from BB, even if the cut isnt)

Got into some interesting reg wars tonight after busting out of two stars comps (cheers Claimer for $) when i had to showdown some dirtaaaaay (as amatay wd say) cold 4-bet w 78s and then got snap called by a 50bb merchant, image for the night given away even though anyone with a HUD woudl see i was running @ 35/31/3.5 the loosest iv played for a while (normally 28/24/2.5ish but obv change gears every hour or so for shits and giggles).
When I start getting into long term (metagame lol) reg wars i find (esp @ 500nl) it kinda goes full circle, at first they just give up to your incessant double barrels and bluffraises/ flop CR bluffs, then they start calling you lighter and lighter till you get more passive, then they start to vbet you thinner.....this is my favourite part of the cycle as it can get quite levelly in thinking terms. When u start fucking with each other all the time and they are literally gunning for you every hand with frustation, thats the best part imo. Thats the stage when u know u have them beat.

Anyway, just did a nice friday night session which rounded off a nice week and a good month overall, finally making some $ and will hopefully be moving back to another site in the near future for proper 1knl and 2knl shots......to be decided.

Couple of hands that were fun.......

Hand 1) Decent player this guy, so i know that on the turn he raises for value with any nut/near nut hand in order to facilitate river big bet and valuetown me incase its a cooler. This obv means i can c/r river w air as he simply cant call as these kind of history spots are tough and im so rarely bluffing here.

***** Hand History for Game 406264511 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 30, 02:30:39 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: theUNDERTOW ( $1614.45 USD )
Seat 2: stokerus ( $495.00 USD )
Seat 3: Fish Eater ( $536.62 USD )
Seat 4: megoddy7 ( $812.77 USD )
Seat 5: JammyJenny ( $646.37 USD )
Seat 6: Kidology ( $360.97 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
Kidology posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Th Ah ]
theUNDERTOW folds
stokerus folds
Fish Eater folds
megoddy7 raises [$17.50 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$15.00 USD]
Kidology folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 9h, Jh ]
JammyJenny bets [$24.00 USD]
megoddy7 calls [$24.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]
JammyJenny bets [$63.00 USD]
megoddy7 calls [$63.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]
JammyJenny checks
megoddy7 bets [$140.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$541.87 USD]
megoddy7 folds
JammyJenny wins $401.87 USD
JammyJenny wins $491.00 USD from main pot

Hand 2) Oppo was kinda weaktight, deffo viewed my as a bit aggro and could think. I liked this vbet, slightly thin unless ur oppo can hand read......odd that him being good worked against him lol. Obv i am "repping" missed flush draw hence bet size.

***** Hand History for Game 406266423 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 30, 02:42:24 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 182 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $535.00 USD )
Seat 2: megoddy7 ( $932.87 USD )
Seat 3: veej ( $608.00 USD )
Seat 4: veggern ( $1394.87 USD )
Seat 5: bullerto ( $224.00 USD )
Seat 6: stokerus ( $1606.97 USD )
veggern posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
bullerto posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ah 7h ]
stokerus folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
megoddy7 calls [$17.50 USD]
veej folds
veggern calls [$15.00 USD]
bullerto folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, 5d, 9s ]
veggern checks
JammyJenny checks
megoddy7 checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]
veggern bets [$30.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$30.00 USD]
megoddy7 folds
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
veggern checks
JammyJenny bets [$70.00 USD]
veggern calls [$70.00 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ah, 7h ]
veggern doesn't show [Ac, 5c ]
JammyJenny wins $254.50 USD from main pot

Hand 3) Tough spot this, why i should have folded flop tbh unless im gonna go with the hand. Slaven is good, aggro and can hand read better than most. I might aswell tell him my hand here, meh terrible play. Obv IP this would be much simpler, OOP however he just double barrels pretty much everyime.

***** Hand History for Game 406272104 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 30, 03:22:48 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 146 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 2: Slaven11 ( $638.82 USD )
Seat 3: megoddy7 ( $1259.99 USD )
Seat 4: stokerus ( $1812.45 USD )
Seat 5: mglee ( $217.03 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $816.91 USD )
stokerus posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
mglee posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ts Tc ]
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
Slaven11 raises [$60.00 USD]
megoddy7 folds
stokerus folds
mglee folds
JammyJenny calls [$42.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 8s, 4d ]
JammyJenny checks
Slaven11 bets [$95.62 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$95.62 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9h ]
JammyJenny checks
Slaven11 bets [$180.00 USD]
JammyJenny folds
Slaven11 wins $180.00 USD
Slaven11 wins $315.74 USD from main pot

Hand 4)

And we will end with a random huge bluff for fun. I think its so important to do this sort of shit now and then on small networks, just so ppl know u can speeeeeew which gets you paid. His flop raise after his call pre makes absolutely no sense. If he has KK/JJ a passive guy like him just flats it, KJ not in his range.......i smell bullshit sir, i raise......

$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, August 17, 03:22:01 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 185 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: grudev ( $496.65 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $572.00 USD )
Seat 3: 46664 ( $668.75 USD )
Seat 5: oversleep ( $693.70 USD )
Seat 6: pezmaz ( $300.55 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
46664 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 4d 3d ]
oversleep folds
pezmaz folds
grudev raises [$17.50 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$49.50 USD]
46664 calls [$47.00 USD]
grudev folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, 3h, Jc ]
JammyJenny bets [$90.00 USD]
46664 raises [$180.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$430.00 USD]
46664 folds
JammyJenny wins $340.00 USD
JammyJenny shows [4d, 3d ]
JammyJenny wins $478.50 USD from main pot

Oh, non-poker related news, we exchanged today! WEEEEEEE! completing on 7th sept so get the keys and work can start, sigh mortgage. Be so awesome to have own yard w own dogs and away from this stinking traffic ridden london. Gonna be launching a uk training site and video sharing/coaching directive soon (thanks to Barry Carter for more fingers in more pies) and writing (close to finish) the best piece i have ever written for insidpoker, oddly nothing to do with cash games, its on stack management in tournaments (i can hear my Luton mates chuckling- you manage to felt urself every tournie al, that aint hard...) and i think just outlines some basic shit that ppl forget way too often. Anyhow, over and out, im knackered!

2008-08-27T03:03:00.002Z

Lo readers, by my reckoning i reckon i got at least twenty of you now, once i include the weird greenpeace guy that dislikes me shooting stuff, if i was a betting man id lump on that he eats meat and doesnt have a leg to stand on. Too removed from the actual killing of old Masie the cow to realise how the food cycle works.

Poker has been fun, weekend was utterly shite. Lost a lot @ Luton, being bluffed in a multiway pot by a donk, then bluffing and having someone value-shove KJ on a K1010 board into me (i called with QQ coz it didnt make sense lol), obv noted, crazy fucker. Ended with losing a £450 pot v Compo w AJ v A8 allin pre, doorcard 8 and i swear if he ever tries to talk strategy to me again im gonna get him barred lol. Weekend saw internet go down again and i had to play without a HUD, marvellous. So difficult to keep an eye on so many players without tracking software imo and lost a fair bit, played ok for long periods but after reading Tommy Angelo's articles on DC i think im finally understanding the concept of a "good quit".

Oh, should mention i shipped Luton £100 FO on wednesday jobby for £1400 large happy days. Was utterly blessed allin w Q5 v 77 on Q527 board obv i ask for Q which gets there. Then play a couple of huge pots against Chandra, Lalit's evil bro imo, a bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We are both big chips on our table 4 tables out and i open AK on the button and race good v chandra's 50bb 1010 shove. Flop comes J1010, turn king, i cry "1 time" coz i seen so many yanks do it on wsop and it works for them and amazingly another drops off. Then open the next 7 pots before QQ on the button and Chandra steaming!!!! weeeeeeee!!!! He 3b jams, i momentarily lose my marbles and think of folding then call and race good v AK. From then on it was just soooooo beautiful. Made one mistake though that i kinda rue. HU, i got him 5:2ish and he has 30bb. I complete kings as hes been shove happy pre and he checks. Flop 337 check check as he has nudda. On J turn he overbets pot, hmmm, i think call and fold to river shove as he's abc and simple post. River some brick like 6 and he donk leads 1/2 pot, deffo doesnt have uber strong hand and i decide to end it w a shove. Not smart, should have just raised him small, left him 10BB and had him crippled, instead had to chip away and do a(good) deal at end when we have 16bb collectively, sigh.

Dug out some fun hands for you to look at anyway, the sickest/weirdest hands over last little while (failing that i gaurantee i get more action coz ppl think im insane).

1)

How to play ridic bad step 1. A failed isolate oop turns into a debacle as i play literally the worst hand of my life.

Table Carbon 76 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: cockroach1 ( $1052.00 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $1110.19 USD )
Seat 3: WhiteTrash ( $2919.00 USD )
Seat 4: HuckleB ( $3907.40 USD )
Seat 5: nognog ( $467.75 USD )
Seat 6: wildhorse19 ( $2202.30 USD )
JammyJenny posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
WhiteTrash posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 6d Kh ]
HuckleB folds
nognog calls [$10.00 USD]
wildhorse19 folds
cockroach1 folds
JammyJenny raises [$49.00 USD]
WhiteTrash calls [$44.00 USD]
nognog calls [$44.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qd, 6h, 3h ]
JammyJenny bets [$100.00 USD]
WhiteTrash folds
nognog raises [$413.75 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$313.75 USD]
JammyJenny shows [6d, Kh ]
nognog shows [Qh, Jh ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
nognog wins $986.50 USD from main pot

2)

Why u NEVER give free cards on an ace high board, this hurt, esp as i know he has 34 but cannot find a fold.

***** Hand History for Game 404855288 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, August 26, 11:27:06 ET 2008
Table Oxygen 196 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: RubberDuk ( $246.90 USD )
Seat 2: cerealkilla ( $261.40 USD )
Seat 3: zanzaro77 ( $215.20 USD )
Seat 4: JammyJenny ( $650.75 USD )
Seat 5: bhutanber ( $176.83 USD )
Seat 6: sh4rky33 ( $319.22 USD )
sh4rky33 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
RubberDuk posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 6h 6c ]
cerealkilla raises [$7.00 USD]
zanzaro77 calls [$7.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$7.00 USD]
bhutanber folds
sh4rky33 calls [$6.00 USD]
RubberDuk calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6d, 2s, Ah ]
sh4rky33 checks
RubberDuk checks
cerealkilla checks
zanzaro77 checks
JammyJenny checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]
sh4rky33 bets [$32.00 USD]
RubberDuk raises [$90.00 USD]
cerealkilla folds
zanzaro77 folds
JammyJenny raises [$643.75 USD]
sh4rky33 folds
RubberDuk calls [$149.90 USD]
JammyJenny wins $403.85 USD
RubberDuk shows [4s, 3c ]
JammyJenny shows [6h, 6c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
RubberDuk wins $543.80 USD from main pot

3) God this tilted me, loads of history w this guy and i play him every day, hes terrible so i never get out of line v him and usually just valuetown his ass. He plays so ridic bad i want to throw up whenever i see his name. So he calls a 3b with 100bb stacks w KJ, not too terrible. Calling a $30 cbet w second pair on an A high flop is terrible though, no way around it, ugh.

***** Hand History for Game 404870576 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 27, 12:09:01 ET 2008
Table Oxygen 186 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: JammyJenny ( $661.27 USD )
Seat 2: EyeSeeEm ( $202.00 USD )
Seat 3: Fishmann ( $203.00 USD )
Seat 4: TRadje ( $200.00 USD )
Seat 5: RubberDuk ( $100.60 USD )
Seat 6: Tevje ( $415.01 USD )
Tevje posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ad Tc ]
EyeSeeEm folds
Fishmann folds
TRadje raises [$7.00 USD]
RubberDuk folds
Tevje folds
JammyJenny raises [$20.00 USD]
TRadje calls [$15.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Jd, Ah ]
JammyJenny bets [$30.00 USD]
TRadje calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kd ]
JammyJenny bets [$60.00 USD]
TRadje calls [$60.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
JammyJenny checks
TRadje bets [$88.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$88.00 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ad, Tc ]
TRadje shows [Kh, Jc ]
TRadje wins $398.00 USD from main pot

4) Interesting spot, i know obv my flush outs are good but i only end up getting it in coz i was playing insane and these 2 (gayshark in particular) were getting peeved w me on another table and i thought my A is an out a lot of the time. When Gayshark raises i know its gonna be multiway and hitting sometimes happens weeeeeeee.

***** Hand History for Game 400398595 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, August 17, 02:57:22 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 114 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: GreatGreek ( $765.34 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $487.25 USD )
Seat 3: gayshark ( $944.00 USD )
Seat 4: PitchBlack ( $402.50 USD )
Seat 5: oversleep ( $495.00 USD )
Seat 6: mhsblue ( $986.17 USD )
oversleep posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
mhsblue posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ac 6c ]
GreatGreek folds
JammyJenny raises [$17.50 USD]
gayshark calls [$17.50 USD]
PitchBlack calls [$17.50 USD]
oversleep calls [$15.00 USD]
mhsblue folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jc, 3c, Th ]
oversleep checks
JammyJenny bets [$56.00 USD]
gayshark raises [$121.50 USD]
PitchBlack raises [$385.00 USD]
oversleep folds
JammyJenny raises [$413.75 USD]
gayshark calls [$348.25 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ac, 6c ]
gayshark shows [Jh, 9s ]
PitchBlack shows [9h, Qh ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 8c ]
JammyJenny wins $169.50 USD from main pot
JammyJenny wins $1227.00 USD from main pot

5)

This guy was funny, we had a lot of banter then he suddenly flipped out and spewed everywhere, yummy.

***** Hand History for Game 400405211 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, August 17, 03:59:07 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 184 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: oversleep ( $813.43 USD )
Seat 4: gayshark ( $554.50 USD )
Seat 6: JammyJenny ( $864.02 USD )
gayshark posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ 8d 8h ]
gayshark raises [$12.50 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$40.00 USD]
gayshark calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 7h, Jc ]
JammyJenny bets [$63.00 USD]
gayshark calls [$63.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ah ]
JammyJenny bets [$160.00 USD]
gayshark calls [$160.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
JammyJenny bets [$596.02 USD]
gayshark calls [$286.50 USD]
JammyJenny wins $309.52 USD
gayshark shows [9s, As ]
JammyJenny shows [8d, 8h ]
JammyJenny wins $1108.00 USD from main pot

6)

Sigh, standard stackoff, not sure how many ppl can actually play A5s in a 3b pot with no history profitably but well done sir.

***** Hand History for Game 400398730 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, August 17, 02:58:26 ET 2008
Table Nitrogen 185 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: grudev ( $0.00 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $519.43 USD )
Seat 3: Newent ( $1640.56 USD )
Seat 4: ALLaddINN ( $533.45 USD )
Seat 5: crazycobra ( $365.71 USD )
Seat 6: pezmaz ( $192.35 USD )
pezmaz posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
JammyJenny posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Ks Kh ]
Newent raises [$15.00 USD]
ALLaddINN folds
crazycobra folds
pezmaz folds
JammyJenny raises [$42.50 USD]
Newent calls [$32.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 5d, 4d ]
JammyJenny bets [$60.00 USD]
Newent raises [$120.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$411.93 USD]
Newent calls [$351.93 USD]
JammyJenny shows [Ks, Kh ]
Newent shows [Ac, 5c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
Newent wins $1038.36 USD from main pot

6)

This was unusual and had me a tadge worried, the last thing i need is ppl check raise bluffing rivers against me @ 200nl, that makes you v tough to play. Luckily he can never have a big hand here after the turn action but still, scary!

Fuckit, to many hands in the 200nl bit of my holdem manager and it keeps crashing, over and out. Basically, i turn nut str8 and river pairs board when he CR me ai in 200bb deep spot when he has a busted gutshot, i commend ur effort sir.

2008-08-19T03:30:00.002Z

Mmmmmm, we only sin when we're winning, sing when we're winning!

Ok, havent posted for a while so ill finish where i left off. GUKPT Luton day two.

Well starting table was funny, had Mo Muse, Ewan Jones, Flushy mcflushflush, Pab, some random bird an some young northern guy (no offence to women or nothern youngsters but these were the marks imo). Was oop v Pab and was in position v Dempsey, so i was loving it from the off tbh. Pab plays a pretty solid strong game and i didnt think he would try any fancy BS given how easy it would be for me to get commited, wheras i still had enough fold equity to punish James if he got busy with my blind. Started w 37k with blinds 600/1200, so not in rammit and jammit by any means. 1st orbit (two players missing from our table) go for 3 steals, one utg and one in MP which both get through and then Ewan (Iwan?) Jones sticks it in my eye when i try and nick his blind. I open for 3.3k w 30k stack, he jams 30k. Hmmm, K9s no good here.

Then Table filled and got a little harded to get stuff through, my stack is really a reasteal stack, whereas online i think i can b/4bai more profitably. Sadly i got it stuck up me another two times before i clamed down. Then Flushdonk arrives and goes for a nick 1st orbit, i stick it in a K10s and he folds. Then i 3b guy with 25k who opens to 6k to 18k w JJ in position and he folded. Shame really, only hand id seen all day and wanted a showdown. Possibly could have tried fancy smooth calling to induce squeeze but Pab and blinds were not too loco and i felt it was odds on i see a flop HU which is obv gonna have overcard a huge chunk.

Exit hand came shortly after. 34k stack, i open to 5100 w AQ with blinds 800/1600 and Pab repops me to 14k. It looks like a fooking click it back which makes me want to fold but a combination of :-

a) the idiots at my table with stacks and no ability
b) closing in on bubble where i want to go nuts
c) AQ looks like the nuts when its the 4th premium hand uv seen all comp
d) Pab MIGHT be making a move here sometimes/good chance we are flipping etc and only have 34k ffs.
e) can always get on it with boy'd and the boys if it goes pair-shaped

led me to jamit and get called by Pab. He kinda sighed when he called but i think thats coz he didnt want to knock me out, proper gentleman. Obv flop came K high and that was that. Next one of these i play im fed up with the softly softly bollox, ill play my game and generate masses or bust early. I really hate having to get in marginal spots all the time, i just want to bomb flops and target weakness, not worry if AJ and 13bb warrants a resteal v an UTG+1 opener.

So obv went on lash w poker ppl. Met Rob Sherwood (seems nice bloke, even if nothern), Barry Carter (single handedly dominating the uk journo market writing about anything, wp sir) and a load others. Mainly spent evening drinking with some betfair guys and Stephen Boyd, who i get on with like a house on fire. Hes a bit brash and kinda lary but says what he thinks regardless of who is in company and however well esteemed someone is. I like that no-nonsense approach. So got smashed with him and you never know, one day i might write something about one of the biggest cash game players in the UK. 300/600NL, thats sick. Failing that, at least its one more person i can nip, hurrah!

Rest of poker ppl was all pretty standard. Obv me and Butlin had a few and Domonic whos an absolute legend and nice huy, even if he does talk about poker too much! Dude, i spend all my waking hours thinking/playing the game, i just wanna get drunk lol!
I know the crowd now but there are few gems and a lot of arrogant/ignorant/mean gits. Dont know why but poker sometimes brings out the worst in even good-hearted people. Obv roberto rom is one of the best imo, cracking laugh always. Infact once the pissup was over we went to hotel for bfast and he didnt believe i could eat the mountain of grub i had piled on my plate. Bet was in place, i dont complete i have to walk bokers down out restaurant into lobby and if i do eat it, vice versa. Needless to say the plucky elderly tourists getting an early start were greeted to Romanello's hairy arse 1st thing, one can only imagine the stress the pacemakers were put through.

Since then been putting in the hours online, running well @ 500nl and playing a couple of shots @ 1knl which havent gone too badly. I think its more of a mental thing, im kinda skint atm and dont want to risk my money in such a high-variance game as 6MNL. Which is why trading is good for me. Wrote and article for IP which to be honest was the worst i have written. Was about 4-betting and i missed out loads of important stuff and went into too much detail in others, i guess i just cant talk about things simply, either get into the heart of a problem imo or dont bother trying. Basically i could write a tome (tombe? sp?) about the topic but until you think and discuss it, 4betting is just how good regs fight each other. I 5b shoved 34s yesterday, got called by AJo and hit. Guy is a good player (Tevje on betfair 200nl) and he just smiled in the chatbox whilst other nittags were saying how awful i am....yadayadayada, ill take what some numpty rakeback warrior says with a pinch of salt. Later on i stack said donk w AA v 1010 ai pre and he types "cooler v you". Lol, you cant have it both ways sir.

Also been gettting back into my fishing lately.Mainly coz i went on a random trip to Stanborough lakes in hertfordshire w me brother and had immense success. Was initially fishing 6lb mainline and tritting castors over a bed ov hemp for roach. Conditions were ideal, previous rain and light drizzzle had colour and height in the river and i cught a 1 1/2 lb roach 1st cast. Sounds tiny, but this was a cracked (2lb fish is fish of a lifetime). caught a load more but as soon as it went past 4pm i started getting much bigger fish hitting me. Got smashed up twice, once i think by a huge chub, other time either carp or barbel and decided to get the heavy gear out. Stuck 20lb breaking strain braid str8 through to a rolling ledger and (im not exagerrating (for once lol)) golf ball sized pieces of luncheon meat. Instant success. Landed 4 chub from 3lb to 4.5lb and lost a couple. Let my brother have a go but he couldnt keep them out the snags unfortunately. Then in last 1/2 hour of light bait got snaffled, rod-tip bent round and it appeared a if i had connected with the 7.45 train to london. This thing was like a rocket. Even with seriously powerful kit i barely kept it out of the myriad of snags but finally i bullied it into the net and was astonished to see a scale-perfect 8lb barbel. Absolutely marvellous and heart stopping to say the least. Anyone who has never hooked one of these simple must, the raw power is something to behold. Anyway, made sure it went back safely (holding head upstream in the fast flowing sections, barbel give everything in a fight and must be nursed afterwards) and headed off to home. Cracking days sport.

Things looking on the up on the house front, Suzanne about to come down hard on the morons holding us up which will be awesome. Be nice to get in before Xmas. Cant wait to get our dogs/dogs too. Two pedigree border terriers from a specialist breeded in Scotland. Not cheap, but will hopefully be cheap to look after (damn hardy proper british dogs so less need for worming/vet fees/problems/complex diets) and will be worth their weight in gold to the local farming community. Got a meeting next week at our little shoot me and my old man have joined, apparently breeding season was good but we are unsure if the French partridge will be shot this year owing to a few nice coveys of Engligh about the place. English partridge is an incredible and pretty rare bird nowadays and it would be a pity to accidentally shoot a single one, so we might just not shoot any. Tbh im a bit frustrated about this, anyone on a quality shoot should be able to tell the diffence in flight between the two, i guess i can excuse the elderly guns but meh, if ur on a shoot you should be a countryman 1st and foremost.

Also,iv had some interest on this blog from a few different parties that all want to contact you lot and make money out of you. Im not sure yet if i will agree, but i am a penny pinching mother so will probs sell my sould and let them have all the advertising and affilliate space they require, fk my life i need the money :)

Willl try and post more often, over and out.

2008-08-08T23:00:00.002Z

weeeeee made day 2. Iv kinda got to realise what they mean now when they say you cant win it on day one, as Thewy told me when i accosted him several months ago you need to make day two to have a shout. And that all im after, just a shout. So first hurdle accomplished.

Had a funny day yesterday, very fitful. Starting table was kinda odd, had one prize egg who was pretty obvious to everyone at the table. Had 3 weak passive players, two of which i had position on a couple of more solid players and a good old german and a good young german lol. Won a few small pots early on just cbetting and stabbing really, never actually connected. Then got involved in 1st reasonable pot towards end of level two before 1st break. Phil Cooklin limps (ultra (too) tight) good player, i make it 325 w KK in cutoff, BB (loose, unpredictable, mark) calls too. flop Ah K 8h. They both check, i opt to trap dem yo and check behind, mainly as im 100% sure egg has an Ace and i know i can get full value as he thinks im at it lots. Turn 9c. Both check, i go 750, call from BB, Phil folds (1010 nit hehe). River is a black Q and he insta checks, i bet something hes happy calling and he auto-calls. Nicked a few more in the next level before the first really crucial hand came up, which i think i played OK, but might have been a little too fancy v an unknown. Dude was german, middle-aged and had just cr'd my cbet and repopped me pre in a blind battle. So i was fairly sure he wanted to play games and viewed me as a target. He opens from the CO. I flat KQcc on button. Flop AcK6 with two diamonds. He leads, i call. Fairly sure i have the best hand right now, dont want to get 3b shoved on the flop as i think he can assess my hand range fairly well and i might donk a card/he might make a mistake/ i can float and barrel some turns. Turn 10c which opens me up a bit and he bets biggish, meh. Now i kinda know he has a big hand but i have decent chips back, position and a tonne of scare cards to buzz, so i make a marginal call i think, should poss be a fold. Pot was 6k and he bet 4.4 ish with 9 back. I have 8 back....
River is Qd and he audibly sighs. Obv i have immense showdown value but i cant not barrel when he checks an ultimate scare card so bet and he thinks for an age before folding. AK/AQ?

Then made a couple of errors, one where i momentarily lost the plot. 3 way pot (im SB) flop JJ3, c/c/c, turn J, i bet, called by BB. River K. I check, guy appears to tap the table, dealer says showdown, i anounce queen high, and now he wants to bet. I make a lol call but not happy with his angle shooting. Then i make an il-timed CR with air into what i found out was top set but i got away with it lightly. Table breaks.

New table looks a little tougher, got Mickey Wernick (who was not his usual self yesterday) and a couple of other faces, some EPT winner thorn thornnsen or summat (dunno, looked really weak-tight to me tbh) and Ali Masterman. Mr Masterman was honestly one of the nicest blokes i met yesterday, just had a little boy and having restless nights but a great persona imo, did not appear to play decent poker though if im honest, prolly baby giving him restless nights. Had some guy to my right who was so odd. Andy Bradshaw i think his name is, was kind of like a lovable asshole if that could ever be feasible. Really fucking annoying at times, but at least he chatted. Had some absolutely nutcase German dude at the end, another guy in seat 9 who plays poker like its a final table and a couple of others, Dave Binstock to my left late on was a welcome addition, should give me a get out of jail card tomoz if i need blinds. also had some guy called Flanders who got absolutely papercut by the deck, literally big pp every other hand. Sadly now i start to dry up hand wise so start playing shite to keep accumulating. Raise 1st hand w Q4ss and BB defends, looked reasonable at first but was actually an icecream. Flop QQ3, he checks, i bet, turn 6. He checks, i think check gets the most value here v a WAP but im not sure. I check behind and go for river value but he folds.

Next noteworthy hand was v Mickey. I could tell he was getting frustrated with bad flips, nicking etc. I open in MP w 99 to 1100 (200/400/25), he flats on the button. I have 18k, he probs has 11k. Flop 37d8d. I go for a CR when he bets 2k and he folds. He tells me later he had JJ, but thats prolly bs.

Then i play prolly the most awkward hand of the comp, as im not sure if im entitled to jam the river for value or not. UTG+1 limps (Tim Flanders, fairly abc tag from what i saw), i open 3X with 1010 in MP, hu to flop. A4c7c flop. I check behind. Turn a sexy mofoing 10h, he donk leads for 2k, i make it 7k, he calls. River comes a 3c. I have 10k back and he checks to me. Obv the card sucks and i wonder if i should have just checked behind but i jammed for value in the end and he folded, was kinda odd as i think i probs only get called by better so i might have made a mistake there.

So im finally doing ok about an hour later, on roughly 28k when i lose a chunk. UTG opens for 2.5X bb, i flat with 56ss with blinds 300/600. Flop Ks4s5. He check calls the flop, check calls the spade turn and im obviously fucking loving it when another fucking spade dings on the river to give him the nuts. He goes for some kind of river trap and obv i swerve. Did about 9k there. From then on got Steve Jelenik and Iwan Jones at the table, both with large stacks after two loco players went crazy pre. Guy opens on the button, BB repops, button jams like 90bb w 88 and gets insta'd by QQ which holds. Funnily enough the very next hand Steve Jelenik and random ok but arrogant dude get it ai pre in button/bb war for 60BB w 99 and AK, seemed to wake the table up which was good.

I then went card dead for last 3 levels. Managed to nick just enough, cbet just enough and do enough naughty things to keep head above water. Sadly have had to show down 102s, KJutg open and 47o but hopefully that will work in my favour tomorrow when i finally get some hands perhaps? I mean seriously i got absolutely nudda since the Kings early on, had a pair of nines twice towards the end and rejammed ai only for 1010 to fold and then opened in ep and had to fold to a a fat nits reraise but oh well. In it still and hoping i can get a lot of moves through/hit some hands tomorrow. Thanks to the few well-wishers, pud from pudspoker blog and boxer-dean from betfair, lets hope i can run like the sun and amass a dirtload of chips one time pleeeeeeeeeease.

2008-08-06T16:55:00.003Z

Hehe, im like a kid in a sweet shop right now. Really excited about gukpt ME tomorrow, so hope i just get to enjoy myself really. I have a slim edge on the field i guess, but a donkament is a donkament and the luck factor is always immense. I sometimes get worked up (you wouldnt believe it if you saw me lol) and put pressure on myself when that really isnt a good idea. You just have to play so many comps to realise your edge that this is more like a shot in the dark opposed to a real opportunity. Im incredibly priveleged to even be playing in a £1k buyin event so will just be going in with a hope and a prayer.

Plan A.

Obviously i wont be messing around with any tight play early on (whats a starting hand?) and will be going hell for the leather using as much fold equity as i can muster early on. Im acutely aware of how i am viewed by nearly everyone i play with so hopefully i can valuetown some non-believers/ get ppl trying shit v me (Secretary, Hero Callers Are Us, 2008) early on, generate a stack and then make the most out of the immense implied odds in position v players that are not used to playing with so much ammo. Thats the plan anyway. Updates as always on blondepoker.com and good luck to any of you other fortunates looking forward to the comp, its sure to be a real blast (even if it is in Luton lol)!

Plan B.

Am gonna swap 200% of myself tomorrow, then bust out 1st and get the beers in with the internet boys.

2008-07-30T00:30:00.002Z

Marvellous, just to top off a sweet night. So lol that i actually get to use a click it back that works.

***** Hand History for Game 390360596 *****
$500.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em
Table Nitrogen 84 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 3: Antrozous ( $1037.38 USD )
Seat 4: HERO ( $594.12 USD )
Seat 6: Zizou06 ( $502.50 USD )
Antrozous posts small blind [$2.50 USD].
HERO posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO[ Ah Ac ]
Zizou06 folds
Antrozous raises [$12.50 USD]
HERO raises [$40.00 USD]
Antrozous raises [$102.00 USD]
HERO raises [$175.00 USD]
Antrozous raises [$683.00 USD]
HERO calls [$374.12 USD]
Antrozous wins $205.88 USD
Antrozous shows [Qs, Qd ]
HERO shows [Ah, Ac ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 3h, 3c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]
Antrozous wins $1186.24 USD from main pot

2008-07-30T00:02:00.002Z

Long time no update. Basically iv been a little letdown the past couple of weeks. Was really excited about a screen test for skypoker who are auditioning for new analysts and i was shortlisted (makes sense if you ever read jeeves account on blonde (skypoker- snalysis for fish by fish) ) but the produced called me to say its been postponed. Genuinely hope it has been and they arent copping me off as i think the team is great and the setup really good fun.

Playing a fair bit of lowstakes cash atm (whats new) and doing OK, started month brightly but been leaking a tonne last two weeks, prolly need a break to get back on track.

Played a load of mtts lately and remembered why i utterly hate them. Lost pot for the CL in the $200 fo in gukpt online festival with 88 v AA on 89Q board, obv he gets there. Then lost a humongous pot in the main event with a set v the nut flush draw for 2* 2nd places chips with 30 left. Utter bollocks. Havent had an mtt result in so long now. Might do a full report as there were lots of interesing hands, 2 versus lovejoy were very interesting in blind battles.

Oh, had a really fun one tonight too. 100r on bluesquirrel, i have 2* average stack and clash with 2nd in chips at table. A complete b@tfuck (french obviously) has been going loco. I open on the button w AK for 3*bb, he makes it 10* with about 35bb stack total. Now seriously v a good player i will occasionally give this up, even taking into account the button/blind etc stuff, purely because i am hammering the table on the bubble and can smash it up playing small ball. Actually thats a lie, i fold this less than 1% of the time, but the point is v this guy AK is the nuts. Pot is gonna be huge if we get it in, like CL atm has 67k with 32 left and pot will be more than 100k. Obv i jam, instacall from this muppet with KQ and Q is the doorcard. ONE TIME thats all i ask.

Qualified for Luton last week so hoping to play a fair few comps, with/without backing (probs need to sell a bit to cover exs- not rolled for £500 events)so let me know if ur interested, will probs be selling action @ 1.2 as im pretty sure my blind grandma has a 20% edge on the fields in Luton and my day two record is good (cant close the deal for shit but im learning :).

Anyway, wanted to whine (nothing new there) and hope to see a few of you in Luton for drinking games and poker!

2008-07-23T18:17:00.002Z

Ugh. Was playing so well at the beginning of the month, but seem to have lost my appetite for it at the moment. Playing really bad, stacking off way too light and generally being a tool. Just started leaking all over the fooking shop. I play a 28/24 game and after a while i stop getting all respect. Think i will probably play a very very tight game for a couple of weeks and cure a few ppl of calling.
Gonna play some live poker for a bit to sooth my brain tonight, need some practive before the fessy.

GUKPT online fessy has so far been a washout. Went out early on in the $200 FO on Monday. 5k chips. Limp, call a raise to 150 at the 50/100 level w 88. Flop 810Q v a prize donkey and cr him small hoping for a shove. He obliges and AA gets there on the river. A decent players edge in these things is absolutely huge. I saw a sick hand with Jen Mason yesterday v a guy that must have been two sandwiches short of a picnic, vul Jen.

Yesterday the $300 FO. Played a bit too loose early on, trying a risky float that got snapped off on the river instantly by an unknown. Wont be trying it on v him again for a while anyhow. Then bluffed red-dog, but he got his vengeance nicely. IMO bluesq need a timebank to aid with the tricky decisions, its all to bloody fast to think through a hand. Anyhow, he had bluffed me on the river wiht 9 high, and i didnt make the call with J high, so wp Tom. Got down to 3k (7k starting), then found some nice shove spots with a clean image and got back up to 7k. Then started warring with Romanello. He must have thought i was having a pop at him, but he was very active and i rr him first with AQs, then with QQ and he folds both times. He then min raise opens utg+1 to 600, i make it 1800, he makes it 3600 and im considering passing AK lol. In reality though i know he's trying to fuck with my head and portray a monster when weak, so i jam. He calls w 66 and holds for a 19k top5 chips pot. Sigh.

Seriously hope i run good in the ME, need some inspiration, my cash game form is dire atm. ppl calling cbets with underpairs and hitting sets happening every 10 hands it feels like. Ok, off to Luton now, cya.

2008-07-21T12:59:00.003Z

GUKPT online fessy this week ppl. Some great value with added seats to champ of champs tournament and 10k added to ME.

Havent been doing much lately as have been playing an awful lot and writing a lot for IP. Got my screen test for Skypoker later this week, i really like the setup there and would be chuffed if i could get a slot, so here's hoping i dont screw it up.

Anyway, i found this old poem of sorts about my grandad (Pat Kane). Just a fun little thing about him and his mates and their game of cards (i think money was involved).
Iv just copied it word for word from the original, i think editing the spellings would be an injustice.

"The Game of 25" (By Peter Kelly)

Its a fine Sunday morning
And im happy to be alive
As i make my way to the "Bird in Hand"
For the Game of 25

I always like to be early
For its a pity to be late
Id miss my place at the table
And my part in the famous "8"

Now ill put you in the picture
And name players one by one
But i want you to understand
That i intend to hurt no-one

Now on my left sits Patrick Kane
A man of some renown
He comes from a little place called Boyle
Not far from Roscommon town

He is the local builder
And roofer iv no doubt
For iv been in trouble many a time
And he kept the water out

Tom O' Connor comes from Sligo
Or is it Mayo?
Sure it is so long since he left there
That im sure he doesnt kno

He gets excited how and then
And we all have to look out
For he bangs the table with his hand
And spills your pint of stout

Now T.F Clarke a notable man
Im sure you'll all agree
He tells us yarns and stories
And fills our hearts with glee

The way he acts and the way he talks
You would think he was a hard case
But im sure you have heard him say
That he wouldnt send a wild duck on a wild goose chase

Next comes Mick Comerfod
The man who talks the most
Some call him the long fellow
Others the Holy ghost

He rears up and shouts a bit
And one feels like shouting back
But he's good at "25"
And you could say he's got the knack

Mixy Palmer comes from Kerry
A man of Fame you know
He made his name playing football
with Kerry long ago

He is a white collar worker
And fame follows him still
He is manager at the metal box
and resides at muswell hill

Con Mackay comes from Limerick
A famous hurling name
A relation to that illustrious one
who is now in the hall of fame

Con he was a plumber
And retired eventually
To live above in broomfield park
In the lap of luxury

Next comes Jim Comerford
The man who plays the game
If you make a mistake or mess about
You'll be sorry that you came

He'll argue the toss and make his point
And is a wonder to us all
Some say without him,
There would be no game at all

Kelly comes from Carlow
Some think that he is quiet
Out a bottle of whiskey infront of him
He'd talk and sing all night

He takes the game seriously
And thinks he knows it all
But personally speaking
I think he cant play at all

Of substitutes we have many.
Tis right that you should know
Big Cyril Cyril Peter Rogan & John Kelly
Theres another one called kelly
He too can give a verse
And as fro Tommy Ronan
He'll put you in your place
Then theres little Led
Pat Russel from Chommel
Tom Mullarkey Michael Campbell
Big Tom and George as well
And last of all theres Cassidy
The man from charlestown
But he lives up there in Southgate,
And its seldom he comes down.

Now if you should make a blunder
Or should lose the count
They'll advise you and chastise you
And they might even pull you out

And now the game is over
and its time to draw the line
We have won and lost for two short hours
Of god almighty's time
Its another week till we meet again
With God's help we'll all survive
And sit round the table once again
For the game of 25.

2008-07-09T14:57:00.002Z

Ok havent been writing for ages but was prompted the other day. So here you go. I really cant be arsed atm.

How to exploit a pedigree nit. Guy was playing 12/7/2.4 over 500 hands. Deffo a uber nit. Since he opens utg his range is super narrow and obv at the top of his range, so what can he call with. AA, thats it. The original raise was meant to get him off KK/QQ/JJ but then his insta small re-raise just looked so weak. So obv we jam.
Been getting away with a lot of this BS lately, wil have to put in some proper sessions soon and reap the rewards.

**** Hand History for Game 382606650 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, July 09, 02:41:25 ET 2008
Table Oxygen 121 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: gingerbom ( $341.00 USD )
Seat 2: JammyJenny ( $219.10 USD )
Seat 3: HookersBlow ( $191.00 USD )
Seat 4: ElMagnifico ( $179.45 USD )
Seat 5: RHCP300 ( $175.16 USD )
Seat 6: Carroline ( $80.45 USD )
RHCP300 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
Carroline posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JammyJenny [ Td Jh ]
gingerbom raises [$7.00 USD]
JammyJenny calls [$7.00 USD]
HookersBlow folds
ElMagnifico folds
RHCP300 folds
Carroline folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4h, 5d, Ad ]
gingerbom bets [$17.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$45.00 USD]
gingerbom raises [$56.00 USD]
JammyJenny raises [$167.10 USD]
gingerbom folds
JammyJenny wins $139.10 USD
JammyJenny shows [Td, Jh ]
JammyJenny wins $160.00 USD from main pot

Wish this coulda happened at the Western on weekend, but live players are more heroic.

Also, go read Doms blog, you can find a link to it somewhere. ATM im just too knackered to be bothering.

2008-05-22T23:58:00.002Z

Ok you whining mules, im done with all these chores. Iv been a busy boy today, finally got my hands on PT3 to trial for insidepoker and finished a table selection article (well, 90% of it) so woop woop there. Iv tweaked all the links so you should all be good by now, if now, stuf ya, i cannot be arsed with any more. Paul (UKgatsby) , alphebetical listing goes against my my nature m8, its random chaos ftw baby!

Well done to those northern monkeys on the double, lucky bastards, not jealous at all.
I watched game @ Luton G, where we (me and rob) played the £100fo. I chopped it hu in a small field after having 90k of 140k in play with 11 left. Why couldnt i save some of that luck for a major event instead :(

Tbh i wouldnt have chopped if i was in his shoes, he had me outchipped 2/1 so fair play there Dan m8, ty for that.

BlueSQ 10k challenge again next month, i have to try and retain my title so will be playing a shit load in June while all the decent poker players are playing in Vegas. Im still grieving as im sure u can tell.

With regard to large lumps of money, its the ECOOP festival for the next 10 days, get involved ppl, sign up to bluesq and stick a couple of quid in. The satellites are really really soft and if u run good (equates to go allin a lot on the ipoker network) you might have a score at a huge lump. Im gonna try and have a shot at one or two, and qualify for the ME (shouldnt be toooooo hard) as a kind of last gasp attempt at getting a big vegas kitty together. Thats the real fun in these kind of things imo, thinking about what you would do with the money. I mean, if i won the lottery, swell, but DREAMING about what ud do with the money oddly might be more fun.

Oh, minor brag too, won tickets to all the bluesqGUKPT festival events other night. Ship, hehe. Now all i need to do is have a huge weekend and ill be moderately happy with myself.

2008-05-21T01:02:00.006Z

Second night of MTT madness. Pretty good show tbh, played 5 comps, final tabled 2, won 1 and lost the chip lead on the bubble in two others. Still had a few situations where i imagined half decent players could fold, but thats a dangerous assumption. In future i treat them all as morons until they show me differently.

ScoopTroop, iv already added you you drunken nut ;)
Barry, done, dunno why i forgot to do you but as said im pretty crap with that stuff.
Simon, you cant be serious? I was hoping to see you at the next Luton fessie as my no.1 backer! Darn!

Off to Luton or watching footy tomoz, not sure as im desperate to play live and iv promised my m8, but then again im a bit tight atm and footy+ beers with the lads is a nice cheap one. Hmmmm, ill flip a coin tomoz afternoon.

Oh, someone sent me this.

the commentator got the chips bit wrong (was a 50k pot) but here's my crippling hand from last months GUKPT in Manchester. The funny bit is when maldini says "you might get a call here just because its you", love that image baby. Oh well, so close to a decent shot at a decent score, as usual it doesnt pan out. Meh.

2008-05-20T01:32:00.002Z

Oh, forgot to say, putting up a few more links to blogs i like. If you want a link swap comment asap. Also, tyvm for all the comments lately and special thanks to Simon "limit-donk" Gallaway for the link help. Ill try and get that name in the Luton DB Si ;)

If i forgot to add you its because i have the memory of a goldfish on superskunk.

2008-05-19T23:50:00.002Z

Tournament time.

After a bit of thought and discussion with a few ppl iv decided to play MTT's during the week and then only play cash on Fri/Sat nights, with possible sessions on thursday and sunday. Im hoping that it will keep me fresh, but mainly i just hope to break even and occassionally get a touch. With enough of a touch Vegas could still be on the cards.

Ill talk a bit of shite just to wind down for my evening.
Played my first full evening of mtts today in a Loooooong time. I remember now why they say mtt pro's are on suicide watch for about 1/2 of their playing hours. WOW!
I played low-mid stakes all on bluesq and the value was absolutely immense. The $50 rebuy looks to be a real steal but i reckon you need to spend about $300 in the rebuy and get a biiig stack to give a bit of insurance later. The smaller deepstack freezeouts (the $100 and $50 jobbies) were equally enlightening, with literally lol moments every 10 hands. Infact if it wasnt for the sheer volume of idiotic plays id have slapped myself.
In truth i was absolutely flabbergasted at the standard of play in the 8 comps i played. I didnt make any great shakes and thats pretty standard, obv huge variance in these things, but i did do a few things that were a little silly. I made a poor button jam in a satellite to the 50khighroller which was terrible if im honest with myself. I also hugely overestimated my opponents ability to fold a mediocre hand. In future, if their tag says France or Italy, im not making any kind of move.

Players seem to be in general (compared to my old mtt days of tribeca)..

a) plain bad at fundamentals. the standard in some of the rebuy comps late in the day was truly shocking. lack of starting hands/positional awareness, stack management. The list is endless.

b) willingness to gamble in traditionally exploitable stages. bubble play was incredible. Cold call 3/4 of your stack off with KJ. Yep sireeee, insta call that puppy.

c) incapable of folding. Fold equity is something that i use heavily (like anyone with half a brain cell does) and the resteal late in the day is a staple for stack building. But these gibbons cannot fold hands. In both the 20k rebuy and the 7.5k fo i busted on the bubble trying aggressive moves against late position raises when i had a healthy stack. Both times i was called very light without any thought on villains behalf (once with A7 v my junk for 3/4 of his stack and once with KJ v QQ which failed to hold miserably for the chip lead).

So in order to adjust to shite fields i will.....

a) get big stacks in the rebuy period by taking lots of calculated risks.

b) tighten up and bet heavier post rebuy. Cant play JJ aggressively v 4 callers on a K high board :(

c) completely eradicate the resteal with poor showdown potential hands. Unless i know opponent has a clue and is not just a standard batfuck donk i wint make marginal moves preflop v these guys. Its not smart

d) Value jam lighter preflop waaay more A9+/KQ+ hands gonna make up my rr range along with all 1/2 decent pairs. These donks want to keep calling with dominated junk, thats cool.

Lets see how we do tomorrow. I fancy this could be a big week :)

2008-05-17T03:32:00.006Z

Muhahahahahahah, a win is a win is a win. Logged a decent score tonight, hopefully a good stint tomoz on the soft 2/4 and 3/6 tables tomorrow night should get me out of my $3.5k hole for the week. Still lost some huge pots, one trying an unneccessary bluff on the river. I mean, the guy either had a missed flush draw or a monster made hand, so a small 1/3 pot bet on the river lets me take it when he's missed and end of hand. Simple right. Not a $275 shove into a $250 pot. You eeeeedjut martin. In my defence it was at the end of a long shift and concentration had dipped.

I also had this situation come up in a HU pot 250BB deep. I wont tell you the results till later and i have put it on the HA board on blondepoker (incidentally the best poker forum out there by a mile) to try and get some feedback. Iv kind of had enough of 2+2 atm, the feedback is so shite and just appears to be $.10/.20 players talking absolute BS. Its a bit like TKMAX, you have to sift through a lot of crap to find any real gems. And tbh, i cant be arsed with investing the time. Anyhow, here's the link, was a fun hand :)

blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=33730.0

Jesus im so dumb i cant even get the freaking link to work. For some reason when i use the link button and add the url it just disappears when i publish it. Any blogger that recognises the problem let me know. For those of you just interested in the hand (i want your views) you'll have to go back to good old copy and paste baby :)

2008-05-14T13:49:00.002Z

Srsly wtf is going on atm. I sound like a whining old mare but hey, its my party and ill do what i want to. I cannot win a big pot atm, no matter what. I filter out the last big pots and its a fucking joke. I sucked out once with KK v Needlekings AA, which did feel unbelieveably good, but im doubting poker atm. The stress is hurting, i might play some live soon just to get away from the monotony.

WRT the comments before, read more of my posts tinca, already on the coaching bandwagon. Cheers Nakor, always nice to get some feedback. Amatay, coach me please :)I know i have some identifiable leaks, like waaaay too spewy when deep. The main leak i have is not knowing when to stop and just log a small win, rather than always going for gold and a 15bi day. Session length is way too long too so im working on cutting that down. It doesnt help that im just getting pounded by the cards atm, please swing round soon oh fickle variance monster.

KK v AK, ai pre, -400
KKvAQ on Q high board ai, Q river. -500.
555 v NFD , flush hits, -800
1010v AA ai on 10 high board, ace on river -600
Flop nuts w J10 v KJ on KQ9d board, q run run flush -400
1010 3b (32 from 8) pre from BB, villain calls, flop 1045monotone, allin, mateyboy has 3 high flush, yup, 23FTW!!!!!-400
3b AQ from button to 38 after utg opens to 10, mp calls, utg calls. Flop 5AQ, aiai, utg has 55.-400
999 v 45 on 923r board, -500

Seriously im giving up the will to live. I feel like a fucking punchbag.

2008-05-12T23:57:00.002Z

OK, iv been in the sun and sea for a week and feel good. Come home raring to go and obv play a little online. Drop 1k in about 4 hours after losing perhaps 6/7 $500 pots sometimes going in good, sometimes bad, but whatever. I dont feel confident playing 400 or 600 NL atm so im playing 200nl and might even drop down to 100nl if this ds continues. It does feel like 1 step forward 3 steps back for me atm, but im reminded by my peers that your results catch up with you in the end. Im still a baby in poker terms (im not swayed by the seemingly weekly arrival of another 21yo millionaire, iv known two personally that have won and lost enormous bankrolls in tiny amounts of time) so ill just carry on grinding until i hit that sweet spot that lets me get back on track. Failing that a donkament touch would be nice in the ecoop coming up.

Im actually feeling really positive atm, im a much tougher opponent than i was a year ago without a shadow of a doubt, but iv made very little money since January. Infact, i think iv made about $5k overall in about 300k hands. Simply not good enough. So im going to start pulling my finger out and playing my heart out, i really wanted to go to vegas but i cant warrant it atm. I always said when i 1st go Id like to go with a big chunk of change ($30k+ really) and i dont have anywhere near that kind of liquidity atm, so i guess that will be on the back burner till next year. Im happy with my understanding that sometimes you can play well and not get the expected results, but it still gripes me that im not playing in the big games and not progressing as fast as i would like. Getting drunk with "the mole" in Manchester was about as heartbraking as it gets for a cash game player. This guys regular game is 200/400nl and 300/600nl. Disgustingly overrolled too. And there i am working my socks off in the 200nl games, i wouldnt have it any other way. I like the fact that im a grinder, pure and simple, not some kid that won 200k in a tournament and was instantly rolled for 5knl. Ill get success the way that feels best, hard graft and monstrous amounts of effort.

But the sick ones still hurt. Got battered today in some of the most donktastic displays of stupidity iv seen for a while. Ill drop in some random tips that are pretty useful atm. Betting orphan pots is obv a main source of your income in shorthanded games. For ex in a limped pot preflop on low rainbow paired boards you bet 100% of your range if given the chance. EG you complete from SB after a donk button limps and BB checks. Flop comes 337r and you should bet 100% of your range here until a reg catches on to what ur doing. They just give up too easily as we all know. This is pretty basic but there are so many other flops that are pretty much the same. Disconnected rainbow flops are like printing money if you get the oppo to bet 1st from the blinds.

Another useful titbit that is kind of a timing tell but is pretty well 100% reliable with 15/12 nitbots is the AA timedown 5bet. You 4b QQ deep ip, they pretend they have a deicision and then shove. I fold QQ/AK pretty quick to these from some regs now. Other things im improving on is getting better at selecting who to float. There is almost a recipe for success for floating TAGS, which is there has to be little history between you, he should view you as taggy (if ur 28/26 is aint gonna work, they know ur fos), the board should be dryish and he should preferably have opened from MP/CO and you are (obv) on button. UTG opens from these guys are a bit too dodgy to mess with. The boards im talking about are of course the non A/K boards, which good tags will slap you about on b/c they know fellow TAGS dont hit these very often so ur range descends to sets/draws/air which isnt good. Rainbow flops, low connected flops, paired boards, these are the ones you look for.

Cutting down to 4 tables allows you to know who's doing what and there are about 4/5 guys that i have totally mapped out. I mean 100%. One Donk leading into me on say Q24 is almost always 55-99. Another guy only lead sets. But some of the guys who give me probs (HIERKOMMT, HULIOS@400, Venereal) were giving me info i didnt see until recently. Venereal in particular has got this sexy habit of never double barreling or C/Ring the turn w/o a big hand. How exploitable is that? So we just sit to his left and call all his opens before taking him off it on the turn. In theory (obv i never bother seeking these guys out as the donkeys are just plain softer).

So despite my lack of form im gonna keep ploughing forward, regardless of the proper poker players flying off round the world to take part in the real poker game.
Ill swallow my pride and grind it out, so expect to see dirtloads of nikinblinds on BlueSQ poker in the coming months.

2008-05-02T23:44:00.002Z

what a load of absolute bollox. Ok i know Friday night are like the cash game players payday but tonight was unreal. Fuck poker. And i say that knowing my good mother read this. Luckily im managing my sessions and feel pretty stable at the moment despite some horrific outdraws and some even uglier call downs. I posted a (somewhat ridiculous) thread on blonde about the fact i was getting concerned about some of the plays players were making against me. It happened on perhaps 7 or eight occasions tonight. I guess usually a really odd hand happens about once a week for me (50k hands).

1st hand that was a real wtf moment. Almost identical situation (different suits but just the same) occured barely a minute later. I raise from button with KdQd $300 stack @ 200nl and get 3bet by a tag from the blinds. I flat. Flop comes 9high with two diamonds. He leads out small, i flat. Turn is an offsuit 9. He makes a weak bet, i move in. He has me slightly covered. He calls, with AK. Same table but a little bit later i cr a guy allin on the turn with a huge 15out draw. HE time down calls off $150 of his remaining stack on a 56910 two tone board with AK no draw. WTF?

the best shall be saved till last. I raise with Jc8c and flop comes 5c6cK. I cbet, he flats. Turn is a pretty 9h. I check (coz he said something in Norwegian to his buddy like "flotsa nikin" which i assumed meant "float nikinblinds" so im expecting a bet on the turn when i check. He obliges, i make a large raise, so like pot is 50 on turn, he makes 35, i rr the pot+ to like 125 and he calls. River is an offsuit jack so i bet and he calls. His hand, Q10o. Im punching the computer screen. Literally. Got that lump well up in my throat which is like my que to logoff before i tilt and i do the good thing and shut it down. But im getting really frustrated with all the absolute BS im seeing atm, i guess im prolly getting para after all the hacking scares but sometimes it just feels like ur on your own in this fucking minefield. -$600 for the night which is the worst friday iv ever had. Properly pissed.

2008-05-02T13:43:00.002Z

Manchester GUKPT

Ok went up to Manchester last friday to play the monthly donkament. Decided to play Friday to keep expenses down and also to meet up with a few mates. Felt really good going into the tournament, despite very lacklustre results online of late. Not sure why but im getting coaching from a top top player for a bit (for free :)) in an effort to plug the leaks.

Sit down at table and it looks like its gonna be fun. Iv got Jeff Burke on my left and i know a lot about his game and his philosophy on poker. What he taught me during the brief period i was trading for DTD was "represent, represent, represent" which is fairly good fun to play against. Instantly i thought the table was soft, i had about 6 40-55yo men on my table who are my ideal opponents in these jobbies. After about 5 minutes it looked a lot tougher with Priyam de Mel (sp?) and some absolute lunatic i called "convict" who sat opposite me. I found out of Clamfish that the legend Gregior was on my table too, guessed who it was before he told me, WOW tight greg!

Started out fairly brash, as i stated before im there to win these things and that means playing lots of pots, using image to the max and getting under peoples skin. I know i can make day two's in these things (3/6) but i never get there with the mountain i need to play my style of poker (bad, loose). Time to teach these waps to play i thought.

Early on i got check raised by the nit to my right and recieved a load of earache from Mr.Burke, felt like the table bitch for a moment or two especially when Priyam check called me all the way after limping utg w Ac10c and hitting A Jd 8d 6 7d board. Momentarily tilting and not best pleased with the line people were taking with me i played out probably the worst big bluff ever. Raising in LP w Ac9c (9k stack, 50/100 blinds) i get flatted by Priyam on the button. It just instantly felt like he was trying to school me ip. The flop came JhKh6c and i check raise him from 350 to 850. He calls. Turn is interesting, he isnt even looking at the turn as it drops and is more interested in the valet. Turn drops the 5h i think and i check again. He bets so fast it just reeks of bs so i ponder a mo then move in. He thinks for what seems like ages, tells me if it was in london he would call, then folds. Obv i show coz thats what the plan is right.

I then win a couple more pots, working my way up to about 16k nice and steady. Next hand involves two ep limpers and i look down at the wonderful Jc4c on the hijack. Raise elicits an utg fold (predictable given patterns) and a tight guy in a purple shirt calling. Flop comes J104 and he moves allin for 5k....nope im good i decide, call, he has K10 and J on turn cements it. I then lose a chunk to this convict bloke opposite, had been showing so many bluffs and being such an ass that 3barrel bluffing him was never a good idea, especially a needlessly large river bet (if he was drawing and missed a small bet was fine and he was such a station that if he thought a made hand was good he would call anything anyway). Lost about 7k there.

Level 3 was a real fun hand early on. Limp utg and utg+1, button calls, sb folds and i check 107 from bb. Flop Ks10s3d. I check, Jeff bets small from utg, utg+1 dwells then calls, i call coz i have a lot of chips (22kish, ave 14k). Turn is happy days with a perfect 7h. I check, Jeff fires again, but smallish again and utg+1 bad TAG calls. I cr from 1k to 2.8k and jeff folds whilst utg+1 calls again. Meh not liking this but he doesnt seem necessarily tricky and more of the scared "protect agaisnt draws" sort of player. Im thinking this guy either has a mediocre hand that he has married like KJ or KQ a or (heavily weighted range of) QJ/Flush draw. Turn is an ugly K counterfeiting my two pair. I check (because obv we make more money from bluffs and this old man is a tellbox) and he moves all-in for his last 4.5k. Pot is 8kish. Hmmmmmmmmm, i love poker. It was lucky he couldnt keep still because when he said "got to go out sometime" as he shoved i instantly thought "fuck, the speech and the shove". I can take my time here and the longer he sat the more uncomfortable he got, i get him talking and he is not a happy bunny. The real clincher is how he is holding his cards.....like he desperately wants to turn them over! Im no Caro lover but this was ripe, CALL! He mucked and for £1000 i got to feel like a half decent player. On the break went for some munch with Clamfish, Gregior, some guy i have played a lot and forgotten his name (John i think), Moorman and Tom.

Went back (casually late) and decided to smash it up. Started off ok, bluffing another big pot on the turn with a double barrel. If any of you have read fees 5k post on 2+2 you'll know that a J84 board when you cbet and they flat, a Q is a beauty of a card because so few hands in our opponents range can like it. Apart from 910 + QJ the Q is a horrid card as it completes the draw and adds more texture against a player they know can be playing any two. Then lose a big pot against a guy that was a terrible player. He made the money which is better than i have ever done but jesus. The times he raised preflop in 7 levels. Once. Seriously. The times he limp called in ep agaisnt a LP raiser, or cold called and ep raiser, infinite. So he limps in mp along with 2 other tags and im so ready to eat up his weakness. K9o, thatll do, make a chunky bet (1100)(stack sizes were delicious at this point, they know im liable to get them to a decision for tournie life as they were mostly on 6kish) and only Mr. WAP calls. Flop is semi dreamy. Kc9dQc. He checks (with a 8k stack), i bet 1.8k, he calls. Turn is pure meh, Jc. HE checks, i check. River is a red rag brick and he bets something aggravating, like 900. Call. Nice 6c7c sir! WELL PLAYED! Google implied odds, pot odds and fold equity when you get a moment of spare time.

I flip about for a little bit and get back up to 34k ish when the big pot arrives. My image is right where i want it, im getting called light by second pair (thanks convict ;) ) and generally beating the table up. On of the tight guys down the other end has also managed to accumulate a large stack. He is my target as i have position and i know he mainly plays turbo SnG's so is unused to playing so deep. He raises to 800 playing about 24k utg+1. I overflat nit in MP otb with J10ss. I have learnt (after about 3 million hands in the last 3 years) that position means a shite load more than cards. Flop is fistpumpworthy. Qs10c8s. Pair + Gutshot + gutter. He leads for 1.2k into 2.4kish, mp folds, i um an arr about what i want to achieve. Im happy playing small ball and do i really want to play a huge pot here. I think about it for about 3 mins and even against a very tight range i simple have to build the pot with my hand. Interestingly (and read into this what you like) a lot of the live pro's think i should have flat called, wheras every internet pro i have spoken to says yes we dance here). I make a weakish raise knowing how much he has left and knowing full well we want to get all the money in but i want to retain some fold equity. Ideally im hoping that i click it back (CIB for you newbs) and he makes it like 8k. Then i can jam and he'll have a genuinely tough decision with all of his hands (unless he has a set obv). So i raise to 2.4k and even better he makes it about 6k. I um and arr and jam and he goes into the tank for a long time. Then calls off with AQ. I actually sigh when he calls, probably the lack of positive thinking that cost me the insta 8 on the turn killing 3 of my outs and the red brick on the end. Down to 8k and despite knocking out gregior (he moved in with a double belly b!!!! Muust have been a misclick!! I felt terribly deflated. Im CL with that pot and felt i could really have crushed what is an immensely weak tight field. I then got moved table to the shadow of John Conroys stack (literally) and made a badly timed squeeze with Qc3c and found an ugly AQ in opponents calling range. So obviously sad and deflated i did what any self respecting poker player loves and had a drink.

So nice to meet up with all of the circuit guys, cant mention all of you but obv Mike, Dave ( new vip guy from Blusq), other Dave, Mole (plays 200/400nl as his standard game, WOW), The Legend, Dom, Clam, robby, Owston, jason etc. A whale of a time. Many congrats to Nick Persaud for coming second and also to Mark Goodwin (iv said bad things about him in the past(mainly because he (literally) looked down his nose at a mate of mine in a comp) but he is by all accounts a really nice guy so well done that man. 90k for three days work, yumm! Also a really good bet for a huge result in vegas this year is Pete Linton, arrogant as fuck but really nice guy.

Off on Holiday on Monday for a week or so, playing no poker will be fantastic so im exited about a break. Need to stop drinking so much as im turning into europe's no.1 prize prick and im now 25 so time to grow up i reckon. Ok, off to play some really good poker. Gl kids.

2008-04-23T19:36:00.002Z

Huge post coming up. Make sure the boss is out before getting engrossed :)

Should prolly say here that i just proof read this and ended up sticking in little editors notes all over the place for fun. I seriously think im half mad, im referring to myself in the third person wtf?.

Ok iv been letting this blog slip lately and not posting as regularly as i would like. I wish it could be for the same reasons Julian Thew regulates his blogging, i.e blog a lot when ur running ok then stop when you win bundles hehe. But no its mainly been because i am getting lazier and lazier in my life. The comment from Snoopy and a pm from a blondite spurned me to getting this thing back on track. Who gives a monkeys if amatay already has like a hundred thousand hits and ukgatsby half a mil and im lingering on 30k :). I guess if i invent my own language and incorporate words like drunkay into my language. That'll hook the readers hehe. No seriously i will try and increase output and put a bit more out there, hopefully ill find it as therapeutic (sp?) as i did a few years ago.

Ill divulge the boring life stuff first, that way the prospect of the poker stuff at the end will ensure you read the lot. Iv been a busy little bunny of late.

House is going well, we had a bit of a gamble in the end and have tried to negotiate on the deal owing to the property bust. Risky as we both love the place but felt it was a good gamble. TBH Not a lot can really go wrong and these risk averse banks (we are dealing with a repossession) should jump at our chain free easy money tbh. Still fingers crossed, exchanging this week hopefully.

On holiday in a couple of weeks, be nice to get away for a bit of sunshine and lollipops with the inlaws. Gonna bring the fishing rod and do all the fun stuff i should do more of (like getting beered up all the time?!) and do some snorkelling, fishing, eating and swimming. I absolutely love holidays. Imagine my frustration when i found out this clashed with the PartyPoker cruise i was invited to attend :(
In the words of the great Mr.Ward "Marvellous".

The skypoker thing was cool, met up with Robby and that guy that gave Annette15 a run for her money in the wsope. Nice kid that Tabatabai. Also heard that the exec producer is interested in me trying out as an analyst for the show. Still waiting to hear more news but id jump at the chance to work with uncle Tikay and rookies missus Ling. The show itself is a complete doddle owing to the fact that its a quick donkament, where decisions are never really tricky. This should have made the commentary simple but me and the legend Romanello still managed to disagree on a couple of things. Still, when i read his insidepoker laydown in a cash game it made me cringe tbh (sorry mate, but it really did) (situation two, p48). The beauty of poker is that people disagree and thats why its wonderful, never forget that i always remind myself.

The insidepoker writing stuff is going well, i havent really pushed myself in terms of really putting out high level thinking (edit, who you kidding fish "high level thinking" lol) but iv had a lot of positive feedback which is nice, especially from the cash game players looking to improve. Going to be writing a lot more material for them in the near future and also for a new training site im helping to develop with a (very smart and immeasurably lucky) freind who has decided to dip his toe out there and invest. Hopefully ill improve as a player aswell as making a few quid.

Ok the poker. LOL. Erm, been playing a lot of 1/2 of late and only playing 2/4, 3/6 on weekends when i find a seriously dirrrrtaaay table (just for you amatay ;) Been spewing all over the place lately tbh, but im playing well. Lost a couple of monster @ 3/6 on the weekend that i could have played differently, but i always like to make the play that will make the most money in the longterm, not the short. The 1/2 tables have got ludicrously soft of late also, with France seemingly just having woken up from a slumber re. poker. How many French poker players does it take to play a hand of poker well? I wouldnt have a clue, iv yet to see a single decent hand be played by a frenchie all week. Interestingly they always fill out their location which i find unusual. Other nations generally leave the field blank, odd. Other fun stuff is i have started getting involved in some ludicrous spots against the regs i respect. Namely FishBuster and Hierkommtamaus. Hier wanted to play me hu on 4 tables of 400nl and i had to refuse. He is simple on another level when it comes to running good atm.

Live poker lol. I have been occasionally playing at Luton lately but i find it boring and sadly unattractive of late. Lots of the familiar faces dont turn up on the nights when they used to (Wednesday was cracking last year) and im playing quite terribly. Im so used to playing with proper stacks and decent structures that i simply cannot be arsed with a comp unless i have doubled up early on. Id much rather get involved in cash, which imo is where the reliable money is to be found (unless ur a certain chris moorman, who has been simply on fire this year, congrats). Now that im maturing (lol @ you maturing) i recognise the need for sustainable reliable imcome, which lately has seen me playing short and sweet sessions and then stopping. Its a gradual process, i still am pretty much addicted to poker and love a huge sesh, but profitablilty wise its -EV for me to sit for longer than 2 hours. Take last night. I player for a grand total of 50 minutes, made $1100 and stopped. Obv thats nto an everyday thing, but its becoming more and more regular. The problem is when i keep playing, then stagnate and play badly. Doing shit like 3betting 89soooted oop pre versus a 16/12. Or cold calling a 3b otb with A5s (incidentally this is my favourite hand in the whole wide world agaisnt nits, sooo many semibluff lines to take). These are leaks which i should plug. And playing poker for a long period of time is a huge leak for me.

Ok the fun stuff. After a bit of work and some egging on i decided to win another seat o GUKPT manchester. I had already won one but decided to cash it out as i had a very lean March. Played the 100r on Friday and took 5th for 1700 when the top 4 got seats. Bah, rigged. So tried again on Sunday in the last chance saloon. After playing like a demon earlier on i walked into ppl restealing v me with zero fold equity about 4 times an haemorraeged (definite sp there) my stack playing like a kipper. Down to final and i haaaaate playing longhanded so much i just turned on the telly. Once a few got out the way i won a QQ v AK flip and then it was a case of lets gogoogogogo. I knocked out some guy b4 losing a huge chunk with QQ v KK. 5 handed i played a hand that was either genius of plain dumb depending on your vantage point (hint, my opponent thought i was high), but i felt someone had to get this table moving, i was tired ffs!

I raise utg with Q9s 5 handed and a 21k stack to 2800 @ 600/1200. Mainly because utg raises had been getting a lot of respect and as we were all even players were playing super tight. The last thing i want in these things is some JJ v AK donkaexit where we flip a coin for a seat. The BB defends with a stack of 24k. Flop J34 rainbow and he check minraises my 2.5k bet to 5k. I opt to jam and he calls with AJ, i spike Q and then get the treatment in the chatbox. Seriously, AJ is like at the pinnacle of his range (he was an abc non-tricky TAG) as he cannot have an overpair. He might well be doing this with 55-1010 (fuck knows why, but TAGfish do odd things) and he should be able to fold all but KJ/AJ was my thoughts. Add to the fact i have such a sexy stack to jam with (remember its a satellite bubble) and i thought it was correct. Let me know what you think.

So i got the seat, was originally supposed to be staying with the Clamfish aka Rick Trigg but he's sacked me and im off to Manc on my tod. However will i cope with those northern monkeys on my own? I know, by winning the whole caboosh with exquisite poker! Wish me luck, playing Friday, updates on blondepoker. Would be nice to finally run goood in a live donkfest.

2008-04-09T03:07:00.003Z

Long time no post, apologies to my faithful few. Erm, havent been posting much as iv been working very hard on mt game tbh. Was contacted a little while ago by one of the ipoker smallstakes regs who had noticed my stats had changed massively over a 6week period. Fuck me i had turned into the ubernit. Really really bad of me as i was 16-tabling a lot and giving up masses of equity. Funny enough it coincided with a huge downswing, wonder why...

So, decided to practice what i preach and have really gone for it lately, with reasonable results. Table selection and cutting back to 5 tables MAX has helped. I really want to be playing bigger games over the next few years (not townsend stakes lol), but being happy @ 5kNL by 2010 would be fantastic. And im pretty sure robotic multitabling was not the answer for long-term improvement, i mean sure you make good money when the games are sweet, but the rest of the time you suffer. So iv kicked myself out of that rut and feel good again.

Also, many congrats to Jim Mcshane for tying the not in Vegas, wp mate, this should hopefully ensure you keep your place till i come knocking on the door asking for somewhere to stay ;).

Random one here, just started the hertfordshire rat and rabbit society. Basically a load of us travel round the country giving farmers a helping hand sorting out rat problems. Sounds odd? This is how things work in the countryside. Seriously good fun. Mainly reason iv been going lately is my mates little Border Terrier who absolutely loves ratting. I mean she goes nuts when she sees my car pull up as she knows whats happening. Went to Reading on Monday to have a jolly up, about 8 of us smoked out all the rat burrows. Lots of rats, i mean thousands of the filthy little buggers but the owner has a poulty farm so poison is useless. for those that are interested poultry feed is what the rats eat, which is rich in Maize (sweetcorn) which contains high levels of vitamin K. This vitamin in high doses gives the rats unnatural resistance to all but the most lethal rat poisons (which are too dangerous to use on a working farm). thats where we come in. Armed with bats, a length of tubing and an old motorcycle, aswell as an army of keen terriers, we give the resident population a healthy dent. "Molly" was in her element. She got involved in two fights on Monday night. One with the resident Jack russel whos a vicious bloody thing and had to be kicked a few times to stop him nailing her and another with the biggest rat i have ever seen. She's not quite strong enough to give them the quick flick which snaps the next and this bugger got a hold of her pretty bad as she was shaking it. A couple of cuts, but she loves it to bits! A long way to go for fun, but a great crack. Ok, back to poker.

OK, springfest kicks off tonight @ Luton and will be a cracking little series of comps. Im playing the £150 and £500 event, only playing the ME if i can win the £ or get put in as im reasonably sure there will be no value whatsoever unless the field tips 60 and we manage to persuade Albert Sapiano turn up :)

On thursday im on the TV hehe. Basically, they ideally wanted Praz Bansi and Karl Mahrenholz but they were busy so they asked second rate poker players to take their place :) Cheer Jamie for thinking of me when they said "is there anyone else you know, i mean, absolutely anyone....(hehe)" Me and legend roberto Romanello on Skypoker @ 9pm and should be a good crack. We always have a good bit of banter but usually with large volumes of alcohol involved. Havent seen much daylight in about 3 weeks so hopefully they have a decent makeup artist on scene. EDIT (grandad Tikay is hosting, so they should have someone for the old boy).

See ya later!

p.s some great videos on tillerman.net and a funny hand on Fbadgers site, have a look.

2008-03-20T02:33:00.002Z

Bit stressed at the moment, organising money and shit for the house is exploding my brain. Thanks for the well-wishes guys, much appreciated. Dibble! nice to hear from you m8, get updating! Best of luck in Irish Open Niall, 1 time player!

Went to Barcelona last weekend for some r+r, i speak zero Spanish (or Catelan (sp?) to be precise) but it was a nice trip. Some great sights and oh my god i saw the sun! Seriously 1st time in about 4 months iv seen it properly lol. One thing that was a real let down was the food. Maybe we just went to the wrong joints but the tapas was crap. Real bad.

Anyway, i was searching 2+2 while rewriting a huge fucking piece on beating shortstackers for insidepoker (somehow the file gets corrupted as an email? WHY? HOW? FS) and came across this little gem. It actually had me in fits of laughter, its kind of like what iv become.

Hats off to Daniel No.2.

i am a Robot Professional Poker Player
but i can think
my only weakpoint is hungry and sleepy

how i work
when i wake up,the first thing is open pc,then i go to toilet,wash face,tooth clean in 2 min
back to join table, use the time waiting BB to eat,i hire a cooker ($3 two hours one day)
then start fighting !
when tired, songs and movie and browse forum, then go on fighting!!!
fight till my brain is too tired to think

i have no job, i have no girlfriend,i have no friend,i needn't go outside,last month i haven't go

outside once!!
my only target is poker poker poker
i don't do anything except sleep eat poker

i don't drink, smoke, i don't entrainment， i don't make love
i will be excellent as one canadian youngest player Daniel!
he is best on the world!!!

before i am a starcraft progamer ,my gamei point is 2188 Terran
do you know how korean progamer train?
one day 16 hours keep practising
you maybe hear of Elky Grrr liquid, i defeat them all

i like practice practice practice !!!

so let us gogogogo

below is my former post, now i use my new id Daniel.No2

last month i completed 30k hands in 0.5/1 full ring limit
played about 100 hours,
winrate 3.33BB/100 hands
i totally win 1000 dollar
so i earn 10 dollar/hour,
am i a cheap worker?

now i move up to 1/2
next month plan
100k hands,300 hands/hour ( 6 multi-tables same time) 10 hours/day,
winrate 2BB/100 hands

expected money 4000 dollar/month

Let us gogogogo

and i will played 1/2 one month 2/4 two month
3/6 two month 5/10 two month
two month one level one level 200k hands
before the end of the year, i will go to top level online !!!
next year fly to canada observ how Daniel playing

2008-03-12T14:41:00.002Z

Moving on up, moving on out.....

Ok, scratch the first part. My cash game form/play has been so poor lately that its taking a back seat for a while, im enjoying tournaments more, especially given the soft fields on ipoker. Im going to be a lot more selective about the times i play cash from now on, i know i bang on about it a lot but im hoping one day it will stick. Had a bad february on the back of a bad january, doesnt take long in this game for a downswing to hit, money to stop coming in regular and the confidence to drop, so i guess this is one of the low points that come around all too regularly for my liking. Ill be sticking it out for a while yet but probably will need to get fingers in other pies pretty quick, the main reason is part two to the opening sentance. We just bought a house!!!! Ship! 2 bedroow semi in Hertford, turn of century, pretty victorian jobby, sash windows and a decent garden for barbies, loverlyyyyy.

Had some family help but also put down a fat chunk ourselves and the mortgage isnt huge given the size of our deposit. Hopefully ill be able to complete the "Thewy" challenge and get it paid off a.s.a.p from poker earnings. Doubtful, but with a lottle luck and some hard work we could get it paid off before im 30, which would be fantastic. Also glad as im the first of my mates to get a house (yeah i know they are mostly backward 6-fingered mugs but hey, im one of them) which im proud of in a way. Suzanne loves the place and although i wasnt overly impressed the gaff does grow on you and now im itching to get in.

On the poker front havent played a lot lately as moneys a bit tight but played the Vic last week. Was a complete non-event for me after i played Kings to maximise my equity early on and got stuffed by some chinese scandie who runner runnered a flush. Sigh. Never really recovered and then got the lot in with AK hoping for a race, alas, chinese scandie runs good and finds AA. Marvellous. Table was a good crack though, Pete Charalambous and Nic Levi helping me abuse Dave Smith and Jeff Rogers lol. Actually really funny as i used to play £20 rebuy jobbies with Nic in Norwich as a student. Pretty sure that was when the bug 1st caught hold of me, BEWARE THE BUG!

Sorry for lack of updates lately and apologives to anyone iv let down lately, i know there are a lot of you.....iv just been pretty busy and when you are losing at poker you cant really be arsed to help out others (Dino sry m8, ill make it up to you). Also got some seriously exciting news about the uk poker scene, but cannot divulge my secret until im given the go by the boss. Its a really neat idea that im very excited to be involved with, lets just say watch this space all you avid fanatics out there.

Also like to give a hearty well-done to Dan Sampson. The boy came 3rd in the Vic and was slightly unfortunate to lose a big race late in the day against an aggro CL. In a 1010 v AJ situation i always feel kinda sorry for the 1010 as the AJ should really be out the way, but hey ho the lad Ketul did well (really i shouldt even comment as im not 100% sure how the chips flew in). Dan was due a result tbh after coming within touching distance in a wpt a few years ago where he was robbed, so well done mate, keep it up.

Next tournament will probably be the GUKPT Manchester and a few of the side events, assuming i havent gone totally bust and forced to get a full-time job. The good thing is, it wouldnt be the end of the world anyway :)

2008-02-29T05:46:00.002Z

Struggling. All week has been a bit of a tough grind tbh, i nearly lost 2k in 2 hours on Monday night but couldnt bring myself to quit and clawed back. Still had an overall losing month for Feb, i guess im approx $2k down online but im unsure. Live is much worse, seeing as iv played 8 competitions and cashed in a big fat zero. Really frustrating at the mo. Last night @ Luton just summed up the week in dirty techincolor.

Its the £100 DCFO jobby and theres only like 40 runners, still £1800 for 1st which aint to be sniffed at so i focused on the tournament despite a seriously juicy cash game starting up. Im not sure why but i just felt soooooo in the zone, like perfect. Really its a week too soon as its the gukpt Vic next week and i really need a decent hit, iv got holidays and house bills coming up and need the dosh more than ever. So after iv knocked out 8 people (thats pretty impressive for me) im sitting with 75k. Another chap graham has 80k. We have between us 1/3 of the chips in play. So obv after i have been raising like a trojan solidly we get a KK v AA encounter that just was ugly. He raises utg to 6k (blinds 800/1600), i re-raise to 15k and he insta jams. I did think about it for a moment. But not long enough.

Im not into big laydowns but this is one of those moments where i could concievably have passed as a +EV judgement. He isnt the type of player to get involved without a huge hand. He opened utg. He wants to clash with the only other chap that can cripple him. He doesnt consider his options, he just jams. I have KK so likelihood of AK is small. He doesnt do this with QQ. Also, form my viewpoint, the table is super soft, im mean seriously weak. If i fold i still have 60k (more than twice the average) and i can use postflop play/ nicking to play small ball. Its always easy in hindsight but i should have folded them. Not just had an arghhhh kings baby moment.

Played a little tonight and got frustrated, the games are soo nitty at the mo im not enjoying my poker. So obv i played PLO instead. The games are so much softer and more enjoyable, so i guess ill be playing PLO for most of March in an effort to banish my demons and get my mojo back. Hopefully going skiing with some ppl soon but my passport replacement went a bit tits up. I used the post office check and send service and they said it was all fine and sent it off. But the other night i rememberedmy birth certificate is most deffo not in the letter, so il be getting a refund for £7 from the lackays in Potters bar. Check and send my arse. Sigh, this might be a real bad beat as ill have to fork out £150 and drive to Peterborough for a 1 day jobby b4 Barcelona. Fuck running bad.

2008-02-25T04:21:00.002Z

Havent posted for a while which has kind of coincided with a longish breakeven stretch. The games just seem really tough at the moment. So few fish online and so many multitabling emotion-free nits and 20BB shortstacking bastards ruining the table dynamics. Players at 1/2 that used to give me a lot of trouble and were pretty dangerous have either disappeared or altered their game to get even tighter (ThsMnsNothing2me is now a total nit). Its pretty sad on ipoker mid/low stakes at the moment. The 2/4 tables on sat night (late) were just immeasurably tough, so few weak spots on any of the table. I cant be bothered to sit down with chirpybrox, Jfk + co anymore, quite simply they are far better than me. Problem is when these games get so uber nitty its impossible to extract. Ok, you nick a few blinds here and there but that hardly makes any $ does it? When the flop comes down you just dont get action unless they have you beat. Whats truly remarkable is just how quickly players can improve. Pouts of Kefalos was the biggest ifsh in the world about 4 months ago. Now he's killing the fucking games. And he gets more action than anyone, why? The guy has an attempt to steal blind stat of like 6 and gets 3bet more than me. bah.Im not entirely sure if he is just running super hot v me but hes up nearly 20BI on me. Thats unreal.

Really need to put in a lot more work into table selection and times that i play, think iv really been lacking patience lately and its not good. Dropped 2k this week but i recognise how poker works, its just depressing when i realise how small my edge really is. On a happier note i won a gukpt Vic ticket, at least i still feel miles ahead than 90% of the ppl i play live. Should also mention a little Luton cash session where i was just on pure song for about 2 hours. I mean iv never played so well ever. Called 2 bluffs from 2 different decent players with hands most would have mucked and just smashed it. So obv they move me to the main table where i got spanked a little bit, coulde of pots with Irish Dennis and a bad call on Edna lots me a bit. The fact i was sitting with Trevor (told you id mention you m8) and chatting opposed to playing proper poker didnt help.

So new week, new targets, mainly to get my ass down the gym and work more selective hours. Its not the quantity its the quality of the poker that akes the money. So im gonna try 3 hours a day at UK peak time just to get a bit of focus back. Also need to do some in depth PT analysis to pick up on regs hidden holes. Pokers getting tougher imo, but im not prepared to leave.

2008-02-14T13:42:00.002Z

Arghhhh live donkaments where am i going wrong? The last 5 £200+ comps iv played iv made day 2 of. So frustrating when the wheels fall off after all the hard work and the bloody hotel bills. Played the £300 at Walsall the other night and ill give a proper tournament report. I havent done one in ages so ill give it a shot.

Starting table was perfect, no-one i knew and just how i like it. Decided to cultivate a rocky image that worked for a long time. 7500 starting chips and 45 minute clock was lovely. No hands early doors but i dont like big hands early anyway tbh. Made two big moves, once squeezing a loose UTG opener and his buddy who flat called at 100/200 when opener made it 800 and was called before i made it 2400 on the button w Q8s. Once that got through i won a decent pot against some numpty i was sat next to. I limp the SB w 88. Flop comes 24Q rainsbow, we check it round (4-way). Turn is a 6 putting 2 flush draws out there and i bet out. This chap calls. River is a Queen and its a case of value betting him if he's decent of checking if he thinks im a moron. I decided on the levels of thinking front this guy was pretty low so i induced, he jammed, which was form more than i though, but i called obv and he mucked. Busted flush draw it is then sir. From there i was on 15k and played a huge pot an awkward pot a moment later. UTG+3 who was a decent looseish player raised to 600 and i elected to flat call w 88 again. Folded to button who is a an elderly lag who jimjams for 7k. UTG+3 folds reluctantly and it just feels like he has AK. I call, he does and now im crusing. Next level really put me in contention after i got the chip lead in a set over set coup. UTG limps (AA OR KK OBV) and i limp w 55 along with 2 others. Flop comes 235 2 spades and UTG leads, i raise, big stack raises me and UTG folds. I go into the tank for a while because this guy is oozing supreme confidence and he could have A4 so easy. Problem is i have a big stack still and blinds are only 150/300, i swear (i dont know why lol im a nit) i realistically considered passing this guy was SOOOOOOO confident when i got him talking. Never folding though tbh and in it goes, poor chap has 33 and its 40k baby. Chip leader yumyum.

Next level goes by quietly till this young chap wins a few very big pots and suddenly has 25k. I fancied taking him on tbh as soon as a decent opportunity arose. He raised to 3k from middle position and somehow he gave away that he was scared shitless. Dont know how, i think it was the speed and stupidness with which he responded to a discussion but for a smart guy it didnt make sense. I elected to call w 56s and take it off him later. Flop came down JJ7 and he led out as i expected him too. The bet was larger than i thought though, a full 6k. I cant rep a Jack versus him but i know he's weak. Call. Turn comes a 7. Now he checks and the plan all along was to bet. Betting when it Double pairs the board doesnt make sense to a thinking player and i was worried he would CR with a lot of air. I decided that the river was a place where i would most likely value bet my likely holding (im repping a pair 88-1010)and succeed in my bluff. So we check the turn. River is a deuce. He has 15k ish back and bets out 8k. Fuck! I still fancied i might get him to pass as after all its a rainbow board but didnt trust my instincts. I pussied and he showed my Q2. LOL wp sir. After that i got super busy but lost 68 to AA on a 57Q board for a 20k pot then a 25k pot w AJ v A10 and KQ. Then Ian woodley came to the table and the image was destroyed. Whe he greets me with "hello fish, you been getting away with murder on this table all night eh, ill teach you" it kind of shatters ur rocky persona. Nice guy though and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Made one mistake with 88 (again lol) when Ian raised pre, i flatted and he checked to me on a 5710 board. I checked behind like a tool but the K came on the turn and he took it. Finished the day with 25k ish.

Day 2 was a different kettle of fish, with blinds at 1k/2k 100 running ante i wasnt going to hang about and moved in twice o the trot before finding KK. I gave it some speech about how with 30k it was too much to move all-in pre and made it 8k, some xhappy said all-in and he was ul to get QQ at the time. Back up to 60k. Down to 2 tables i really fancied it, but i walked into big hands on 2 steal attempts, Being shown AK and QQ.

Then came the most critical hand of the tournament where i should really have trusted my instincts. Blinds are 1500/3000 and the Q2 player (who was a v.good player who i now respect a lot) limped on my BB from MP. (he had been limping a lot with marginal hands). The SB completed (scottish, big chips, very tricky and aggro from what id heard). I have Ad7d and check from the BB. Flop comes A102 rainbow. I lead out for 6.5k into 10k. Middle pos (MP) calls now Scotty raises to 20k. I smell a fucking great rat. I went in the tank for longer than ive ever thought about a hand. He doesnt know m8boy but guess presumes he isnt strong cos he didnt raise pre. He knows i fold all but 2 pair. And i knew it, but was worried about Joe (Q2) chap. The problem iv got is i know scotty is making a move. He is repping precisely 102. 3 of the aces are out im sure of it, with me and MP holding them, he probably had me slightly beat w A9/AJ. He doesnt play a set so fast on raised flop here with all the information he has. He probably slowplays A10 too in the immensely unlikely event he has the case ace. I ended up being too worried that MP had a bigger ace than me when fundamentally it doesnt matter. He cannot call a check raise and a push with anything less than A10. That mistake cost me dear. 2 more failed steal and we were into ram and jam territory. I wound 89 and with blinds @ 2k/4k/200A and only 35k i have a good argument for jamming, although maybe i should have paid more attention when Mr.Spenish Rock leant forward and started counting his chips. Insta called once, then again by a shorty lol. Up against AA and 55 and the flop brought a lot of hope, the 107 doorcards being super sexy. Sadly i bricked out but the damage was done earlier when i should have gone with it. Never mind. I spoke to Scotty later and he still tells me he had a set of 2's, even though someone i know saw his hand as he showed his mate (sitting behind him) and reliably informs me he had A4. Damn.
So close, no cigar.

2008-02-12T11:01:00.000Z

Long time no post.

Won the 10k challenge which was nice. Certainly helped boost a lacklustre couple of weeks. Also its about the first decent live thing iv won for a while, certainly the first with a photographer so im patting myself on the back bigtime.

Table makeup looked mainly new school with a couple of old school pro's. No-one knew me so i knew i would be able to get away with a lot of bs before someone clocked it.
Table was ideal for me tbh with no-one willing to try and dominate the early running which let me get a sweet image. The one player who had a v good read on me, which equates to v dangerous, i knocked out with a rivered A10 v AQ. Once he was out the way it was a case of getting into peoples heads quickly. I had Kevin Lovejoy to my right praise the lord (how he can still speak after the Brighton "incident" ill never know) and he obv recognised this as we didnt really tangle at all in the early stages. I know for a fact i was all-in twice as many times as anyone else, but only once for my tournament life. That tells its own story. On the 4man bubble i made a big move against who i percieved to be the player most worried about the £500, the SnG "specialist" Ian, who folded AQ to my 46s. Yumm. 3-handed knocked out golden balls (forgot his name already, sorry m8) with QQ v J10 where i know i wouldnt have got action on my reshove had he thought me tight.

HU it was interesting, i had taken 3 shots at Dave during the tournament, with AQ v A5, K9 v QQ, and K2 v AK and was beginning to think it wasnt gonna happen. I still had a 2/1 chip lead so had another crack at it w 105s v his reshove w AK and finally dusted him.

Havent played on ipoker for nearly a week now and getting serious withdrawal symptoms. However i know a break is what i need right now. Also coincides with a dirtload of work im doing and the Walsall GUKPT thingy, which i probably wont be playing. Ill be playing the £300er tonight but dont get to see the missus too often atm so will see her on the weekend. Also, Walsall aint the prettiest town in the world tbh is it? Im sure there will be better opportunities to spend my money later in the year.

Went to our first house viewings on the weekend. Seen a nice little 2bed cottage in Hertford that could be converted into a 3bedder. If we could get it (and thats a huge if) id be over the moon as its an ideal 1st home. Needs a complete refurb too which means we cant go for broke on the bidding war but hell, hope we get it. Id like something to do whilst waiting for aces :)

2008-02-03T01:11:00.000Z

Sigh. Thats how i feel atm. Dropped 4k this week and played well throughout. So fucking frustrating when ppl play so shit and variance comes up and says FU player. Got fed up tonight when i lost 5 $600 pots in the space of 5 minutes after staging a good comeback on the week. Game can beat you up so hard at times and anyone who has never run bad just hasnt played enough hands imo. The number of times today ppl cold called my 3bets with junk and got smacked was unreal. Or the old 4 limpers, i make it 40 w QQ and some tard flops top 2 w 89s on a 9 high board and we get it in. Just so laughably bad some of these ppl are. Limp calling 1/5 of their stack pre. Just lol. Please turn Doom switch off Pokah. Apologies to anyone i was rude to at the tables. I know i gave some torrid abuse to a few ppl and no-one deserves it at the poker table, except maybe the French. Oh and the Italians.

Gonna have a break till next week sometime as my confidence has gone, when you know that the guy is gonna hit his out and you find urself almost willing it to not come its not good for your head. Cant be bothered to whine anymore, most of you know the score when it comes to variance and poker, you just have to embrace it and wait for the upswing. Pleased with how my game is generally atm, iv tightened up a little positionally and i think its helped me manoevre (sp?) postflop better. Also finding daytime games soft atm in terms of player ability, although there are less good tables owing to reduced traffic.

Gonna go footy tomoz and Luton in the afternoon. Want to get a bit of live game back in my life as it rekindles that passion which was the reason i fell in love with poker in the 1st place. Might play some DC if i feel ok, feel i should be improving my all-round game, not just 2card bluffbrag/nutpeddle depending on your persuasion.

On the plus side i got a call from Jamie telling me i successfully won the 10k challenge holdem raked hands seat. This is about the only good thing to come out of a torrid week so hopefully ill be able to win it on Thursday and give myself a confidence boost. Also nice that i can kinda show my worth to BlueSQ in a highlighted way. Also thinking of a decent website name. Anyone with a decent suggestion let me know..... :)

2008-01-30T04:44:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-28T04:24:00.001Z

:)

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.

2008-01-25T12:49:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-15T16:56:00.000Z

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!

2008-01-13T13:29:00.001Z

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.

2008-01-12T03:08:00.001Z

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.

2008-01-11T01:26:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-07T15:18:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-05T03:01:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-04T15:17:00.000Z

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!!!!!!!!

2008-01-03T19:50:00.000Z

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.

2008-01-02T11:26:00.000Z

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!!!!

2008-01-02T10:45:00.000Z

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.

2007-12-28T03:58:00.000Z

Yummy. Really back in the zone atm and happy with my game. Been posting a few hands here and there for feedback but the problem is i get the same type of people responding all the time. Either know it all's or plain insults. I dont particularly care about the outcome of the hand, i just like other people's opinions on whether a certain line could be improved upon. I have too big an ego to accept someone elses viewpoint most of the time. Also, they tend to view the hands from a great distance and in a vacuum even the worst players can play a hand great at times.

Anyway, heres 2 hands for all the lovers and haters out there. Ill give an analysis on Sunday as to why i did what i did but in the meantime feel free to comment on the action. Hopefully you will learn something and i will too.

Hand 1.

Villain has been with me for an hour. Just seen me lose a biggish pot. Appears relatively weak/passive open limping and folding to raises and cbets.
GAME #770861308: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2007-12-23 22:06:39
Table Ancona
Seat 1: kidology ($175.00 in chips)
Seat 3: nikinblinds ($363.07 in chips)
Seat 5: basil979 ($458.20 in chips)
Seat 6: kokon ($145.20 in chips) DEALER
Seat 8: noiqhamster ($433.80 in chips)
Seat 10: bigbert1 ($438.80 in chips)
noiqhamster: Post SB $2.00
bigbert1: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to nikinblinds [ S8 S6 ]
FOLD kidology
nikinblinds : Raise $14.00
basil979: Call $14.00
FOLD kokon
FOLD noiqhamster
FOLD bigbert1

Flop:
[ D4 HQ S10 ]
nikinblinds : Bet $22.00
basil979: Call $22.00

Turn:
[ S7 ]
nikinblinds : Check
basil979: Bet $52.00
nikinblinds : Raise $150.00
basil979: Call $98.00

River:
[ D3 ]
nikinblinds : Allin $177.07

Hand 2.

Villain is fairly loose. Havent really tangled with him before but have been fairly abc whilst he has been at the table. I bought in with 50BB incase ur wondering. Not sure about all the preflop 3bet, probably should have been a little bigger. Thought he would give up most tens but really put him on a draw obv not.

GAME #768840873: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2007-12-22 08:00:13
Table Lucerne
Seat 1: Ttalismann ($314.30 in chips)
Seat 3: ExecutionStyle ($524.50 in chips)
Seat 5: FooSH ($415.90 in chips)
Seat 6: fugeddaboutit ($522.10 in chips) DEALER
Seat 8: nikinblinds ($244.68 in chips)
Seat 10: sicknewlife ($466.40 in chips)
nikinblinds: Post SB $2.00
sicknewlife: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to FooSH [ D10 D8 ]
Dealt to nikinblinds [ CJ SA ]
FOLD Ttalismann
FOLD ExecutionStyle
FooSH : Raise $14.00
FOLD fugeddaboutit
nikinblinds: Raise $35.00
FOLD sicknewlife
FooSH : Call $23.00

Flop:
[ D3 H7 H10 ]
nikinblinds: Bet $64.00
FooSH : Call $64.00

Turn:
[ C3 ]
nikinblinds: Allin $143.68
FooSH : Call $143.68

River:
[ C8 ]

SUMMARY:
Total pot $490.36 Rake $3.00
FooSH : wins $490.36

Hand 3. This what its all about, getting the action you deserve for being out of line all the time. Helps that villain played his hand this badly, truly shocking stackoff.

GAME #768929894: Texas Hold'em NL $2.00/$4.00 2007-12-22 11:05:57
Table Four Roads
Seat 1: V905612 ($389.70 in chips)
Seat 6: noiqhamster ($336.00 in chips)
Seat 8: oxioxio ($488.40 in chips) DEALER
Seat 10: nikinblinds ($473.80 in chips)
nikinblinds: Post SB $2.00
V905612: Post BB $4.00

Holecards:
Dealt to oxioxio [ CQ HA ]
Dealt to nikinblinds [ CJ HJ ]
FOLD noiqhamster
oxioxio : Raise $16.00
nikinblinds: Raise $42.00
FOLD V905612
oxioxio : Call $28.00

Flop:
[ HQ S8 DJ ]
nikinblinds: Bet $68.00
oxioxio : Raise $152.00
nikinblinds: Allin $361.80
oxioxio : Call $277.80

Turn:
[ S10 ]

River:
[ D2 ]

SUMMARY:
Total pot $949.60 Rake $2.00
nikinblinds: wins $949.60

2007-12-26T16:32:00.000Z

So frustrating, made a huge post on Xmas eve and had bloody blogger go down on me as i punched publish. Good job really as it was long-winded and pretty appalling (nothing new there i hear you chuckle) but i was still fuming. Round 2.

1stly happy Xmas to all the bloggers, players, colleagues, donkeys and sharks who know me. Been a very interesting year for sure. Had a cracking Xmas, spent with Zan and her family, just found out about Wii bowling, woop woop. Got some cracking little prezzies, esp happy about my Bose headphones :) In all feel really lucky and spoilt about how life is right now, this christmas was the best.

Sorry for lack of updates lately, been pretty busy on the poker front, putting in substantial hours for the BlueSQ account. 4 long long sessions last week took their toll on me with little time spent with the family and freinds, far less than i should have.

Played a lot of 1/2 and 2/4NL over the last week, even did a couple of 16tabling .50/1 sessions to pass the time when the films/footie games were on. Got poker tracker up and running and have changed a lot of the aspects of my game in the hope of plugging a few leaks. Notably now, when i think im beat but cant see how or what he could have called with. In the past i was a real sucker for the curiosity call and the pot odds call, lately i have been happy to accept that when im beat im beat and im not too bothered about how we got there. It has certainly provoked a lot of thought which im now addressing with long thinking sessions for a couple of hours before and after big sessions. I find it cools my brain off and reinforces beliefs. Standard lines and generic plays are what im used to, but im not happy with where thats taking me and i feel happier (and play better) when i trust myself to do whats right for me in a hand. We should all try to play to our specific strengths and our opponents weaknesses and we sometimes lose that in the sea of strategy advice out there. Holdem feels good atm. PLO on the other hand feels pretty much disgusting. Im not really happy about the luck factor involved tbh but i guess thats just the nit in me coming out. Anyway, running very bad even with the Xmas influx of 2/4 muppets.

I ran pretty average overall during the period in 6MNLH, losing 5 pots over $1k in 2 hours on Sat night wiped out profit for the week, but i was in a good mood and pretty settled so played through it and logged a decent score after being in a small hole. I can only usually do this when im playing a lot and hungry, normally (sadly) i tilt and donk off a bit more when things are not going quite so well, but im working on that. Breaks every hour really help. I need to play a huge amount to "warm-up" and get in the zone which is quite funny. Seriously i need 500 hands before i feel ok. I dont think i could ever play live cash poker 9-handed again. Which is a good thing.

Gonna do another post in a couple of days but just wanted to quickly say a few thankyous for the year, in real Oscar-esque (sp?) style. Firstly, thanks for the BlueSq team (well Pete, Butlin and the main man Jamie) really appreciate all your time and effort putting up with my whining and general degenerate nature. Thanks also to Alun Bowden/Paul Cheung and the Inside poker Mag who are really on the way up in terms of quantity and are probably now the leading magazine in terms of strategy, cheers for putting up with my late submissions. Special thanks to my missus and mum for looking after me and caring for my best interests, even when im in uber-blinkered mode. Also like to thanks all my m8's in the poker community especially the Luton lads (you know who you are) and the blondepoker community who always give honest and cripplingly critical advice and opinion. Thanks also to the blogging community, especially those of you who occasionally comment, but mostly those of you that continue to update. Some cracking reads out there now which is probably why i never get to actually play any poker anymore! Keep up the fine work.

Ok im writing this on a relic of a computer and the mouse is doing my nut in so i shall leave yall with a Merry Xmas and a HAppy new year line. Decent post coming soon.

2007-12-20T04:06:00.000Z

Jokes. Ok i played a little tonight. I said i wouldnt but just felt really good so had a pop. Got AcuHUD back up and running, forgot how useful it is for re-steals etc. Very quiet on the tables this week. Played a lot of 0.50/1 and look at this for a cracker. Guy was quite obv drunk and going on one in the chat box. Prolly the only donkey of the night but standard reward lol. Even SB played like a tool.

GAME #766064795: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-12-19 23:26:55
Table Rosendal
Seat 5: nikinblinds ($139.66 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: KatandCot ($27.35 in chips)
Seat 8: Bartersaasae ($223.15 in chips)
KatandCot: Post SB $0.50
Bartersaasae: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KatandCot [DQ CA]
Dealt to Bartersaasae [DK C3]
Dealt to nikinblinds [SQ CQ]
nikinblinds: Call $1.00
KatandCot: Call $0.50
Bartersaasae: Allin $222.15
nikinblinds: Allin $138.66
KatandCot: Allin $26.35
*** FLOP *** [C8 CK C4]
*** TURN *** [S3]
*** RIVER *** [S7]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $388.16 Rake $2.00
Bartersaasae: wins $388.16

2007-12-18T23:12:00.000Z

Meh. Playing badly and getting the corresponding results. Gonna take a break for a few days and sort out the boring stuff. Send some invoices out and sort out some xmas stuff, get my fat ass down the gym and sort my car out. Life stuff. Will play again but no sooner than Friday night. Deffo need to get my head clear and refocus my efforts. Big congrats to M3 for winning the Luton HU comp. I got a pass through the 1st round (they said the other guy didnt turn up but i know i was secretly seeded) and then had a very easy second round. Third round i got screwed with 24. I raise preflop and Brian Staines (ex Luton FC legend) showed me how people play poker when they have brains that down work properly. Flop comes 24A he checks, i bet, he calls. Turn comes a 7. I bet big, he pauses then calls. River comes a Q and he checks to me. I decide i have to V bet here and he calls with Q2. Pi55 off. Then down to 4k @ 200/400 and out of the game really. After that i just went all-in a lot until he got me in a hand where i decided to see a flop and he flopped a str8.

2007-12-16T04:01:00.000Z

A reasonable weekend. So far. Friday night was good but quite slow, this afternoon early evening was good. So good infact that i was a little silly and 16-tabled .50/1 for a while. People tell me its not poker and its not "morally right". Sod them. Especially on a saturday night, i really cannot be arsed with thinking poker and would rather have the screen running and clocking up money whilst watching Matt from Strictly come dancing cry his way to victory.

Ran pretty well for a while before someone pulled the plug. All changed in 1 relatively deep hand. I 3-bet fairly tight guy pre with KK. Guy posts on 2+2 and is generally too fancy, uses really weird lines and odd river craises. He flats and it comes A46 2 hearts. I lead he calls. Turn pairs the Ace which effectively turns my hand into the nuts in a 3-bet pre pot and also completes a heart flush draw. I check he overbet shoves for 150BB. I fold here (like a nit) a high % of the time v an unknown but somethign smelt wrong, i felt i could well be being floated on that flop so end up finding the hero. He has QQ and dings a Q on river. That tilted me a fair bit, but not enough for me to not log a decent win. I like this small stakes stuff lol.

Im noticing that a lag style doesnt get enough players to play streets with me, which is where they make the most mistakes. Frankly a slug could be taught preflop hand selection but its street play where these guppies dont have an idea. So iv started playing like an old timer a bit lately. Check raising sets on the turn, check raising my big hands on the river, just generally being even more of a nit. But its working ok. Leading out and praying the preflop raiser really has a hand just doesnt make as much as letting them 3-barrel or catch a pair on the turn. So its grandad stylee for the next week or so, should please the regs. Another little trick iv noticed (more at 1/2,2/4) is that flatting with big made hands on draw heavy flops can totally screw up your opponents ability to polarise your range. Obv opponent has to be relatively solid/abc so you are sure of his hand (3-bet pots pre from tight raisers is where it works well) so that you dont give free cards to lagtards but it does ensure you get a lot more of his stack in on the turn when he fires big again to push you off your draw.

Got an interesting one tomorrow. Firstly its footy for the 1st time in two weeks, hoping fitness will be good. Secondly no cigarette for 2 weeks now. Yipee keep it up. Thirdly its a 30k HU 128 runner comp @ the Luton G where ill be doing my damndest to win the 10k 1st prize. Or organise a big chop. I could use the money. No really this should be a great comp as iv seen the structure and there are only 3 or 4 players in Luton i think are better than me (not big headed, just truthful) so lets hope i go deep (n.b can you go deep in these comps?). Ok its 4.20am and iv just decided to turn the tables off for another Saturday night, ill let the drunks live.