Yeah you.
The guy with the SouthPark avatar.
Spouting shit the whole game. Coaching.
See you think you’re a good player.
Think you know it all.
But you only know some of it.
But you’re no expert.
You see - when we were on the bubble - and you called your stack with A 10- and ran into my KK, it was actually a bad call.
And the fact that you sucked out and hit your Ace still made it a bad call - and it wasn’t a
“Well, I had to call with A 10 - lol” moment.
And if you was as clever as you seem to think you are, then you would realise that this is a terrible move - but you are not as clever as you seem to think you are.
Nowhere near in fact.

The last time I looked I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t a woman. In fact, every time I have ever looked I have come to the conclusion that I am not a woman. So why have I completely changed my mind from what I wrote in my last post - is’t that only a womans perogative.

You see I have decided to multi-table. I had a long think about it, and I really am missing a trick by NOT multi-tabling. Most of the decisions I make are pretty instantaneous, and there are only a few plays I’ll make differently because of a read - so I have had an about turn. So please ignore my previous post - I was obviously drunk.

To be honest, it hasn’t started very well, but I have had a horrendous run of luck - bubbling several times. If I was given a wet fish for every time someone CALLED me on the bubble (with A4, KJ, J 10, 97 - yep 97) and gave me a bad beat to go out, I would have a very wet and very smelly room.
Although it’s been far from disastrous with just a tiny loss overall from 21 games.
The icing on the cake was when I was heads up holding Ace King with a 1400-1000 chip advantage. I didn’t realise at this stage that I wouldn’t win another hand - despite having AK again, and 99.

As well as losing a few pounds at poker, I have lost a few pounds of weight - which is pretty pleasing.

And just when you thought it was safe to go out - I have decided to re-visit some old ground.
Watch out for some Hairy Gymnast news…coming soon.

Ater my disappointment at just missing out on the Pokerstars leaderboard I had a little consolation when I checked the Poker X Factor league table, and realised that I am the current leader on there (of the players who have played at least 10 games in May so far) - which is nice.

 I have had a small change of tactics since my poker return in the last week. Firstly I have decided to concentrate on just the one table. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly I normally play poker whilst doing something else (like work) and a lot of the time I just can’t manage more than  one table - and secondly I have started making some solid notes on players now, and it is really paying dividends - which I’m not sure I could do multi-tabling. I know that this way is not a particularly quick way to accumulate mountains of money, but for me it is a really good learning experience which hoipefully will stand me in good stead when I’m playing the $30 or $50 games (notice I said when and not if!).

I picked up a very good tip from Acornmans blog a couple of months back - which was to find out which players are multi-tabling before you start. Fortunately Stars has a “find a player” option, and these players are quite easy to play against, with their solid ABC poker. You can steal a LOT of blinds from these people!

I have played just the one game today - a $10 standard STT in which I bubbled. Annoyingly I had good notes on all three of my opponents at the end, and they all had glaring faults - but just couldn’t get myself into a position to take advantage - and then I got called when I had to push by K7 off (you know, the MONSTER that is K7), and it busted my AJ. So Kermit, Gonzo and Miss Piggy all cashed and I was sat on my backside.
“WP - good game all”
Gotta keep the muppets sweet.

 

Hello reader. I’d like to say readers, but having been away for a while, I’m guessing there’s not going to be many - but you never know.

Well, as I said in an earlier post, I was going to be very busy - and I have been busy, and I am still busy - but I have found a window for some poker - and I have opened that window and let the wonderful world of poker back into my life. And man, am I playing well.

When I was a kid i used to watch a programme (and yep Americans I have spelt it right, before you started taking letters off) called “The Battle of the Planets” - about 5 (I think)  kids who used to dress up in “spacebird” outfits and save the universe. 4 of the kids were normal, but one had a rather strange speech impediment, and sounded a bit like R2D2 on speed. Now the Battle of the Planets is back in the form of Pokerstars new sit and go leaderboard, and I have been chasing it this week.

My first tournie was a $6 STT in which I bubbled, but then went on an extraordinary run of form, and gained myself 383 points in the next 17 tournies - probably the best run of my poker life. This run gained me over $100 profit, and left me needing a win and a second in my last two STT’s to gain a firm place in the BOTP leaderboard.

My 19th tournament was a standard STT, as I wanted to lower the variance a bit, but unfortunately bummed out in 5th, so I thought my chance was gone, but then realised that if I played a 27 player sit and go, a win in that would get me up to 463 points and a place in the top 20.

It started off great and I was first of 15 at one time - but went out in 7th when I hit a set of 8’s but run into a player who had a set of 10’s - which was heartbreaking. So no leaderboard money, but very satisfied with my form, and really feel that my game is better than ever, and ready to step up to another level now.

I’m now well into my OU Java course, and it’s going OK - and I even semi-understand it - which is good.

I am also on a health kick, as I’ve been sitting on my arse for the last few weeks and piling on a few pounds, so no more cakes for a while and plenty of exercise - when is Kylie going to publish a workout video??

I walked past the estate agents with my eldest daughter on thursday and explained that this was the place where we had bought our house. “Did you carry it home Daddy?”….

Still struggling to find any time for poker - and have missed some of my favourite events in the last couple of weeks - haven’t played a Bloggerment for what seems like ages - can’t play this sunday but maybe next week.

Played the RTR league game last week, and ran KK into AA - am playing tonight, hopefully I’ll fare better.

I do have the latest Bloggerment standings, but firstly they are on my other PC, and secondly I am struggling to find the time to update it and post them - so if anyone ould like to take over doing the standings, leave me a comment - and they are yours!Â

I’ve had to make a few tough decisions in the last few days.
My job has suddenly become a lot more “time” intensive, so a lot of my free time has been eroded. And I’ve also come to a realisation that I’m not putting first the things that I should be.
When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is fire up the laptop. There are various things that I do - check websites, check e-mail, do some “poker” browsing, respond to messages etc. I’ll then start work for the day, which will take me up to 6o’clock - and then in the evening I’ll spend the evening in front of the laptop.
Throughout this time, there are three people who are trying to grab my attention - my wife and two daughters - and if I’m honest, the laptop is taking over.
If I had a pound for every time I said, “Hold on a sec, I’m just..” to my kids, I think I’d be a very rich man - so something has to give - I’m not being fair.

So, I have made a couple of decisions.
Firstly, my poker will have to be curtailed. As I said at the start, my free time has been eroded anyway, and the only time I get for poker is in the evening time. But this is the only time of the day me and the wife get to spend with eachother - so I’m going to try and play just a couple of times a week - I did think about not playing at all, but that is not a solution that is realistic, as I love the game. I love the social side of poker, so two games a week seems ideal to play both “The Bloggerment” and “The RTR league game”.
The second, and toughest decision I made last night. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of weeks, and the more I thought about it, the more obvious the decision became. I have decided to stand down from the RaiseTheRiver team. It’s been great getting the site going, and the place is a fantastic place to be, but I can’t commit the time that the site deserves. I’ll still be a moderator on RTR.

In terms of this blog - with my limited poker play, this blog will be updated a lot less than it was before (which will still probably be more than some others - not naming any names!). Project $3000 is looking a long shot now, but if I can win something like 20 Bloggerments in a row - I might have a chance - so if you want to call with “the Hammer” against me - feel free!!

The in-laws came down on sunday, and they bought with them a bunch of childrens TV DVD’s - all the DVD’s were supposedly “classic” kids TV. My eldest daughter watched some of them (the youngest just chewed the boxes) and then in the middle of watching “The Flumps” I suddenly saw my poker name appear on screen. The episode was about an actual cloud, and not a 37 year old guy playing online poker (firstly because online poker hadn’t been invented in 1982, and secondly Flumps have never been very good at poker - you ever remember seeing a Flump at the WSOP???… exactly).
There were some other DVD’s, and my daughter now loves the “Sooty Show” - which obviously proves to be timeless. Unfortunately the DVD didn’t have my own personal favourite Sooty moment - the episode where Sooty does a bungee jump. TV doesn’t get any better than that…
(if most of the above went over your head - you’re obviously not as old as me!)

Went over to the dark side yesterday and played on Full Tilt (as I threatened to do in my previous post). I played a $3 90 player KO sit and go - as well as the normal prize fund, you gain 50c for every player you knock out. I actually finished 3rd, which was very pleasing - but annoyed at the end, as I had a big showdown with the fellow big stack - AK v A9 - which I lost when a bastard 9 appeared on the flop (as opposed to yesterdays bastard Jack) which would have given me a huge chip lead heads up - but still a good result, and my bankroll is at its highest level of the year so far.

All change at the top, as Lukybugur moves into first place after his runner up placing last night. Quixote8 moves up into second after cashing and Al Eleven (aka San Jose Salmon) wins his first bloggerment of the year.

A frustrating night for me.
A good start when I got up to around 2300 chips relatively early.
Then there was a massive hand against Lou Saban. I had 99 and was first to act, so I put in my standard 3xBB raise, and Lou was the only caller. The flop came A J x - and after raising first I normally bet at a pot, but I didn’t like the look of it, with my 99, so I just checked - and then Lou checked as well. The turn was a set-making 9, and we both ended up all-in. Unfortunately for me, Lou had played a pair of Jacks extremely well - so I was outsetted!
I was now on my last legs (240 chips I think), but somehow got up to around 1700, and got back in the game.
I then went out of the game with an AIPF AQ v AJ - with a bastard Jack on the river. Frustrating end, as if my hand had held up, I would have been nicely in the top three with around 10 left - but thems the breaks.

It’s been a bad few days - since the start of my heads up experiment - and I have now lost 5 heads up games in a row, and it has eaten into my roll a little. The last game was last night, and this was lost on one killer hand - where my opponent got very lucky on the river - details here.

So it’s the end of february and looking at the overall picture it is pretty encouraging. I have trebled my bankroll in the first two months of the year, which I would have taken at the start of the year (especially if you consider that 2007 was a losing year). PokerXFactor has had a very positive influence on my game, and I know I can take my game forward from here.
February itself was pretty hit and miss, but playing time was severely restricted, so a little bit of variance has a huge impact.
I am considering moving my roll from the Poker love of my life - Pokerstars. I have always gone back to Stars after trying different sites, just love the site - but it does have the best players there, even at the smaller levels I play at. So I am giving very serious thought to eating your wife - sorry, a line from Hannibal popped into my head whilst writing that sentence - I am giving very serious thought to going over to Full Tilt. Hopefully playing there my bankroll will increase that little bit quicker.
In terms of the project $3000 - this is looking a little less likely after February - but the $3000 figure was plucked out of the air. I’ll be delighted if I get to $1000 or $2000 - but poker is a funny game, and it could be much more, or much less.
One thing I am very satisfied with however is my bankroll management - it has now been two months playing within my bankroll, and I have stuck to it - and that is why my balance is still healthy after a relatively bad run.

Overall Feeling
January - Fantastic
February - Average
2008 - Very Good

Don’t forget the Bloggerment tonight. After missing out for the last two weeks, I’m ready to give it a real go tonight. Really fancy taking out a Scot or two!!

Another disappointing couple of games - and have now won three and lost five heads up games.
And I’m asking myself the question - why do I play heads up so much better against better players.
When I play in the RTR games, if I raise pre-flop and it is called I know that my opponent has something in his hand - because he is out of position.
Playing $5 games, a raise pre-flop seems to be an insta-call at all times, and I’m struggling to get a grip on what I’m playing against.
Variance IS playing a part - because in game 1 I re-raised pre-flop (we were at level 4 - so a quarter of the chips were in the middle) and saw a flop of A 9 x holding AK, but my opponent had A9 - not sure if anyone could have got away from that.
The second game I had a major flip with me having a 2000-1000 lead - AK v 22 - I hit an Ace on the flop, but my opponent hit a 2 as well - and went on to lose.

VoJ gave me a bit of advice in the last thread about keeping pots smaller if you are up against players you think you are better than - but this is really unnatural to me - as when I enter a pot, I generally like to raise - but maybe I’ve got to start playing a little more post flop poker against these guys.

Played 8 Won 3 Lost 5 - not good!! (got my figures wrong yesterday - I was won 3 lost 3 - not won 4 lost 3)