Redcars Blog

Just another Bad Beat

2009-06-20T17:58:00.005Z

Well after saying I didn't want to fill up the blog with bad beats, here's one I couldn't resist posting

FullTiltPoker Game #12926009452: Table Joyner (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:54:18 ET - 2009/06/20
Seat 1: pooshda ($75.25)
Seat 2: D4da15T ($109.80)
Seat 3: redcar99 ($100)
Seat 4: nem3si5 ($108.75)
Seat 5: Dr Sweetleaf ($77.35)
Seat 6: Murderer45 ($63.70)
D4da15T posts the small blind of $0.50
redcar99 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar99 [Ts Td]
nem3si5 folds
Dr Sweetleaf calls $1
Murderer45 folds
pooshda raises to $3
D4da15T folds
redcar99 calls $2
Dr Sweetleaf calls $2
*** FLOP *** [Th Kh Kc]
redcar99 checks
Dr Sweetleaf bets $9.50
pooshda folds
redcar99 raises to $25.50
Dr Sweetleaf calls $16
*** TURN *** [Th Kh Kc] [5c]
redcar99 bets $49
Dr Sweetleaf: i think im fcuked
Dr Sweetleaf: i cant fold
Dr Sweetleaf calls $48.85, and is all in
redcar99 shows [Ts Td]
Dr Sweetleaf shows [9s Kd]
Uncalled bet of $0.15 returned to redcar99
*** RIVER *** [Th Kh Kc 5c] [Ks]
redcar99 shows a full house, Kings full of Tens
Dr Sweetleaf shows four of a kind, Kings
Dr Sweetleaf wins the pot ($155.20) with four of a kind, Kings
redcar99 adds $77.35
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $158.20 Rake $3
Board: [Th Kh Kc 5c Ks]
Seat 1: pooshda (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: D4da15T (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: redcar99 (big blind) showed [Ts Td] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Tens
Seat 4: nem3si5 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Dr Sweetleaf showed [9s Kd] and won ($155.20) with four of a kind, Kings
Seat 6: Murderer45 didn't bet (folded)

Not much to report

2009-06-20T12:15:00.003Z

Poker's been up and down recently, mostly down.
I don't want to fill up the blog with bad beats, hence the lack of recent updates.
I have 12,000 hands at 50c/$1 now and that old familiar, "can I actually show a profit" feeling is returning.
I tried dropping back down to 50 NL but to be honest, I cant find the motivation to play at the lower stakes any more, so I guess I'll have to battle on until I either make some money or go Busto.
On a more positive note, I'm off to Vegas a week on thursday with work. We have 10 WSOP qualifiers on Mansion so Craig and I are going over to make sure everyone has a good time.
I'm sure we'll also find some time to play a little poker and have some fun, we're both looking forward to it, roll on July 2nd
The live game is not going too well either, managed to win a little cash a couple of weeks ago, rocking up to the casino a little worse for wear about 11pm, managed to maintain a "drunk and lose" image whilst actually playing pretty tight, and managed a double up with Aces AIPF before staggering off home in the wee small hours, could have been even better as I managed to get all in with a full house on the turn with Q9 on a board of QQ95 against an opponent holding Q4 and he managed to hit one of the remianing two nines on the river for a split pot.
I've been playing the regular sunday evening freezeout without much success, I seem to last just long enough for the blinds to really start to bite and when people have to start making moves, then it seems I always get outdrawn, latest time was with AQ v JT when a jack on the flop did for me, but I suppose as long as I get it in ahead, then its only a matter of time before I cash again.

Contrasting Weekends

2009-03-27T12:46:00.002Z

Had a couple of strange weekends on the poker recently, 2 weekends ago I played 1500 hands and was only all in 3 times, losing all three, but still managed to make a profit of $250.
First was the ‘bad beat’ shown in the previous post when my full house got beaten by quad aces on the river.
The second was similar, I had pocket Jacks beaten by pocket 6’s , my pair was an overpair to the board and I lost when he made trips on the river.
The third time was my fault, I got a little impatient with the table lunatic and pushed all in pre-flop with AK only to run into KK.
Last weekend in contrast was a bit of an all in fest, Friday night I was down $300 in double quick time, so Saturday I started playing with the intention of getting back even.
By lunch time I was down another $300 and not feeling too great.
Things did improve later though and I recovered to a total loss over the weekend of $130 and a loss for the week of $80 which felt like a win from being $600 in the hole.
Rakeback will cover at least half of the loss so things not too bad overall
I also discovered this site : http://www.pokertableratings.com/ which is useful for checking out your opponents as well as seeing how your mates are doing and taking the piss out of the losers.
Its not perfect as it seems to be missing quite a few sessions, dissapointingly for me they seem to be winning sessions so I look even worse than I actually am...lol
Double coin flip lunch this week, Dan lost them both, so not only did I eat for free (again) but I'm still freerolling courtesy of Tim and the half marathon wager, who says there's no such thing as a free lunch ?

Ouch

2009-03-14T21:10:00.003Z

Apologies for another bad beat thread, but I have to get this one off my chest, rivered for $170

FullTiltPoker Game #11138750554: Table Momentos (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:04:00 ET - 2009/03/14
Seat 1: love grinding ($100)
Seat 2: Lostit2 ($100)
Seat 3: PTP 21 ($48.95)
Seat 4: redcar99 ($146.75)
Seat 5: La Reunion ($81.80)
Seat 6: roflpwn ($114.30)
PTP 21 posts the small blind of $0.50
redcar99 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar99 [7h 7s]
La Reunion raises to $3.50
roflpwn folds
love grinding folds
Lostit2 calls $3.50
PTP 21 calls $3
redcar99 calls $2.50
*** FLOP *** [7d As Ah]
PTP 21 checks
redcar99 checks
La Reunion checks
Lostit2 checks
*** TURN *** [7d As Ah] [Td]
PTP 21 bets $5
redcar99 calls $5
La Reunion raises to $34
Lostit2 adds $3.50
Lostit2 folds
PTP 21 has 15 seconds left to act
PTP 21 folds
redcar99 has 15 seconds left to act
redcar99 raises to $79.50
La Reunion calls $44.30, and is all in
redcar99 shows [7h 7s]
La Reunion shows [Ac 8d]
Uncalled bet of $1.20 returned to redcar99
*** RIVER *** [7d As Ah Td] [Ad]
redcar99 shows a full house, Aces full of Sevens
La Reunion shows four of a kind, Aces
La Reunion wins the pot ($172.60) with four of a kind, Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $175.60 | Rake $3
Board: [7d As Ah Td Ad]
Seat 1: love grinding didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Lostit2 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: PTP 21 (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: redcar99 (big blind) showed [7h 7s] and lost with a full house, Aces full of Sevens
Seat 5: La Reunion showed [Ac 8d] and won ($172.60) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 6: roflpwn didn't bet (folded)

A quick poker update

2009-03-14T11:46:00.007Z

I haven't really played a lot since I last updated, even though it was six months ago.
I have moved up from 25c/50c and can usually be found playing 50c/$1 these days.
Most of my cash play is still on full Tilt because thats the only site I get rakeback on, I find it hard to concentrate and play seriously on other sites, though I do dabble a bit.

The graph shows my first 2000 hands at 50c/$1, which I know is nowhere near enough hands to be significant, but I'm at least heading in the right direction.The problem these days is finding time to play, we're very busy at work, since the move to i-Poker the player numbers on Mansion have soared, the i-Poker network offers great liquidity and things have been going really well.Add to the long work hours, the fact that I've been trying to go to the gym regularly and I dont have much time for poker except at weekends
Maybe its just as well, play less hands, try to enjoy it more and hopefully keep in profit.

Marathon Man

2009-03-13T19:14:00.003Z

I haven't updated for quite a while, mainly because I haven't played much recently, but thought I'd post a funny story unrelated to poker.
Working for a gaming company, a lot of people at work like a bet
The title refers to a mate at work, Craig, who seemed to be terminally unlucky, we have a routine of going to a local resteraunt for lunch every friday, and flipping a coin for the bill, it started with just three of us and has now escalated to six.
Craig joined three weeks ago and promptly lost his first two coin flips and ended up paying twice on the trot, just when he was skint after having forked out two months rent on his new flat.
Craig will bet on anything, he and his former flatmate use to offer each other odds on what would be the first advert on tv in each break
Dan bet Craig £100 that he couldn't run 20 km on a treadmill in the gym next door after work on thursday, Craig accepted the bet despite conditions meaning he had to maintain a minimum speed of 8.5km/h throughout.
A former work mate, Tim who now works for a rival company in the same building took the opinion that it was impossible for Craig to complete the 20km, as did most other people at work, the difference is that Tim was willing to back his opinion with cold hard cash.
To cut a long story short, Tim took on half of Dans bet, gave me odds of 2/1 against his next losing 'friday flip' and laid Mike £20 also at 2/1, he was so confident of success, he even offered Craig a freeroll for his next flip, for a total of around £180.
So Thursday after work, Craig, Dan and myself trooped into the gym to see Craigs attempt at an indoor half marathon, half a km in Craig said to me "this is easy at this speed" (8.5km/h) "our money is safe".
He was as good as his word, the biggest danger to him completing was when I tripped Dan and he almost knocked Craig off the treadmill. Two hours and twenty minutes later the 20km was done and dusted.
In fact he was so confident he offered Dan double or quits on his £50 to run another 10km for a total of 30km, this was politely declined
Mike had the pleasure of telling Tim the morning after, as he put it "Cost to Tim £180, seeing the look on his face when he found out the result, priceless"
Well for a perfect end to the story, Tim would have also lost todays 'friday flip', but another former workmate, Cathy joined us for lunch and wanted in on the action, despite have gone home for lunch all week, to save money, the newcomers jinx struck again and Cathy lost the flip and picked up the £41 bill. The look on her face, was a picture, I'm still not sure she has seen the funny side of it yet.

The Angry Aussie

2008-09-28T12:10:00.003Z

Well its been a while but I thought this deserved a wider audience
This guy going nuts because he lost ten bucks.....

FullTiltPoker Game #8259554250: Table Arlene (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 7:52:55 ET - 2008/09/28
Seat 1: redcar99 ($48.25)
Seat 2: mike0980 ($55.45)
Seat 3: ziborbor ($60.30)
Seat 4: That One Guy 00 ($13.95)
Seat 5: 51LBO ($34.35)
Seat 6: Potamology ($51.25)
redcar99 posts the small blind of $0.25
mike0980 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar99 [Qh Qc]
ziborbor folds
That One Guy 00 calls $0.50
51LBO calls $0.50
Potamology raises to $2.50
redcar99 calls $2.25
mike0980 folds
That One Guy 00 calls $2
51LBO calls $2
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8s 8d]
redcar99 checks
That One Guy 00 checks
51LBO checks
Potamology checks
*** TURN *** [Qs 8s 8d] [Kc]
redcar99 bets $2.50
That One Guy 00 folds
51LBO folds
Potamology raises to $8
redcar99 raises to $22.50
Potamology folds
Uncalled bet of $14.50 returned to redcar99
redcar99 mucks
redcar99 wins the pot ($25.20)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $26.50 Rake $1.30
Board: [Qs 8s 8d Kc]
Seat 1: redcar99 (small blind) collected ($25.20), mucked
Seat 2: mike0980 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: ziborbor didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: That One Guy 00 folded on the Turn
Seat 5: 51LBO folded on the Turn
Seat 6: Potamology (button) folded on the Turn
Potamology: well played
Potamology: i guess when you are a
moron you call with 89 from the small
blind
redcar99: lol
redcar99: dry your eyes
Potamology: lol, you utter spastic
redcar99: ha ha ha
Potamology: btw you extractred max
value then
redcar99: whinging aussie
Potamology: you play very well
Potamology: well i folded aces you
fuucking moron
redcar99: thanks for the
donation..donk
Potamology: lol, well i would bet
anything it was the right fold
Potamology: you fuucking moron
redcar99: dry your eyes
redcar99: u lost $10 stop crying
Potamology: lol, you ignorant moron
redcar99: u need to learn how to lose
redcar99: or play better
redcar99: mug
Potamology: lol, learn to fold a hand
51LBO: or dont play at all
Potamology: you fuucking idiot
redcar99: lol
redcar99: boo hoo
Potamology: its funny that you are too
stupid to admit that you played the
hand like a fuucking moron
redcar99: lol stop crying
redcar99: let it go
Potamology: way to win the minimum
genius
51LBO: it's poker
Potamology: lol 5ILBO shut the fuuck
up
redcar99: lol
Potamology: you uneducated blue
collar cuunt
51LBO: ha ha ha ha
Potamology: you are worse than redcar
Potamology: and that is saying
something
redcar99: let it go
redcar99: its only $10
Potamology: yeah thanks to you
Potamology: lol
redcar99: lol
redcar99: well thanks for it
redcar99: i appreciate the donation
redcar99: mug
Potamology: lol, you saying that just
proves that you dont even understand
what we are talking about
Potamology: you 'mug"
Potamology: lol
redcar99: ha ha
redcar99: stop crying
Potamology: i dont actually recall crying
Potamology: but you can keep
repeating that iff you like
redcar99: jeez your giving me earache
redcar99: stfu
Potamology: i wasnt aware that FTP
had audio support
redcar99: If you think you're sat with
bad players, why complain ?
Potamology: what is it like to have the
mental capacity of a 10 year old with
down syndrome
redcar99: oh dear
redcar99: u realy are a sad kunt
Potamology: loooool
redcar99: do you swear at everyone
who takes your money ?
redcar99: u must be one angry dude
Potamology: at least im not sdumb and
ignorant like your good self
redcar99: lol, it sounds like it
redcar99: im off thanks for the
donation donk
Potamology: ahahahahaha
Potamology: go and kill yourself

All quiet on the western front

2008-07-15T21:27:00.004Z

Things have been pretty quiet lately, still grinding away at 25c/50c on Full Tilt, still making a small profit, mainly due to bonus and rakeback, would be barely breaking even otherwise.
I recently signed up through poker strategy for a free $50 on Titan poker, anyone else who wants the free cash can sign up through this site. http://www.brickandmortarpoker.page.tl/Home.htm
The deal is, complete the quiz and get an immediate $50 in an account on a poker site of your choice, gain so many frequent player points and release further bonuses up to a total of $100.
Thats $150 for free, just for taking the quiz.
The tricky bit is not losing the original $50 to try and build a bankroll from nothing like Chris Ferguson, bank roll management is the key, I'll update on future posts (unless I busto in which case I'll never mention it again)
The actual strategy proposed by the site is a little strange though, it seems aimed at minimising any potential losses rather than maximising profit, by playing a strict short stack strategy, which is, I guess, the way to grind up a $50 bankroll, but its not much fun :(
Not much else to report, haven't played live for a while, will try to think of something interesting for the next post

Short-Stacking

2008-06-29T07:14:00.002Z

I think its fair to say that opinion is divided over short-stackers, while some people see this as a legitimate tactic, others look on shortstackers as the lowest of the low.
At my usual 50NL 6max cash games there are a number of regular short-stackers, most of whom make a loss, but some show a small profit according to my pokertracker stats.
There is one guy in particular who buys in for $10 and either folds or pushes every hand, never a call, never a raise, its all in or nothing, he multi-tables 6 or more at a time and must be showing some kind of profit, I wont name him, but I'm sure any Full Tilt regulars at 50 NL with know who I am talking about.
For me this type of player is pretty easy to play against, first you identify his range, (this is easy when he is multi-tabling, and you can data mine through PT), once you know this you can simply play the hands that beat his range and fold the hands that dont, this works pretty well for me, although I do avoid sitting to his right.
Against short-stackers playing a more orthodox style I tend to play my normal game, though I am more inclined to call them down, knowing that my losses are limited to the size of their stack.
This got me thinking, that if I am more likely to go to showdown against a short stacked opponent, then maybe I can reverse the position and take advantage of opponents calling me down lightly by short-stacking with $50 at NL100 or even NL200.
By playing a TAG style while short stacked at higher stakes, maybe I can get bigger raises called and more $100 pots than by buying for the max on a 50NL table.
I know that conventional wisdom says you should always buy in for the maximum, but I think that maybe this tactic is worthy of some investigation.
If anyone has tried this, I would be very interested in the results

Table selection

2008-06-11T22:00:00.002Z

I have long been of the opinion that table selection is one of the most important factors in winning online poker, but recently I have been reviewing exactly what makes a 'good' table.
My natural game is pretty tight (I'd like to say tight/aggressive, but one out of two aint bad) so I normally look for a pretty loose game where I will still get callers when I raise for the first time in three orbits.
Using PAHUD I look for tables where 2 or more players have a VP$ of over 40% with a table average VP$ of around 30%, or higher if possible.
The difficulty then comes with the fact that nearly all the pots I play are bigger than average, and with a couple of calling stations on the table, after a raise with maybe two callers, and a continuation bet with one caller, or maybe more, I have odds to call with almost any drawing hand, which can start to get expensive when I miss (and I miss a lot of draws).
I have been wondering if there is a better way to play, maybe by picking tighter tables to play on and playing more hands, a more LAG style.
This way I get to play more hands, see more flops, for less money, and once people see me playing more junk, I should get called down even more when I do hit a hand.
I'd be interested to know how any readers pick their cash tables, is the loosest game always the best ? I notice that from time to time, there is a big queue for a particular table for no apparent reason, I guess there must be a big fish sat there to have 7 or 8 people waiting for a seat, but I don't see the need to join a queue that long, as surely the fish is the first to leave and by the time 6 or 7 people in the queue ahead of you are seated any value must surely be gone.
If anyone has any strong views either way on this please post a reply.

Lady Luck

2008-06-10T22:19:00.002Z

I played a short session recently which just served to remind me how big a part lady luck plays in proceedings when you sit down at a poker table.
I played for a couple of hours without really getting into any big pots until with 22on the button I called a 13 x BB reraise to $6.50, hoping the initial raiser would just call.
He did and the flop came A92 rainbow.
It was checked to me, and hoping that they were both slow playing AK or AQ I bet the pot of around $20.
The initial raiser reraised all in and the other player folded, leaving me with a decision.
The villain was playing around 44/28 or something so I called, hoping for AK and not AA, he flipped A9 and I was celebrating until the 9 on the turn gave him the bigger Full house and I lost around $75.
I think the loss tilted me as I determined to take a stand against a couple of serial raisers soon after.
The first was on another table where the player to my immediate right kept raising my BB from his SB, and after folding A3, A5 and K9 I decided I would take a stand next orbit with any two cards.
As expected he raised to $2.50, and I pushed all in for around $50 with 75o (Yeah, I know), he insta-called with pocket Queens, and I was kicking myself until my straight hit on the river.
Back on the original table, another player kept reraising my $2 raise from the button to $12 on his BB.
After this had happened about 5 or 6 times, I decided I would again take a stand the first time I had any kind of hand on the button.
A couple of orbits later I find AQ and raise to $2, he reraises to $12 (again) and I push all in, he calls with AK. The flop is 55J, another J on the turn gives me a split, until a queen on the river hands me the full pot.
Despite being up around $100, I decide to call it a day before I tilted away the lot.

A dream come true

2008-05-17T11:45:00.002Z

I know I run the risk of being called an aftertimer posting this now, but I swear its true, the only person who can verify this however is my wife so if you dont believe me....c'est la vie.
I had a dream on Tuesday night where I dreamt the result of the eufa cup final, I woke during the night and nearly got up to write it down, as I thought I would forget.
In the end I didn't get up but went back to sleep after memorising 0-0 then 2-0, by the time I awoke in the morning, I had just about forgot the the dream, but remembered the mantra 0-0 followed by 2-0.
I wasn't sure if it meant 0-0 half-time and 2-0 full-time or 0-0 full-time and 2-0 after extra time.
I was a little bit dubious about risking hard cash on a dream, but decided I would rather risk a couple of small bets than kick myself afterwards if it turned out to be true.
In the end I had 3 x £5 bets on Draw HT - Zenit FT, Zenit to win 2-0 and Zenit to win in extratime.
I watched the first half on tv, and at half-time thought I had some kind of chance of a profit at least with a Zenit win in either the second half or extratime.
To be honest, the match was so boring I switched over in the second half and just flicked back ocaisionaly for updates.
At 1-0 I was thinking I had shown a profit, but when Zenit scored the second with the last kick of the game, I went from delight at winning £75 to disapointment that I had only had a fiver on.
I've been to bed early every night since, but as of yet, I still dont have any lottery numbers or the FA Cup final winner, but watch this space..........

Bad Beats and Retards

2008-04-27T16:04:00.003Z

The purpose of this blog is not to post all my hard luck stories, but recently it seems like lady luck is taking the piss.

I ran into another candidate for 'numpty of the week' today, I can think of no explanation for his play, maybe 4s5s is his 'lucky hand' or something, it was certainly pretty lucky against me.

The thought of this idiot running off with my hard earned is enough to make me want to puke, I don't suppose he will hang on to it for long playing like that.
After the first hand, I just reloaded and carried on, ater the second, I had to stop playing before terminal tilt set in.

FullTiltPoker Table El Greco (6 max)
$0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:49:06 ET - 2008/04/27
Seat 1: ($52.60)
Seat 2: ($22.05)
Seat 3: ($45.95)
Seat 4: j2ah1ve ($45.20)
Seat 5: redcar ($69)
Seat 6: ($58)
redcar posts the small blind of $0.25
Seat 6 posts the big blind of $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar [Kc Ac]
Seat 1 folds
Seat 2 folds
Seat 3 folds
j2ah1ve raises to $2
redcar raises to $7.50
Seat 6 folds
j2ah1ve calls $5.50
*** FLOP *** [Ad 7c 9c]
redcar bets $7.50
j2ah1ve calls $7.50
*** TURN *** [Ad 7c 9c] [4h]
redcar bets $15.50
j2ah1ve raises to $30.20, and is all in
redcar calls $14.70
j2ah1ve shows [5s 4s]
redcar shows [Kc Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Ad 7c 9c 4h] [5d]
j2ah1ve shows two pair, Fives and Fours
redcar shows a pair of Aces
j2ah1ve wins the pot ($87.90) with two pair, Fives and Fours

FullTiltPoker Game #6196663108: Table El Greco (6 max)
$0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:58:43 ET - 2008/04/27
Seat 1: ($48.80)
Seat 2: ($56.40)
Seat 3: ($36.95)
Seat 4: j2ah1ve ($84.90)
Seat 5: redcar ($77.25)
Seat 6: ($56.50), is sitting out
redcar posts the small blind of $0.25
Seat 6 posts the big blind of $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar [Qs Qh]
Seat 2 folds
Seat 3 folds
j2ah1ve raises to $2
redcar raises to $7.50
Seat 1 folds
j2ah1ve calls $5.50
*** FLOP *** [7h 5h 5c]
redcar bets $15.50
j2ah1ve has 15 seconds left to act
j2ah1ve raises to $77.40, and is all in
redcar calls $54.25, and is all in
j2ah1ve shows [5s 4s]
redcar shows [Qs Qh]
*** TURN *** [7h 5h 5c] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [7h 5h 5c Kc] [4d]
j2ah1ve shows a full house, Fives full of Fours
redcar shows two pair, Queens and Fives
j2ah1ve wins the pot ($152) with a full house, Fives full of Fours

Numpty of the week

2008-04-20T16:28:00.005Z

Apologies for a bad beat post, but I had to get this one off my chest

Its been a bad day, down $100 early on before a recovery to about $40 down

HansFrans & Nayock420 are both retards and have been raising and reraising with atc
I've been patiently waiting my chance to stack either of them
I've already laid down QQ and JJ both on a K high flop to big raises of my C-bet
My chance finally come and this happens

FullTiltPoker Table Golfcart (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 1: Nayock420 ($42.70)
Seat 2: wyvern17 ($55.15)
Seat 3: redcar99 ($43.20)
Seat 4: toreds ($54.35)
Seat 5: Sloukka ($35.85)
Seat 6: HansFrans ($55.40)
wyvern17 posts the small blind of $0.25
redcar99 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to redcar99 [Th Ts]
toreds folds
Sloukka calls $0.50
HansFrans raises to $1
Nayock420 calls $1
wyvern17 calls $0.75
redcar99 raises to $5.50
Sloukka folds
HansFrans calls $4.50
Nayock420 calls $4.50 (well you have to call a reraise with J4o don't you)
wyvern17 calls $4.50
*** FLOP *** [2h 6s 4c]
wyvern17 checks
redcar99 bets $37.70, and is all in
HansFrans folds
Nayock420 calls $37.20, and is all in
wyvern17 adds $0.35
wyvern17 folds
redcar99 shows [Th Ts]
Nayock420 shows [Jh 4d] (Middle pair and no draw)
Uncalled bet of $0.50 returned to redcar99
*** TURN *** [2h 6s 4c] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [2h 6s 4c Ac] [Jc]
redcar99 shows a pair of Tens
Nayock420 shows two pair, Jacks and Fours
Nayock420 wins the pot ($93.90) with two pair, Jacks and Fours

And just to rub it in he promptly leaves the table, what a twat !

Well done Nayock420, you are officially Numpty of the week

Learning to play cash

2008-03-31T02:28:00.003Z

I've spent most of the last month or so trying to teach myself to play 6 seater cash games on Full Tilt.
Thankfully the first deposit bonus and an apology bonus for some downtime on the site in February (Betfair take note) has kept me in the black.
I've played around 15,000 hands of 25c/50c over the last 6 or 8 weeks for a very small overall profit, but I do think I'm improving, my bankroll on full tilt is increasing thanks to the bonus payments and I feel I can hold my own at this level now.
The plan now is to persevere on full tilt or maybe another new site where I can release another first deposit bonus to try and earn enough to pay (or partly pay) for a planned trip to New York next January (Yes I know that sounds a little ambitious, but it helps to have targets).
The cash game has got me more focused on improving than I have been for a while, the bad beats hurt a bit more, and its easy to get bored and tilt away a few hours worth of grinding in a few minutes, but on the whole its been enjoyable and hopefully will remain so.
Im still playing the odd tournament, the groundhog day syndrome remains in the EPT and WSOP qualifiers on Pokerstars, I'm still stuck on level 3 and keep bubbling for the next level and returning back to level 3 again, and again, and again, but one of these days I'll be at level 6 with a trip to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo in my sights.
Enjoyed a couple of weeks off work over Easter, just took it easy for a few days, had a few day trips out and about in Spain, and generally chilled out for a while.
Also had an e-mail from Betfair offering me a £10 refund, win or lose if I transfered £10 to their casino and played. This I did and manged to release a first deposit bonus, make a profit at Blackjack, and get back my original tenner for a total profit of around £80, so thats the end of my casino career, quit while I'm ahead. :)

Groundhog Day

2008-03-07T00:34:00.002Z

It feels like groundhog day recently trying to progress in the steps tournaments on Pokerstars for EPT and WSOP seats.
I started off using player points to play the step one sit & go tournaments, bounced up and down to level 3 ($75 + $7) and eventually paid for a couple of $7 + $0.50 step one sats.
Im now going round in circles on level 3, with 4 third place finishes in a row leading to a new start on level 3, without getting to level 4. I'm at level 3 for both EPT and WSOP, but one of these days I'll crack it for a seat in one of the big live tournaments.
Heres hoping.....

I started off pretty well in the $50 satellite to the 'Mr Silent charity WSOPE' tournament on Betfair.
This was for a seat in a $500 satellite for a $23k WSOPE seat donated by Betfair player Mr Silent in a quite amazing show of generosity.
$50 is a big buy in for me, but I thought it would be churlish to turn up my nose at a charity event given how it was donated for free so I decided to play.
I managed to double up early on and held the chip lead for a while, and was playing pretty well, even though I do say so myself. I think I was second at the first break, but didn't make it to the second. The key hand was one where I raised 3 x BB in early position with AK, had one caller in mid-position and the short stack pushed all in from the button for about 9 or 10 BB's, I pushed all in to isolate the shorty and was called by the MP with 77 or 88. Shorty had AJ and the 88 held up and I lost about half my chips.
I never really recovered after that, was card dead for quite a while and blinded away for half an hour before taking a risk and pushing in only to lose a race and crash out.

Return of the blog

2008-02-28T22:40:00.003Z

Well, its been a while !

Six months without an update so where do I start ?
Well to be honest I never played at all in September and October, had a complete two month break from poker and I never even missed it.
I returned to the fold in November with a couple of MTT cashes for around $400 each on Pokerroom, 3rd in a $10 mtt and 2nd in a $5 mtt if I remember correctly.
I struggled on playing stt's on Betfair in December for a small loss on the month, stayed on the sit and go's during January without much success and in February I opened a Full Tilt account to play some small stakes cash.
Finally got to see some benefit from my Poker Tracker playing cash games and bought PA HUD to go with it, Its hard to beleive anyone playing cash games seriously can do so without this software. It really is terrific, displaying stats from poker tracker live on the tables showing you details of opponents previous history over however many hands.
Using this I managed to show a (very) small profit on the $0.25/$0.50 cash tables over around 5000 hands, and will be persevering with the cash tables for the forseeable future.
I also managed to win the Mansion staff invitational freeroll last night for a nice payday, doubled up on about the third hand of the tournament with pocket Aces, pushed all in for around 1800 on the turn with two spades on the board to push out any flush draw and was inexplicably called by 66 with three overcards on the board, his 2 outer missed and I got off to a good start, stayed in the top ten or so throughout despite donking off 1300 chips when misclicking and calling a huge river bet with what was obviously a made straight when I meant to fold.
I recovered untill losing a hand with trip 2's v a full house just before the final table and was last of ten going onto the final table.
A couple of well time bluffs and some decent cards when needed helped me build back up, and I eventually won the tournament, bragging rights at work, and a cool £1000 for my troubles.
I'll try to keep the updates a little more regular from now on , not just when I win a freeroll, and hopefully try to stay profitable in the cash games as well as the odd tournament

No Poker

2007-08-20T14:36:00.000Z

I must be the only poker blogger who never plays poker, well not for a couple of weeks anyhow.
To be honest I've been busy with the new house etc so I haven't had a lot of time to play, but a year or 18 months ago I would have found time to play at the expense of something else.
I'm just not as keen to play these days as I was, time was I would play at every opportunity, now I can't be arsed to set up the laptop.
There is a live game I may enter on Thursday night, £50 freezeout at the casino, but my elder daughter is flying out here on the same day so I may just go for a drink or stick around in the house with her instead.
I have another weeks leave booked next week so I'll be out and about in Spain again, maybe I'll play some poker that week, maybe not.
Judging by other blogs and the forums, I'm not the only one for whom poker seems to be losing its gloss. I guess the big winners and the pros will continue, but maybe the boom is over and numbers will now start to decline.
Then again, maybe this time next week I'll have won an online multi or the £50 freezeout and I'll be back n love with the game again, Time will tell.

At Last !! An Update !!

2007-08-04T20:33:00.000Z

Well I finally got moved house, sort of.
Had to move in before all the internal building work was completed, so my bedroom has only three walls, theres a bit of plastering and tidying up to do, and then of course decorating when its all finished, but at least we are now living in our own home again and paying a mortgage instead of rent. The tax breaks for the mortgage are also pretty good out here so another good reason to buy.
The decision to move all the stuff myself because it was only 50 yards further up The Rock turned out to be a BIG mistake, I spent 12 hours lugging suitcases and boxes of 'stuff' up the steps, I must have climbed everest with the number of trips it took.
But at least were moved, we have tv and internet access so I can start playing poker again soon, in fact I may play live on wednesday night as there is a £100 freeezeout at the casino.
I've dabbled in a few sit and goes on Paradise poker the last week or so with no great success, usual routine, everyone is tight as a ducks arse until the blinds start to bite, then it turns into a crapshoot with 5 or 6 players chasing the top three places. I won a couple and made a small overall profit, but more by good luck than good judgement really.
I have a few days off booked in August, My younger daughters pal from England is flying over for a week on Monday morning, then my elder daughter is coming over for two week holiday towards the end of August, so the home improvements will probably go on hold for a while until September (wife permitting).
Mansion finally stopped there charitable daily give away of around $45k a day in the $100k Gtd tournaments, but still plenty of value available in the weekly $110k Gtd on Thursday evenings and $150k Gtd on Sunday evening as well as some lower value $10 and $20 tournaments with Gtd payouts. Thats the advertising done, check the mansion poker site for details

Sorry for the Lack of Updates

2007-07-20T10:54:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of recent updates
I'm in the middle of moving house and to be honest haven't any time for poker in between work, tiling, plumbing painting etc etc etc......

Poker in Gibraltar

2007-07-14T14:50:00.000Z

http://www.cardplayer.com/cpeurope/article/16799

Failure in the Main Event

2007-07-11T20:05:00.002Z

My success rate in the satellites for the $11k Gtd and $16k Gtd on Betfair is pretty good, qualifying from one in every three satellites I enter. The rate goes up for the 10 seat Gtd satellites which are usually my first attempt at qualification. This gives me pretty good value with an average buy in cost in the $11k Gtd of $36 as opposed to the actual buy in of $82.50, and an average cost for the $16k Gtd of $48 against the full buy in of $109. I'm actually getting in to them for less than half price. Its all the more frustrating then, to find out that my record in the actual Guaranteed tournaments themselves is pretty awful.
Apart from one tournament, where I finished 4th for $880, I have failed to make the money in any of the main events, and the cash I did make was assisted by AA and a double up first hand.
The tournament always seems to go the same way, I lose a couple of early pots, where I stay in with draws, because opponents give me the odds to do so, then I tighten up because I feel I'm below average on chips and blind away for a bit, then a crucial hand comes about, and I have a big decision to make, to either fold and leave a lot of chips behind, or take a gamble. I always seem to take the wrong decision, or if I take the correct decision, lady luck kicks me in the teeth.
Last night I pushed with AK pre-flop from late position to try and steal a few chips, I get called by the BB with AJ and the first card on the flop is a Jack. Today I raised from LP with AQ in a multi-way limped pot and get two callers from the blinds, flop is harmless looking 2 6 T rainbow, its check to me so I push in to steal (definately not the best move I could have made) and BB calls with 66 for a set. I feel I need a little bit of early luck to settle down a bit and get 'in the groove' once I increase my starting stack I can relax and play my normal game, losing early chips makes me edgy and this leads to bad decision making on my behalf.
Maybe its because the buy in is a bit high by my standards and I feel a little uncomfortable, I seem to want to make moves rather than sit back and play the same way as I do in the satellites.
Overall though, I'm enjoying playing, though a little profit would enable me to enjoy it even more, and hopefully I'll get to play live tomorrow in the £5o freeze out.

Satellites

2007-07-05T19:43:00.000Z

Betfair is slowly becoming a favourite site of mine again after hardly playing there at all following the move to Pokerchamps software.
The mtt structures are good with 15 minute levels and the higher value tournaments also have increased chip counts, allowing more poker to be played. Ive been back on the satellite circuit today, qualifying for the $16k Gtd and the $11K Gtd, via the 10 seat guaranteed satellites which offer overlay in the sat as well as the main tournament.
I Snagged £100 worth of tournament entries for around £15 which is value in anyones book.
Unfortunately the $16k main event didn't go so well, had to fold AQo early doors to a raise and re-raise pre-flop. Never really hit a flop at all as the first break approached and I was struggling with around 1750 from a starting stack of 2500 when I find KK in late position, theres a raise of 3 x BB (300) in front of me which I re-raise to 750, to push out the blinds and I'm heads up with initial raiser, flop is 8d 8s 3d its checked to me, and with two diamonds on the board, I push all in to find myself up against AA and that, as they say, was that.
The $11k Gtd was very similar, AKs first hand for a small pot, then nothing of note until I limped in late position with Ad 3d, two diamonds on the flop gave me some hope, and single opponent made it cheap enough to call until the third diamond hit on the river and I won a pot of around 600.
The joy was short lived however, a couple of hands later I'm all in Pre-Flop with JJ against what turns out to be QQ.
KK v AA in the $16k and JJ v QQ in the $11k, Thems the breaks huh ? still it was an enjoyable if profitless day, with the chance at two big payouts for a relatively small outlay, and there's always tomorrow

Three hands from Sunday

2007-07-02T10:24:00.000Z

An interesting day of poker on Sunday, started off with the 10 seat Gtd satellite to Betfairs $16k Gtd. Software problems stopped the tournament after about 35 minutes, just as I took over the chip lead, but a refund of $32 or double the buy in enabled me to enter the turbo sat to the same tournament on a freeroll.
Qualification from this left me in the $16k for free, and I tried the 1 cent wsope sat next, this again crashed without starting and credited my account with $2.20 or 220 x the buy in.
4th place in a sit and go on poker stars preceded my attempt at the $16k Gtd, but I never really got going and was eliminated before the break gambling with 33 v AQ.
Some interesting hands cropped up during the course of these tournaments, first of all, in the turbo sat. With ten seats available and 11 left in the tournament, I’m sat in 6th place on the button with around 7k in chips, blinds are (from memory) 1000/2000 with a 75 ante.
Two players on the other table have less than 1200, including the next BB, and one guy on our table has 145, less than 2 antes.
Obviously in this situation with any one of three short stacks all in within the next 3 hands, I’m not playing anything at all, and in fact was hoping for pocket rockets, just so I could fold them pre-flop.
The rockets never arrived I folded 2 poor hands and after the BB guy survived, Mr 2 antes was out next hand and I’m safely through.
A similar situation in a 9 handed STT on poker stars, 4 of us left, 3 on around 4k each and the shortstack on about 1200. In this instance I’m willing to take a gamble as the difference between 3rd and 1st makes it worthwhile, I raise from the button with 85o, BB (not the shortstack) calls. Flop is Ts5s2h I lead for 3 BB’s and villain re-raises all in. I cant believe he has flopped a set, no open ended straight draw unless he has 34, so I reckon he’s on a draw, possibly has 2 spades, or more likely Ace 3 or Ace 4 for a gutshot so I call. He has the flush draw and hits on river so I’m out in 4th, but that’s the cost of ‘taking a shot’
Next one is in the $16k Gtd on Betfair, I lost a chunk early on with my usual, ‘he must be bluffing’ thought process, and end up approaching the break after an hour with around half my starting stack of 2500
I limp for 50 in early position with 33, there are about 5 other limpers and the BB raises to 300, I decide to gamble and push all in for about 1200, the other limpers fold and the raiser insta-calls with AQo. The flop is 245 forfeiting his ace and giving me hope, but he hits a three outer on the river, and that’s that.
Three similar hands in very different situations, I would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on.
Maybe I was too rash in the stars stt and the $16k, but I got my money in while ahead and long term that’s +EV
What do you think ?

Sit & Go's

2007-06-27T10:52:00.000Z

Despite taking a chunk of cash from the 'loss column' for 2007 with 4th place in the $11k Gtd, I'm still in the red for the year.
I've been playing some sit and go tournaments to try to build the profit for the year and get back into the black.
I've stuck to low stakes stuff, $10 buy in with the odd $20, and had some success, including three wins on the trot on Paradise poker $10 STT's
I've also had a few shots at the low level satellites for the wsope on Betfair and still played the Gtd seat satellites to the $11k and $16k Gtd, with rather less success.
I'm actually considering laying off the multi-table tournaments for a while and concentrating on sit and Go's and low stakes cash to try and build the bankroll a bit.
Maybe still try to qualify for the Guaranteed tournaments on Betfair from cash/stt profits (if there are any)
Live games are still showing a profit, and I may try to play a few more live tournaments, the house purchase should be completed this week, so maybe I'll buy a car once all the finances are sorted out, which will allow me to get to a few more games over the border in Spain.
I've still not been tempted onto the live cash tables yet, too many sharks for my liking, inexperienced players and newcomers to live poker seem quite happy to take their chances in live tournaments, but the cash games seem to be filled with the more experienced players and therefore seem to be of little value, easier cash games on-line imho.
All the best to Barretta who's recent elevation into the ranks of the poker pro's appears to be going well, good luck in Vegas mate.