End of year report

Well its that time of year again, and time to look back on 2009
After six consecutive losing months from April to September I finally turned things around in October, and look like having a break even year, after being down around $1000 at the start of December.
I've been playing predominantly on Party Poker since the end of September, no rakeback, but the deposit bonus makes up for that so far, and I've reached Gold level in the VIP scheme, which to be honest isn't worth much.
I've been playing 25c/50c and 50c/$1 dependant on my bankroll, my frame of mind and how juicy the tables look, I seem to do better at the higher level, maybe I just concentrate a little more at higher stakes.
I'm still fighting against tilt, not the crazy monkey tilt which drives some people to play above their bankroll or dump cash on casino games, just enough to make me change the way I play after losing a couple of buy-ins in a session, still trying to keep it under control.

I'm still running about $400 below EV according to Holdem Manager and I know that the general concensus is that this will even out over enough hands, but to be honest I think that I don't take enough risks, and I don't get it in when I'm behind often enough to pull back $400, maybe as my cash games improves I'll claw some of it back.
Away from poker I'm all over Manchester United this season, I have them at 100/30 to win the Premiership, 10/1 to win the Champions League and Rooney at 18/1 to be Prem top scorer.

Time for a change ?

I've played more this month than in any previous month since I started on the cash games, and my total profit is just about zero.
I claimed $50 for playing on 25 days in September as part of Full Tilts 'Take Two' promotion, and a few extra FPP's, which are pretty worthless anyway as the i-pod I had my eye on has been taken out of the Full Tilt store.
I have lost $86 in the month will get $50 from the promo and about $150 in rakeback, so I'm up about $100 overall, but I haven't enjoyed playing at all.
The standard on FTP is pretty good so I always try to find the softest table, trying to target the fish.
The problem is when you find them there are usually 4 or 5 other regs trying to separate the fish from their cash.
My usual MO is to sit tight, wait for the prenmium hands, and let the fish net themselves, unfortunately to make this work I not only have to overcome the lunatics, but also the monster known as variance.
The hand below is a perfect example, I waited patiently for a hand, I had peviously laid down KK on the river when his (obvious) flush draw hit after I flopped a set, and I had been waiting for this (hence the pre-flop limp)

***** Hand History for Game 14968157897 ***** (Full Tilt)
$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, September 27, 11:25:41 ET 2009
Table AceKingNL (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: batmanisno1 ( $108.80 USD )
Seat 2: redcar99 ( $60.90 USD )
Seat 4: iapoligizenow ( $50.00 USD )
Seat 5: TOANNGUYENAA ( $26.40 USD )
Seat 6: loliHasAces ( $52.25 USD )
loliHasAces posts small blind [$0.25 USD].
batmanisno1 posts big blind [$0.50 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to redcar99 [ Ks Kh ]
redcar99 calls [$0.50 USD]
TOANNGUYENAA folds
loliHasAces folds
batmanisno1 raises [$1.00 USD]
redcar99 raises [$5.00 USD]
batmanisno1 calls [$4.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, Jd, Th ]
batmanisno1 checks
redcar99 bets [$10.50 USD]
batmanisno1 calls [$10.50 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2c ]
batmanisno1 checks
redcar99 bets [$44.90 USD]
batmanisno1 calls [$44.90 USD]
redcar99 shows [Ks, Kh ]
batmanisno1 shows [4c, Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
batmanisno1 wins $120.05 USD from main pot

That was just about the straw that broke the camels back.
I have come to the conclusion that I can't beat 50NL on FTP so I need to find a softer site or give up completely, so I have decided to cash out all my funds from FTP and try to make a profit on Party Poker
Its a shame because I really like the Full Tilt software, I think its the best around, but I just can't win there.
I will also have to give up on rakeback at Party, but hopefully I can actually make a profit from the poker rather than grinding away waiting for a weekly rakeback payment
Here's hoping !

Running Bad

I've been running pretty bad recently, in fact the last three months I must be down about 12 buy ins, even had to redeposit on FTP last week.
I had to bite the bullet and drop back down to 25c/50c last week and after a couple of losing sessions I managed a couple of (small) winning sessions.
The only consolation is that Hold 'Em Manager says I am running at about $450 dollars below my EV so I guess with a little luck things wouldn't be so bad.
Fortunately my live game seems unaffected by the online downswing, I failed to qualify online for the Malaga €1500 + €150 event but I did play in the €100 freezeout at San Roque last Saturday managing 2nd out of 21 for around €570, I may go back tonight to play again in the €50 single rebuy or add on, or maybe Gib casino for the cash game after the £5 rebuy crapshoot.
I folded a full house playing online a few days ago, the hand history is below, I'd be grateful for any feedback on it, general consensus so far is that I'm an idiot to even consider folding but given that, check - call, check - call, push on river is standard donk play for 'I think I've got the nuts' at this level, I'm not so sure

***** Hand History for Game 13857503946 ***** (Full Tilt)
$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, August 06, 02:49:23 ET 2009
Table Pergola (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: nicow777 ( $70.10 USD )
Seat 2: davewilk74 ( $31.50 USD )
Seat 3: n00b09 ( $50.00 USD )
Seat 4: Boogieman69 ( $47.70 USD )
Seat 5: Gnotschi ( $57.50 USD )
Seat 6: redcar99 ( $59.30 USD )
nicow777 posts small blind [$0.25 USD].
davewilk74 posts big blind [$0.50 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to redcar99 [ 6h Ah ]
n00b09 folds
Boogieman69 calls [$0.50 USD]
Gnotschi folds
redcar99 calls [$0.50 USD]
nicow777 folds
davewilk74 checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, Tc, 6s ]
davewilk74 checks
Boogieman69 checks
redcar99 bets [$1.00 USD]
davewilk74 calls [$1.00 USD]
Boogieman69 calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
davewilk74 checks
Boogieman69 checks
redcar99 bets [$2.00 USD]
davewilk74 folds
Boogieman69 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 6c ]
Boogieman69 bets [$44.20 USD]
redcar99 folds
Boogieman69 wins $44.20 USD
Boogieman69 wins $8.35 USD from main pot

Afterwards he typed in chat that he had flopped the straight which did make me lol, he was playing terribly so maybe he did, maybe he thought the straight was good ?

Back to the Future

Back on Full Tilt cash tables again trying to refind my Mojo this week.
My old faithfull Poker Tracker 2 kinda gave up the ghost after FTP's recent upgrade, or to be more accurate, the Poker Ace Hud did.
PT Forum gave me a patch to ensure I could still download the HH's bt the HUD didn't work and I guess with PT3 having a built in HUD it wasn't a priority to sort out so I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade.
I am a bit of a Luddite in this respect, I find that every time I have some new software its nothing but trouble until it all eventualy gets sorted out, which is why I never upgraded to PT3 before.
I've had PT2 for ages so its value against the upgrade wasn't worth much and Players whos opinion I respect have told me Holdem Manager was better, so instead of PT3 I opted for Holdem manager.
Anyway, with the new software installed, I'm back on the cash tables. With my FTP Bankroll down under $700 I decided I really had to drop down to 50NL instead of the 100NL I had been playing, I had a little success but couldn't really take it too serious after playing at 100NL so I went back to the 50c/$1 tables and as I write this I'm up abut one buy in today, only 6 more to go to break even :)
There's a new weekly tournament just up the coast at San Roque casino on saturday nights, a work mate Fabio won last weeks €50 rebuy, and not only did he win, he did it without any rebuys and without the add on, well done Fabio.
It was a €50 buy in again this week with just one rebuy or add on available, I was tempted to go up and play but decided to keep my powder dry till next weeks €100 freezeout.
In the meantime I have been playing online qualifiers on FTP for the Poker Series Espana event 2 in Malaga. This is a €1500 + €150 buy in event so I'm trying to satellite in on the cheap, with the extra bonus that there is a €3000 package and I can drive there in an hour so if I do qualify I will have the cash bonus to spend on anything I want, maybe even go back to Vegas on holiday :)

Vegas Baby !

Well, its been a week since I arrived back from Vegas, and I'm still feeling a little jet-lagged, it was my first time, but I hope it won't be my last.
I travelled courtesy of Mansion Poker to look after the online qualifiers for the WSOP main event, and while in theory that made it a business trip, its hard not to have fun in Vegas, even if you are working.
Craig and I managed to find time to play a few low stakes tournaments and also got involved in the $1/$2 cash games.
I managed a second place in a $70 freezeout at the Mandaly Bay, and Craig went one better, wining a $65 freezeout at Ballys and taking 2nd place in the same tournament two days later.
My cash game was showing a decent profit in the early part of the week I dropped a buy in first hand in a $1/$2 cash game at the Mandalay Bay, dealt KK I reraised from $8 to $25 with one caller, the flop was Q high with no stright or flush draw and we ended up all in before the turn, only for my opponent to show QQ for a flopped set, I did recover a few hands later, again with KK on a flop of KK5, another 5 on the flop gave my opponent a Full house, but my quad kings won the pot and also a 'high hand bonus' of $114 which amounted to about $79 after tax
Then two disasterous hands at the Venetian dropped me two buy ins in quick sucession.
First up I checked my option on the BB in a multi-way limped pot with 8h 9h and saw a flop of T J Q rainbow, with no pre-flop raise I figured my hand was pretty much the nuts and bet it as if it was, at showdown my opponent showed AKo, not a good start.
I reloaded and after about an hour of folding I picked up pocket Aces, my big pre-flop raise thinned down the field to one caller and a flop of A K J looked pretty good to me, the chips went in and my opponent tables QT for a made straight :(
Overall, I still showed a profit, and I think if I went again on holiday, without any work distractions I could definately show a profit in what were unexpectedly soft cash games

Just another Bad Beat

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

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 loose" 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. :)